Liberation Day Long Weekend

My long weekend was busy but not tiring. I had plenty of sleep and nothing to worry about. I knew that I had one more day of summer camp left. The plan was to watch a movie and eat snacks on Tuesday (and that’s exactly what we did). Anyways, on Saturday Nav’s friend Austin came down from Seoul to Busan for his vacation. I went and met him and he was kind enough to make dinner for us. He made shrimp with chipotle peppers (a picture of it is on my Facebook album), but I can tell you that the taste was amazing. We just hung around for a bit before I decided to go home before the subway stops running.

On Sunday, I met up with Jay and we walked around Shinsegae (her first time being there). Once again I didn’t wake up early because I didn’t have to. Also, I didn’t stay too late because I wanted to be home in order to relax some more. Overall the day was just a lazy stroll. Nothing spectacular but it was good regardless.
Monday was South Korea’s holiday – Liberation Day! It was the day that South Korea commemorates the freedom from Japanese occupation and the formation of the South Korean republic. It was also a day for me to go hang out with Nav, Daryl and Jeongeun. We went to a fantastic chicken restaurant. It was amazing and I can’t wait to go back there again. I was able to take one picture (also posted on Facebook) and the chicken was well done. Never had something so delicious like that before except for a large mango smoothie with lychee jelly.
The only productive thing I did during these three days was book my flight tickets to Jeju Island for my vacation! First time I am ever going on a vacation. Usually I am working as a tutor or at the banquet hall. Finally, I can afford to pay for my own flights, my own hotels, and pay with my own money without relying on siblings or parents. Oh, the trip is from Wednesday, August 17th to Sunday, August 21st. 5 days and 4 nights. I still didn’t get a camera but I will try my best to take as many pictures as possible for the blog with my iPhone. If you don’t how Jeju Island looks like, then you may want to google it or just wait until my next blog post.

English Summer Camp – Week 3

The final week of the camp was wonderful. On Monday we had a pizza party while watching Harry Potters and the Chamber of Secrets. We also learned about bowling rules and how to bowl because on Tuesday we went bowling! Wednesday we made pancakes and the students really enjoyed cooking it. We didn’t have any maple syrup but we had some pancake syrup and chocolate syrup. Thursday the students were in art mode so they had to create a tie for their dad and a bouquet of flowers for their mom. They did the weekly spelling test, learned more phrases for conversational purposes, and learned new experience that they can share with to their friends and family.

On Friday I gave out prizes to all of the students and one big prize to the student with the most stickers accumulated in the 3 weeks. The little prizes contained a pen, Hello Kitty pencil, bunch of stickers and a candy. The big prize was a notebook! In fact I had two of them which the student could choose from – Lisa Simpson or a super girly pink one. The student went with the super girly pink one but she couldn’t decide for a good five minutes. After camp I went to a cave bar for dinner with bunch of my friends (Nav, Warren, and Jay). We had a great time eating seafood pajeon! Also, my toe has healed nicely. I am able to speed-walk, jog a bit and the pain isn’t bad, as before, whenever I walk in my shoes. It’s not 100% yet but I am sure it’ll get there soon enough. I am optimistic that it’ll get better August 29th when regular school schedule resumes.
These random pictures were taken at Nampo-Dong's Lotte Department Store.
I found them to be fascinating because the artwork is made out of steel.
My K-Pop curiosity has grown tremendously and I am actually interested in going to a concert! During the extra time I spend at school from 12:30-4:30pm, I research new songs that have good beats. Of course I get my school work done before I start researching songs on YouTube.

A Giant Captain

Saturday I didn’t wake up early because I wanted to relax. I pretty much watched Captain America in theatres and enjoyed some caramel popcorn with Chris and Nav. For 4900 wons, it’s well worth the popcorn. I need to find out if they allow refills because I would have totally done that. It was that addicting. The movie itself was great and after the credits we saw the Avenger’s trailer with Hulk, Ironman, Thor and Captain America! Along with Hawkeye! An epic 2012 movie to watch and it will be released on May 4th (two days before my birthday). It’s a must see. I believe there is a reboot of Spiderman and Batman movie around that time as well. After the movie, we hung out played some intense darts games and mingled with people who we knew. We also hung out at KSU with Victoria and her friends who we met for the first time. One of Victoria's friend came to Korea a day before we did (June 24th) and he's from South Africa! Great time overall but I came home super late and slept right away because I was that tired.
On Sunday, I went to my first ever Busan Lotte Giants Game. The ticket price was 7000 wons for the outfield and we get to sit wherever we want to. It’s based on first come first serve and the seats were wonderful. Just look at the pictures for yourself to experience the view that I had. The Sajik Stadium is supposed to be the best stadium in all of Korea, the fans were engaging and active the whole time, and the fans are allowed to bring food from outside! People brought pizza boxes and chicken wings and ate inside the stadium. No premium prices for food like in Toronto. The drinks were the exact same prices outside as the inside so no real profits. The experience was amazing even though we lost 3-1 to the Samsung Lions (the best team in the league). I am already looking forward to catching another game, and this time I will be more prepared.



One more week of summer camp before I am on vacation! Jeju Island and Seoul are the top two destinations but I’ll keep you posted about my plans. Well, technically I get off on Tuesday, August 16th because I had to make up a day and I couldn’t make it up on the Monday because it is a national holiday here – Independence Day from Japan.

English Summer Camp – Week 2

Quick Injury Report:
My toe has been getting better after resting it all day on Tuesday. I couldn’t go to school so I stayed at home and rested. My medicine has been drinking mango juice, sleeping a lot, hardly moving my left foot, and I applied my miracle medicine - Vicks (no people, I did not put it on the wound but around it to reduce the pain). Well, my special medicine clearly worked because I am able to apply pressure again, walk up and down the school mountain, and today I walked around Nampo-Dong area for over 4 hours.

On Monday, I took my students to go watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at the theatres. It was 5,000 wons per person but the school paid for the entire experience, including Ye Jin’s and my ticket. A total of 8 tickets were purchased along with popcorn – caramel flavoured! On Tuesday, I wasn’t able to attend school as noted earlier. Wednesday, I had the students create Harry Potter wands, and masks, which was really fun.

Thursday, the students learned science words such as gravity, force, hypothesis, scientific process, and scientific design. Basically, it was a science day. All these terms were important because they were creating a parachute design to protect an egg from breaking! I even got the students to do the work on time, take effort, and actually care about the camp by saying few magical words: You will get a Hello Kitty prize! The student who kept their egg from breaking received a Hello Kitty prize, and they got to choose from a bunch of random accessories (pencil case, fan, notebook, and a notepad), which I bought right after the camp ended. Seomyeon’s Alpha Stationery store is a life saver if you ask me, and they had bunch of souvenirs that I bought too, so that I can send back home to my friends and family as gifts. I was bored of walking so I called Jay to hang out. We met up and had dinner! I tried Duck Galbi! This is the first time eating duck in almost 5 years, maybe. Last time I had it, I thought it tasted undercooked but this one was superb. Finally, another meat I can eat without getting an allergic reaction! Duck, Turkey and Chicken!

The students had to do a presentation about their family and history, and had a scavenger hunt on Friday. The first person to find all the clues got a prize. Yes, you guessed correctly, a Hello Kitty item! The notebook was gone because the Egg Drop winner decided to take it, so the next best item, the notepad was a hot item. They seemed more comfortable to talk to me, and engage in conversations in English, which is more important in my opinion than just repeating everything I say to them. Conversations are very important for their development as English speakers and I am so happy that Hello Kitty, along with stickers (another useful item) are getting them to do well in the camp.

After camp, I decided I better get more Hello Kitty prizes for the students so I went to Nampo-Dong area. However, I decide to check out the Lotte Department store. Check out the pictures for yourself to witness what I have found. My students would faint if they saw all these Hello Kitty items!


I also found some teddy bear items, for those who love teddy bears a lot. Afterwards, I headed to the SkyPark which was awesome. I took some pictures of that too but the experience itself was better than the pictures. The sky was clear so the pictures turned out well. Maybe 30 minutes later, Jay came to Nampo-Dong to hang out as well. We walked around for 2 hours buying whatever is cheap, and useful. I ended up buying two pairs of Hello Kitty socks so I can give as prizes as well. Overall, the week was a success in terms of getting the students to speak English.





Oh, on a side note, I finally got my cellphone! It’s not like my iPhone. Texting is difficult but at least now I can socialize with people and I don’t have to be sitting in front of my computer or aimlessly arranging a place to meet up with Nav or other friends. I will end this post with a song that I am stuck listening on repeat for the last hour or so. Surprisingly it was not a K-Pop song but a Bollywood hit track from the movie Ra-One featuring SRK, Kareena, and Akon. Yes, Akon! Crazy song, check it out everyone. Song is called, Chammak Challo! Enjoy eh!

Injury Report

VIEWER’S DISCRETION IS ADVISED
Some images might not be suitable for young children or people with weak stomachs or to people who do not like to see blood (like me for instance).

On July 31st while partaking in an adventurous climb up Mt. Jangsan I encountered a mini waterfall. Naturally I was curious, and I wanted to cool off so I decided to get my feet wet for a bit. The water was chilly and made my body temperature decrease quite quickly. It felt great considering Nav and I just trekked for an hour. We were both tired and sweating so the waterfall was a great rest spot.
We had another three fourths of the mountain to still climb from our estimates. The waterfall itself was not spectacular by all means but the streams and the rocks were nice to climb. Nice until... Disaster struck! Okay, it’s not dramatic as I make it sound but still! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves before I explain myself.

The rock titled "Stupid Rock" decided to flip around after I stood on it for a good 15 seconds while I was just watching Nav get to the spot I was heading towards, which was the bridge area. This particular picture was just taken just before I decided to walk to that rock and you can clearly see that I am stable and it’s a big enough rock to hold me firmly and enough space as well. That “Stupid Rock” just moved and got my left toe sliced off (well almost). Gushes of blood starting dripping and I kept trying to wash it away but the water felt super cold now. A Korean family quickly handed me some napkins to quickly hold the toe together and to stop the blood from bleeding too much. It helped temporarily while Nav went back and got all of our things (my bag and sandals, along with his own shoes). The Korean family found two wet towels in their own bag and handed them to me. The first wet towel I cleaned my foot properly and with the second one I wrapped my toe. I loosened up my left sandal so less irritation and friction can be applied to my precious toe. Fortunately I did not break a bone from this accident. Also, I found a walking stick close by (I might have accidentally taken the Korean family’s stick) but they didn’t complain or gesture that it was theirs though. Anyways, here’s a picture of me walking slowly back down the mountain.
A Korean hiker who spoke English decided to ask if I was okay and handed me some bandage from his first aid kit. He told us that his sons (who are in the same age group) get hurt all the time as well. He also informed us that he has relatives in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada! Afterwards, we went to Family Mart and bought some bandages. I did have some at home but it's always better to have more.
In conclusion, I am injured and the prognosis is day-to-day. I walked in shoes today and it was hurting a lot when I had to apply pressure. However, I am slowly recovering from this traumatic experience. I hope to get better soon so that I can experience my summer vacation properly in two weeks!

Tourist Attractions

The weekend started slowly when I woke up at 9am because the previous night I went to sleep at 7pm! The 14 hours of sleep was refreshing and much needed. It was worth it too considering the weekend was busy with plenty of tourist activities with my friend Nav. I will organize the events in chronological order so that everyone can keep up with the blog posting.

Tourist Information Booth:
Nav and I felt at home at this place. We basically got information to the city and to the entire country in English. I was able to snag couple of brochures with popular attractions in Busan and other touristy activities to do throughout the city in the next 10 months or so.
Jagalchi Fish Market:
This particular fish market is the largest in South Korea and home to thousands of fish and sea food. Nav and I walked around for an hour before we bumped into foreigners who have been here in Busan for only 3 weeks! Younger than us by 2 whole weeks! It’s always nice to meet people who are curious, adventurous, and have a tourist-minded approach to the city like us.




Nampo-Dong Shopping:
We only spent maybe an hour or so of browsing around shops but we certainly have to go again because we only covered approximately 10% of the entire area. I did manage to get 5 pairs of socks! Ankle socks are popular here and very efficient for the type of weather the city gets. Each pair of socks were 1000 wons (less than a CDN dollar because the CDN currency is quite strong these days). My favourite is obviously the one in the centre – Angry Birds! Although the red bird is quite useless in the game compared to the others however since it is red I must own it. Nampo-Dong will certainly be a place I will shop for small Christmas gifts (especially those who showed up to my 5th Annual Sports Event).


Busan Tower:
The view was marvellous but we honestly need to invest in a proper camera. The images did not show the true beauty of the sceneries and obviously my iPhone does not have flash so it was quite difficult to take proper pictures during the night. I still haven’t owned a camera in my life so I will probably try and buy one before the start of the summer vacation for the public school English teachers (which is in another two weeks). Nav and I will certainly come back to this tower during the day and when we own a good camera.



Kyungsung University (KSU):
Around 9:30pm, we decided to head towards KSU to roam around this region of the city, and to meet up with our friend Chris. I bought a baseball cap for the first time since I was in elementary school (maybe grade 3) when I owned a Minnesota Twins cap. Anyways, Chris, Nav and I witnessed couple of bands perform but we were too occupied with our darts challenge, and meeting new people from the city and the country. Afterwards we grabbed some shawarmas for a late night dinner! I got two chicken shawarmas for 7,000 wons! It was filling, delicious, and it reminded me of the real spicy food that I enjoyed so much when I was an undergraduate student at York University.

I got home pretty late and I went to sleep right away because I knew there were more tourist attractions to enjoy tomorrow as well. Sunday started early for me because I woke up at 10:45am and got ready so that I can go visit Nav’s area which is an hour away by bus and subway combined. I finally arrived at Nav’s place around 1pm and we had brunch at a restaurant that specialized in chicken dishes.

Mt. Jangsan:
Around 3pm, Nav and I decided to take the challenge of hiking up this mountain that is estimated to be around 637 metres above the sea level. The weather was fabulous, and the timing of the hike was great too. Unfortunately there was a minor accident which caused us to turn back around near the waterfall area of the mountain. The waterfall was not big or pretty and you can be the judge of it when you look at the photos. San in Korean means “mountain” so Busan is actually a reference to Bu Mountain. Busan is after all filled with many mountains and huge hills so it is understandable why the city is called what it is.





Sung Jung Beach:
Due to the accident, Nav and I headed earlier to the beach than we originally anticipated. However, the timing was great because the sun was not beating down on the sand and the breeze from the ocean was cooling after a long day of walking. We were able to take pictures of the sceneries from various elevations and of random things we saw. We will come back and try the speed boat experience for 20,000 wons and the Banana Boat ride for 15,000 wons. We were a bit late because the beaches here close at 6:30pm and we arrived around 7pm. Oh well, it gives us another reason to come back to this quiet beach.





For dinner, we went to a German Korean restaurant in Nav’s neighbourhood. The fondue I had was amazing and well worth the price! First time having fondue in a long time and second time overall. Anyways, that was my busy weekend and if you are curious about the minor accident that occurred on Mt. Jangsan and want to know more about it, please read the next blog post.