Some more vistors

I was fortunate enough to have a couple of visitors come and stay a week with me recently. My yeo~dong~saeng (little sister) and her namja~chin~gu (boyfriend) spent a few days with me in the now frigid Jinju, and then we spent the weekend in Busan. Brittny and Geoff got to see how I live my life, which pretty much goes like this; get off school, eat BBQ, drink beer and soju, then go to bed. Repeat Monday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, don't go to bed. Sunday, rest. I was most impressed with Britt and Geoff's ability to pick up parts of the language. I know that they will be saying "Yea" "Yeo~gi~yo" and "Kam~sa~ham~ni~da" for a long time to come. I look forward to having Korean conversations with them when I go home. It was a great week which went like this....... By the way, none of these photos are mine - I regrettably did not take my camera anywhere and relied on Britt and Geoff to take photos for me.

Monday went exactly the way I described above. Introduce the newbies to the BBQ, then get drunk. We drank at a place called "700 Beer", where you are required to drink 700 beers before you leave. Or maybe the beers come in 700 ml glasses. Im not sure. Either way, after about an hour, it felt like id drank 700 beers. We then broke out the Soju which got everyone's seal of approval, and as a result, I don't remember anything from that point on. It also meant some crazy headaches the next day.

Wednesday was, well, the same. Get off school, have BBQ at the best place in Jinju I know, then meet up with the gang for drinks in Go West. The BBQ has pieces of pork belly as thick as a dictionary, but also comes with hamburger steak, which is like being served sushi and baked beans in the same meal. Brings the good meal down a touch. Regardless, good dinner, B&G got to try KimchiJiggae, and I wasn't hungover for work the next day! Yay!

Thursday was a highlight - Karaoke!!!! At the very homely Wine Bar, we assembled a good group for some mid-week No-rae-bang. After clearing out the venue 10 minutes after arriving, we got things started. Brittny and Geoff were treated to some all-time great performances by yours truly - Livin on a Prayer (Bon Jovi) and Tribute (Tenacious D) - which I know intimidated and scared them more than they already were. How could they possibly follow an act like that?? Brittny told me that she couldnt believe that we could do this sober, "you actually do it for entertainment" I believe I heard. So they both increased their alcohol intake to try and ready themselves. About 2-2.5 hours later, after the bar was almost double-handedly drank dry, and the local foreigners had began to scrape the bottom of the song barrel like "Barbie Girl" and "The Macarena", Brittny and Geoff stepped up to the mike and belted out the classic "Do-wa-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do". I was a witness to the performance - confident, emotional, and out-of-key - just like all good karaoke should be. Once the first song was out of the way, the flood gates opened, and we were all drowning in Brittny and Geoff's singing. A great night!

Friday saw us travel down to Busan for the weekend. We first found a night love motel, which had; a) the world's biggest beds (they would not fit in my entire house in Jinju) b) "buisiness" cards of local woman at the door, in the elevator, bathroom, fridge and next to the bed c) various creams, lotion and potions available for use (including "men's desenitising cream"). After this joyous expreience we did what all visitors to Busan do - eat Mexican food at the Fuzzy Navel!! Classic Busan and Classic Korea. With full bellys, we got in a taxi, ready to clean out the local casino of everything they had. I told the taxi where to go - Ca~ji~no - and he proceeded to drive us 10 seconds around the next corner and stop. Easily the shortest taxi ride of my life. An entertaining night of gambling ensued - my night was like a rollercoaster that got stuck upside down on the loop-the-loop - a bit of a disaster at one point, but turned out pretty good. Only annoying part of the casino was the free drinks. How do you complain about free drink? When there is no visible bar to buy your own drinks and you have to wait 20 minutes for your free drinks which are no bigger than a shot glass, you'd would probably prefer paying the $2.50 for a pint.

Saturday saw us go for a hike. Yes, a hike. Not my 1st choice of activity during the winter, but it turned out to be a really fun day. We started at a temple called Beo-mo-sa, and I think I can safely say at this point that ive seen all the best temples in Korea, and the rest are 99% the same. This one was the same. We then went directly vertical up the hill from the temple. Ice picks and ropes were needed at one point to navigate the trecherous landscape, and at one point, I thought we would be turning around. That was about 2 minutes into it. "When we get to the top we can just get a taxi", said Brittny. I replied "Are you high?". Last time I checked, there isnt a taxi rank at the top of mountains. Once we reached the plataeu, the walk became far more enjoyable and scenic and gave awesome views of the city. By the end, I almost wanted to keep going, but we had walked almost 6 kms and my knees were hurting, so it was probably for the best that we called an end to it. We then met a couple of friends at a University district in the City. We started off with a steak dinner - a very welcome meal after a long day and about 5 months without a steak - and then proceeded to drink the night away. A highlight was Gwang-al-li and part of town right on the beach, with a huge bridge in the background, and plenty of places to party. A really cool place to hangout.




The next day we were too tired and hungover to do anything other than go home. So that's what we did. Back in Jinju, we had a last supper of Pork Belly, Beef and Lamb, and called it a holiday.

Thanks so much Geoff and Britt for dropping in. I had an awesome time, I hope you did as well. If you ever have a craving for kimchi, your always welcome back.