In Korea, they celebrate a traditional holiday called Chuseok, which is similar to the American Thanksgiving...MINUS the Native Americans, Piligrims, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, football, turkey, and Black Friday. So basically Chuseok is not even close to Thanksgiving. Well, anyways...what I gathered from talking to other teachers at my school is Chuseok is a week long and they visit family. They go to their in-laws house for a couple days, then to their own family's house for a couple days, and for the remaining time they relax. Since I am not married and I don't have family out here, (that I know of) my friends and I decided to go on a little vacation to Busan...some say "Pusan" but I prefer the "B" over the "P."
I'm going to post a little right now and a little later...can't sum up a whole week with one post...wouldn't be right...
So anyways...a couple of us had to teach on Monday, so we reserved tickets for later in the evening. Um yeah...we all arrive at Dongdaegu Station around 8:30ish-8:45ish...just to find out we're at the wrong station and we're not on KTX (fastest train in Korea). We frantically rush to Daegu Station (correct station) and we get the some stairs...SOME STAIRS=3 flights of stairs. I bolted up the stairs looking like a crazed quasimoto (hunched over because of my heavy backpack). While running, my eyes were tearing up, I was yelling and laughing all at the same time...it was frightening! We had 2 minutes to spare. Needless to say the trip was not starting out right...but at least we made it.
So after our arrival, we hopped in cab and headed toward our hostel...
Keep in mind, I've never been to a hostel in my life. The word itself brings back not so pleasant memories of when I watched the movie "Hostel" and had nightmares for weeks...I still believe there is some truth to that movie...
Here is our beloved hostel...
Staying there, felt a lot like camping. I have to admit, despite the communal aspect of the bathrooms, I loved the fact I got to take a hot shower (didn't know how to turn on my hot water in my apartment up until a week ago)...
Anyways, Mr. Lee, the host, surprised everyone in the hostel by cooking us a traditional meal for Chuseok!
Although we weren't with our families, we were all able to share in the same experience...
Here's the link if you're ever in Busan: http://www.actourist.com/ko/
note: can't guarantee you a free meal and Mr. Lee did not pay me to advertise his hostel (not opposed to it)
Busan or Bust...to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment