Last weekend was Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving, so public schools had five days off. Since we all just arrived three weeks ago, there wasn't enough time to plan major trips (plus traffic getting out of Busan was horrendous), so most of us stayed here and explored the city. There is sooo much to see here, I feel like it will take months to cover it all.
Friday was our first day off and most of us just slept in and then headed to the beach to relax after a long week of school and a night of partying on Thursday. Haeundae beach is so beautiful, I never thought I would find something like that here in Korea. The water is warm and clear and the beach is so clean. Lucky for us, Koreans believe that after August 15th they should not go to the beach, so it is practically empty in the end of August and September. In fact, it is against the law to swim after August 15th because it is supposedly dangerous. I think they think that the water is too cold and they could have a heart attack. In reality, its warm and beautiful and all of the foreigners go swimming anyway. No one stops us...they just stare at us like we are crazy.
On Saturday, Daryl and I went to the Changyu waterfalls, which are about a 30 minute bus ride out of the city. After getting lost for a good two hours we finally found our way to the town of Changyu and caught a taxi up to the falls to meet up with a bunch of Daryl's "footie lads." The waterfalls were freezing cold, but beautiful so we took a dip anyway. Unfortunately, the water comes from a dam at the top of the mountain which is opened in the morning and closed around noon, so by the time we got there at 3:30, there wasn't much water flowing anymore. Non the less, it was a great day of swimming, bbq-ing and relaxing. When we were about to leave, I asked the guys how we get back to the bus terminal and they said "Oh, you have to hitchhike." I laughed. They said, "No seriously, and you have to get right in the middle of the road or no one will stop for you." Obviously, I was thrilled, and decided I rather walk. Luckily, as soon as we came out of the falls we found a little restaurant and asked a woman there to call us a taxi. So all ended well, and I successfully avoided hitchhiking for the first and hopefully last time.
On Sunday, a bunch of us went to the top of Guemjungsun Mountain to the old fortress. We hiked for about two hours and saw some stunning views of the city of Busan. There are boulders at all of the peaks, so we climbed up to take pictures. My favorite part was stumbling upon a little pagoda (an old little temple like structure) and climbing onto the boulders around it. It was really amazing. The best part is that we probably only covered one-fifth of the fortress, so we'll be going back many more times to explore. On Monday and Tuesday, we shopped, went to restaurants and relaxed back at Haeundae beach. I took a walk through the cliffs on the side of the beach, and up to a cute little light house. The views of the islands were incredible. It's hard to go somewhere in Busan and not find beautiful scenery!
My mini vacation was great, and now its back to school. I'm really getting into a nice routine and lesson planning is becoming much easier. I love my apartment, and finally have all of my furniture! After 8 days of sleeping and eating on the floor, it felt great to feel like I now have a home. Anyway, I'm at school so I can't post any pictures, but I will as soon as I can! Bye for now!
Friday was our first day off and most of us just slept in and then headed to the beach to relax after a long week of school and a night of partying on Thursday. Haeundae beach is so beautiful, I never thought I would find something like that here in Korea. The water is warm and clear and the beach is so clean. Lucky for us, Koreans believe that after August 15th they should not go to the beach, so it is practically empty in the end of August and September. In fact, it is against the law to swim after August 15th because it is supposedly dangerous. I think they think that the water is too cold and they could have a heart attack. In reality, its warm and beautiful and all of the foreigners go swimming anyway. No one stops us...they just stare at us like we are crazy.
On Saturday, Daryl and I went to the Changyu waterfalls, which are about a 30 minute bus ride out of the city. After getting lost for a good two hours we finally found our way to the town of Changyu and caught a taxi up to the falls to meet up with a bunch of Daryl's "footie lads." The waterfalls were freezing cold, but beautiful so we took a dip anyway. Unfortunately, the water comes from a dam at the top of the mountain which is opened in the morning and closed around noon, so by the time we got there at 3:30, there wasn't much water flowing anymore. Non the less, it was a great day of swimming, bbq-ing and relaxing. When we were about to leave, I asked the guys how we get back to the bus terminal and they said "Oh, you have to hitchhike." I laughed. They said, "No seriously, and you have to get right in the middle of the road or no one will stop for you." Obviously, I was thrilled, and decided I rather walk. Luckily, as soon as we came out of the falls we found a little restaurant and asked a woman there to call us a taxi. So all ended well, and I successfully avoided hitchhiking for the first and hopefully last time.
On Sunday, a bunch of us went to the top of Guemjungsun Mountain to the old fortress. We hiked for about two hours and saw some stunning views of the city of Busan. There are boulders at all of the peaks, so we climbed up to take pictures. My favorite part was stumbling upon a little pagoda (an old little temple like structure) and climbing onto the boulders around it. It was really amazing. The best part is that we probably only covered one-fifth of the fortress, so we'll be going back many more times to explore. On Monday and Tuesday, we shopped, went to restaurants and relaxed back at Haeundae beach. I took a walk through the cliffs on the side of the beach, and up to a cute little light house. The views of the islands were incredible. It's hard to go somewhere in Busan and not find beautiful scenery!
My mini vacation was great, and now its back to school. I'm really getting into a nice routine and lesson planning is becoming much easier. I love my apartment, and finally have all of my furniture! After 8 days of sleeping and eating on the floor, it felt great to feel like I now have a home. Anyway, I'm at school so I can't post any pictures, but I will as soon as I can! Bye for now!
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