Busan: City of Seafood Dreams

So here I am, living in Busan, having passed training (which only 60% of my training group accomplished). Not only that, but they gave me a cute little certificate "Most Likely to Become Head Instructor." Yikes, I hate those high expectations!

Yesterday I did some exploring in Busan. Although it's larger than any city in the US (except LA and NYC), there're surprisingly few "tourist-y" attractions here. July and August are beach season in Busan, however, so I visited the famous Haeundae Beach (at nighttime, naturally, although the beach is still overrun with people getting drunk and setting off fireworks). The picture above gives you a pretty good idea of the environment, I hope.

I met some fellow Americans randomly on the subway and they invited me to go with them and their friends to a German beer place. After, we went to a bar called Thursday Party, which is part of a chain here. By this time, I was quite ready for bed. But oh no. The ex-patriots I've met here so far (American and Canadian) LOVE to party, so at 4am we headed next door to a Nori Bong, which is kind of like Karaoke except that you and your friends rent your own room--the nice ones come with comfortable couches, tambourines, and even bongo drums, so that everyone can get involves. They are VERY popular here. By the time we were done there, the subways had started to run again, so I didn't even have to pay for a cab ride home. One very bizarre thing about the Nori Bong is that every song is accompanied by a sort of "music video" with edited footage from, I don't know... Korean movies? Some of the videos looked very soap-opera-esque, but others were more action style.

Needless to say, I slept late today, but after my slumber I met up with Alex, a friend from Sarah Lawrence who is also teaching here in Busan (she's in her second year here, if I'm not mistaken). We toured the Busan Museum of Modern Art and I really, really wish I had brought my camera! But here is an article with one of the works I saw. Made me think of Magrite, if he was a photo-realist (photo-SURrealist?).

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/06/148_58671.html

Tomorrow, I teach my first class!

Also, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day! And I'd like to note that I was celebrating the 4th of July a full thirteen hours before ANYONE in the United States was even ABLE to do so. HOW'S THAT FOR PATRIOTISM?