Ordering Take-Out

Within a very short time of us being in Korea, we figured out that just because a restaurant doesn't have delivery does not mean that your food cannot be delivered to you.  Korea has a system called "Quick Service".  Basically, you can call any restaurant and say 퀵서비스 (quick service) and someone on a motorbike will pick up your food from the restaurant and deliver it to you.  Even McDonald's does this.

*I did not take this photo.  I copied this photo from Google Images.*

Zach and I have said from day one that we cannot learn how this system works.  If we figured it out, we would be fat, lazy slobs ordering in food for every meal.  **The great thing about quick service??!!  You don't have to pay the delivery person.  You also don't have to tip them.**

Well on Monday, we decided that we wanted to check out the Chinese restaurant near us.  The sign on the door said "Take Out".  That was fine with us!  However, after we ordered our food, the man asked us for our address (in very broken English).  Zach told him our address (in Korean, of course!) and we were shooed out the door.  We walked back to our apartment and within 10 minutes, our doorbell rang.  Our food had arrived!

We ordered one meal to share plus a side of fried rice -- too much food!

The food comes in real plates and they even gave us a couple of real spoons and wooden, disposable chopsticks.  When you are finished with your food, just leave your dishes outside your door and the delivery person will come back to pick them up!  It's as easy as that!

Busan Fireworks Festival

This past weekend was the Busan Fireworks Festival.  People have been talking about this festival for months.  It is held on Gwangalli Beach in Busan and is very popular. http://festival.busan.kr/html/kor/movie/fire_08_eng.html  We definitely wanted to go and see it.  During the week or two leading up to the festival, we began to hear stories of how crowded the beach is during the fireworks.  We were told that if we wanted a seat on the beach, we would have to get there hours early.  The fireworks started at 8pm and we were told to get there in the early afternoon.

Me, Zach, and two other couples from our apartment complex decided that we wanted to go together.  We had heard that the view from one of the mountains nearby was absolutely amazing.  We planned to make a day out of out.  We packed food, snacks, drinks, and games.

Saturday came and the weather was terrible!  It was raining and very cloudy/foggy.  We stopped to eat a restaurant at the bottom of the mountain to see if we could wait out the rain for a little bit.  It never stopped raining.  In fact, the rain came harder.  That's when we decided to go into a coffee shop for a bit.  After a couple of hours at the coffee shop, we heard that the fireworks had been postponed until the following day (Sunday night).

On Sunday, we headed up the mountain a little later than the day before.  We hiked up the mountain for about 45 minutes before we found a fairly decent spot to see Gwangan Bridge and the fireworks.  We picked a great spot.  It wasn't very crowded and we had a great view!

Here is a video I took of the fireworks.  It lasted for 45 minutes but the video is about 15 minutes long.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkJLTcqWuSQ

A Gift From a Widow

My co-teacher walked into my classroom earlier this morning and handed me a box.  She said, "face towel" and started to walk away.  I said, "thank you" and asked her who it was from.  She said that before I arrived in Busan, one of the teachers from this school died. This gift is for the anniversary of his death.  Apparently, the date on the box (2012.10.22) is the day that he goes to Heaven.  I asked my teacher what subject the man taught.  She then revealed that he was a retired P.E. teacher that was very old.  When I asked her if he died of natural causes, she said that he had cancer or something.  I guess it's a tradition in Korea (or so I've been told) for the widow/widower to give gifts (to whom exactly, I don't know) on the day that the person goes to Heaven.

Anyway, I was a little taken aback by receiving a gift from a deceased person's wife whom I have never met, but I sure am glad this guy is now in Heaven!  Yay!

 The box that the towel came in.

(Using Google Translate - not totally reliable)

김현철 - Kim Hyun Chul (the man's name) / 영가 - Spiritual

49재 - 49th / 회 향 - Times incense

2012.10.22 - The date he goes to Heaven

The hand towel

Chuseok/Rachel in Korea

I'm a little late for this post, but I have not had internet at home since Oct. 1st.

At the beginning of the month, Korea celebrated Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).  Because of Chuseok, we had a 5-day weekend.  During Chuseok, many people go back home to visit with family.  Instead of me leaving to go visit family, my family came to me.  Well, my sister did at least!

She arrived on Sunday evening which means I could spend 3 full days with her before I had to go back to work.

It's a little blurry but I was really excited to see her.

Spent the first day on the beach.

The first night too!

On the 2nd day we went to Beomeosa Temple

At Beomeosa Temple.

We also had some fun on the subway!

On the 3rd day, we went shoppig in the markets.  We also stopped to shake some hands.

After shopping we stopped at Busan Tower.



On the 4th day I had to go to work, but after work we went to the Childrens' Grand Park.

We didn't get very good pictures because it was dark and I was using the camera in my phone.

On the 5th day (Friday after school) we met up with some friends.  We had snacks and drinks at a Korean bar.

On the 6th day, we checked out the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).  Tickets were sold out so we didn't watch any movies.

Later that night, we met up with friends again and went to a noraebang (karaoke room).

We sang some interesting songs.

We got about 3 hours of sleep before we had to take her to the airport.

The sunrise after we dropped her off.

It was a great week and I am soooooooo happy that she was able to come out to spend time with us.  We had some much-needed sister time!