Holi Festival & Orphanage

Last Sunday (March 11th) was the Holi festival, which mean Festival of colours. It's supposed to signify the changing of the seasons from the colourless winter to the colourful spring. The Holi festival was held at Haeundae beach and few of my friends showed up to enjoy a wonderful experience. We danced, we laughed, we threw colours at each, and we made many new memories. Enjoy the pictures!

This weekend I decided to keep it more relaxed because the weekday was hectic with work, two open classes where parents get to come in and evaluate me as a teacher, work dinner with 5 other teachers, and I had to deal with the apartment maintenance fee which required me to go to the bank in the middle of my work schedule. This weekend, I just went to the Boys Orphanage to volunteer on Saturday. I played basketball 3 on 3 with few teenage boys. I had Yana and Victoria on my team and we lost 21-17. However, we had tons of fun and a tiring workout. Then we headed outside to play soccer with the other orphan boys. Finally, we came inside and did some St.Patrick's Day crafts and the volunteers gave out some treats to the little ones. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I will see the little ones next month as well.

Dog Town & OZ Birthday Weekend

Last week I went to Deokcheon area to visit a fellow Canadian teacher. She left Korea back in October and came back because she missed the Korean lifestyle a lot. She wanted to learn more Korean and wanted to be among the Korean people. Her name is Victoria but I call her Victoria Cara Minzy Ajumma Cantaloupe Yoo KAJUN for fun. Her Filipino background and her Canadian personality gives a vibe of easy going and laid back but unfortunately she lives far away from Busan civilization in the Deokcheon area which is called the "Ghetto of Busan". Deokcheon is famous for the Gupo Market, which is the home of dog meat. Yes, you read that correctly. Dog meat. I was deeply disturbed by the picture and I apologize for making you see it as well. I am not a pet person and I don't pretend to be one but this is not something I would want to see happen to any living organism. Victoria's housing situation isn't the best either because there is a bunch of mold and rotted fish in her sink and because of that her room smells really funky. Also, there is a pigeon living in her gas room. I decided to name the pigeon Pidgeotto (a Pokemon name) but her current situation is a total mess. I hope it gets better soon though.

The weekend was Yana's 24th birthday weekend! Her birthday was on the Sunday but we celebrated it on Saturday instead. Saturday was also my Cultural Fusion potluck that I hosted. I made four different curries and made roti for the first time in Korea. The weekend was busy and hectic. Here is the picture of the birthday girl, my one and only friend from Australia that I met while teaching in Korea. I added photos of my potluck event as well. Enjoy!
Another busy week coming up and I hope to keep this blog up to date as possible. Until then, see you later!

Japan: Sushi Land

From February 27th to the 29th Yana, Ananda and I went to Japan for a quick visit. We used a ferry from Busan to Fukukoa and then a bullet train from Fukukoa to Osaka where our hostel was located. The first day was pretty much a travel day. We left Busan around 2pm and arrived in Osaka around 9pm. 7 hours of travel and I slept probably 6 hours of it. To me personally, I have to sleep in order to get myself energetic and alive. This was our first proper meal in Japan and it was delicious but also expensive as we expected because it’s Japan after all. We went to sleep right away because we knew the next day is going to be busy. The next day we woke up around 8am so we could meet up with Kanako, who was Rachel’s friend (Rachel is Ananda’s high school friend from Canada). Kanako was also our tour guide! She spoke great English and translated everything for us. She was wonderful and I don’t think we would have enjoyed our visit without her assistance. 9:30pm we meet up with Kanako and headed straight to Kyoto to check out two temples. The first temple was the “Clean Water Temple” and the second temple was called the “Golden Temple”. Kyoto was a beautiful place to discover Japanese culture and history. We also had Udon for lunch at the Clean Water Temple.



After the temple visits we came back to Osaka. The first thing I wanted to do was head to the Pokemon Center! I dragged my friends there in order to fulfill my childhood dreams of visit a Pokemon Center. I took so many photos here.
All of this excitement got all of us hungry so headed to a sushi restaurant to eat dinner. Sushi was coming from the conveyor belt and it was the cheapest meal we had in Japan and it was the most delicious too! As soon as we were stuffed we knew we had to use the rest of the day to explore more of Osaka so we headed to the famous Umeda Sky Building. The view from the top was great. I could see the entire skyline of Osaka city. Afterwards we just walked the streets of Osaka and did few random things such as taking photos at a photo booth, and ate more Japanese food.

The next day we had to catch the 2pm ferry from Fukukoa to Busan so we once again woke up early and travelled 7 hours to get back home. Japan was a wonderful place and I would like to visit Tokyo and Mt. Fuji in the future but it is quite expensive. The bullet train was a great experience but it was overpriced. The food was delicious and the sushi was wonderful. The people were great and spoke better English than most Koreans. Finally, I would definitely recommend a visit to Japan if you ever get a chance to teach in South Korea.

Exploring One's Seoul

From February 20th to the 24th I went to Seoul to have a bit of fun and to enjoy the Korean culture a bit more with a fellow Canadian friend. On the first day there I went to a Cookin' Nanta theatrical performance with cooking, comedy, and music. I wasn't able to take pictures during the actual performance but I was able to take few pictures before it began. The next day, we went to Itaewon area to explore and to shop. We also went to the Korean War Memorial. After all of that we saw a magic show titled The Illusion by Lee Eun Gyeol, a famous magician who won many awards. The show itself was spectacular and something I have never witnessed before. On Wednesday, we went to the 63 City building and the Seaworld which was located inside the building. After that we went to the World Cup Stadium where the 2002 World Cup Soccer tournament was held, which was co-hosted by Japan and Korea. Afterwards we walked to the nearby Digital City Gallery to check it out, and finally we went on a Han River boat cruise for an hour or so. The entire day we were walking a lot and we exhausted by the end.
The next day we caught the 9am KTX back to Busan. Overall, the four days went by so quick because of the amount of fun we were having. The next trip I have planned is to go to Japan! Hopefully I get to see Fukukoa, Osaka and Kyoto! Let's wait and see how it goes. I am excited and nervous (it's kind of expensive there) but either way, it's going to be an experience of a lifetime!

Ulsan For You

The weekend of February 18th and 19th I was very well. On the 18th I volunteered at the Boys Orphanage with my friends Jay, Dharma, Rosie, Thao, Eric, and Laura. We played soccer outside with the kids. They had tons of energy and super active. I was the goalie so the little ones wanted to be a goalie with me. It was quite adorable. After soccer, we went back inside to do some artworks with clay and colour dinosaur pictures. Finally, we handed out little treats for all the kids and said farewell. They were excited that so many foreign teachers showed up to see them and give them candies. It's a monthly event and I hope to participate next month as well.
After this uplifting event, I had dinner with my friends at KSU and hung out by playing Apples to Apples.

The next day, I went to Ulsan with Jeongeun to see a fellow Canadian, Trecia, who is a former Ryerson University professor and currently she is a professor at an university in Ulsan. She's such a wonderful person, and I always wanted to see Ulsan for myself so I was able to knock two mangoes with one stone. Ulsan itself isn't a spectacular place but it is quite peaceful there. Everyone is well off financially because of the many jobs that are available in the city. Anyways, I took some photos to share with you all. Enjoy!
Well, the upcoming week is going to be busy as well because I am going to go to Seoul! My fourth time there and I am very excited. I hope to have an adventurous time and I will see you soon.

The Art of Beomeosa

On Saturday, February 11th I went to the Beomeosa temple with my friends Nav, Yana, Jay, Warren and Gabe. We walked around for a bit and did some site seeing at the nearby mountain. I personally felt that the Beomeosa temple is just like any other temple I have seen in Korea. It didn't surprise me or have a 'wow' factor that I expected considering many Koreans have recommended this place to me. Perhaps, the fact that I am not a hardcore religious person might have influenced my perspection of the temple atmosphere and the trip itself. I still managed to take some photos for you people to enjoy. Overall, I would give a mark of 6 out of 10, the 10 being awesome and 1 being super lame.

On Friday, February 17th I went to the Trick Art Museum with my friend Jennifer at BEXCO (Exhibition Place). This was a lot of fun. I am just going to post pictures and let you see how great it was.


It was only 12,000 won and it was well worth it because we spent almost 2 hours at this place and we enjoyed every minute of it.