Busan & a Secret Getaway

Hello everybody!

I visited Busan last month for the Busan International Film Festival. If you don't know what a Film festival is, it is an event where hundreds of movies, from all over the world, are shown throughout the two weeks of the festival at specific times in specific theaters. The director and or stars from the movies will then have a Q&A afterwards. There are other events and shows as well, and sometimes, if you are lucky (like I was) you might see a famous person walking back from doing a promotional speech or something and getting into their ridiculously shiny black car, escorted by security and "fan stoppers".
Also, getting a ticket to one of the showings of the movies is not always guaranteed because it sells out so quickly. I was one of those unfortunates that went to the film festival, but didn't get to see any of the movies. But, like I said, I saw a famous person walking back to their car, so that was something. I have no idea who he was either, I just know he's famous. (I didn't get a picture though. :(

But I'm pretty sure it was this guy:

He's on the show "Running man" thats all I know. 

So, Busan was fun. I got to see Eunju again, and that is always nice, and I met her friend Vicky, who was a transfer student in Australia for two years and just graduated and came back to Korea this summer. Lovely girl, inside and out.

I couldn't get a pic without someone in the way, so I decided to take it while she was posing. haha, don't know that girl. 

This and the one above are sand art for the Busan international film festival. Really great. 

Red bridge near a temple we went to in Busan. 

These little guys were EVERYWHERE at this temple. It was kind of cute. 

And of course, while in Korea you will see things like this....men's beauty shops. 

And t-shirts like this.....

Okay, I am pretty sure Josie (who was taking the picture) TOLD me to be creepy...but maybe she didn't. Anyway, Left to right: Esther, Me, Vicky, Eunju.

And this is right after the creepy picture...I think Josie said something to make me laugh. Or maybe she showed me Esther's face from the previous pic...lol.

Busan View. I love love love this city. Mountains to the West and Ocean to the East. Can't beat it. 

Eunju and I...this pretty much sums us up. kkkkk

Also, last month the Province of Education office decided to have another 'workshop' for all of us scholars in the Jeollabukdo province (my province) and so we all had to skip school on Friday for a workshop that we were slightly dreading.
However, my provincial office staff is amazing and it was actually a secret vacation/getaway. They told our schools it was a workshop and that we would have lectures and stuff so that we could miss a day of school without having to make up the hours. We had one 3 minute lecture (so they technically didn't lie about the lecture part) and then the rest was just cultural learning and sightseeing. We stayed in a luxurious hotel by the ocean in Yeosu, a city south of us, and were taken to restaurants with some really delicious food. (I heard the coordinator say she researched the most famous/best restaurants/ what kind of food the city was most well known for and what was the most delicious in the area. Wow. So thoughtful.) We went to a huge garden expo, (which for some reason I don't have any pictures of) a traditional village (Hanok Village) and a temple in the woods. And this was all expenses paid, hotel, food, travel, everything. It was absolutely amazing and the best "workshop" I've ever been too. :)

This was the view from my window. I had one of the few rooms with a balcony. kkkkkk

View from my balcony.

Sunset was awesome. 

When we went to the Hanok Village, we came across this beautiful traditional pottery workshop. 

Front 'gate'

This is a Traditional Korean/Wood Kiln. 

They actually use it too!

Inside the studio!

I think this might be where the owner lives....but its also part of the shop. 

Wares for sale

More wares for sale. I was so excited and absorbed in this place that I ended up being the last person on the bus and actually had held it up for 15 mins because I lost track of time and was late! oops. 

These lauhging little guys.

Front yard

In front of the studio

This tree was huge!!!

So you can't see, but I"m pushing this girl (Sareena) on this huge traditional Korean swing. You stand on it, and it is really really long. 

Okay....here is someone swinging like a boss on this....it terrifies me. I don't like these swings.

Okay...well for some reason it's connected these photos and I can't give them individual captions. But the middle photo is us at the Garden Expo (Me, Jeff, Nick and....Hyuna? Not sure what her name is... anyway, all are TaLK scholars and i don't really know those people that well.) The bottom photo is someone's house in the Hanok Village. People actually live there. Its really interesting because while it's a big tourist attraction, it's very traditional and I"m not sure how much of the modern day conveniences they have in those houses....like electricity or whatnot.

Okay, so, that was the secret surprise getaway from our POE, and it was really kind and thoughtful of them. During the head coordinators 3 min "lecture" she told us that she remembers being a teacher and she knows that sometimes you just need a break. Wonderful, thoughtful woman. So glad to have her as our POE. And before and after this trip I hung out with Josie in Jeonju (since that was the city we all had to meet in to go on the trip) and during that time we had some ice cream (with Josie laughing at who knows what)

 

And we had some Meter long Shishkabobs. 

It was big...and good. (two guys in the picture are Ian (left) and Vin ) So those Meter long shishkabobs hung from a hook and then there was a frying pan below that you pulled the food down onto and cooked. It was kind of an annoyingly long process since we were all starving but the frying pan was small so we could only pull down a bit at a time, and then we had to wait for it to cook, and then we could eat it, and then we had to do it all over again....but, good experience all in all. 

Anyway, so far this second semester in Korea has had some really good times. I've met some interesting people,  (in good ways and bad, lol) and my Korean has gotten better as well! (Not as good as I would like/ it should be...but hey, can't have everything) 

Because of this trip I missed my school's fall festival though, but, I got to see the practices and took lots of pictures, so I'll show you my cute students in my next update! 

It's really starting to get cold here! I am expecting snow by December! (Imagine! SNOW! In DECEMBER!)

Hope all is well on the other side of the world! Catch you laters!

~TWGA