Unbeknown to me, we weren't seeing Hyeji until Saturday morning around 9am or so. However, we were leaving Friday night around 10pm after eating some noodle soup at Sujung's parent's restaurant. After what I can only describe as the inevitable GPS long route, an hour of semi-sorta, not-so-comfortable, quite painful actually back seat "rest" at a rest stop around 2am, car trouble, tow truck ride, and car rental, Sujung (a Korean friend of mine that attended GSW in Americus, GA), Sooman, and I finally arrived at Hyeji's place around 10am. Why that took 12 hours verses the 4 I was told about I'm not sure. I felt like a zombie all day, sleep walking through life. In fact, I was kind of unclear as to when morning and night time actually was, so I'm pretty sure I wore the same clothes for the whole weekend.
Everyone was so excited to see Hyeji. We walked around Busan for a bit before Sujung and Sooman picked some other Korean US friends from the airport. Apparently there is an airport in Busan that flies from Seoul and back. How convenient, right? I mean no one in the US would every think of flying from Coosa, AL to Huntsville.... It kind of sounds silly to me, but I suppose it could be nice for business travelers and such. Hyeji and I decided to grab refreshing drink at one of the quite common two story Starbucks nearby. Koreans love their coffee, so it isn't out of the ordinary to see two or three story Starbucks, Holly's Coffee, Tom N Tom's Coffee, Coffee Bean, and/or some other cafe all on the same street. While catching up, we ran into her mom and sister, which was super awesome! They seem so sweet. However, I always feel sad that I can't communicate with my friend's parents.
Soon, her family had to leave, and one of Hyeji's friends that is studying in Minnesota came to visit. We chatted for a bit before walking around outside in the not-humid air, but scorching sun. Afterwards, Gloria (a Korean mother of two that I met in the US) came to take us out to lunch at this super fancy Italian restaurant. We shared this amazing grilled wild mushroom salad, toasted bread with an oil/vinegar/spice dipping sauce, and boiled potatoes! Then the piles of pasta came. After eating and socializing for about an hour, Sooman, Sujung, and Jeong showed up to join Gloria, Hyeji, her friend, and I. We got a bigger table just enjoyed each other's company while the newbies ate lunch. Unfortunately, Sooman had to leave after dropping off the girls and drive two hours back to drop off the rental car in another city, so he was unable to join us until dinner time.
Hyeji and I excused ourselves for a little walk while the others were enjoying themselves. It is certainly nice to see and catch up a best friend. After another hour or so of relaxation and conversation at the restaurant, we changed into our swimming suits and headed to the famous Hyundae Beach. While I was in a what I thought was quite modest two piece, all the other Koreans swimming in their clothes. The amount of skin I was exposing was apparently quite scandalous. The amount of people on this beach probably topped a thousand!! There were numerous beach umbrellas already set up and ready for use...so 5,000W later, we had ourselves some shade. Which of course, I think that the reason I wear 50+ sunblock is so that I can be in the sun. Shade was nice too though. I also discovered that beer and chicken is a must have for beach-goers. I mean, these silly Koreans will find any excuse to drink alcohol, but fried chicken?! There were many people that had purchased fried chicken & beer just to sell it for a higher price at the beach. And they will, because these are hot ticket items whilst swimming.
And one more thing...the Pacific Ocean is COLD!!! I'm sorry...more like FREEZING!! So I didn't really go swimming all that much. I even had goose bumps in the water!
Later we went to dinner. A really fancy sushi place. Even though I haven't yet attempted raw fish for lack of knowledge about its preparation, I was quite impressed with this restaurant's presentation. This is Korea....so we had plenty of side dishes. Salad, grilled mushrooms, soy beans, tofu, watermelon, etc, so I had plenty to eat!! The tray of fish was brought out on a large round platter with each group of thinly slice raw fish place decoratively over crushed ice. I haven't been super impressed with the food sanitation or preparation here, so I've been hesitant to go for it. Raw fish, octopus, dog, raw beef... I'm sure I'll come around one of these days...or not. Only time will tell.
After dinner, we all went to Gloria's friend's apartment. We don't know Gloria's friend, and she wasn't there, but she let us use her apartment for the night. Well, yet another surprise was that Sooman has actually planned to leave that night all along. Which didn't really matter at this point, because his brother's car was in another city getting worked on. Sooman, Sujung, and Jeong were going to take the bus back to Seoul that night. Since I figure "night" meant 7-10pm, I opted travel in the morning so that I could have more time with Hyeji. Turns out "night" really meant 2am. Not wanting to fall asleep in the apartment until they left regardless of how tired I was, I fought sleep for quite some time. However, I must have lost because I woke up around 3am in the dark with no one in the apartment. I suppose I could have left at 2am with them beacuse it wasn't much different from 12pm the next day. Hyeji came home from her night out, which obviously I was unable to join due to my sleep depravity, about 3:30am or so.
We woke up, chatted for a bit, got ready, and headed to the subway, were we transfered twice before arriving at the bus terminal. The tickets to Ansan for 12pm were sold out and there were only 3 seats left for the train at 1:20pm, which would be the last one for that day. Well, wouldn't that be interesting to be fired for yet a second time in Korea, only this time because I didn't show up! So Hyeji and I found a cafe to sit in and chat until 1pm when we headed back to the terminal to find my bus. These buses are fancy for sure...not those city buses that whip you around the corner nick-named "the death bus." There were fancy plush leather seats and freezing cold air conditioning. I guess I can't complain much because most of the time I am spent sweating due to lack of air moment period. A big hug for Hyeji and off we go. One potty break and 4-5hrs later, we arrived in Ansan. Lucky for me the stop was in Jungwang-dong so I could find myself the subway. I eventually arrived home about 7pm or so. Riding the bus didn't take that long at all! Especially compared to the ridiculously long ride down.
Its such a shame that Hyeji is so far away. And its such a shame that we can't see each other more often. if I had my head on straight when I got fired from ECC (and of course, how could I have?), I would have gotten a job in Busan. I do know one thing though, if I do stay another year, Busan is the place for me.
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