Second vacation, first day

I'm sitting in the office at the good old hogwan right now. It's quiet, but in about an hour it will be the usual storm of rampaging children. Last week I was able to get far away from the noise and chaos, and I have to admit I didn't think about my students even once. While this vacation was a far cry from trekking down the coast in Thailand, it certainly had its moments. While there was no imminent danger this time around, there were certainly challenges mixed in with the relaxation.

The last time I took a vacation, I had about three days to plan. This time around, I had known for several weeks I would have this week off. So you think I would have planned everything to a "T", right? Of course not, I decided to go with the flow. A couple of weeks prior I had met a nice Korean fellow named Jason, and we got around to talking about vacations. I had told him that I was thinking about many different things for my week off, and was unsettled. He countered by telling me he had the first part of that week off and was planning a trip to Busan. I knew that my friend Gina had that part of the week off and wanted to go somewhere, so I decided to drag her along as well.

Our week started off early Sunday, in a little southern city called Jeonju. Jason had gone on Saturday, and Gina and I met him that Sunday. Jeonju is a very pretty, quiet, clean town, which is a welcome respite from the noisy, polluted streets of Suwon and Seoul. Jason went because he likes the food and he knew some friends. Upon arrival, we decided to visit the folk village, and then have lunch. This is the lovely clean street where the folk village lies. Notice how there's no garbage on the streets... how nice.

In the early part of the day, we walked around the village, taking in the sights and basking in the tranquility. Actually, we were wandering around aimlessly taking pictures, but the former sentence was prettier. It was a gorgeous, clear day, although a little hot. We enjoyed the scenery for a couple of hours, and decided to lunch. Here are a couple of photos of the village. The first picture of me in front of the trees is also from that spot. I should note that the way I'm postured in the picture makes it look like I've got a gut, but I don't. Not a big one, at least. Anyway, the place was very pretty.

After meandering around the city for a while, we were all very hungry. Jason wanted to show us a good restaurant that served a plethora of side dishes--He didn't disappoint. Jason loves all kinds of food and is fond of indulging in diverse culinary experiences, which put him in good standing with Gina and I right away. For 5,000 won each (a little less than five dollars), we we're treated to three different soups and over twenty side dishes, not to mention rice. It's nice to have so much variety on the table. I tried all of the sides save two or three. While I've tried all kinds of strange foods here, there are still some things that I just won't touch. The side dishes I had were good quality and very tasty.



After lunch, we took a bus to Busan. Busan is an international port city and is the second largest city in Korea. Korea is a homogenius society, with different ethnicities few and far between. Busan, however, is somewhat of an exception. It is as culturally diverse a city as one can find in Korea, maybe even moreso than Seoul. I had wanted to visit this city since I moved here, and enjoyed the opportunity. The bus ride took almost four hours, so we didn't arrive until well after dark. We had a late dinner on the beachfront, and it was very delicious. We feasted on fresh grilled eel and grilled scallops, with a little soju to wash it down. We sat outside in a tent, and the proprietors were some of the warmest, friendliest Koreans I'd been around. (This is not to say that Koreans aren't warm and friendly, but rather to accentuate the particular niceties of these workers.) I know grilled eel may sound funny to some of you, but damn if it wasn't the best seafood I'd ever eaten. I wasn't sure what to expect the next day, but I did know we'd eat well.