Tyler's 24th Birthday

During the past month, we've been doing two things: (1) patiently awaiting the long, frigid winter to burn off, and (2) recovering from sicknesses. Perhaps it's the changing seasons, but both of us have experienced several bouts of fevers, flus, and food poisonings between mid-February and now. Hopefully that all is behind us as we finally greet the warmth of spring. Yesterday was 72° here in Busan! 

The most exciting and report-worthy thing that's happened between our last blog post and now was Tyler's 24th birthday. We celebrated on March 2nd with friends and also on March 5th, Tyler's actual birthday. 

On the Saturday night before Tyler's birthday, we went out with friends to a local pub called Who? Brewery. I don't really understand the name, but then again, I've learned not to question titles here in Korea. Tyler sported a trendy pink and blue child's birthday hat most of the night as you can see below. 

Tyler got a chocolate cake surprise after we'd all had a few drinks. However, not knowing the cake was coming, he ordered a huge ice cream/garlic bread concoction (yes, ice cream and garlic bread) seen in the second photo below. Our abundance of goodies kept the guests happy and satiated. 

A few days later, we celebrated Tyler's actual birthday. Even though we had to teach that day, Ty got to open presents in the morning and go out for an evening of fun after school. 

Among other presents, Tyler received a sports bag specifically made for ping pong (his current obsession). 

After school, Tyler received his first Thai massage at a place aptly named Traditional Thai Massage. Although we paid for an hour of services, he received an hour and a half from an experienced Thai masseuse. In addition to the customary rubdown, a Thai massage includes being twisted and turned into yoga-like positions. It includes pulling of the fingers, toes, ears, and cracking of the knuckles and spine. Painful as it might sound, Tyler walked out of Traditional Thai Massage born again. He kept describing it as a transcendental experience. 

Relaxed and pliant, Tyler's transcendent state became even more metaphysical when he realized that our next stop was at a buffet for dinner. The buffet featured food from around the world including everything from carbonara to a cereal that resembled Captain Crunch. Since we rarely eat American or international food (other than Korean), our taste buds were in for a treat. 

I think that Tyler had a pleasant 24th birthday despite our distance from family and friends back home. I don't think that this birthday will ever go forgotten! 

The Grand Children's Park

Excluding our trip to America, we've been hibernating for the past few months here in Busan. Finally, the weather is changing from intolerable to barely tolerable. On the Monday of our 3-day Lunar New Year weekend, we decided to brave the cold and do something outdoors. We chose to go to the Grand Children's Park which is a short distance from our apartment and an even shorter distance from my school.

The Grand Children's Park is less like a park and more like a nature walk. Despite the fact that it's called the "children's" park, there were very few children around. Mostly, hikers (fully dressed in their swishy pants, visors, and equipped with trekking poles), groups of ajummas, and couples strolled the walkway. There were also groups of men off to the sides of the trail playing Baduk, the Korean version of Go.

Each time we go on an outdoor excursion, I'm always surprised at how quiet and tranquil it can get in the heart of a big city. As soon as we began walking on the trail, the sounds of buzzing cars and horns honking all but disappeared.

Soon, we came upon a giant lake surrounded by layers of rolling mountains. The path we walked on bordered the lake on one side and trees on the other. We heard many birds calling and saw ducks and geese in the lake.

It's a good thing to know that there's a "rescue tube box" next to the lake in case of emergencies. 

There were also several statues and memorials along the path at the Grand Children's Park. Luckily, there were signs written in Korean and in English for those who aren't cultured in South Korean history.

In addition to statues of great Korean men, there were also statues of animals. Below is a picture of Tyler valiantly riding a golden elephant. Below that is a picture of me sitting next to the Pillsbury Doughboy's girlfriend with a flower on her head. 

And finally, to end this post, we will feature some questionable artwork proudly displayed on the fence lining the lake. We have captioned the scenes below for your viewing pleasure and for your contemplation. 

"The Ugly Duckling" 

"Lost in Translation"

"Winners and Losers"

Grocery Shopping

A quiet afternoon at Home Plus (or if you were Korean you would say Hom-uh Plus-oo): where one can grab their daily groceries and a puppy or two; or an entertainment center; or furnishings for an entire apartment complex - you get the idea. It's six stories of goods to provide for your basic needs, and any superfluous need you can imagine. Natalie and I stick to food, as navigating our way around the swerving patrons (swerving i.e.: 2am last call at the local tavern in a small town) is not particularly enjoyable.

The most startling difference I have found shopping here than anywhere else outside of Korea (not counting the shoppers themselves) is the number of customer services representatives in their stores. Take the arbitrary picture below for example. Want an orange? Or better yet do you want to know something about these particular oranges? If so you are in luck. If the rep loitering to the right doesn't have the answer to your question, or can't understand what you are saying, his 2 orange-rep friends to left will surely be there remedy the situation. 

In all honesty, the plethora of representatives turns out to be extremely helpful, as often times there is a serious lack of communication, and a few heads trying to communicate is better than two.

Below we have a very kind "sushi" rep (though "sushi" in Korea is not what you might typically think, but seems to be sashimi [minus the rice] from local fish - many of which I have not heard of but are none the less delicious). She saw me from a ways away and waved me over. I wonder if I stick out?

Next to the sushi section was the fish section. We had never bought fish here until this occasion. Considering everything was in Korean, choosing a fish (none of which I recognized) was sort of like picking numbers for the lotto. I chose, she cleaned the fish right in front of me, chopped it up, and put into bags for me.  

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Adjacent to the fish we have all the variations of Kimchi, and further in the background a showcase of side dishes. When you eat here, you generally have 1 main dish, and - no kidding - at least 4 or 5 small plates of various things, such as radish and....well that's the only one that I know. The rest are veggies (I think) of some sort. It's generally quite good and I feel like I'm getting a lot more than I pay for. Anyway, just looking at the counter in the background, which continues out of sight to the right, gives  you a good idea of the variety of side dishes.

Though you can't see it here there are representatives just out of sight of the picture to help with Kimchi and the VERY large meat section. There are stalls of different fresh meat that include what appears to be an "auctioneer" to each stall. I call it that because that's what it sounds like: a man/woman yelling quickly and very loudly in Korean to the various customers about the special. They even yell at us - the "whities" who clearly speak about as much Korean as the average household pet. It's certainly very entertaining and American shopping has a lot to learn on this note.

Next is the bakery, which is accordingly small compared to the other sections. Normally there is one woman to the bakery who tries to "auction" off the bread. She's not in the picture however. 

A 50 yard isle of rainbow colored plastic wrap and salt.

A second but downsized section of what one normally thinks of as sushi (rolls).

This is the kind of picture which requires a lot of video or a chapter in a long novel. The store has these sample stands (e.g. Costco). But the old Korean ladies called Ajumas who, if you visit Korea you will inevitably their elbows in your sides or their shoulders in your back - they don't waste time saying excuse me, race after these stands like it's the finish line of Supermarket Sweepstakes: literally running to get there. It's quite fantastic. No lines. No stopping. No prisoners.

We found out that 1+1 means buy one get one free. It's the only type of discount I have seen at Home Plus. Talk about a great deal.

There are baggers in Korea: the people buying the groceries. It's like philanthropy for yourself.

Below is a video summarizing the trip: 

Our bag of goods. The chicken breast are delicious, and as you might expect their mushroom selection is fabulous, fresh, and very inexpensive. We can get a surprising number of the amenities that we can back home.

Included in my bag of fish. I'm still not sure what I was supposed to do with it. The fish tasted good. But suffice it to say that between our apartment's smelling like a dirty harbor the next day and my stomach's feeling that night like something you might find under one of the piers, I won't be buying that fish again. Trial and error. Never a dull moment in Korea.

Visiting Home

For the past two weeks, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit family and friends back home for our winter vacation. I spent the first five days in Seattle and then joined Tyler in San Diego for the remainder of our trip. We spent our time relaxing, savoring American food we missed, shopping, recounting funny Korean anecdotes, laughing with those we love, and relaxing some more. Due to the sheer volume of relaxing that took place, we didn't focus on taking too many pictures, so I apologize in advance for the lack of photos.  Before we actually arrived home, we had a grueling trek from our apartment in Busan to the doors of our homes. Read below to follow in our footsteps: 

1. Taxi to the train station 
2. Bus to Incheon International Airport in Seoul 
3. Airplane ride to Guanzhou, China 
4. Five hour layover 
5. Airplane ride to Los Angeles
6. Four hour layover 
7. Airplane ride to San Diego
8. Tyler takes a 30 minute car ride home, I spend 8 hours at the airport overnight
9. I take a plane back to Los Angeles
10. Forty minute layover
11. Three hour plane ride to Seattle
12. Thirty minute drive home

For me, the total travel time was about 45 hours. That's roughly two days without bed, bath, and beyond. It goes without saying that I took a nice, long soak in the tub and a solid nap as soon as I got home. 

I spent the first couple of days with my brother, Daniel, and my dad. Seeing them and catching up with them was a time well spent. My brother is my height now, which blows me away. 

My dad, Daniel, and I went to Pike Place Market for flowers and fish on one of our days together. Even in the dead of winter, Pike Place never fails to disappoint. It hasn't changed much over the past ten years, either. The street performers are still out, the fishermen are still throwing salmon, and the waterfront is still enriched with the aroma of marijuana. As tradition would have it, I got a small container of Turkish Delights and some coffee from the first Starbucks. 

After visiting with my dad, I spent the next two and a half days with my mom. My mom, Ken, Joshua, Jessica, and Oma welcomed me home to with a raclette dinner. A raclette is a leveled grill that goes on the table for cooking meat, veggies, and cheese. Actually, it reminded me quite a bit of Korean barbecue. It was delicious and I slept very, very soundly that night. 

The next day, my mom and I went to the Tulalip Casino with Oma. We had a delicious brunch at the casino buffet before we started on the slots. As we slowly lost (all of) our money on the penny machines, night rolled in and brought with it the colorful Tuesday night Tulalip crowd. We left before long after meeting with a most questionable character at the poker table who kept telling me, "Yo mom is a couga!" 

After spending the night at Oma's house, my mom and I went shopping. I purchased several pairs of shoes since my size is not carried in Korea. Following a successful afternoon at the mall, I met up with Ben in the early evening. We headed to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the U-District for some delicious Indian food. Then, we met up with the gang at Third Place Pub. I haven't laughed as hard as I did that night in a long time ("Two ciders!"). We drank in honor of Tyler not being there, then shared stories of what we'd been up to since the summer. 

And just because it must be done: 

The next day, my mom, Ken, and Daniel took me to brunch in Bothell. We said a fond farewell before I was reunited with my dad for a nice afternoon and sushi for dinner. I flew to San Diego that night, surprising Ty with Oma's pound cake. 

The next week was spent sleeping and spending quality time with our other parents. First, we visited Tyler's grandmother in Borrego Springs. The desert sun felt incredible given that we'd just spent several months shivering in freezing Busan. We rode around in a golf cart, went to the driving range, relaxed poolside, and spent time with extended family. 

The rest of the week was spent relaxing, fine dining, spending time at home, and exploring Encinitas in 70+ degree weather. Being with family was truly rejuvenating. Highlights included our whale watching trip, eating Bananas Foster at The Melting Pot, and enjoying sashimi at an adorable sushi restaurant. 

After another wearying journey back home, we landed in Busan safe and sound. We are so grateful to our generous family members for hosting us and lavishing us with their hospitality and generosity. We miss home every day and were glad to have a taste of it in the middle of our travels. With our batteries recharged with all of the love we got, I think we'll be able to make it through until we're back home for good. Much love to everyone we visited with. We're counting the days until we can see you all again! 

Ringing in 2013

Happy New Year! We wish everyone a beautiful, adventure-filled 2013. Carpe diem. 

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