Chuseok Part 1: Ulsan

Hello again!

As many of you know, I only had to go to school on Monday and Tuesday this week.  This week was Chuseok (although I think only Thursday was the actual holiday?), which is similar to Thanksgiving in the US.  This is one of the biggest holidays in Korea, and everyone travels home to celebrate with their families.  

Tuesday I only had to teach one class in the morning because the kids had their physical tests at school (they had to do running, sit ups, etc)  So basically, this meant that I sat at my desk for the remainder of the day and attempted to focus on writing questions for the mid-term (which is really hard to do when I've really only been teaching for two weeks).  Regardless, I was really tired, and staying awake was extremely challenging.  I"m not brave enough (yet) to attempt a desk nap like I see the other teachers do, so I sat there for the remainder of the day trying to do everything in my power just to stay awake.

Around 3:00 the vice-principal came over and said something in Korean to my co-teacher, and she then told me that we could go home.  Apparently in Korea the administration can just decide to let everyone go whenever because all the kids got to leave as well.  I'm not complaining!

I rushed to the bus station because although I had been planning to take the 5:40 bus to Ulsan, there was one that was leaving at 3:45.  I had heard plenty about how crazy it is to travel over Chuseok, so I figured the sooner I could get out of here the better.  

I was a little nervous about navigating the buses because I haven't traveled on my own yet, but it didn't take long until I saw tons of my students there as well. Many of my students are from outside Jeomchon, so they had to take buses to get home to their families.  They were so adorable and made sure I got on the right bus--have I mentioned I love my students?

The bus ride to Ulsan took 3.5 hours, but I slept through most of it, so it was fine.  When I got to Ulsan I met up with one of my friends and we got some dinner and waited for everyone else. I was pretty excited to get my first burger since being in Korea, and the bar had PRETZELS, which I also have not had since I've been in Korea.  I'm a huge fan of pretzels, so I was pretty pumped to say the least.  After a while a bunch of other people from our orientation met up with us and it wasn't too long before we moved onto the next bar.  

I quickly realized how different city life is from life in Jeomchon.  First of all, there were Korean people our age everywhere, and they were extremely well-dressed (even the guys!)  I hadn't noticed that Jeomchon doesn't really have many Koreans our age until all of a sudden I was surrounded by super trendy 20 year old Koreans.  It was pretty shocking.  

Additionally, there are obviously way more foreigners in the city, and it was really weird to pass by another westerner and not know them.  I've met just about every foreigner in Jeomchon, so if I ever see a westerner here, I know who they are.  It felt really strange to walk by other English speakers and not say hello.

The city as a whole was also a lot to take in--there were bright fluorescent lights EVERYWHERE!

Also, people can smoke in bars...I never realized how accustomed I was to all the non-smoking rules in America.  Smoky bars are just really gross, and I felt like I smelled like cigarette smoke for the better part of the trip.

So many lights! 

After spending a while at a few bars, we moved on to a club.  And oh my, this was just an experience that is difficult to explain.  The music was SUPER loud.  It was completely pitch black except for a strobe light.  You really couldn't see much of anything except for bright flashes of light every few seconds.  There were Korean guys everywhere. I don't know where all the girls were, but I think I only saw a few the whole night.

Being a female foreigner in a club with a bunch of Korean guys is a recipe for an interesting experience.  Especially since their English mostly consists of only "You're beautiful" and "I love you!"

I still don't know how to accurately describe this portion of the night...I think it's just something you need to experience for yourself. If you're ever in Korea, check out a club.  It's worth it just for the experience.  

Another thing about going out in Korea....there is no last call.  In New Hampshire, the bars close at 1 AM.  I don't think we left the club here until after 3 AM.  Of course, we were hungry so we stopped at McDonalds (because where else would the group of waygooks go?)  It was actually my first time seeing a McDonalds since I've been in Korea.  We were there for quite a while, but don't think we were just those drunken Americans eating hamburgers (I mean, maybe we were a little...) but we somehow ended up having discussions about morality and religion?  Totally normal.

Anyway, by the time we got home it was at least 5 AM.  Which would have been fine, except for we had plans to go hiking the next morning.

Our alarm went off at 9:15....but we actually were feeling pretty great, so we got up and met with the others going on the hike. 

Now, this hiking adventure is a really long story in itself, so I'm going to make it its own post another time.  Let's just say Wednesday was one of THOSE days where just about everything went wrong.  We definitely had an adventure.

The Chuseok hike of 2013 will live live in infamy.  Crazy day, but at least we had some beautiful sights!

Thursday we slept in until almost 11:00...which will make sense once you hear about Wednesday.  We then headed toward the beach to meet up with some other friends.  It was an absolutely beautiful day....it really couldn't have been more perfect.  The sky was blue, there was a breeze, and it wasn't humid.  Definitely an overall weather win.  

A few of us went for a walk around a path with some really amazing views. I of course took a million pictures, but none of them really do justice to the views.

Absolutely beautiful day.
My pictures can't do justice to the views we saw!

As it started to get dark, we headed back to the downtown area.  We grabbed some delicious BBQ dinner before we met up with a bigger group of people and headed to a bar to celebrate the birthday of one of the guys from our orientation group.  

We all hung out for a while, then briefly went to another bar that was not so hoppin' before we decided it was time for some noraebang.  I hadn't been to noraebang since orientation, so I was pretty pumped for round two.  It didn't let me down at all, and it was a great way to end the night and my time in Ulsan.

We didn't get to bed until 3 AM, and I woke up today at 7 to get ready to catch a bus to the bus station for for my 10:00 bus.  Once I got to the bus stop, I saw on the schedule that the next bus that I needed wasn't coming until after 9:00.  Since it takes at least 45 minutes to get to the bus station, I figured it was way too risky, and I grabbed a cab instead. 

So in the end I got to the bus station way earlier than I needed to, but I'd definitely rather be too early than too late.  I slept a little on the way back, but I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back.

I had a great time in Ulsan, but coming back to Jeomchon was the first time I realized that this place really is starting to feel like home.  It was nice to be back in my familiar surroundings and in my own apartment again!