Powerful Pohang!

Finally! I have been telling London (a co-worker) all year that I wanted to go to Pohang with her, to see the city and visit her boyfriend Fred. We finally made it happen last weekend. Two train rides and a bus later, we made it to Pohang shortly after 12:30am on Friday evening. We checked into our love motel and headed out for a night stroll along the beach, which is literally a five minute walk from Fred's house. Although it was a bit misty, we walked along the sidewalk and stopped for some stuffed squid street food. I was proud of myself for trying a bite, but definitely don't need to eat it ever again. We headed to bed hoping for sun, despite the rainy forecast.

Wrong again! Just like the weekend of my bike trip, the forecast couldn't have been more inaccurate. We started the day well with a new meal (10 months in!) of Bibim-Mandu. Then, we spent the entire afternoon laying on the beach just minutes from Fred's apartment. We talked, read books, napped, got smoothies and pretzels at Tom & Tom's Coffee across the road, and watched the Koreans playing on the beach and their jet skis. Every one of us (except 55 SPF sunscreen Britney) came back a little more pink than had hoped for. That evening, I went out for a solo dinner of Bibimbop while Fred, London, Britney, and Shauna went for an all out clam dinner at a restaurant right across from the ocean. Since their dinner took much longer than mine, I joined them for drinks and conversation with a beautiful view of the water and night sky. Once again, I tried a bite, but just can't find myself taking pleasure in seafood like many people do, despite how truly delicious it looked! The highlight of the evening for me was lighting fireworks off on the beach. You can buy hand held fireworks from a women on the beach and light them off right there. It was my first time with fireworks, and it was such a blast on a clear, warm night. We ended the evening out on the town visiting Fred's favorite bars and meeting many of his friends.

We woke up Sunday to more sunshine, started the day with more cheap Korean food, and headed back to the beach. Unfortunately, London and Fred couldn't join us due to the sun burns they had from the day before. Again, we relaxed with books and shut eye, but were less comfortable from the even hotter weather. We kept joking (well...sort of) that one of the Korean guys on jet skis would invite us out for a ride. Before we knew, it Britney and I were accepting the offer to hop on! All we understood was, "You. Together. Jet ski." "OK!" We couldn't even see the guys face as even the people on the water are covered literally from head to toe in shoes, pants, long sleeve shirts, masks, and sunglasses! With Korea being an exception to all safety rules, we hopped on without hesitation (yes with life-jackets mom)! The rides were short but sweet and a much needed break to cool off from the heat of the sun. The Koreans were very kind and happy to have given the cute white girls in bikinis a ride on their water toys. We ended the afternoon with one more stop at Tom & Tom's Coffee and headed back on our four hour bus ride around 5pm. Although, I would love to go back to Pohang with London again, I'm sad to say that it won't happen since London is heading back home in July before I have another open weekend to travel. Her and Fred are taking a month off to visit home before coming back to teach together for one more year in Suji. I'm so glad that I was able to go even once. We were absolutely blessed with the perfect weather making our weekend an absolute success. Next stop...hiking at Seoraksan National Park!

World Cup!

My weekend trips are continuing to brings loads of fun in different places around Korea! This weekend, Shauna and I went to visit a Gustie friend, Aaron Mayo in Daegu. We woke up Saturday morning, headed to the train station, and crashed in our luxury seats (more like recliners, foot rests and all) until we arrived three hours later. We freshened up at Aaron's apartment and headed downtown to get a short city tour and begin the weekend's World Cup festivities! Due to a size mistake, I had to buy a second World Cup shirt off the streets to make sure I would fit in with all the red supporters running around.

We met lots of Aaron's friends around 6:00pm and hung out at no other than a 7 Eleven convenience store to enjoy a few drinks pre-game drinks and the prime people watching. Of course, I met more people from MN who knew friends of mine from home. I swear half the state of MN works in Korea! Around 8:00pm, we headed to Du-Ryu Park where thousands of people we packed into every inch to watch the Korea vs Greece game on a big screen T.V. (which really wasn't that big). It was incredible to hear the chants and cheers among the red shirts and light up devil horns. It ended up that we couldn't get a get view of the screen without being told to sit down, so we picked a nice spot to enjoy the perfect evening weather and friend's company. We "watched" the game, judging when Korea had scored or made a mistake, according to the screams and excitement of the crowd. When we knew Korea was going to win, we headed back downtown around 10:30pm.

At this point, we had five hours until the start of the US vs. England game, which we were definitely sticking around for! We re-visited our 7 Eleven and met lots more of Aaron's friends as we wandered the area. We even met a fellow Gustie (graduate of '98) who had been teaching in Korea for the past three years. Around 1:00am, to pass the time, we headed to a restaurant to enjoy some food and get rest. I have to note a funny event that happened to Shauna and I. At this point, we were painfully tired, not knowing if we were going to make it to the USA game. We hardly said a word as everyone around us who was still enjoying lots of conversation and drinks. Out of nowhere, a girl we had met that evening suddenly questioned, "I just have to ask...are you two 'together'?" Our response, "Ahhhh......I mean yes, we came to Daegu together, but......" We were literally speechless! We didn't know how to respond, so before we could even process, she restated the question, "So you're friends?" Ha..."YES!" After thinking about the conversation later, we still don't know if she thinks we're a couple or just friends. Either way, it was so random and more than funny! We have no idea what we were doing that night that gave her any indication we were "together!?"

Time passed, and by 3:00am, we were heading to a bar to watch the US vs. England game. Did you think we weren't going to make it? For a few hours, time passed slower than I have ever experienced, but it was all worth it for our game! We met the funniest British guy who entertained us with his accent and his new Korean "friend" who he had also just met that evening. We spent hours watching the game and making conversation with both, hearing the same story over and over from the Korean guy. Approximately every 20 minutes, Ju-Min continued to tell us that his brother is from our area, he thinks Suji is boring, and named half of the subway stops on the yellow line that we live on (thanks...we know). This may not sound funny to you, but imagine hearing that repeated to you from 4:00-5:00 in the morning while you are more than sleep deprived. The giggles just happen to set in! By 6:00am, we walked outside to find the bright morning sun above our heads. We made it back to Aaron's, changed in to glasses and sweat pants, and headed directly to the train station. Shauna and I feel asleep the second (literally) we sat down on the subway, and went two stops past the train station. So we had to turn around and head back in the opposite direction before making it there around 8:00am. It was perfect timing to catch an 8:30am train. Again, we crashed the entire way home, setting an alarm to wake us before our stop, or we surely wouldn't have gotten off! Shauna and I were home by 12pm this Sunday afternoon. We both went home, directly to sleep from about 1:00-6:00pm this evening! Needless to say, it will be an early evening for me tonight. We left at 10:00am Saturday morning and were home by noon today. It was a short but completely worth while trip to visit Aaron and start off the World Cup celebrations! If case you're wondering, my heart (and body) are in Korea for the year, so not to betray my home country, but I'm rooting for Korea this year! Dae-Han-Min-Guk! Next stop...Pohang!