Weekend post.

U going 2 the beach?

I already saw the Facebook status advertising the get together twenty minutes before I receiving this text. Glad to see the weekly dissemination of Saturday's plans have begun. Yes, I'm going.

I've spent the morning as I usually spend my weekend mornings; sleeping in (just 9:30 or so), Skyping a few close family and friends, listening to this weeks podcasts, and half-heartedly tidying up my apartment. Depending on how Friday evening went, I may also be nursing a very mild to medium hangover.

At an incredibly leisurely pace, I prepare myself to leave the apartment. I make sure to stuff my beach bag with the usual; blanket, towel, camera, iPod, songbook, and sunscreen. I pull on my anchor-patterned swim trunks and a tank top, and slip on my blue boat shoes (God, I love those so so much.) I top off my beach bum look with a bandana that disguises my too-long-to-rock-a-short-look, too-short-to-rock-a-long-look hair and a pair of rainbow plaid wayfarers. As I walk out the door, I grab my ukulele in its case and strap it to my back. Outfit complete.

Before flagging down a taxi I stop by a convenience store and buy myself some snacks for the sand - a cold lemonade, a bag of chips, and some highly questionable chicken on a stick that I'll gladly eat anyway.

Seven other foreigners are already there, staking out our usual spot. I set up my area, apply the 'block, and give my body over to the sun.

People trickle in, the afternoon wears on. We play cards, drink beer, barbeque, listen to music... basically all the things you can expect from a group of 20-somethings hanging out at any given location, but in bathing suits. The long stretches of sand lounging are punctuated by the occasional dip into the water; a tradeoff of refreshment and mild disgust (the stillness of the water makes for some tepid conditions. Still... it can be ignored.

Hours pass, our skin turns pink as we neglect to reapply our protective creams, and the sun disappears over the hills. We formulate the next phase of our plan; a short dinner break, and then regrouping for cheap beer and Ministop ice cream in the park.

I love it here.

Oh, and here's a video.

Gettin' my photoshop on...

Just added a bunch of new edited pictures from my visits to Seoul, as well as the fourth of July (fireworks on the beach!) Go have a looksie if you're interested. If not, carry on with your life. I won't be offended. 
...Or will I?

This post is totally vintage.

Here's the draft that I never finished/posted from awhile back. Rather than rewrite and adjust for the passed time, I'll just have you keep in mind that it was written about a month ago.

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It's been awhile since my last "catch everyone up on what's going on" post, I know. Sorry about that. I'd say that not a lot is going on here, and there's not much to update... but there's definitely enough to make a possibly lengthy e-mail. I'll take a look at this when I'm finished and guage it then.

A couple weeks ago my parents came through Korea on their big Southeast Asian adventure. They arrived in Yeosu on Wednesday (the 15th), and were immediately hustled to my school to meet my co-teacher and co-workers, who graciously waited around after school to meet them. (Seriously, Koreans are so nice.)

My parents stayed for the remainder of the week, and I took them to a few places in Yeosu, and introduced them to my friends (and Soju.) On Saturday morning we caught a plane up to Seoul, and toured around there a bit; we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, a cat cafe (you don't eat cats here), Namsan tower, 63 Building, and [my personal favorite] got fish pedicures. For those of you who don't know what that is... it's basically like your feet are cows bleeding in the Piranha infested waters of the amazon, but on a much, much tamer scale. Kinda. (Tiny fish exfoliate your feet by eating the dead skin. It feels ticklish/gross/amazing. I want to do it every day now.) We stayed until Monday, when I flew home and left them to stay an extra night and before their departure for Thailand. It's sad that it will be another year before I see them in person again, but it was wonderful to have them here - most of the people in Yeosu have never had family visit.

I've made arrangements for my summer vacation at the end of this month. Destination: Boracay, the Philippines. If you've never heard of it before (like me, before my friends informed me) go Google image search it. It's a tiny island composed of the kinds of beaches you see in stock photos or screen savers. In fact, the world's top rated white sand beach is "seconds away" from the hostel that I booked. Which means if I pee my pants with glee upon my arrival, I can just hop into the ocean and no one will be the wiser. I managed to snag some super, super cheap airfares, as well as private accommodations right on the beach, and will be there from July 24th - August 1st. I will be going alone, sadly, I hope to make friends there. There is cliff diving, snorkeling, helmet diving, jet skiing, unicorn riding, and magical wish-granting-fish befriending available to me there. (My wish: more Boracay.)

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Anyway, there's your dose of outdated information! More catch-up blogs are coming today/this week, as well as pictures. I'm desk warming all week, which means there are no students, no classes, but I still have to be at the school. JUST BECAUSE. It takes Facebooking to a whole new level.

Oops.

I'm about as good at maintaining this blog as I am at maintaining a houseplant. (R.I.P. all the houseplants I've ever owned.)

SO. MUCH. HAS. HAPPENED. Since my last post, anyway. Including my parent's visit, and a trip to the Philippines. Actually, that may be about all the interesting stuff. I could also write about my hair, which, as boring a subject as that would be to read about, is actually something that is slowly driving me nuts.

I've got a draft that I wrote about my parent's visit (back in JUNE - oops), so in the interest of chronology I'll post that before I get into the more recent stuff.

I'll try to be better at this whole blog thing. The problem is that I get so tired of writing about what I'm doing, it wears me down and I put it off. I'm going to work on tailoring this to fulfill my own writing interests somehow... More lists, less paragraphs. More quips, less anecdotes. More cowbell, less no cowbell. I love lamp.

I hate Will Ferrel, for the record.

Busan, in a 16-day-old nutshell

Since the 6th of this month was a holiday, a few friends and I decided to spend some time in Busan. There were two main things on my Busan agenda: Thai food and gay bars. (Yeosu has neither.)

Thai food was first. Accompanied by my friends Kaylyn, Carly, and Tessa, together we hunted down the restaurant that was, according to the internet, supposed to be great. It wasn't. I could go into how the tiny, expensive food took an hour and forty-five minutes to deliver, or how it was delivered in confusing phases, or how we talked people out of eating there as we were walking out, but I won't...

To console ourselves, we walked the four blocks to the beach, picking up beers along the way, and took in the SAND CASTLE FESTIVAL (!!!!!) that was going on. And, of course, got a little buzz on.

After the beach, we decided a second, fulfilling meal was called for, and there just HAPPENED to be a Mexican joint nearby. We all ate burritos, and shared a big pitcher of Margaritas. It was amazeballs.

We then retired to the hostel for a at nap before we headed out to the gay area - which we got lost trying to find. Luckily, during the search we passed another group of westerners who, judging from the V-neck shirts and cuffed pants, were looking for the same place. They too were just in Busan for the weekend, having come down from Incheon. We teamed up and together found the seedy little alley where a couple doors with rainbow flags could be found. We grabbed a drink at Banana Bar, and I began to flirt with a cute Canadian fellow we'd just met. Numbers were exchanged, drinks were bought. Eventually we wound up on a beach where an old woman sold us fireworks which we shot off into the night sky over the water. Oh, and Rich and I made out in the sand. (Fireworks = aphradesiac.)

The next morning was an American-style brunch (french toast!) and more beach time before BARELY making it to the station in time to catch our bus back to the 'Su. (It should be mentioned that Tessa pulled a Breakfast Club type of skid-stop in the midst of our hurrying.) We returned to Yeosu without incident, and I began counting down the days until the promise of awesomeness that the next weekend held. Stay tuned for another hastily written, poorly composed catch-up blog!

Haeundae Beach, Busan

Untitled a photo by faublehead on Flickr.

The other weekend I went to Busan and snapped a few pictures on the beach. I'm finally getting around to posting them now, while I sit at school waiting for the clock to turn five.

It's a 35 minute bus ride downtown.

I spend a lot of time on buses here. That amounts to a lot of time with my mind wandering while I shut out the world with my iPod. When I think of something that amuses me, I type it into my phone to write about later. Here's the current list.

Every trip downtown, I see tons of "bus runs." The bus run: That awkward, self-conscious run people do in public when they're rushing, but not actually exerting themselves. I made up the name to describe the pace of people who are still 20 yards from the bus stop as their bus is approaching. It's also commonly seen while crossing the street after the light turns red. I love spotting a good, half-hearted bus run.

If I ever visit the leaning tower of Pisa, I want to take a picture of tourists doing the 'prop it up' pose and be in the foreground with a sign that says "Douche."

I invented a little game for myself. It's really stupid, but basically I try to take any movie and, through selective details, think of a descriptions that sound like bizarre drug experiences. Take It's a Wonderful LIfe, for example: You can literally hear the stars in the sky talking to each other. A guy wants to throw a rope around the moon and pull it down. The floor splits apart and people start swimming in it. A guy freaks out and starts thinking he was never born. Whoa, man...

Sharper Image should start selling sound machines with a Bob Ross setting.

I yearn to respond to "You use chopsticks very well!" with the equivalent compliment "You buttoned your shirt very well!" and watch Koreans wonder why they are being praised for the unremarkable accomplishment of having developed motor skills.

Sometimes I'll be staring out the bus window I'll think to myself 'Julia Roberts, I bet if you stopped pursuing Dermot Mulroney he'd dump Cameron Diaz and start chasing your tail. Then you'd finally have what you *think* you want... But you've got to consider this: There's absolutely no way he didn't realize you have feelings for him, which means he knew this and yet did nothing while you suffered. He's obviously just playing dumb so his ego can grow while you try harder and harder to win him over. He doesn't actually care about you. He doesn't see you as a person, just as a way of making himself feel better. What kind of deep-seeded emotional issues drives a person to compulsively pit jealous women against each other in an effort to win his ultimately unattainable affection? Isn't that a bit sociopathic?? How many more lives will he ruin?? Julia, do you really want to be with a guy like that?!?!?' Then I'll realize I'm analyzing My Best Friends Wedding, and I'll want to shoot myself in the face.

Drop the Y and suddenly you've got Charlie and the Chocolate Factor. I like this title a lot more for it's hilarious conceptual potential.

I get this dark-humored, creative writing tourette's when I write lesson plans. Typing about an activity will go something like this: Students will look at pictures of objects, identify them, and then cut off their arms and beat each other with them while using the phrase "All your base are belong to us!" The last one standing wins a piece of candy. Then I have to delete everything and write the real activity. *sigh*