A close call...and Marie loses her cool...

Something happened to me this weekend, and I reacted in a way that I never thought was possible. As you all know, it is the wonderful Halloween season and many times people dress up in costumes the weekend before if Halloween falls on a weekday. Same for all of us foreigners here in Korea.

I had been looking forward to enjoying Busan for Halloween weekend for a long time. Basically, since I stepped off the plane, I had a plan to go to Busan for Halloween. It just so happened that it was also one of my good friend Emily's (lives in Busan) birthday weekend and the annual Fireworks Festival as well. The stars were all lining up...

Even with all of these wonderful things, this past weekend was almost the worst weekend EVER- it was such a close call. I'll recall the events that happened on Saturday night.

Setting: Eva's Ticket, KSU (University area), Busan
Date: Saturday, well technically Sunday...
Time: 4:00 am

So we were at Eva's party, a clubish-type thing in Busan and we were all dancing. I had been keeping my wallet which contained my i-phone, money, ARC card, credit card, and Korean bank card in my friend Ben's back pocket because I was tired of carrying it and less face it, guys pockets need to be used for something. Ben and I were dancing and he all of a sudden said to me, "Someone just took your wallet out of my pocket!" Instantly, I checked all of my pockets and all of his pockets and sure enough, my wallet was in none of our pockets!

CRAP!

 I started frantically looking. Ben and Emily ran down the stairs to the entrance to make sure that no one could leave with it. Some of my other friends were coming up to me and I was trying to tell them that I couldn't talk, someone just stole my wallet and they were still here! I grabbed so many backpockets of people, and yes I know that means I had to grab a lot of butts, but I was quite desperate. Most of the people didn't even realize....hahah

After about 5 minutes (which seemed like a whirlwind of hours) I noticed a guy sitting on my wallet on a stool. Immediately, I yank my wallet out and just laid into this guy. This is where it gets messy...

I would normally call myself a peaceful person with a very loyal personality. I don't recall screaming at anyone ever except my little brother and I think that might be considered normal. Anyways, I found myself 6 inches from this guys face just screaming at him! There were some choice words. My emotions were extremely high. This was no joke.

This guy, who was wearing a mask, couldn't say much of anything. He did manage to say, " I don't know why you are so upset..." This of course made me more pissed and I just continued to scream. Finally some of my guy friends realized what was going on, and pulled me off of him. I don't remember being so mad that I could have hit someone, but I think I could have in this moment. Not my finest Mennonite moment that's for sure....

Some of my guy friends continued to talk to this guy (maybe calling him some names...) and all he said to them, "She'll learn for next time." It's a good thing that I didn't know this at the time. It would have been much harder for me to calm down! How will I learn? It's not like I left it somewhere and someone took it. No, he stole it out of a pocket. AND- It was a foreigner. Most likely another teacher. Robbed by my own kind. Ridiculous. I think that this guy got off easy. Many people that I have told this story to can't believe that no one physically punched this guy...

Gosh, I am so thankful that Ben felt my wallet being taken. I am so thankful that I was able to get it back. To replace all of those things, it would have cost me a ton of money and a bunch of headaches. 

I don't know what this guy looks like. I could pass him on the street and have no idea that he was the one who tried to steal from me. Might be better this way. Although, I'm not sure how to be more careful, I probably will be in the future. I guess I could always hold onto my wallet....I had taken off my costume shortly before this incident and I remember thinking that someone could steal my costume. That is what I was concerned with! Not my wallet! haha

Anyways, now you all know that I can get quite loud if defending myself...
Don't judge...

Hiking in the Moonlight...

Mt. Apsan Night Hike:

I was lucky enough to get to tag along with a group that was going on a night hike last Saturday! When I say tag along, I mean I really had no idea what was going on except that we were going to hike at night. After a bit of a journey to get to our meeting location, since our driver actually dropped us of at a non-bus stop location, we made it to the base of Mt. Apsan. 
Some of the small mountains near me have lights installed going up the mountain that stay lit up until 10:00 pm. So I was thinking that is what we would be hiking with. Once we got there, I quickly realized that maybe we should have brought flashlights! Whoops!

Websites are so misleading in this country. Some sights said it was a 30 minute hike up and some said an hour. Some said it was a "very easy" hike and others said it was challenging. I will say that it was waaaaay different than the hiking that us foreigners are used to! We have switchbacks. Korea does not. The options are either ridiculous incline, and when that incline turns to great, then they have stairs. Now... after the 7 kilometer Jirisan hike of stairs, this was no biggie for me. But only because I had had that previous experience. Hiking is serious business in this country! 

The journey up took about an hour. I was so glad that I didn't bring a flashlight. I hiked by the light of the moon. And even though it was an overcast night, the full moon provided enough light to safely get up and down the mountain. I found it very therapeutic to be honest....Though the incline was quite challenging compared to hikes that are used to, I enjoyed this hike. Probably because I have been running for a while and that helped my body make it up all those stairs! 

The view when we made it to the top was stunning. You could see all of Daegu and realize how big it really is. I hope to do it again maybe in the spring when there is another big moon and clear skies! I think the moon on the mountains could be magical! :)

So to sum up: The first .5 kilometers are a steep inclined road. The next .5 kilometers are stairs. I would bring a flashlight if the moon isn't bright. And the view is awesome! I would budget at least 45 minutes to get up to the top...unless you are a crazy awesome hiker! :) The End.

Best purchase EVER!

I've made a decision and I'm living with the consequence... Have you noticed that I am able to wear my hair down in my photos? Some of you have commented, "There must not be a humidity problem in Korea because your hair is down all the time. " 
Over 5 weeks ago, I decided to have my hair chemically straightened in a "Korean straight hair perm". And I am now ready to give my reviews...
I LOVE IT! I absolutely LOVE IT! I honestly don't know how I am going to be able to leave this country. For the first time in my life I am able to blow dry my hair and go. Before I would spend 30 minutes after blow drying my hair to straighten it, and even then if there was humidity in the air, my hair was a goner! Not anymore! 
My first month in Korea was hair nightmare. I would try to be able to wear it down, but it would frizz to the point of doubling in size. I thought something needed to be done. When I was in New Zealand, I had this done and it worked a bit, so I thought at this point, I needed to try again. In New Zealand I thought it was going to work wonders, so I paid a lot of money for it...embarrassingly probably around $250 NZ dollars. (that's ridiculous) And when it didn't work that well, it was depressing. I also tried to get it done in the States, with no results at all.
I brought the idea up with my co-teacher and she said that she had had it done to her hair. You might be interested to know that most of the Koreans with straight hair have had this process done! I didn't know that. I assumed that they were just born with ridiculously straight hair! Anyways, 2 of my co-teachers set me up with an appointment at their hair dressers. I got an appointment with the owner and she was let say... "very nervous" about doing a foreigners hair. I got many warnings:

" It may not work." ( meaning: it may not work as well as a Korean's hair)

" Your hair will be damaged." (meaning: your hair could have damaged ends)

" The bleached hair will be more damaged." (meaning: the bleached highlights could show more damage than the other areas)

She talked with so much drama in her voice that I thought that my hair was going to exist no more. As soon as I got verification that my hair would not fall out as a result of these things, I gave the go ahead. The process took 3 hours. She put a cream in my hair, kind of washed it out, then dried it and straightened it with a straightener, and then washed it again. Finally it was time for the test- the blow drying test... I could see the worry and concern on the owners face. As she was blow drying my hair I could see her face turn from stoic to a slight smile. Then as she was finishing it, a big smile came across her face and she was showing everyone my hair! I could hear the relief in her Korean words! That was when I got excited! If she was excited, then I needed to be excited! It was obvious that it had worked! The pessimist (the Korean salon owner) had been defeated by the optimist (the crazy foreigner lady that wanted Korean hair- ME)! 
I have since found out that you can get the ends of your hair permed. The rest of your hair is straight and the last 5 inches have some curls. If only I had known that for those 7 years I had extremely long hair! Also, you can get a bang or fringe perm. This is when they perm just your bangs so that they are not plastered on your forehead! These Koreans are so smart! Thinking about getting bangs now...???
Alright, here are the results in pictures! 5 weeks have passed and I am still only blow drying my hair in the morning. I didn't realize how much time I was wasting before...There is a bit of damage on the ends of my hair, but nothing that a trim wouldn't fix! Overall....Best purchase EVER!

Salon: "H Hair" (에이치 헤어)
Location: Chilgok
Price: 100,000 won (varies for length of hair and thickness)

And the toilet seat went flying...

I feel I am finally to the point that I can talk about it... my traumatic bike accident...

Traumatic, no never mind. It wasn't that big of deal. Most of the trauma came as a result of my second fall on my wound but more about that later....

It started at 9:00 at night. When I moved into my apartment, one of the first things that I noticed that would need changed was my toilet seat. You know those cushy, yucky seats that only-people-over-65 have in America??? That is what I was looking at on my first day. And in Korea, your shower does not have a curtain or really any contained area, so water is bound to get on this toilet seat. You can imagine the unpleasantness...

Anyways, it was 9:00 and I had just gotten my first pay check. "I'm going to go to Home Plus to get a new toilet seat!" I declared. I have a bike. I looooove my bike. I spent many-a-minutes on the first night I got it scrubbing it into cleanliness and it's original color. I bought it for cheap. 40,000 won to be exact. I really do love my bike. It has cut my time in half to get to downtown Chilgok. 

To be honest I probably need to start with my first bike accident.... My first one was not severe. I was riding on the sidewalk, because lets face it....riding on the streets in Korea is a death wish. I thought that a group of middle school girls had seen me because they were drifting to the side of the sidewalk. Last minute they fanned out and I had to make a decision. Human girls, or me run my leg into a cement wall. The girls were fine. My leg was scrapped. Oh well. 

But because of this event, I have hated the few blocks of very narrow sidewalks on my way to Home Plus and downtown. Hence why, after purchasing a new toilet seat and putting it in the front of my basket, I made the decision to ride on the street for these few blocks. 

Before going on the street I didn't see any cars, but about half way through the first block, I could hear some behind me. Then panic set in..."OH CRAP! I don't have any reflectors on my bike! Can they see me???" I decided the best option was to cut back onto the sidewalk as it ramped back down. I was going quite fast when I did this and did not have the appropriate angle to jump the 1 inch manufactures mistake, and just wiped out! My toilet seat went flying! ahaha! 

I didn't even assess my wounds. A very nice elderly Korean couple who had witnessed my wipe out picked up my toilet seat from the middle of the road and placed it back into my basket as I set my bike up. Surprisingly they knew some English and asked if I was okay and told me to, "take care". I can only imagine what was going through their minds... I didn't look down. I didn't look down until I was at home and realized that I had blood running down my leg. Of course the wound was on my surgical knee and over my very large keyloid scar. I also had a puncture on one of my heals. But considering the fall, I was very lucky! I have no idea how I saved my hands from damage!

I did my best to slightly clean it up, and luckily (because I am sooooo old and motherly) I brought some neosporin from home. The next day, I went to the nurses office and she cleaned it out again. This time by scrubbing it with an orange goo infested swab. Extreme fun.... 

The real drama of this toilet seat battle wound started on the weekend, when I was in Andong. In Korea, they outline the normal parts of the side walks with very slick polished marble or something. I find it stupid in every way. As it was raining and I was wearing flip flops (duh), I hit that part of the sidewalk on a ramp and my left leg went out in front of me which caused all of my weight to go directly on my hurt knee! You know when something is so painful that you can't even scream? Yup, that was this moment... Not only did I have a scrape on my knee, but I'm pretty sure it was bruised like crazy and since it is my surgical knee, I'm guessing it was worse off than my other knee would have been! 

To soften this pain, I drank soju. More soju than was probably necessary ..I looked down at one point and noticed my jeans were quite soaked with blood...whoops! Soju helped!

The next day I looked at it and it was way worse. I showed the nurse at school and it was infected. At one point during the week I was in the nurses room and she was trying to clean the wound (by rubbing the orange goo infested swab of course) while kids were watching tears run down my face. I was told, "If the kids can do it so can you Marie! " I'm sure though that these kids weren't dealing with a surgical knee that was bruised like it had never been bruised before! AHHH! I shudder thinking about this.

Needless to say my knee wound was all I could think about for at least a week. What am I going to wear? I had to keep it open. Will these people run into it on this extremely packed bus? Oh the drama. 

I hope that was my last bike accident... :)

Daegu Art Museum- A dream I dreamed...

My co-teacher Hyuni mentioned to me quite a long time ago that there was a great exhibition at the moment at the Daegu Art Museum by the Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama. Kusama is quite well known around the world and has had exhibitions in many of the big art museums. 
It was difficult to find a weekend that we were free so that we could go, but Sunday got put on my calendar awhile ago. Sunday was such a beautiful day and apparently many people were finding the weather attractive to get out in. The museum was very busy and had many children. This is because the exhibition (A dream I dreamed) is all polka dots. And not only that, but there are many installations that kids are able to participate in, which I find really cool. Well, in a normal situation, I would find that really cool. When I had to share such a cool exhibition with so many people and kids...it wasn't that great!

My co-teacher Hyuni :)

 Everything that Yayoi Kusama displayed had dots involved. One of the rooms that were great for kids, was a white room where they gave you stickers and you could put them anywhere! The kids loved being a part of the artwork!....and so did the adults! :)

"a polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity."
- Yayoi Kusama

We are Family....

How often is it that 23% of your cousins on one side of your family are in Korea at the same time? I'm guessing not very often! I thought 3 of 13 was pretty good!

For those of you who were wondering, my cousin Kristen lives in Cheongju, and I live in Daegu. It is a 2 or so hour bus ride between us. Easy Peasy! 

As of October 8th, I hadn't been to visit Kristen in Korea yet. (She hadn't visited me either...) I found this ridiculous considering I had been in the country for 2 months and this was the closest I have EVER lived to her in my whole life! We had a national holiday for Hangul Day, (God Bless you King Sejong the Great...) Korea's alphabet. Korea is very proud of their alphabet and the fact that it is very easy to learn to read. Anyways, we had a day off and it was during the time that my cousin Alex was visiting her sister, Kristen (also my cousin), in Cheongju. I left on the Tuesday night after school and made it there in a three hour journey. When I first arrived there I got to watch the final moments of Alex losing in ping pong. I have lost to her for years, so I did seem to get a bit of gratification watching her lose! We spent most of the rest of the time just catching up and talking. Well, Kristen and I talked...Alex doesn't talk as much us! ahah

I ate my first Indian food here. It wasn't Indian...but it was still really good. Bradford has raised my standard for Indian/ Pakistani food that's for sure. We ate a lot- pizza, ice cream...all standard when you are in Alex's presence!
On the Wednesday we went to are part of Cheongju that is kinda of like the ghetto or slum. Apparently they wanted to tear down the houses to put in sky-rise apartments, so the people painted the walls with murals to save the community. How heroic! I have no proof of this, but I heard this... Anyways, Kristen and I were having a gay ol' time taking pictures (because that is what we do) and Alex... well Alex managed to entertain herself as well! She got creative! :) To be honest I thought she would have complained a little more than she did. Kristen must have broke her in a bit before I got there...
These were my favorite murals I have seen in Korea. They were really creative and had a lot of color! I couldn't believe that Kristen hadn't been there yet! To be honest though, I am sure there are things in Daegu that I will not even think about seeing until I have visitors too! 
After walking around, I had to leave and go back to Daegu. One day was not long enough, but I'll see Kristen soon for Halloween in Busan! It's fun to have family close when you are so far away from the rest of the family! Hopefully we can have some more photo adventures soon! 

Jinju Lantern Festival 2013

  After hearing many great things about the Lantern Festival in Jinju, I was very excited to finally go see it! A group of us girls that hang out a lot decided to make a day trip and travel the 2 hours by bus to see the lanterns. I was not expected the volume of lanterns that they had in this place!!!
As soon as we arrived in Jinju we found the festival and immediately started to make our own lantern. Sian, from South Africa, had been to the festival earlier in the week, so we had someone with a bit of knowledge of the layout and schedule. I think that the girls at the lantern making were quite concerned when we said that we all wanted to make our own lantern. I think they were just anticipating the amount of help that they would be giving us.
We spent the next couple of hours making a lantern. It was great to see the process that goes into making these lanterns, and hopefully in the future I can take some extra time and make a really extravagant one! I wanted to make a jayhawk. I don't know why, but for some reason I have jayhawks on my brain... Pretty sure it is the upcoming basketball season that is doing it! :) So stoked!
Anyways, I ended up making a cube, then switching Sian so she could make a lamp and ended up making a heart!

 They lit the lanterns at 6:00, so that left us and hour and a half to see as many lanterns as we could before we needed to catch a taxi back to the bus station. There were hundreds of lanterns! Many of the cool ones were on the river and they had made makeshift bidges that you could walk across to get a great view of them. The view was great to see them, but horrible to take pictures because this bridge was made out of floating jugs! It was like a bouncy castle going across, and you felt quite sea-sick or drunk as you were stumbling across! Not the ideal for taking long exposure photos! Oh well! I managed to get a few that weren't too bad...
The area of the lanterns was also huge, but this being said- there were sooooo many people. And in the nicest way possible I will also mention that Koreans are the most spatially unaware people I have ever been around! I could be one of two people on the sidewalk and I will still get bumped into! So, being at a festival on a time crunch with thousands of Koreans can get your anxiety level up! ahah

 This is Emily and I showing out love in a love heart!

 There was a tunnel of home-made lanterns that were made by the local high-schoolers in the area. This was my favorite part of the entire festival...Very cool! :)

 The evening did not end out the best. We had planned to get a taxi at 7:30, which gave us 30 minutes to get to the bus terminal. We had pre-bought our tickets to get the last bus leaving Jinju heading to Daegu, so we NEEDED to get on this bus or we spent the night in an already packed city.
We didn't realize that all of the streets would be shut down after a certain time so no taxi could even get close to the festival! We walked in the direction of the bus station hoping to find one, but with no luck! We RAN to the terminal and made it with 3 minutes to spare! Scary and very stressful! We made it though!
I could have spent hours at this festival though. I had heard that they keep the lanterns lit until 2:00 am, so ideally I would spend the night there and photograph once most of the people left! I have a game plan now if I ever get back to this festival! :)