Dynamic Busan in Sparkling Korea

A lot foreigners like to poke fun at all of the ridiculous English slogans in Korea such as "Sparkling Korea" and "Beautiful Korea, Wonderful Immigration," which is what the sign at the Busan immigration office reads. But truthfully, Busan really is a dynamic city. So many people have been asking me what its like, so I thought I would write about it this week.

I am so happy that I chose to come here over anywhere else. Korea is a strange yet exciting country, and the people are so much nicer than I expected. A lot of foreigners get caught up over Koreans being pushy on the subway or cutting in line, but if you can just realize that its their culture and to them its not rude, then you can really enjoy yourself here. Busan is a city on the south eastern coast of Korea, only 5 hours from Seoul and a 3 hour ferry ride to Japan. It has five great beaches, and is surrounded by large, lush mountains. From my apartment, which is in the Pusan National University neighborhood (the coolest place to live in the city!), I can walk to a cable car and go hiking to a temple in the mountains, or hop on a subway and I'm on the beach in 30 minutes. There is so much to do here; walk the Teajonde Cliffs, take a ferry to any of the near by islands, hit the beach (after August its empty because Koreans believe its too cold!), go to an amusement park, hike to a temple, swim with sharks at the Busan Aquarium (yea right!), check out the movies at the Pusan International Film Festival, go to one of the many museums, or take a train/bus to any of the near by towns for a quick getaway. Of course, the nightlife is pretty good too. There are a number of different neighborhoods with live music, clubs, and bars and you can find plenty of places to meet up with foreigners or mingle with young Koreans.

It's so easy to live here, too. A lot of people have been asking me if its difficult not knowing the language and is it expensive, things like that. It's not difficult at all. Although everything is written in Korean and everyone speaks Korean, the country still uses a lot English and everything is very westernized. All public transportation has English, so its never hard to get around. The only time it has been frustrating is in taxis because the drivers don't recognize our way of pronunciating words. If I say I want to go to Gwanalli beach, they only understand if I say "gwanAllI BEAchY" as if I'm trying to sound Korean. There have been a few times I've been taken to the complete opposite side of town due to miscommunication. Another thing is that although Koreans don't speak English or are too embarrassed to do so, they understand a lot. And if they don't, simple miming always does the trick! It's dirt cheap here too. A 10 minute cab will run you $3-4 and a 30 minute cab will be about $11 or $12. You can easily buy trendy clothes for under $20 (most shirts go for $5) and a big mug of beer is usually $3. As teachers, we don't get paid nearly as much as we would back home, but most of us can still send back at least $400 a month after traveling and spending all the money we need here.

So that's all I can think to say about Busan right now. It's a great, cheap city and I highly recommend anyone to come check it out. In other news, I have a three day weekend on Friday and some girlfriends and I are going to Gyeongju, a historic city about an hour away. It was the capital city of Korea during the Shilla Dynasty and is packed with temples, shrines, tombs and other cool ancient asian stuff. Definitely looking forward to it. Also, I FINALLY got internet in my apartment today! So exciting! I put all of my pictures up on picasa, so check them out: http://picasaweb.google.com/lcurrie711 ...enjoy!