Still Green.

These recent weeks have been busy.  I had a friend recently ask me if I am always such a social butterfly.  I sheepishly replied that yes, I do tend to be a bit busy.  Often I am out meeting friends for dinner or drinks or just coffee.  I have friends from many different places and times in my life, who often don't know each other.  I enjoy spending time with everyone, and it takes time.

But it's completely worth it.  My friends and family help make me who I am, and I have never regretted time spent with any of you.  

A few weekends ago I went to Gyeongju with some friends.  It was a great night!  We left after work on Friday and got there by bus.  We had time to grab dinner and then went to a noraebang.  We ended up having to go to another noraebang because they wouldn't let us have another hour and it was a bit upsetting!  

On Saturday, we rented scooters and drove a ways out of town.  It was a bit tough to get used to, but after a few miles I got the hang of it.  We had a gorgeous day and I enjoyed taking advantage of it.  

Last weekend, I celebrated my friend Hee Jung's birthday with some of our friends.  It was a great night, we had Thai food for dinner and then some drinks at a local foreigner-friendly bar.  I think we all had a great night, laughing and making new friends.  :)

The birthday girl on the right!

On Saturday, I went to Carlifornia Burrito with some friends.  It nearly satisfies my burrito/taco cravings.  I can even get my burrito bowl with the best chips that I've had in Korea.  I really miss good chips!  

After leaving California Burrito, we went to a local hangout Fully Booked.  I love Fully Booked, it is a cafe filled with books where one can get wine, sangria, coffee, sandwiches and cookies. They also have board games!  We played scattegories all evening!  

Looking forward to this weekend, some standup tonight and tomorrow the Fireworks Festival!  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Life is always busy.

Hello!

I hope this post finds you well.  Thanks to you for reading, I don't update as often as I'd like, but I've been doing my best!  

Fall has arrived in Busan and I've been enjoying the cooler temperatures and nights.  I have been sleeping better, but still seem to be on vacation time.  By that I mean that I can barely drag my butt out of bed in the morning and don't generally feel like I should go to bed until at least 1am.  I should just go to bed you say?  Yes, I've tried that and it doesn't really work for me.  I end up laying awake and being angry that I'm still awake, just laying there.  So I have been trying to settle down earlier and maybe do a little reading or... well, it's not working all that well.  

The 30th of September was Chuseok, which is like Korean Thanksgiving.  It is much different than our Thanksgiving back home, it is typically celebrated early in the day at a grandparent's house, with the main meal being consumed about 9 or 10am.  My friend invited me to celebrate Chuseok with her family, but knowing that I would be out celebrating a friend's birthday the night before, I politely declined.  When she called me in the afternoon, I was surprised that the principal of my school had called her to invite us to his home for lunch.  I told her that I could be ready within the hour.  

The food was delicious, and I felt so lucky to have such a caring principal at my school.  I don't know any other foreigners who had such an experience of Chuseok.  

There was steamed fish, which was the most wonderful fish that I have eaten.  My principal told me that he bought the fish from his hometown and that his wife prepared it in a traditional fashion - it was steamed.  It was flaky and not too fishy, easily pulled apart and eaten with chopsticks.  I didn't know if it was appropriate to ask how it was prepared, but I will before I leave Korea.  

The spread.
There was steamed fish, seasoned radish root, some fried snacks and bibimbap accompaniments.
Delicious!

The pic above shows my favorite rice cake.  I have met many a rice cake that... aren't my favorite.  But this one is for celebrating special events, it is two thin layers of rice cake, with a layer of red bean paste between them.  The whole thing is coated on the top and bottom with ground nuts.  It is not really sweet, (according to most Koreans, red bean paste is sweet and a treat) but it is a great sweet-ish snack.  

My French Toast Bar

The weekend of the 6th & 7th was pretty low key.  I had dinner on Friday night with a friend, we finally got to go to the Thai restaurant that I have been telling her about for months.  Saturday I stuck pretty close to home.  Sunday, I had some friends over for French toast.  My original plan was to just have the French Toast with caramel, but then I changed it up so that we could each choose our own toppings.  I set out cream cheese, butter, caramel, nutella, blueberries in their juices and peanut butter.  It turned out delicious!  I was so glad, it had been forever since I prepared French Toast.  I didn't even miss the syrup.  

I have found some fun nail polish here and been exploring
different styles.
This is probably one of my favorites so far!

I often complain about the hill that I live on.  I was heading out on a walk a couple weeks ago and decided that I should share my walk down the hill with you.  It's a bit shaky, sorry about that!  Just to specify, going down isn't the chore, going up is.

Oktoberfest, Camping and Chuseok!

Wow!  September was busy.  It got away from me, which is quite alright.  It was a good month, I was able to get out with friends quite a bit.  It helped to counteract the back to school blues.   

At Oktoberfest!  Lots of beer to be had.  

I decided it was time for bangs and
 took matters into my own hands.

Goulash at Tulla, the Eastern European restaurant in Hadan.
Delicious!   

We returned to Geoje-do to camp.  Determined that we would make it the night.  We had amazing weather, though I will admit that it got a bit chilly in the night.  

A starfish that I found on the beach.  

It still moved a bit, so I helped it back into the ocean.  

 

Thought I'd try something new.  I wanted to try a peanut butter stuffed burger.  It was quite delicious, but most of the peanut butter oozed out so there wasn't much left in the middle.  

 

Friday I went on a Ferry out into the East Sea, and saw Tajongdae from the sea.  It was beautiful!  

Afterwards I went out for my friend Sean's birthday (see below).  It was a lovely day. 

 
On Saturday, I went out with some friends to celebrate Steven's birthday.  We went to a beautiful restaurant that is brimming with delightful smells as soon as you walk in.  

 We had beef, I'm not sure what it was precisely, because Steven ordered it...  But it was delicious!  

 After the awesome restaurant that we ate dinner at, we tried to go to the cave bar.  Alas, we did not stay long because they were adamant that we not only order food with our drinks, but that we order the most expensive dish on the menu, times 5 because it was for 1-2 people and we had 10 people.  So, we did what anyone would do.  We went somewhere else!  

There are many places in Korea where it is not acceptable to only order drinks.  It is expected that you will order food as well.  Sometimes, like in the case of the Beer Factory where I was last night with some friends, if you order a coke at 1am, the server will give you a nasty look and let you know that you're at the Beer Factory, before everyone even orders.  This is not my favorite part of Korea, can you tell?  I would think any customers should be welcome, but such is not often the case here.  

Inside the cave bar, there was a dragon!

 I am told that soon the fall colours will be out here in Busan, but I am not holding my breath.  I have been keeping an eye out for the ones posted on Facebook by friends and family back home.  This one lovely and currently my desktop background.  Thanks Nicole!

Photo courtesy of Nicole Zimmerman