MU:CON Seoul 2013

Sorry for all of you that waited so long for this post. Alright here is my blog about attending the MU:CON Seoul 2013 Showcase!

I had entered into a drawing to get free tickets to the show (only offered to foreigners) and got in, so I went over to Gangnam pretty early so that I would have plenty of time to get lost and also figure out how I was able to pick up the tickets that I had won, because all I got from the MU:CON people was a text message and an email; nothing about where to pick up the tickets or how to go about doing that.   I really did not know where the Gangnam Beyond Museum was, but was very pleasantly surprised to find out that it is in the same area as CUBE and JYP Entertainment (for those of you in Seoul). 

So I got there and stood in line behind the five people who got there before me.  At this point I was still under the assumption that the showcase started at 5, but after standing in line for about 30 minutes and there was no one else there and the staff members were still setting up tables and lounging around I later tapped into someone’s unprotected Wi-Fi (I have come to love the people that don’t lock their Wi-Fi, also Cafes …) and was able to see that the showcase actually started at 7, so I had another 45 minutes to wait. I was pretty hungry because I had not really eaten al day in order to make sure that I had enough money to get back on the subway to the dorms (I am getting better at my finances now…). But I did not want to leave form my spot in line because as we were waiting, more and more people were starting to line up behind me. 

When the ticket counter finally opened up, we all got our tickets (they had a slight problem with mine because I never got the bar code via SMS…problems of not having a smart phone…), given free bottles of coconut water,

 and were let into the venue. It was a small open area that had the stage and sound booth set up. Since I was standing room only, we were brought in and told to stand behind to rope they had set up a foot or two away from the stage. There were not that many people, maybe about 50-75 at the absolute maximum. Since I was one of the ones who had gotten in the front of the line, I had a pretty good spot right at the front of the group, touching the rope. Unfortunately they created an area for press in the front, so there was some moving around for us in the crowd and I was replaced in the very front. All was good though because I still ended up being pretty close. I was behind two really short Koreans and was standing right next to the main camera (which was really good!).

The showcase started off with two International acts: Ming Bridges (from Singapore)

 and Olga Stelmakh (from Russia).

 Both of them were pretty good, a little too pop-y (Ming) and slightly too folky (Olga) but I would listen to them if they were on the radio, but may not actively go out and get their CDs. But the funny thing was, they both kept staring at me. By now I feel like I should tell you that I was the only westerner there, so whenever the international acts were on they would talk to me because I was the only one that was able to understand them and react to what they were saying (They both had accented English).  So I tried to be very active in listening and tried to sing along the best I could while they were performing because the Korean audience members were not reacting all that much. 

After the two international acts were over, the next artist was Lim Kim. Now let me get this out there. I have seen her perform about five times now, four times during the Simply Kpop filming and now for this, but Miss Kim has the emotional range of a wet tissue.  It may be the concept that her company gave her, but I just don’t see the emotion in her performances and in real life. She has a great set of pipes, I am not arguing that (I think she is one of my favorite solo female singers—means a lot because I usually don’t listen to many female artists), but she is like a freaking doll when she is present on stage. I hate to admit it, but I love to watch her background dancers and see what expressions they have during the dance. I really like the main guy dancer because he is really laid back. From my position in the crowd, I could see the staging area for the next acts and watched him goof around with the other dancers before they went on stage; he also did this during the breaks in filming for Simply Kpop.  Just a random side note that maybe showing how many of these things I go to, but I notices that Lim Kim was missing two of her dancers (one of the guys and one of the girls). She only had two sets and the guy and not the three couples that she had for Simply Kpop…

Miss Kim the beautiful doll. I really want to have her stylist buy me clothes, I am in love with all of her stage outfits!

Any who, back to the event. After Lim Kim left, the next stage was Tasty. Tasty is a two man dance/pop group here in South Korea under Woollim Entertainment (Now a branch of SM Ent.) and are well known for their dancing skills. Well, let’s just say that the Twings (Tasty fanclub) showed up in full force and was cheering and waving for the whole stage. And rightfully so that they would cheer, the boys were great. The thing that really stuck with me though was how tall there guys were and the fact that they sweated a whole lot (they really go all out in those dances—hard choreography too!). I mean I knew that they were tall for Koreans (well truthfully they are Chinese-Korean, but you know what I am saying), but actually seeing them on stage, I was able to see that they are actually 6+ feet tall! After their stage and the screaming stopped, I started to rub my ears to try to stop the ringing and got the attention of the press filming ajusshi (“older man” in Korean—still respectful) and he joked with me about fan girls and asked me how I was liking the showcase so far, all in broken English and Korean by the way. He was a nice guy…

Anyway, after Tasty came Rainbow, a girl group from South Korea. They were good, but I truthfully had never heard any of their songs before. Their stage was good, just a little too cutesy for me.  Most of the guy fans were ecstatic and one of them, (a younger guy, maybe high school) who was first in line to get tickets, was really into them. He had even made signs and was screaming his heart and feelings out. 

After Rainbow came the act that I was really looking forward to seeing—a collaboration piece between Phantom (Korean hip-hop/R&B group), The Geeks (Korean hip-hop/light rap group), and S4 (a band that I follow and like from Indonesia).  But first a little background on why I wanted to see this stage:

Way back in fall of 2012, I was reading an article on one of my kpop news sites and came across an article about Hyuna being featured in a song for a new group out of Indonesia. Well I looked at the video and loved it! It was very similar kpop, with the bright lights, eye catching costumes, dancing beats, and slightly cheesy storyline. The only difference was that they were singing in Indonesian, which with the rolling sounds and sensual way that it rolls of the speakers tongue (much like romance languages in my opinion) I was hooked. So what do I do being a well-connected SNS personality? I of course hooped onto twitter and found their accounts and let them know that I really liked their song and that they had found a new fan. Well that led to their youngest tweeting me back and asking where I was from, one of their singers dm-ing me to thank me for their support, their manager kept retweeting my posts about how much I loved their video, and their leader following me for about 8 months (idk why he stopped following me—I guess I am a boring tweeter…idk).  So when I got the chance to see their stage live I really wanted to go see it, thus why I applied for the tickets. 

S4 was the first of the group to go out on stage. They sang their ballade song, Mungkin, first. Really beautiful ballad on my headphones, but in real life gave me the chills (even now Jeje’s voice is playing over in my head and I am getting feels). After Mungkin, they got into position and started to perform their debut song She is My Girl. It was really funny, because as they were performing, I was singing along with them and I was getting so many looks from the Koreans that were around me. They were all probably thinking where the heck I had come from, because they had heard me talking to the camera men and I was definitely American, but here I was singing along to the Indonesian song like it was my native language ( I might have heard the song one to many times).  

But, to see the four of them live on stage and there in person was just amazing and such and awe inspiring moment. Here were these guys that I have only seen through my computer screen in real life in front of me. The feeling was different from the times that I saw the k-idols because unlike them, I had actually gotten to interact with S4; I talked to them via twitter, they had retweeted my posts to show their followers—I knew them on a “closer” level than the k-idols I had only ever seen through videos on YouTube. You guys understand what I am talking about? And I think they recognized me (other than the fact that I was the only white girl there in the crowd and they had retweeted my tweet about being in line only a few hours before they had gotten on the stage) because during She is my Girl, Firly, the leader, made eye contact with me and winked (that or it was in my general direction because I was standing next to the camera…).  

 

The Four guys in position for their Ballade song

LtR: Arthur (vocalist), Firly (leader and main dancer), and Jeje (main singer)

LtR: Jeje and Alif (youngest member, singer, and dancer)

After S4 did their songs, The Geeks came out and did their stage. The Geeks are a hip-hop/R&B duo here in Korea and have a relatively big following amongst my age group. They were alright; I had never heard any of their songs before, so it was hard for me to really get into the song though. But the next group, Phantom was really cool.

Phantom is an older group (age-wise) for the Korean music scene; and is a really good hip-hop/rap/R&B group. I had actually heard a snippet of their most recent song. But I definitely liked their stage a little bit more than the Geeks’ stage.  Phantom has three members and all of them really liked that I was there; because they wanted me to sing along with the crowd (they made eye contact and motioned for me to sing along).

After their solo stage, Firly, the main singer in Phantom and the two guys from the Geeks came out to do a collaboration of the song Moves Like Jagger by Maroon Five.  I had a really fun time during this stage and I think the guys did too! They were dancing all around the stage and looked pretty glad that I was singing along with the whole song and not just the chorus like the rest of the audience.  

~*~*~Rant Start~*~*~*~*~* 

Ok I know that I keep mentioning that I may have been one of the few people who knew English and really gave reactions during the stages. I am not trying to say that the Koreans in the audience were not responsive, but a lot of them just stood there and enjoyed the music. I have found that most Koreans are like that even in the clubs. They go there to enjoy the music but don’t really participate in actively allowing the music to move them. There was no dancing or anything in the audience during the showcase. I even started to do shoulder pops and mini torso waves during some of the songs because I just had the sudden urge to dance, but had to stop myself when I was given some weird looks by my neighbors.

~*~**~*~*~*Rant over*~*~*~*~*~

But the joint stage was really fun and all I wanted to do was to dance along with the guys on stage, but was limited to small body waves and shoulder pops because the crowd was really dense around were I was. 

Noise Mob

After the joint stages and another hip-hop group named Noise Mob (pretty good, may not go out and get CD, but still good)

, I was introduced to the Soul Dive. Seoul Dive is a three man hh/rb/rap group. They were really good too! They really interacted with the audience, probably one of the groups that did it the best out of all the artists. They also really liked that I was there because one of the singers kept looking right at me and would point his mic in my general direction to get me to sing along with the song. At the end of their stage, they all jumped off the stage and started to give the people high-fives, but when they got to me they interlocked fingers and held on for a few seconds, where as they only hit hands with the others in the crowd.

Really cute guy in Soul Dive

The guy in the glasses kept interacting with me when he was singing. He was the one who would stare at me until I started to sing with the corwd.

Soul Dive. This guy initiated the holding hand fives that the group gave me

The last group that performed was Dok2 and Beenzino. 

 I really enjoyed their stage, even though it was very similar to their stage at the AOMG Launch party that I went to the night before. But man, the Koreans here really like their hip hop.  I know that I stated before that they are not really big into dancing at shows and doing anything other than enjoying the songs and maybe moving their hands. Well Dok2 and Beenzino had the whole crowd singing along and moving their hands up and down (I got bumped in the head a few times…tall people problems). It was so strange to see the Korean girl next to me all dresses up in a very cute pink flowy skirt with a cream sweater sing along to every word about how the “Bitch best check my profile” and saying every cuss word and sexual hint that was scattered in the verses. But like I said the stage was really good and fun because people were actually (finally) actively cheering and participating in the experience. 

Beenzino

Dok2 (Pronounced Dok-ee; 2= EE in Korean)

But after the show, we all headed out into the now (thankfully) chilly Seoul night and went back to our homes here in the city.  I kind of wish that I had gone out after S4’s stage so I could  have had a chance to meet them outside of the showcase, because I know that some of my friends who went to the free show the day before got to see the international acts and talk to them.  But unfortunately once their stages were over, most of the artist went off to do whatever they do here in the city.  But still it was a great show and I got a list of new artists that I need to start listening to more. Plus I was able to stock up on all the extra coconut waters that they were giving out!

"In Front of them All": My Trip to the DMZ

Really excited to write about this; yesterday (the 19^th of October) I was able to visit and see the DMZ and the surrounding area. My program had a meeting with the governmental touring company that we were going to use to see everything that morning around 10:30 am where we were given a very quick introduction to the Korean War and the policies and history that have happened since the signing of the Armistice on the 27^th of July in 1953.  The leader of the group was a man named David Thorp. He had actually been in the Korean War, at the tail end of the war, and had been in Korea under Military order to study the language and protect the border. Even now that he is retired, he works with the Joint Security Alliance to run educational tours to the DMZ. He even told us that they do not usually take non-Korean students on this trip and it is only because of our head program director and their history together that we are able to go on this trip and get to actually go to the border.  

After the talk, which I was already pretty familiar with thanks to my North Korean Politics class, we took a bus to the DMZ which took about an hour and a half. Most of us slept , but woke up when Mr. Thorp pointed out thing on the road that were created to stop North attacks that I was not even aware of. These included large concrete blocks that were elevated over the roads by pillars. If you did not know that they were created to stop tanks if the pillars were blown out you would have just thought that they were advertisement signs over the road. He also pointed out barbed wire fences that surrounded the river in parts and told us that they were monitored by soldiers at night and by cameras by day to stop any spies from swimming into the South.  There were also nets, hooks, and I think a few small mines places in the water to hinder any attacks/spies from the North from entering the South (last time that happened was in the late 1960s).

When we actually got there we had to go through a few military check points in order to actually get to the site. This was because in order to enter the area, you need governmental approval to enter. Thankfully we were there on an educational “visa” so we were allowed to enter the area.  Since we had not eaten, we went to have lunch at the Immigration Building that was located on the premises. The dinning style was self-serve cafeteria style and was really good. But it was just cool being in the building. The Building is used as the immigration center for the workers in the South who are part of the joint Korean factory in the North. It is also used as the processing and quarantine center. We also met up with a group of foreign student form Kyonghee University that was also in our tour group for the day.

After lunch we were taken to Tunnel #3. This is one of the tunnels that the North dug in order to pass into the South. It was discovered in 1978 after a North Korean Officer defected to the South and told the JSA that there were tunnels being built in the area. In order to figure out exactly were the tunnel was being build, the South made a few early warning system that would tell them the location of the tunnels. These took the form of tubes of water that were placed in the ground, so once the tunnel was built by the tubes, the water would shoot up and blast into the air. After about three of them went off, the South was able to dig an interception tunnel and stopped the progress of the twenty North Korean workers.  We actually used the interception tunnel to enter into the cavern. The Tunnel is 73m below group and the interception tunnel is 212m long and very steep.  We were not allowed to take photos in the tunnel, so sadly I can only tell you about it with my words. In the parking lot, we were given a brief lecture about the history of the tour by South Korean JSA private Choi. HE was fairly young, probably a few years older than me and spoke pretty good English, even though his presentation was obviously memorized. But it was interesting to see the map hat he showed us showing what everything in the tunnel actually was.

When we walked into the building that we created at the opening of the tunnel, we were told to put all bags and jackets into the provided lockers because it would be very cramped and wet inside the tunnel. We were then given hardhats and led down the tunnel. Thankfully I was up front next to our program guide so I was able to hear all of his stories of his military service where he was stationed in the tunnel to stop the North Koreans from using it again. When we got into the tunnel, we all had to bend over in order to actually go down the path. The walk was very cramped and small, we were only able to go single file (the tunnel had the width or two people standing abreast of each other) and crouched over.  The tunnel was actually smaller than its original size because the South had put sand on the floor to make it easier to walk and had added a ventilation system to being air down into the cave to make sure that what oxygen was there was not used up by the visitors, and had added scaffolding to stop cave ins from happening. On the walls, they had spray painted the hole were the Northern Workers had placed the dynamite that they used to blast through the granite bedrock that most of the area is made up of. You could actually reach out and touch the holes. The tunnel ended in a concrete wall that the South had constructed that had a tiny door and a tiny window in order to keep watch on activity for the other side. There were two more of these walls on the other side that we were not given access to.

Our guide, Ahn Chong Hyoung, who had finished his mandatory military service a year ago told us that he and his fellow platoon mate were actually stationed inside the door and were instructed to keep their guns pointed to the other side and instructed to shoot at anything that moved. He then pointed at a CCTV camera that was put up right behind us and told us that the army used that now instead of people and that we were being monitored right now through it. He also told us that if the CCTV picked up on any unusual movement that any of the soldiers outside of the cave had a button on them that would set off the live C4 that was placed on the other side of the wall that would blow up anything in the tunnel; that included our group that was standing there). That was the first time that I started to feel the amount of tension and the seriousness of the place where I was.  I was in a small tunnel next to active weapons and could have died there if the North had decided to do anything that day. I still have goosebumps thinking about it now. After he told us about the chamber and what was in there, we turned around and went back out of the tunnel; it got pretty cramped because a few more groups had come down while we were there, so the tunnel was very crowded. I am not a claustrophobic person, nor do I mind being in small caves underground, but I suddenly did not want to be in the tunnel unless I really needed to, and the crowds did not help.

After the tunnel, we went to one of the observation towers that looked over the actual DMZ and into North Korea.

 There we were given another lecture of what we were seeing but a young South Korean Soldier who had grown up in Kansas and gone to University in Illinois. He attempted to make a few jokes on his presentation, especially when we did not react to the information that he was telling us about. I just enjoyed looking out the large panoramic window that we were facing form our seats that opened up to the whole area. I could clearly see the North’s propaganda village, the joint Industrial village and the Northern village that was just in sight from where we were. I really wish I could have taken picture, but the only place we could take pictures was outside on the deck, but behind a line a few feet back form the wall (I was too short to get a decent picture).  What was really interesting to see was that the North was so barren. There were not any trees on any of the mountains or on the ground. Because the North has no access to any natural resources, they are forced to cut down their tress for fuel during the harsh winters, so there was not a tree in sight because they had been all cut down.

After the presentation, we were taken to Camp Bonifas, with is right outside the DMZ to meet up with our JSA US military escorts and to have a presentation from the United Nations Command about what their job was and the rules we had to follow while on in the DMZ.  As we drove into the camp, it really looked like any of the bases in the US. There were soldiers out on the main field doing PT and there was even a US soldier who was skateboarding on the basketball court that was there. Since by the time that we visited the camp it was around 4:45pm, and we were the last group to go, everyone was just winding down and getting off form their duties that day before going out on the night shift if they were instructed to. Again no pictures were allowed with in the camp.  

Our military escort was PFC Laise from Chicago. He was on the last leg of his tour before he was to be sent back to Fort Bragg to be trained for his next security deployment.  After he gave us the presentation we were loaded onto a bus that took us to the boarder. When we were there, we were told that we had to either wear our jackets the whole time or we had to leave them on the bus because we were not allowed to carry them. We also had to keep our cameras in our hands and not to take any pictures until we were told to do so. We were taken into the South Korean Peace hall that was constructed to house the meetings of the split families (it had only been used once) and taken out the back. We were told to stand in two single file lines and to not leave the line unless told to by our escort.  Outside we were told to stand at the top most step and to not step down.  It was then that we were allowed to take pictures of the North and the buildings that were there.  PFC Laise told us to take as many pictures as we wanted to because the North had already taken our images and that they were taking just as many pictures as we were. 

It was interesting to see the buildings, because they were right next to each other, the blue for the JSA/South and grey for the North.  

The grey building to the right is operated by the North and is called the Equipment Room, even thought there is nothing inside. PFC Laise told us that when there are not group touring, some time the North Korean soldiers move the curtains aside and make rube and obscene actions to the Southern Soldiers.

There was a soldier on the North’s side who would occasionally watch us through binoculars and just stared at us the whole time. 

A picture that my roommate took using her camera of the North Korean soldier that was stationed when we were visiting. His replacement was just inside the door. Affectionately named "Bob" by the soldiers on the Southern Side.

As for soldiers on the Southern side, they were all in their “ROK Ready” formation (a variation of the taekwondo ready stance that the army created especially for the Boarder soldiers) and all on high alert. There were mores soldiers than normal   because our group was there. There were about 10 in total, six in front of us (not including our two US escorts) and four behind us flanking our side.  You could really feel the tension in the air; each side ready to pounce if needed to.

After our picture session outside, we were taken into the only joint meeting room that is used to show on the tours. We all shuffled in and were told to make two rings around the central table. PFC Laise then told us about the room and about how sometimes the North would sometimes send solders to look through the windows at the groups inside and take picture (did not happen to us). 

Laise giving his talk and the South Korean Soldier in the ROK Ready Stance. If you notice their eye wear, they wear these so that they are not giving the North the option of starting an attack because the JSA soldiers shot them an aggressive look.  THis also allows them to control their expressions and can also be used as an intimidation strategy.

After the talk, he pointed to my side and said that we were actually standing on in the North; I had crossed over to the North without even knowing it! After the talk, we were allowed to walk around the room and take pictures inside.

In the North

Straddling the Line between the two. Interesting thing about this flag was that there used to be the flags of all the JSA States and also a huge UNC flag hanging in the room as well. But because the room is used to show tourists by both the North and the  South, the North would allow people to walk on the tables and blow their nosed int he flags and pretty much disrespect everything in the room, so the flags on the wall were removed and the flag on the table left after we left and the soldiers in the room with us left as well.

From the South

The interesting thing about the two soldier in the room was that 10 they were there as extra protection for us and 2) they were two of them, because in the past there was only one that would stand by the door to the North, but on time, the North opened the door by surprise and tried to forcefully drag the soldier over into their territory, thus not there are two guard to help prevent that from happening again.

This was the position that the soldier in the past was almost taken to the North in. If we were to go through that door, then we would be in North Korea.

We were then escorted back to the bus and taken back to the camp to get back on our bus to head home.  While making our way back to the camp, Laise was telling us all of his experiences while guarding the boarder. He told us that usually there would be more North Soldiers positioned if there was a high ranking individual visiting and even then they would be watching each other rather than the South.  Two would be facing each other and one would be facing the other two; all watching to see if the others would defect to the South.  Any way wouldn’t they? Well because if they defected, then three generations of their family would either be killed or sent to the labor camps, so the North only recruits people with close family ties to work at the boarder for that specific reason.  

Back at camp we were allowed to go to the gift shop were we could buy goods that the people living in the Peace village (a small yet wealthy village located in the DMZ under the protection of the JSA) had made. I got a 100 won note form North Korea and then went outside to wait until my bus needed to be loaded up. Outside, I was able to talk to PFC Laise some more about his life in the military. Like I mentioned before, he has only a few more months left before he goes back to Fort Bragg, but when he does go back, he wanted to start training at the Officers’ school so he can become an officer and not an enlisted man anymore. He also wanted to join up with the US GSF (the US Global Security Force) and do security work (what he is doing now) but all over the world. OS maybe someday we can see each other at an Embassy when I join up to the State Department!

Laise also talked about how he liked the Bulls and really enjoyed the new line up that they had, since he is from Chicago. It was this relaxed spirit and udder detachment from what was going on around him that I found interesting, because I saw it a lot in how the soldiers that were stationed there, US and Korean. The Korean soldiers that I talked to and heard from all were joking about how when they got out they were going to meet up with heir friends who were out of the military and drink the whole night away, or like the guard making jokes during his presentation at the observatory, or even PFC Laise and his jokes about how we should take pictures of the North because they were taking a million of us. Everyone, obviously, were very serious about their job and I would not doubt for a second that they   were not prepared to fight at the drop of a hat, but  at the same time there was a since of lightness outside of the main border area that seemed some relaxing. I guess if you are constantly surrounded but they threat of war and death that you would need to have this form of lightness (the jokes and the calmness) just to make since of things and to not go crazy from the seriousness and stress. Shoot there was a freaking marine skate boarding who was smiling like a fool and waving goodbye to us when we were leaving! At the DMZ!

But at the same time the solders there are just young men. Albeit very attractive young men in uniform; I thought that I had died and gone to heaven, because not only were they all tall (a requirement form the SK army that the guys stationed at the DMZ must be Black belts, six foot or taller, and physically fit—all intimidation factors), but many of them, US include were all young, maybe a few years younger or older than me. This is because since South Korea had the mandatory military draft for the males, many choose to serve their time after high school before they go off to university. For example here at Yonsei, more than 80% of the male population has already served their time in the military before they came here. Let’s just say that if a war broke out while I was at the DMZ,  would feel pretty safe knowing that there were a large number of young fit men who know what they are doing making sure that I was safe.

But in all seriousness, the DMZ was a very emotional trip for me. I could really feel the tension in the place, especially when I was looking at the meeting houses. I can never be more thankful that I live in a country that is not split and in a contestant dead lock with the other half. I really want a chance to go back and not rush through everything, but rather take my time (or as much as they will let me) and just take in everything; really get to process the emotions there and to watch and see the way that the soldiers are living their lives so close to the line drawn in the sand; living so close to the thin line between war and peace.

Busan: Beaches, Boys, and Blue Mint Chocolate Ice Cream

Finally back in Seoul after a quick two and a half days in Busan. For those of you that do not know, Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and is located on the southernmost part of the peninsula. It is well known for its fresh fish and beautiful beaches. But the reason that we were going there was to see part of the biggest event that happens in the beach town, The Busan International Film Festival.  

So since I like to tell things how they are, even though that makes me a little long winded with the explanations (I know mom that I promised you that they would be shorter posts, but oh well), let me start off at the beginning and work my way to the end.

We were told to get the Seoul Station by 8:20am by our program staff so most of us were down in the lobby of our dorm by 7:30 ready to go. I went with my roommate and a few others by bus and got there by 7:45 am which was great because we were able to grab breakfast at the meeting place which happened to be a McDonalds. There breakfast there was very similar to the ones in the states, but a little bit more variety in what we could order for breakfast. I ended up getting a chicken biscuit sandwich set that came with a can of Tropicana OJ and a hash brown.  Eventually the other people in my group showed up after navigating the subway and or getting a taxi. So even though we were all there by the time that our program wanted us there by, our train was not until 9:20, so we all just hung out around the station until we were allowed to board or train and head off to Busan.

The train was very similar to the train that I took from Paris to Belgium when I did my Rotary exchange a few years back. Pretty much it was like a plane ride on tracks, they dimmed the lights and had a snack trolley that came down periodically to see snacks, and thankfully I had gotten a few munchies before I got to the station from the local convenience store which was way cheaper.  The train ride was pretty uneventful. It was pretty rainy/overcast outside so there was not much to see off in the distance. Korea outside of Seoul is pretty rural, or at least by the train a track is was, so most of what I saw outside of the window was farm land with a few factories dotted here and there. SO since there was not much to see outside of the window, I mostly listened to my ipod and Kakaoed with my mom and sister back home. For those of you that don’t know what Kakao is, it is like the Korean version of Viber back in the states. It is a free app that allows you to chat and call people for free, and the Koreans are obsessed with it!

After about two and a half hours on the train, thirty of those being a human pillow for my friend and seatmate, we finally made it Busan. It was sprinkling and a little overcast, but amazing. As soon as I stepped off the train on to the platform, I was instantly hit with the ever present sea breeze and I was instantly brought back to the AFG (Awful/Awesome Family Gathering, depends on your mindset) that I went to in Jacksonville the week before I flew out to Korea.

We took a VERY crowded bus to Haeyundae Beach area (the main touristy part of Busan) and checked into our hotel and were turned lose on the city by our directors. I went out to lunch with a few of the guys in the program and then went back to the hotel to go see my first movie of the festival after checking out the beach and the main festival pavilion of the make shift boardwalk on the beach across from the hotel. The movie that I wanted to see was Rough Play, Lee Joon’s newest movie for all of you fellow Kpopers. Pretty much it tis a story about an actor and how he slowly goes crazy because of the demand of his job and his ability to shake his characters’ personas off of his own personality. I really wanted to go see if because this would be my only chance to see it with English subs since it is going to be release here in Korea without subs in a few months.  So I was heading out, but a few friends wanted to go as well, so we left a little later than I had wanted but it was still all good, but after not being able to find the subway and with fifteen minutes until the start of the movie, we decided to ditch the movie and get ice cream (I got blue Chocolate mint flavor, so freaking good) and plan our next move.  

We ended up going to the BIFF (Busan Film Festival) Pavillon on the beach and got to see a live interview with the starts for the movie Top Star and were able to see all the fans and paparazzi go crazy when they were trying to leave. Truthfully we were mostly just people watching and creeping on the security guards and the volunteers that were working at the event.

I think it was a requirement that the festival hired only good looking young men and women to work. All the guys spoke unaccented English and were very cute and were not afraid of coming over to see if you needed help. All of us girls were very grateful for this fact! So yeah… we ended up creeping on them a lot until we tried to go see a movie later that night. We went to the theater and tried to get tickets with the vouchers that we were given, but got confused on how we were supposed to get the tickets. So instead we just walked back to the hotel (it was about 8:30pm by then) and ended up going down a side street that was lined with small stalls selling fish and spices with one or two small family run restaurants dispersed in between.  We ended up eating in a small Mandu (dumpling) shop that was run by a small family.

Oh my gosh, this place was amazing. The food was all made by hands and the dumplings were made right out front of the shop. You could watch them make the filling and shape the mandu by hand. We got the traditional pork dumplings and also the kimchi pork dumplings to split between the three of us. For only 7,000 won (3,500 for one order) we got eighteen dumplings total with banchan (or side dishes).  I really loved this place and ended up eating there for most of my trip! They even had one of my favorite Korean dished Kalguksu (noodles in a beef bone broth) that was simply delicious and could easily be split between two people.

The next day, I went to the mandu place again and got the noodles for breakfast with a few of my friends, and then a girl named Karen and I went to the Busan Aquarium.

The Aquarium is the largest in the country and was so much fun. I got to see them feed both the penguins and the sharks! There was even a touch tank where we were able to pick up starfish and hermit crabs. There was a school group that was there was well, and all the girls were afraid to pic anything up. Since Karan and I were the only westerners in the area at the time, everyone was impressed and curious when we fearlessly picked up things and held them without freaking out. I actually impressed one of the workers that were helping out in the hermit crab tanks, because I was able to hold the hermit crabs without them retreating back in to their shells, so I had all the students around me looking at the hermit crab up close. Karen dubbed me the Hermit crab whisperer!

After the Aquarium, we met up with a few girls form our program and we went up to the festival’s headquarters in downtown Busan (after getting directions form two cute volunteers who popped up out of nowhere like freaking  ninjas that pointed the way to the free bus). 

When we got there, we traded our vouchers for movie tickets, one for an Indy love story called Pascha and one for a  sci-fi post-apocalyptic film called Snowpiercer.  Since our movies were in the area, we went to the mall were the theater was located and just walked around and got lunch in the basement food court. Now let me tell you about the food courts here in Korea. They are actually really high quality dishes and you definitely get your money worth. Even though mall food is expensive in comparison to what we pay for in the States at the mall food courts (think like $5 vs $7-8). After lunch and getting some gourmet cupcakes/muffins (I got a blueberry preserve and a raspberry cream one!) we went up the rooftop garden to eat our cup-muffins and wait the remaining time until our movie. On the roof top there was a play area for kids that included a small petting zoo that had hedgehogs, puppies, flying squirrels, chipmunks, and bunnies.

Pascha was an interesting movie. Now that I think back on I, it seems like a good movie, but while I was watching it, I was not all that into it. For those of you that watched Elizabeth Town with Orlando Bloom, it had a slightly more indie feel to it (the movie synopsis: http://www.biff.kr/eng/html/program/prog_view.asp?idx=10415&c_idx=55&sp_idx=&QueryStep=2).  We got out and then got dinner in the other mall in one of the restaurants; I split a mandu dish with Karen, and then made our way to the main center for the festival to go see our final movie for the day, Snowpiecer.

 Now I really liked Snowpiercer (http://www.biff.kr/eng/html/program/prog_view.asp?idx=10869&c_idx=51&sp_idx=&QueryStep=2). The movie had actually been out in theatres here in Korean for a few week prior to me going to Busan, but the showing that I went to was the first time that the film was being shown to an international audience. Since it was the first time, the main Korean actor and the Director came out on stage before the showing and introduced the movie and the director stayed afterwards to answer questions about the film and his process that the audience had after watching the film. But this movie was great; there was action, really in depth character development, and even a few surprise endings that I was not expecting at all. The cast for this cast for this was great and many of my favorite actors were in the film like Octavia Spencer (the film was shot in English and was shown with Korean subtitles). Before the film was shown the director told us for English speaking countries like the US, Austrailia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa to pay special attention because this was the only time that we would be able to see the film in the was that the director wanted to show it. For the debut in the English speaking countries the producers were going to cut the film and change a few of the scenes to better “fit” the audiences. So I was in for a treat because I have read somewhere that when the film was test viewed in the states, it did not get great reviews because the edits made the film more action driven than plot driven.  For those that can, try to see the film in its original form, it is amazing!

That night a few of my close friends that I have made in the program and I got together around midnight and went out to the beach to watch the wave and just chill.  We had bought a bottle of rice wine and just played in the surf, I only went up to my knees because the water was a little chilly and I was not in a bathing suit, just a skirt and tank top. But like any beach city in the States, all the young people were out  with their friends just relaxing and watching the surf; but none of them were going in the water and were bundled up, while we foreigners were in short sleeves (let’s just say we got a few stares that night).

On my final day in Busan, I had breakfast at my favorite mandu shop and had the noodles again with one of the large bun like mandu that was so good, I wanted to buy another to eat even though I was full.  I got a green tea frap and a cupcake that was made using real butter (a huge rarity here in Korea) and studies for my Korean Vocab test that I was going to have that Thursday.

Since I did not have any more tickets to go see films and it was slightly raining, I took a taxi with a few friend to the Train station earlier than we needed to so that we could get some homework done in the coffee shop there before we needed to be on the train. Actually a lot of people in the program had that idea, because all twenty of us got to the train station two hours before we needed to meet up and had a group study section in the café there.

The train ride back to Seoul seemed longer than going, even though I slept most of it and only really listened to my ipod the whole way.  But since it was really gloomy and raining for most of the trip, it just seemed longer. I later found out that there was a minor typhoon off the coast of Busan that was the reason for all the bad weather we were having in Busan and later in Seoul for the days following my trip.

            But mostly for me, the trip was far too quick, but it really made me start to miss home. Since I lived in Jacksonville Florida for a while and majority of my family lives there, we tend to spend lot of time at the beach together.  Being back at the beach and because Busan had a very relaxed beach town feel to it, I got caught up in the similarities to how I feel when I am at the beach with my family, I was a little homesick during the trip. But in general, I just want to go back and see more of the city and the beach, because there was so much more that I wanted to see outside of the tourist area that I mostly staid in.