Fall??

I just wanted to let you all know that today was the start of the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok. This 3-day holiday sometimes falls over a weekend, thus allowing school children and people such as myself only 1 or 2 days off, but this year it has really worked in our favor. September 21st-23rd being the awkward Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday that it is has prompted universities to allow a full week vacation. Also, many public schools are either offering the Monday or Friday off to make a nice round 6 days free! I myself worked yesterday and have now begun my loooong weekend. I plan to spend a couple days in Daegu with friends, then the weekend will be in Seoul to shop, dine, drink, and visit some more!^^

This is why I have train tickets

Also in this short note, a weather update. It has been a strange few seasons here. I'm even more convinced than before that the world is ending. First off, the winter brought the first snow Busan had seen in 3 or 4 years, Seoul got a TON of snow, then after a warm stretch it even snowed in April!! Spring was the rainiest non-rainy season on record and remarkably hot. Summer was actually not as hot and much drier than everyone expected.

Now here we are, September 21st. Most would say this should be fall.

It's currently 81 F, feels like 84 with a humidity of 73%! At 11:45PM!! We hit a high today of 88, feels like 95. The forecast for tomorrow says it will be a bit cooler. Thank heaven for that.

IKEA store releases 100 cats, just to see what would happen.

This one speaks for itself.

The Summer Activities

Now that I have a moment to write, I'll catch you up on the summer activities which kept me busy.

Haeundae Beach - Peak season, from the sanity of an A/C coffee shop!

In June, I was teaching my school's summer camp and spending most afternoons at the beaches in my area. 20 minutes south from my house by bus is Haeundae Beach, the most well-known and most visited beach in the country. I only went a couple times - it gets a bit overwhelming. The peak vacation period is July & Aug, so during June it was still bearable.

Im-rang Beach in the country north of Busan

There's also Song-jeong Beach only 15 bus minutes, Il-gwang is close enough for a bike ride, and then Im-rang just a 10 minute bus north of me. These are all much quieter, family oriented lovely little beaches. Trade the Starbucks for a ma & pop kimbap shop and bring your own mat to lay on!


Then July brought another summer camp for the county area I live in. This one brings in teachers from the Toronto area to lead the classrooms in Western-style ESL learning, as opposed to their usual EFL learning in their native country. Over 3 weeks of 3.5-hour morning classes, the students formed a close bond with us and we saw great improvement in their English usage skills. Throughout the course, they learned about Canadian culture and history, read, wrote, played new games, and even learned songs which were performed at the closing. On the last day all our kids threw a party for my co-teacher Jason and I, complete with cake, silly string, shrimp crackers, and a bunch of lovely gifts & notes.

August brought a lot of music, the Busan Rock Festival, Smashing Pumpkins, one of my fav Busan bands Poko Lambro, and salsa dancing on the beach. The Rock Fest was held at Dadaepo Beach and was my first visit to that southern area of Busan. I got to enjoy some great lesser-known Korean rock bands in an exciting, high energy atmosphere, with one of my best friends in Korea. Then my buddies from Daegu and I headed to Seoul to see the Smashing Pumpkins, who I've been listening to for over a decade. The band's members have changed over the years (with only Billy Corgan remaining out of the original members), but they still rocked the house down.

New Photos

... are up! More posts to come.

Flickr photostream

Change of Attitude

What a busy summer. I've really only had time to do things, see people, and sometimes photograph them. But absolutely not enough time to organize, edit, and upload those pictures, or to write about it. Sorry.

Well, now it's September and though I anticipated a slight reprieve, none has come yet. I'm bringing you this brief update to let you know I'm changing my tactics for this blog. I will no longer wait to have a free hour to write a long post about my life, since those free hours just don't come along anymore. Rather, I will be posting short snipits and when possible photos to tell the story of my life. Hopefully before the week is up, I'll bring you some pictures that are on backlog from July and Aug. Also, I'll renew my subscription on Flickr so I can upload the hundreds I have taken during that time. That may wait for the weekend though~ I've got a lot on my plate right now!

New semester at school
Volunteering to teach Uni kids 2 hrs a week
Studying Korean
Studying English/GRE
Planning final summer fun
Taking care of the house that's been neglected during previous summer fun
Maintaining relationships with family, friends, loved ones
Eating
Sleeping
Finally, ***ing. (undisclosed as of yet^^)

Me with my Korean girls at the hometown bar, Haeundae Busan

Busan Lotte Giants b-ball game

Me and Stephanie with our game attire on!

Salsa dancing on Haeundae Beach, Busan

Before the Busan Rock Festival at Dadaepo Beach