Vacation

It seems it's been a while since I've posted. I suppose catching up would help explain why. 

Back in July, we got a 5-day summer vacation. Andrew and I decided on Beijing as our destination. Before we even left, it was stressful. We were working with a company which had relations with our academy in order to secure visas to enter China. (We'd already come to terms with the fact Americans had to pay $190 while Canadians had to pay $50.) They were also going to help us with flights and hotels. Yet, as so often happens here in Korea, plans changed at the last moment and we were forced to plan it ourselves with a week left. 

The good: Being able to see the Forbidden Palace, tobogganing down the side of the Great Wall, eating Peking duck, walking around the hutongs, seeing the Temple of Heaven, meeting some great people. 

The bad: The sold-out bus to Incheon airport in the back with the heat of the engine and a vomiting child in the seat next to us, the 5-hour wait before even checking in, the 100 degree heat, 100% humidity, and extreme smog; the scammers constantly hounding us to take their tours of the Great Wall, the salespeople at stores grabbing you with their sweating hands in order to get you to stay and buy something, and the inability to get a cab without being scammed out of your money. 

When we returned, everything went wrong. Out of the foreign teachers, 3 didn't return in time for their classes. Furthermore, after a couple days of dealing with the aftermath, one of those teachers ran away in the middle of the night. Because of this, the other foreign teachers took on a bigger classload during the Intensive session, when we already had too many. We were also put under watch and scrutiny and made to feel like unloyal, immature children. Since then, I haven't felt like writing. 

I became very discouraged with this experience, and tired, and disappointed in people. That's not to say that good hasn't happened, but overall, I didn't feel like keeping up with this. 

That changed with this vacation. It's currently Chuseok, Korea's most important holiday which is the equivalent of Thanksgiving. We were given a 6-day break. Instead of planning another trip, we decided to stay in Korea to relax and de-stress. 

We kicked off Friday night with drinks and a norebang (a karaoke room) with great people until 7 AM. After relaxing on Saturday, we took an early bus to Busan and headed to Haeundae. We ate amazing Mexican at FN Tacos, found a love motel* to stay in, and went back to FN Tacos again before heading the to beach and the Busan Aquarium. After that, we went back to take a nap, then set out to find Senora's, another Mexican restaurant in the area. It's a tiny little place with only 5 stools to sit in, and only room for about 7 people in all. The walls and ceiling are covered in post-it notes from people who have visited.  If you're ever at Senora's, look for the sticky note with the Busan otter. They had some of the freshest burritos I've ever had, but it didn't compare to FN Tacos. After filling up on more Mexican, we got some coffee and sat on the beach. The rest of the vacation could have been a disaster and I still would have called that the best vacation ever. 

In the morning, we got up and went to get lunch at FN Tacos again. Then we navigated the metro to head to Bujeon market to look at THE place for musicians shopping in Korea. On our way back to Haeundae, we stopped at the Museum of Modern Art to see Busan's Biennale, and it was relaxing and fun. To round off the day, we gorged ourselves at Outback and spent the rest of the night feeling guilty. 

Before leaving on Tuesday morning, we tried FN Tacos once again, but the chef wasn't ready to start cooking, and we didn't want to wait. We'd already been there 3 times in 2 days :) We then went to the bus terminal and had to wait 3 hours for our bus because it was the day for traveling in Korea. We ate some bibimbap and relaxed at a coffee shop in the air conditioning. Despite everyone's warnings against traveling during this time, we ran into no troubles and were back in Gwangju before we thought we'd be. 

Now I'm spending a relaxing day with TV, wondering if First Nepal is open today. I never thought a vacation could flip everything back around. Now I look forward to the next one :)

*A final word on love motels: Korea pretends to be a conservative culture, and I get hateful looks from the old women and men if I even wear a tank top, yet love motels abound wherever you go. If anyone finds out I live with my boyfriend unmarried, it's frowned upon. Yet those love motels...You can tell them from their interesting exteriors and the flashing neon lights. And if you're ever unsure if you just checked into one, you'll be sure if you're handed a pack of condoms. The rooms are fun, but if you turn on the "fun" lighting, you'll immediately feel like you're in a bad porn movie even if you're watching Toy Story 3 in flannel PJ's. You even get a porn channel with horribly awkward scenes of Asian love. They're cheap, interesting, but infuriating because Koreans won't relinquish their traditional ideals about relationships even when the neons are reflecting on their faces.