Gwangali Beach Eobang Festival!

Today was a beautiful day, filled with blue skies, light winds, and warmth! Summer has finally reached Busan! Aaron picked me up and we rode over to Paris Baguette for breakfast and then headed over to Gwangali Beach for the Eobang Festival! When we got there, we parked the scooter on the boardwalk and stopped in at the beachside Starbucks for a cold drink! It seems like just last week, we were ordering hot stuff!

After starbucks, we walked down the beach to check out the action! They had this huge blow up pool, where kids could pay 10,000 won ($8.00) to jump in and give "noodling" (learned that from my country boy!) a try! I would have loved to try... but unfortunately I was too old!

I did get to "noodle" though! Down by the water, kids had dug small pools in the sand, and dumped their fish in, to swim around! These kiddos let me play with theirs and hold them! Yep, folks! That's a real live Eel!

This little boy was dying to be in one of our pictures so he quickly scooped up his spotted fish and shoved it in front of me to hold!

Who doesn't love eating live flounder?! mmm

There were tons of vendors set up on the sand selling arts and crafts, fresh seafood, etc... This was a sashimi contest! Each contestant was given a HUGE fish and lots of fruits and vegetables to decorate their plater! It was a true art!

All that fish made us hungry, so we scooted over to our favorite "hole in the wall" Mexican food place in Haeundae!! We ended up sitting with 2 guys from Virginia who lived a couple hours north of Busan. It was nice to meet some new people, share our life experiences, and eat delicious food!

One of my favorite things about this place (other than the delicious authentic Mexican taste) is the plethora of personal post it notes!

We rode back to Goejeong with sore butts, and sunburned faces, but it was all worth the adventure to the other side of town! :) Tonight we're off to the festival in China Town! Never a dull moment with these 2!

5 minutes and counting!

Tonight is a big night in this country; because Korea is playing their first game of the 2010 world cup! Aaron and I are all geared up to watch it, and so are these kiddos we found shopping in Lotte today!

All over the country, people are dressed in red today, waving the korean flag and flaunting their red horned headbands - including me and my guy (minus the headbands!) We had to draw the line somewhere! :)

"Corea Fighting!"

Slumber party with Jessi!

Jess came down for the weekend to attend a wedding, so we had a slumber party at my apartment last night and did a little shopping and lunch in Nampodong this afternoon! Here are a few fun pictures from the morning / afternoon.

Jess spotted this bag in one of my favorite clothing stores, called POPCORN!

These two girls are the epitamy of Korean post-college age girls... lots of makeup, very fashionable, and wearing the newest korean trend - headbands that look like they should be sold at Gymboree!

It's really common to walk by boutique stores and see cats or dogs lounging by the door! This cat's name was Dong-chi (or at least something close to that...)! I especially loved her because she looked like my Mimmy and Grandaddy's cat, Smokey!

I snapped this picture to give you an idea of how cool the clothing boutiques are in Nampodong! The one next door looked like you were walking into a chic beachside boutique in the hamptons!

We had lunch at a brand new Italian restaurant called "The Pan," where we drooled over delicious mushroom risotto and shared a creme brulee the size of a strawberry! haha! It was the perfect night and morning with my Jessi! Miss you already friend!

Sex and the City - NOT PRETTY!

I met Crystal and Anne at the Lotte Seomyeon movie theater tonight for a little girls night to catch "Sex and the City 2!" Boy were we unpleasantly surprised! Where do I start...

Samantha and Miley Cyrus showing up to a movie premier in the same tacky dress, Liza Minelli officiating and then singing and dancing to Single Ladies at a gay wedding, Samantha whining about her hormones changing because of menopause, a lesbian nanny who never wears a bra, a boozy karaeokee rendition of "I am Woman" at a belly dancing bar, a random trip to Abu Dabi for Samantha to write a hotel review, a run in with 10 arab women at a book club - reading a Suzanne Summers book, Samantha getting put in jail for making out on the beach and wearing scandalous clothes... It was a complete waste of 2 1/2 hours, with a pointless script, lousy jokes, and horrendous fashion!

So girls, let's have another Cosmopolitan and remember the past fondly! Some shows just shouldn't become movies!

Perfect timing!

Fridays are usually everyone's favorite day of the work week, because it means the weekend is drawing near. Usually, this is the case for me as well, but today was a different story! My 1st and 2nd grade classes were a total flop! I planned fun games and cool activities, but for some reason, my kids just were not interested! I walked away from my last class in a total funk, frustrated, sad, defeated, and ready to cry. But then...

I was handed a box with Karyn Hill's name as the return address and it was as if the box was literally holding back my tears! ... Because, I knew, inside, were the treasures I knew she'd sent me!

See's Butterscotch suckers!

Karyn, I can't tell you how this made my day! Seeing those famous See's gold wrappers and knowing the goodness inside was fantastic! I'm already on my 2nd one and hoping I'll be nice and refreshed to teach 5th grade in 40 minutes!