Busan 3

In order to make the task of updating everyone about the events of the past month I will do up several, event specific mini-blogs.  Chronologically, the first occasion to make mention of,  is me and Katarina’s February20-22 trip to Busan (and yes I know, I promised to update directly after the weekend, yet its been over a month now… but I am sure its not anything you all aren’t used to by this point).  Yes, much as the title of this post would imply, this was my third trip to the city… but I’M NOT apologizing. I love it there, and I have to admit it’s probably not the last time I will visist.  It has nothing to do with the tourist attractions, or historical sites, but purely because of the unpredictable things that tend to happen there and the general atmosphere of the city… (realistically, the span of six or more blocks dedicated to nothing but thrift stores and the occasional boutique, may also have something to do with it).

Contrary to the schedule, window shopping was an unrealized item on the itinerary, and despite the amount of restraint and self control I did demonstrate, it’s a miracle I didn’t have to buy another bag just to lug all of my stuff home. I watched “Confessions of a Shopoholic” last night, and some flashbacks from that weekend resonated with me as I watched Rebecca Bloomwood rooting through all of the bargains at the Sample Sale (though her one pair of gloves cost what my entire shopping spree did).  I was actually very good for most of the weekend, but once we hit the 10hour mark in the shopping district (yes.. actually… but over a span of two days), my urge to “buy, BUY, buy” could no longer be kept in check (someone recently told me that there have been some evolutionary theories suggesting that women’s “natural propensity to shop”  is a result of some biological urge to comodify for the sake of genetic protraction… I am not wise to the details, but for all current intents and purposes, I will buy it -no pun intended ). 

Other than shopping, Katarina and I spent one evening in our hotel room getting drunk and celebrating Kat’s acceptance into her PhD program, off of ONEbottle of cheap wine, like a couple of teenage school girls.  For any of you planning to visit Myeondong (correction Nampodong, Myeondong is in Seoul) on a Friday night, opt for the Korean table wine a la Love Hotel… apparently what we thought was the bustling downtown district, shuts down at 10pm on Fridays.  No matter, we had a great time and also had the opportunity to discover Hugh’s incredibly thoughtful gesture hidden in Kat’s makeup bag…. he sold his bicycle and left the profit in a little envelope for Katarina to spend on a lovely celebratory breakfast and dinner for the both of us the following day.

In between these indulgent, culinary events and most of our time spent perusing the 1,000Won bins of the used clothing shops, we also encountered the usual, unusual Korean (or other) things (or people) such as a bare breasted statue feeding her naked baby situated on a deserted side street directly next to a convenience store (see exhibit A below),  Big Bang, Korea’s biggest pop quartet being on scene at a sporting store endorsing some product… seriously, being there in that moment gives us a major bragging rights (Exhibit B), a couple of Japanese tourists who asked us to take our pictures with them, just by virtue of being foreigners (Exhibit C),  a waving, bike riding delivery man (Exhibit D), the owner of Market Fresh who informed us the business was going under and wanted to personally take us on an evening drive around the shores … a little strange, but I think he was using us to practice his English (Exhibit E), the top I will be wearing to my next formal event (if you’re lucky, maybe even to your wedding lindsey)-sweater included (Exhibit F), an ad for… you guessed it… a HOSPITAL (exhibit G) and last but not least, Katarina’s awesome, out of this world virtual horse race which I almost got a hernia watching and video recording (Exhibit H).

Our weekend consisted of shopping, eating, cafeing, arcading, more eating and more shopping, and then from all the shopping we had to get our pedicures done.  God it’s sickening… but it was so good.  I look at it this way… first of all, I single handedly kick started the Korean economy, and with the way the Won has waned in the last few months, my 20o,000₩ weekend probably cost me in the upper limit of $12.

Thank you so much Kat for such an awesome weekend… thinking back makes me miss you even more.

T-130 days ’til I’m home!

Hey everyone, I am sitting in my favourite cafe right now with every intention of updating you on the events of the last month, but I have realized that a proper update is going to take several visits to Jaeng-E as I have just looked through my photos from the last month and there is over 600 of them to go through to post.  I have been MIA since I last went to Busan because I was trying to make the most of my time with Katarina and Hugh who left this beautiful island to pursue bigger and better things a week ago today, and as a result of my time spent with them,  I’ll have many an adventure to report once I get everything sorted through. 

I have to admit, it’s been quite sad without them, but I am faring relatively well considering they were my family away from home.  Luckily I still have Robyn and some other good friends here on the island to take care of me, and so the separation anxiety probably hasn’t hit me yet because my mornings have also been occupied by my new exercise routine, correspondence that was long overdue (sorry mom), and the cleaning that was necessary after having 3 extra bodies livining in my apartment for 5 days (Kat, Hugh and the love of my life Bubak,  moved in with me between their contract end dates and their day of departure) .  I have had a little more time to think in the last week though, and that has been hard (when my mind is left to its own devices, a depressing reality about the privilege I have in life and how I am not using it to its greatest potential  always tends to set in, leaving me feeling guilty and a little depressed about the state of the rest of the world), but I suppose that kind of thinking really isn’t a bad thing because it’s important to recognize where there is need for personal improvement and act on it.  I think that if anything good can come from Kat and Hugh leaving, it will give me more time for self reflection and I can focus my energies on figuring out what exactly I am going to do with my life and if I am going to adhere to the original plan.  (To stay or not to stay in Korea is the very first question).

In any case, I will certainly be updating more often as I have a lot to catch up on and a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, so expect to hear from me again very soon.  For the time being I am formally letting you know that I am alive and well and am sending my love to everyone.  I hope everything is great back home.

xox Michelle