Pretty Much My Everyday Life

(Comics by ROKetship)

A Brief Excursion to Busan

Do you ever have the feeling like you need to get away or briefly escape from your situation? Well, that's how I've been feeling recently. It's been a while since my last opportunity to leave Daegu. Don't get me wrong, I really like this city and think its a great place to leave with a lot to do, but I just needed a change of scenery. So, on saturday I made my escape. I hopped on a train to Busan in the morning and spent a few nice hours exploring the city.

I didn't know much about Busan except for the fact that it was by the beach. That point alone was enough for me to want to visit it. On my last brief visit to Busan, I went to Haendae Beach, so I made a point to go elsewhere this time.

I came armed with my guidebook and the tourist map I picked up at the train station. I decided my first stop would be Yongdusan Park because it was the home of the Busan Tower where you can get a panoramic view of the city.

My next stop was the Jagalchi Market, South Korea's largest seafood market. At this marketplace you walk down the street and see live octopus, squid, etc. You can eat the fresh seafood straight from their tanks. I did not partake because of my distaste for seafood but it was an interesting place to see.

The last place I went was Gwangalli Beach. This beach is not quite as popular or big as Haeundae, but it was located closer on the subway so it took less time to get to. Even though these Korean beaches don't really compare to the beaches I'm used to back home, they are nice enough to spend a few hours relaxing out in the sun.

So that was my saturday. I hopped a train at 10am and was back home by 8pm. Busan has a lot more to see including a few temples I hear are pretty cool to see. Busan is so close so now that the weather's finally nice, I'm sure I will go down there a lot.

Entrance to Jagalchi Market

Gwangalli Beach

A View from the Busan Tower

Another View from the Tower

Daegu Theater Troupe's 24 Hour Theater Project

Daegu Theater Troupe's 3rd 24 Hour Theatre Project was Saturday night. For those of you who don't know what a 24 hour theater project is, all interested participant met friday night and we were put into groups: 1 writer and 3-4 actors. The writers then went home and wrote a 10 minute script overnight. The actors met at 9am the following morning and we rehearsed the play all day and performed at 9pm.

It was my first time acting in one of these and it was an enjoyable yet extremely tiring day. My play was "The Traveler and the Central Midwestern Barry Manilow Fanclub." I played the founding member of The Central Midwestern Barry Manilow Fanclub (CMCBFC for short). We meet a time traveler who comes back in time to discover why Mr. Manilow was ever famous because his fame apparently leads to the future dark ages.

I wish I could write about the other plays, but by the time of the dress rehearsal and performance I was so exhausted that I don't clearly remember the other plays. I recall one was about a guy who creates a robot girlfriend. I liked this one because it had a lot of nerdy references. Another one was very serious. It was about a school shooting. The subject matter didn't play very well in this setting. The other two plays were really good, but I don't remember what they were about. Sorry I can't give a fuller representation of the night. My body does not react well to sleep deprivation and being on my feet all day.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Happy Passover from Korea! (a few weeks late)

Passover was last month and anyone who knows me knows I always "celebrate." By celebrate, I mean I don't eat bread products, rice products, or corn products, and don't mix milk and meat for eight days. I also cook lots of amazing Jew food: matzah ball soup, various kugels, latkes, fried matzah, etc.

I never would have imagined that I would be able to celebrate Passover in Korea. I've met a small group of Jews during my time here and we decided to have a seder and potluck dinner. It was a full seder like I would have at home. We read the hagaddah and said all the prayers and sang the songs. It was the only full seder I've been to not hosted by my family and I had a great time. I really enjoyed being able to keep my religious traditions alive even in Korea.

We also had a meal, just like we would have at home. I made two kugels: potato and apple, we also had matzah ball soup. chicken, charoset, and lots of wine. Overall, it was a really great night. I was so happy to find people I can celebrate the holidays with in Daegu and look forward to celebrating more Jewish holidays in Korea in the future!

Sorry For The Delay

A few days ago I get an email from my mother saying only that I need to update the blog. My apologies, I know I've said that before, but sometimes life gets in the way and there's nothing you can do about it. Recently I've been sick, I'm not sick anymore but was out of commission for about a week and a half and even got two half sick days, which is very uncommon in Korea.

People in Korea do not accept being sick. At the first sign of any sickness, Koreans head straight to the hospital. After spending a weekend in bed unable to do anything, I go into work last monday pretty much unable to function, most likely with a fever. I head into my first class, which consists of 10 very energetic seven year old boys, and immediately walk out in search of the head Korean teacher. There is no way I could effectively teach the way I was feeling. We head to the hospital, which is literally next door to our school. I get a checkup and get prescribed a bunch of random medicine. They had me take five different pills three times a day - a total of 15 pills a day. I had no idea what medicine I was taking, but it did make me feel better and rather high at the same time.

That's just how they do things in Korea. Instead of resting and getting healthy, Koreans go to the hospital, get medicine, and work through their illness. Oh, and they wear medical face masks to keep their illness from spreading to other people.

So that's my excuse for not updating the blog sooner. I was sick for the first time in Korea. It sucked, but its never fun being sick. I'm more or less healthy now so I will try and fill in more about my life recently.

Cheongdo Bull Fighting Festival and Wine Tunnel

A few weeks ago I attended an organized trip to a bullfighting festival about an hour outside of Daegu. now, bullfighting is not something I would typically choose to watch, but I thought, "When am I gonna get another chance to see bullfighting? In Korea, no less?" So I decided to attend the trip.

The first part of the excursion was a trip to the Cheongdo Wine Tunnel. It is exactly what it sounds like, a winery inside a converted train tunnel. The wine that they make there isn't made out of grapes, its made out of persimmon, a fruit that's fairly popular in Daegu. I'm a fan of this fruit, but I don;t think it translated well into wine. Its very sweet and tends to leave you with a dry feeling in your mouth.

After the wine tunnel, we went to the bullfighting stadium. It literally was two bulls fighting against each other. It was certainly an interesting experience.

Korean Bowling

A few weeks ago I went on a bowling trip with my friend, Sarah's school. It might not be candlepin bowling at Sacco's Bowl Haven, but it was certainly a fun night. Honestly, bowling in Korea is no different than bowling in America except that instead of getting pizza or a hot dog as a late night snack we had duk bolki and goon mandu. My high score for the night: an enviable 54. I'm blaming my score on the fact that I have only gone candlepin bowling in the last five years not regular bowling. Despite my lack of bowling ability, I had a great time bowling with a bunch of Korean university students.

Me and Sarah and some of her students

Me and some students

What form!

Cute Korean Children 2

We got a new batch of preschoolers at the beginning of March and they are adorable.

A Few Weekend Trips

I know, I know, It's been an entire month. My sincere apologies for my very few dedicated blog readers out there. This post is way overdue. I meant to post about this weeks ago but life happens and I got very sidetracked with who knows what.

Well, I took two weekend trips over the past month and a half. The first was to Gyeongju over Lunar New Year in mid-February. Gyeongju is a small city with a lot of history. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla and is often refered to a "a museum without walls." While in Gyeongju we visited the Seokgram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple among other sites.

The next trip I took was a week and a half ago to Busan, the second largest city in Korea. We went down there on a whim on a very nice saturday afternoon. and returned the following sunday morning. This trip didn't include any of the cultural stuff I hope to see soon. It was strictly a fun trip of hanging out at Haeundae Beach and the nearby casino. It made me happy to be able to see the ocean again and put my feet in the sand. I like that there are decent beaches to go to when the weather gets nicer even though they don't compare to Jersey beaches. I expect I'll be spending a lot of time down in Busan over the summer.

A Buliding at Bulguksa Temple

Me in at the temple

A pillar

Seokgram Grotto

A view from the roof of our hotel
Paradise Hotel and Casino (nothing like Atlantic City)

Me and Friends
Haeundae Beach
Another view of the beach

Daegu Theater Troupe's Comedy Cabaret Night

Anyone who knows me knows that theater has been a big part of my life since my early teen years and I am so happy that I am able to continue being involved with theater even now that I am in South Korea. There is a small theater troupe made up of an eclectic group of foreigners based out of my city and I participated in their most recent show.

Daegu Theater Troupe hosted its Comedy Cabaret Night last saturday. The show was held at a local cafe in downtown Daegu and featured short skits and musical acts. I was in four skits in total. It was my first time acting in several years and my first time being involved with theater since I graduated college. It was quite a nerve-wracking experience since my acting chops are a tad rusty, but it went very well. I think I did a good job, If I do say so myself.

We had an awesome turnout - much better than we expected. We were expecting about 50 people to come, but had an audience over closer to 100, possibly even more than that. We had more people show up than we had seats for. It was great to have such a large audience since proceeds from the event went to a local charity. We raised 600,000 KRW for the Maha Buddhist Center, aprox. 525 USD.

I look forward to being involved with future performances with the Daegu Theater Troupe.

Magnum Korea

A few weeks ago, I went to a photography exhibit in Daegu. It was one of the best thing's I've done since coming to Korea. The exhibit showed all facets of life in Korea. It showed the older generation keeping to tradition, the younger generation fighting that tradition, family life, consumerism in Korea, etc.

From their website:

"Magnum Photos is a photographic co-operative of great diversity and distinction owned by its photographer-members. With powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its peoples, events, issues and personalities. Through its four editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and a network of fifteen sub-agents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers, advertising, television, galleries and museums across the world."

Lunar New Year Party

Sunday, February 14th was the Lunar New Year. This holiday is typically a family affair in Korea, but also a time for celebration and lots of good food and bowing to your elders. We had a party at preschool on friday and everyone including myself dressed up in hanbok (traditional dress).