STAYCATION JUNE 2017

We literally had our first pure staycation, ever.  It happened to be in Busan in the middle of June 2017.  This is our story.

The previous week, Hite Beer and HomePlus delivered three cases of beer (12X500ml), since I had bought a case and the handle broke, which ended up with three beers meeting a grisly death and I cut my hand.  The Hite Beer guy took my phone # & we'll go out for a few later in the summer.  He majored in English at KSU. He also suggested the Hite-Jinro factory tour in JeonJu City (famous for bibimbap) for free.  They pick up 30 friends at 7am in Busan by bus and return by mid-afternoon, which includes booze and bibimbap.

WEEK ONE: 2017 SUMMER VACATION
BUSAN
Carol had such a long and busy year, so I insisted that she stay in Busan for a week, ALONE (not to be a tour guide).  She was reluctant, but agreed.  At the end of the week, she said it was such a great idea.  She went out during the day with April Quimpo quite a bit, shopping, eating and drinking.  Andre Quimpo and I would usually meet them in the evening.  I spent my days doing BUFS grades, or working (M-W-F at E2E English Language School from 2:30-4:50pm).  I also went to see Ryan the Chiropractor M-W-F at 5:30pm, to make sure my back was fine for our summer trips.

DAY 0
Carol had some end of year festivities, as per the norm at any school, which involved a picnic with drinks at Haeundae Beach.  I worked at BUFS from 9am-1pm, teaching makeup classes, & until 4:50pm at E2E, and then went to the chiropractor, so I ended up back home at about 7pm, so Carol went home to see me, instead of going to the beach.  We had a quiet evening at home, saving our energy for tomorrow's Kevin/Rae party.

DAY 1
I did some grading/marking (diaries) and Carol made me some light, but hearty meals, as my organs have been sagging as of late, leaving the appearance of a belly.  These lighter, but more frequent meals have been helping my core.  We then made our way over to Kevin and Rae Smith's for their annual end of year BBQ.  We got to Dalmaji Hill well in advance of starting time, but the taxi dropped us off in the wrong area, so we first had to figure out how to get there, with the help of random Korean people, and Andre.  I was also carrying a 12 pack of beer and needed to use the toilet, so it was slightly distressing.  We finalize got there.  Monique Donahue, Andy, Gill, Andre, Rick, Leda, Parker, Nicola, Al and Michelle Roland, a Korean woman and her Westernized daughter, Megan Graff, Brendon, as well as Gordon & Rita rounded out the guests.  We spent most of the party on the balcony with Rita, Gordon, Kevin, Andre & Kevin.  Rae wo(maned) the grill, while Kevin made sure everyone's glasses were full, that the food inside was restocked and being eaten, and that the music was good.  While on the balcony, we were enjoying looking at the variety of characters coming & going from the shops, providing commentary.  There were the people that entered the shops and never left, young people, the colourfully dressed gangsters, the smokers, a woman who wanted to go out to smoke but couldn't, the sign that kept falling over, and the middle aged adjashis (older/middle aged Korean men) who stood around supervising with their hands behind their backs. Kevin gave me a book about an English teacher's journal from 1996-1998 that he had wanted to give to me for the better part of the year.  Kevin also gave us two tequila shots, which Carol partook in and said some very cheeky things.  We then went down the hill to a rooftop bar with an excellent terrace with  view of Haeundae Beach, where everyone was under a blanket (it was June 6th).  We met Andy, Gill, Meng, Dong-Jin, Marie, Graham, Heather, Jason, their old student from Alberta/China, as well as Bryn and Shelly.  Shelly works at Dong-A University, so, as often happens, we shared stories about our university experiences and talked about our summer vacation plans. This other group sat inside, but the others went outside, in their blankets, LOL

DAY 2
Marked diaries, worked off the hangover, and didn't do very much else.  Went to Andy & Gill's for dinner, so we could see each other off and say hi/bye to Jenny.  Nicola was taking care of the superstar, Parker, while the rest of us watched and played with him.  Andy made superb Indian or Morroccan, while I also had a few hair of the dogs.  Jenny was going to Mongolia, while the Vaughns were take off to the UK.  Nicola, Rikard and Parker will be returning to work on Che-Ju Do in August.

DAY 3
Carol and April had Spanish tapas for lunch and went shopping in Seomyeon all day. I ate dwayne jang jigae (soya paste soup) at a small shop nearby Ryan the chiropractor. Carol and April we're having soondooboo (tofu egg soup) somewhere in Gyeong-Sung Dae (university) (KSU) area, so Andre & I met at the Guemnyeonsan Subway and went to KSU to meet the ladies. Andre showed up a tad late, because he had some trouble parking in Jung-Dong.  He had a spot on the street, which was city property, but an office building claimed it for their workers, so he had gotten into an argument with the parking lady.  We ended up eating soondooboo, too, even though I shouldn't have.  At least it's a light meal.   April & Carol har also gone to KSU to get the address for the singing room (Star KTV), since we were gonna go there with a gang later in the week.  We had after dinner drinks at a makali jip (rice wine house).  They have these half Moon cups, which are shaped so that when you take a sip, the wine (white in colour) looks like a half moon.  We had mango and other flavors of makilo (makoli smoothies), which were weak, but good.  We also played a few games that the jip had, as well as our own drinking games.  Andre and April also introduced some finer points of Filipino culture. We took a taxi home, while Andre and April took the subway.  Carol was so shocked that we lived so close, and that next time, we'll simply walk, and return to the authentic soondooboo joint.  These days, the tofu isn't the same, and they do not add eggs, so we normally do not order the soondooboo anymore, but we will at this place!

DAY 4
Did a truckload of marking and then we met Andre and April again.   We went to Haeundae Beach, where we met Zoey and Max, their new puppy.  He is still being trained, which is good, became he has a lot of energy and is very strong. He bit my ass a few times while walking, LOL.  They had dinner at this place in Palé de CZ, which allows dogs.  Had a beer and olives for dinner, while the others had fish and chips.  My meal was too small. We went back to their place, where we drank traditional Filipino spirits, made from coconut. Plenty of  beer, wine and pulutan (Filipino for snacks), so my small meals of olives was made up for.

DAY 5
Marking.  Went to E2E, and visited Ryan for an adjustment.  Carol and I went to the beach for a walk, and visited a coffee shop terrace that had a Spanish name with a cactus, so we thought it might be a Mexican place, but it was just a beer/coffee shop with a cactus on the sign.  All the same, the view of Kwangali Bridge was awesome.  I put a few shots of tequila from my flask into my cider for flavour.  We then went to the Yellow Cab for good music and atmosphere.  The owner can speak English and is a DJ on KBS radio on the weekends.  His wife gave us free (service) chips in the shape of chicken wings.

DAY 6
Met Andre, April for BBQ next to Nice 2 Meat U, which had a ton of beef and pork  on the cheap. We had a few Cass beers, as well as a Mango Hite Beer, which was "so so". We ended the night down the beach at Yellow Cab again, where the owner was happy to see us and gave us more "chicken wings".

DAY 7
In the morning, I was woken up to a call from my private lesson reminding me about my lesson.  Lucky, I was ready, and went to Marine City, where I met my student and we had a lesson for an hour.  On the way out, I grabbed a 1 litre Compose Coffee. Later that evening, we met Rae Smith, Rick, Leda, Andre, and April at a Che-Ju (I still like the old spelling, as opposed to Jeju) pork restaurant.  Excellent meat for cheap. Unfortunately, Kevin Smith was sick and could not come.   Leda and Rick are moving to Shenzen, China, where she'll be the PYP coordinator again.  We then went to Star KTV for hours of singing.

SUNDAY was spent grading and enjoyed a brunch with Sarah Noye, who is moving to Hanoi, Vietnam.  We went to Gumbo's, a Canjun joint, which serves excellent brunch.  We also walked down Kwangali Beach and chatted.  Had ice cream at our favorite place near home.

MONDAY, JUNE 19 was spent at the BUFS Foreign Language Education Center (F.L.E.C.) office with Kelly, Leah and Grace, trying to enter grades.  It took about five hours to do 30 minutes work, since I was the first one to give it a go.  Grading curves and the BUFS ISS system have their challenges.  At 2:15pm, I rushed off, grabbed two rolls of tuna kimpab (sushi rolls) and went to my last class at E2E.  Rachel told me that if there are not enough students, that they won't be needing me for when I return in August, which is fine, so now I don't need to tell her that I was quitting. Went home, had dinner and packed for tomorrow's trip.