Friday I move into my home – that’s when things get interesting!
Ok….so what happened this weekend. I guess I’ll just start by saying it was fabulous! I really had such a good time. Ok…with that, here goes.
Saturday – we wanted to go to Dageu….so we did! This involved a very early 7:00 wake up, get ready, and get to the train station. Luckily we already knew where this was (the train station was an integral landmark for our search of the rock gym the night before.) We bought our tickets no problem, and were on the train ready to go!
Now, there are many different things that we could have done on that hour and 45 minute train ride. Being girls, you might think we gossiped the whole way to Daegu. Or maybe, since we got up so early, we took a nap. Perhaps you assume we were just glued to the window, looking out on the South Korean landscape. To tell you the truth, we did none of these things. Instead we did something helpful and productive – we learned some Korean numbers! 1-20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90! We were pretty proud of ourselves!
When we got to the train station, we jumped off the train, getting our bearings so that we can head in the right direction. All of a sudden I am attacked from behind by arms and a red umbrella! Shaken to the core, I turn around and it’s Sandy! She, Geoff, and everyone else we were meeting had been on our same train, just a different car! What a good surprise!
After making introductions and recovering from shock, we all headed out of the train station. Sandy and Geoff brought along a really informative friend who had been in Korea for 3 years and knew all about Daegu! He showed us all around the station, the subway, the movie theatre, the bookstore, the streets, etc! He was amazing. We had pizza for lunch, caught up on eachothers lives, and looked around the streets. At one point, we decided to separate. Some people wanted to keep looking at shops, and some wanted to look at parks (I being in the latter group). Geoff and I tried very hard, but got a bit confused on where we were going. Eventually we gave up and decided to brave the subway and head to the giant tower in the sky.
We arrived, but not with enough time to get to the spinning restaurant at the top. Instead we went for a walk around the park, where we saw a game of stick throwing and betting. When Geoff went to take a picture close up, the men yelled and waved their arms no – that was the end of that.
After running to make it to the appropriate meeting spot in time, we all got on the same train and headed home. It was nice that we could all ride together, even if the stops were different. It’s a good thing to know for next time.
Sunday – We decided to sleep in for a change, work on our lesson plans, then head to the beach.
Going to the beach was more fun than lesson planning, that’s for sure. Anyway, we went to Bukbu Beach. Now, we were expecting a wild crazy beach scene, with volleyball and swimmers everywhere. Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed. It was a cloudy day, the beach was kinda empty, and the volleyball courts were down. We though maybe we were at the wrong beach, so we decided to walk around the coast until we found the right beach. This was a mistake – but a very nice mistake. We ended up walking for about an hour and a half, until our friend Nick rode up on his bicycle. He informed us that the beach was actually Bukbu beach, and for some reason that he didn’t understand, it wasn’t very busy today (perhaps maybe because it was Sunday?) Anyway, Sam and I were starving so we popped into the closest restaurant to have a meal – then left right away. The prices were horrendous! So expensive! I guess we should have expected this, seeing as the restaurant was right on the coast and served fresh seafood. We checked a couple more places, learning from our mistake and asking for the menu this time. Every place was expensive or closed (it being Sunday you know). After a while we gave up and got gas station food. Sam bought a kimbap triangle and bbq-flavored cheetos. I bought prepackaged sushi and digestive biscuits (I love the fact that digestive biscuits are so popular here! Regular, chocolate covered, and even vanilla oreo style!). Really, it was the best lunch ever, being as hungry as we were.
After our amazing lunch, we left Nick and headed toward the cultural arts center. There was an art exhibit we wanted to check out. Then, right next door in the sporting complex, we found the highlight of the day – a massive huge ginormous climbing wall! It was right there, no fence, no rules, nothing! I guess you just walk up to it with your gear and climb to your hearts content! I can’t wait until I get the change to try it out. This is all Sam’s find – I give her the credit. She goggle mapped every sport complex in town, then zoomed down with the satellite view on each one until she found a climbing wall. That is dedication!
After this amazing discovery, we were ready to go home. Unfortunately our day wasn’t ready for us to give it up. We got on a bus that didn’t take us home, instead it took us to the famous fish market. This is a market with lots of dead fish. And alive fish. And dried fish. There are also vegetables. And then more fish. What more can I say?
how DID that guy get on that rock? he looks DRY! the plot thickens...
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