The Triumph & Tragedy of Being on my Own... In Korea

(to paraphrase Loyal Frisby)



Tragedy:
A couple weeks ago, I lost my phone. Normally I like Korea. I like my life here and I have fun. But every once in a while tragedy strikes. Losing my phone was devastating.

If you know me at all, you are probably familiar with my itty bitty mood swings and tendency to react extremely and emotionally. I reacted as such when my phone disappeared. I lived without a phone for 5 days, during which I felt out of touch and depressed. Not only did I have no way of communicating with anyone, but I had lost all of my phone numbers, pictures, Zoozooclub high scores, notes I had made for myself about all sorts of things, my T-money (bus fare) phone charm, and my sense of security. I had my Korean friend call my phone repeatedly, hoping that some kind Korean taxi driver would answer it and agree to meet me and return it. Nobody answered.

It all worked out in the end. My friend Tracy (who I love) 's boyfriend (who I also love) gave me his old phone. I didn't have to buy a new phone. I didn't even have to pay any sort of reactivation fee or anything. The only thing I had to do was buy a 2,000 won adapter for my charger and a new T-money charm. But I learned a lesson. Korea feels safer than America and I'm sure it IS safer than America but caution never hurt anyone. So, I'm back to locking my door most of the time.

On the other hand...

Triumph:
I got an air conditioner! I'm going to sleep so well! And since my apartment no longer feels like a sauna, I can start doing my hair again. asaaa!

Heather and Elizabeth Go to Jeju

For our Children's Day long weekend, Elizabeth and I went to Jeju Island. It was FANTASTIC. We stayed at Lotte Hotel. It was beautiful and special and I would recommend it to anyone. We ate huge western style breakfasts every day. Every night they had this show with water and music where a dog monster comes out of a cave and the good dragon saves us all. We could watch it from our balcony. We went to the beach and I got a spectacular sunburn. We saw tons of those fantastic guardian statues with the hands on their bellies and we went to several parks. We also drank orange juice out of a hollow orange peel (Mt Halla...). We mostly didn't want to leave our hotel though, because it was so beautiful and amazing. Here are some of the 500 photos I took there.

I LOVED these things:

The view from "Our Table" where we ate most of our meals. I don't think we at inside one time the whole trip.
View from our room.
View from our balcony.
Hotel at night.

Hotel grounds, lobby. Beach.

Go (Doosan) Bears!!!

On Easter, I went to my first ever Baseball game. I used to say, "Baseball is boring. I don't like Baseball." And then people would say back, "You need to see it live and then you will like it." And then I would say, "No I don't think that's true."

But I was wrong. It was the Doosan Bears vs. the LG Twins (in Korea they don't pretend that its a town that owns the sports team, they are all called by the names of the corporations that own them). We sat in the Doosan Bears section and someone gave me some Doosan inflatable bats to bang together and instantly, I was a Doosan Bears fan. It was pretty exciting because Koreans LOVE baseball. They cheered the ENTIRE time. There were cheerleaders and confetti cannons and lots of signage and a wave that seemed to go on forever. At first the Doosan Bears were playing really poorly and I cheered thinking that they had no shot at winning. However, my spirit must have been just what the Bears needed for they came back at the end and ended up winning. Go Bears!

Lotus Lantern Festival

The Lotus Lantern Festival took place the weekend before Buddha's Birthday. I didn't see much of the festival, really, but I wasn't really there for the festival. I was there for the MASSIVE LANTERN PARADE!!! Some people aren't impressed by things deemed "MASSIVE." Perhaps its because such people grew up in places where everything is really big. But to me, the term MASSIVE is not to be used lightly. And I assure you, it wasn't. But, let's start at the beginning.

I journeyed towards the Lantern Festival on my own, ill-prepared. I had expected it to be like the Cherry Blossom Festival, where you could just follow the stream of people from the subway to the festival. My friend Sophie had to rescue me- I was at the wrong subway stop. But I made it. Upon arrival, I was gifted with a lotus lantern. It was very open and beautiful and pink. I love gifts. Even if there are a lot of other people getting them too, and even if they cause an inconvenience in that I have to lug them around all day, gifts are fantastic.

Once I met up with Sophie and her friends, we started walking away from the lanterns and towards... PINEAPPLE ON A STICK!!! It's one of my favorite things that I had no idea existed. Pineapple on a stick is better than just plain pineapple because its just as delicious as regular pineapple but the stick makes it more fun to eat and probably easier to eat as well.

After pineapple on a stick and some tea, I met up with my BFF Zach (perhaps you should check out our BFFBlog: http://www.bffbinkorea.blogspot.com/) and new coworker Kaleen (Flagler College Whoop! Whoop!). We went back to the lantern station and tried to make our own lanterns.

Kaleen and I did okay, but Zach's was SPECTACULAR. His lantern was so amazing that the lady who was helping us gave him her own lantern. She said she just couldn't bear to look at her mediocre lantern anymore, knowing that such an incredible one existed (or something like that. It's hard to tell- English was her 2nd language.). It was really sad for her.

(Zach, Me, Kaleen Showing off our lanterns for some Korean guys in the park. I won't say who made what.)

(Zach as a lantern handed creature.)

Soon after, we met up with more friends and the parade began. I know that whatever I say about this parade will not even begin to describe how massive and amazing it was. I think it took about an hour and 15 minutes to pass. Maybe a little more. Its been a few weeks now (I should have blogged right when I got home, then you would have been able to feel my excitement). There were probably thousands of people in this parade, walking by with lanterns (although I am not usually good with estimates, this feels right). There were tons of huge beautiful lantern floats shaped like elephants, or dragons, or Buddha, or peacocks. Some floats had moving parts or breathed fire! It was exciting and beautiful. I don't have many photos because my camera died but I found these videos on youtube that I implore you to watch. They are not that long and extremely impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5WvF2LluXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKK4Wh4M8Xo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu5xDln858c&NR=1

Best Friend Blog

I wanted to let my friends know that I am also working on a Best Friend Blog with my BFF Zach. It's a very important, very interesting blog that focuses on us being Best Friends Forever, in Korea. So, please check it out. http://www.bffbinkorea.blogspot.com/

Cherry Blossom Festival!!!

So, lately I haven't been a very good blogger. However, I have made a mid-year resolution to get back on the ball. The weather warmed, the flowers bloomed and I somehow became an outdoor kid. In April, there was a Cherry Blossom Festival. It took 2 attempts on 2 consecutive weekends but I got there. It was very beautiful. There wasn't much as far as the festival: I did have some cotton candy and there was a police parade. (police mascot) There were also some dancers and a guy juggling fire maybe but when we got up there, he had just stopped with the fire and was juggling knives instead. Boring. The cherry blossoms were lovely. We also saw this lady with super crazy hair. It was sort of a mullet but the back was cut into 2 really long layers. Like maybe 1 layer ended at her shoulder blades and the other one ended at her ass (there were no layers in between). The hair was black. EXCEPT probably about the last 3 inches of each layer. And the bottom of the "bangs." They were red. And it wasn't like a natural red. No. It was bright manic panic red. It was fantastic. Kate and I took some glamour shots like all of the Koreans were except that being as not-tall as we are, we couldn't reach any flowers to pick. (Heather) (Kate) And, for those who don't know, when you are at the Cherry Blossom Festival, you MUST take photos with flowers either in your hair or in your hands, near your face. Or both. And it turns out that in Korea, it is okay to ask somebody else's boyfriend for flowers. So, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

(Kate and Heather Glamour Shots)

Lotte World - a wicked good time.

So I (FINALLY) went to Lotte World and it was Fantastic. Lotte World is the largest indoor amusement park in the world, I think. Part of the park was outdoor though and both parts were equally fun. And the people working there waved at you with both hands. This is something I am trying to implement. It's hard to do all of the time because my hands are usually full but I sure am trying. I definitely want to go back.

Most of my photos were taken indoors, from a balloon ride that brought you around the indoor part. SO fun. Indoors there was all sorts of weird entertainment. I didn't get any photos of the entertainers but at one point, the stage was shared by Peter Pan characters and Wizard of Oz characters. Here is a video I took of some animatron monkeys playing instruments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpU9I8SFcuc&feature=channel

It was Masquerade Festival so all of the people working there were wearing feathers in their hair and there was a fantastic parade. There was a song that went "mask festival, mask festival, mask festival - YEAH!" Or something like that. Below is a photo of the parade. Here is a video I took of the parade. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrQypE4lA18

The outdoor part was called Magic Island. I didn't really take many photos outside but here are a few. Seriously, what a fun place.