Well, since I passed out last night, I’m now gonna post what I didn’t finish. Yesterday was mostly sight-seeing, so I will just do this photo-blog style. The rest of the blog will be done that way... [Be prepared for a LOT of pictures! If you want to see the full-res picture, just click on it!]
First pic outside...
A subway station. Didn't go inside, but I'll see it later... Most of the subway runs above ground. They still call it a 'subway,' though.
As you walk along the subway tracks, you'll see lots of mini-park things with exercise equipment. People were actually using all of it. Koreans stay fit...
Restaurants, high and low...
The street lamps all use LEDs!
Note the stepping-stone 'bridge' over the water. There were several of them along the path. There's a walk-way and also a bike trail that seemed to follow the subway tracks. Guess it's not really a 'subway,' is it? :P
Kids love basketball...
The apartments were are HUGE... And skinny. My host family's apt has windows on either side of it, and it seems most do.
One thing about Korea is the disregard for traffic lines. Hyeonbee and Hyawnoo were walking right out in the street, and cars would just drive around them, cutting into other lanes. :P Actually, Koreans just disregard most traffic things. They run red lights all day long. However, they tend to drive slower in the city than people in the US.
These next shots were taken from Mr. Ahn's car.
A view of the industrial sector...
In a more 'downtown' area in Busan. There are many areas like this, and many residential sectors spread throughout.
The McDonalds here does not have drive-thru... They have delivery, instead!
A Megamart... and an Outback?
Hyeonbee, me and Hyawnoo. Aren't they cute???
See all the cranes all over? Busan didn't use to be so large, but recently, they've been developing like crazy. Busan ended up becoming a pretty wealthy area. It's now the second largest city in Korea, after Seoul (obviously).
Cool-looking buildings. Many of these tall buildings are apartments. Unlike US cities, they're spread out all over...
Didn't get a good pic, but one of these buildings burned down, and it was kind of a big deal. They're working on reconstructing it.
I guess that's how it's going to look?
The famous Gwangan Bridge. I wish I could see it at night!
A look in the other direction just points to the sea...
Guiness???
That building is actually covered in real gold. Gold paint, or foil, or something. But, it uses actual gold. Umm... ballar?
Some familiar-looking restaurants. :P
A shot down at Haeundae beach. Quite famous. Lots of foreign tourists, and lots of domestic tourists as well.
Gas stations usually look like this. Took me a second to realize this was a gas station.
Some fisherman's boats about to head out... Lotttts of people fishing.
Big, bright, buoy-thing. Not really sure why they made that one so large. Maybe to keep big ships off the beach?
Important lighthouse... There's a walk-way all around those rocks...
That big bulbous thing is the APEC Center. A world summit was held there!
The walkway goes up to the Center, and around the beach and more. You can go inside and see pics of George W. and other world leaders meeting.
They call that the 'Five to Six Island'... Sometimes it looks like there are five islands, sometimes six.
Lots of guys got out there and go fishing. Where they put their boats, I don't know. :P
A couple was making out under the lighthouse. :P They thought nobody could see. Haha...
People on the lighthouse were waving at us and jumping up and down.
Back on land, there were some open-air restaurants... Open right to the sea.
Lots of live tasties swimming around...
Most girly parking garage I've ever seen.
Lots of PC-bangs ['bang' = room] around... The first night, David and his host family brother went to play Starcraft until 2am. :P
Mr. Ahn took us to get pizza... At Papa Johns. There were a few pizzas you don't see in the US...
I dunno what that was, but I wanted to eat it. :P
Also, the 'salad bar' is remarkably different. They have yogurt and cereal, and lots and lots of fruit.
One of our pizzas... I forget which ones we ended up ordering. They were pretty much the same as in the US, though.
Food stands! I haven't been to one yet...
The largest department store in the world... 11 stories high!
Kind of hard to see, but that's water flowing down the front of it.
Big, outdoor-theater.
Lots of massive LED advertising boards put about.
We drove up the mountains to see some Buddist temples...
There was a temple there. Somebody burnt it down... Harry, Nick S.'s host family brother, is in the police force and was actually sent here with his unit to find out who did it...
Those roofs made me want to jump on one and run around with a sword. :P
An inn for people to stay in... Apparently, lots of Buddists from all over come to visit. Pictures show a lot of white people.
Street vendors on the street on the way to the temples...
We went to a traditional Korean museum for dinner... We walked around first to see their displays.
Everything was smaller...
Old textbooks.
Chairs for the kindergardeners...
Games that the kids used to play...
Old farm equipment and other antiques.
We spent some time playing the games... They were pretty fun. :P And hard, too.
Bonsai garden...
People had to draw water the hard way... And then transport it back to the village using these back-carrier-things.
Another traditional game... I recognize that one from Lunar New Year's.
Big vessels to store water.
The old-style 'classrooms'...
Time to eat! This is my host family's table.
All the other host families gathered around, along with some of the pastors. The host families took turns introducing themselves and their guests.
My host family... I like them a lot!
After dinner, Mr. Yang had to go see a friend b/c someone had passed away... So Mr. Ahn drove Mrs. Yang, Hyeonbee, Hyawnooo, Nick S. and I to that super-large department store. We only walked around the first floor, though. The first floor had just groceries and restaurants. People were all shouting and stuff... It was kind of what I'd imagine a night market to be like.
Got some ice cream... It was more like gelato. It is very, very milky, and a lot less sweet than American ice cream.
Conveyor belt sushi... So awesome!
The ice cream guy... Funny guy. If you bought ice cream, he would do little tricks to make it difficult for you to grab the cone. He'd also periodically take the ENTIRE bit of ice cream out and stick it on a cone, as seen here... Also, note the little things the vendors are wearing around their mouths... Little spit-shield things. Very clean and clever. I like.
These escalators don't have steps! But, they're still done by Otis.
Shot of Busan at night... It's very pretty, but almost impossible to take pictures of out of a moving car. :P
Today was church. My host family is very involved in church – everyone is part of the choir. Mr. and Mrs. Yang and Hyeonbee are part of the 1st service choir, and Hyawnoo is part of the youth group band and also the 3rd service choir. Yes, there are three services at their church. The first is at 9am, then 11am and then 3:30pm. They stay, every Sunday, for all three. I mean, I’m used to a lot of church… But, this is a LOT of church. The first service is the smallest, and it’s mostly just older people. They sing strictly hymns and it is led just by organ and piano. The second is the same, except it has the most people and there are some more contemporary songs thrown in, along with drums, bass and some other instruments. The message is the same. The third service had similar worship as the second, but Pastor Park spoke for this one, and the congregation seemed more interactive.
The other adoptees all showed up after the first service, so I was just with Hyawnoo for the entire first service. I couldn’t understand a thing, but the first service was ‘church’ for me. As usual, God knows my heart, and when the choir sang, I almost got wrecked. Worship was kind of stiff and whatever (I don’t really like hymns), but the choir sang a song after the opening prayer, and at the first movement, I was trying my hardest to keep from breaking down. This choir was the smallest, but that song was so moving for some reason. It was beautiful… Complex and melodic and God just spoke to me through it. I was fighting back tears the whole time and for a good part of the rest of the service. Because the church is so traditional, I sort of thought that it would be a lot of ‘tradition’ and a lot of religion, perhaps… But, this song showed me that the Holy Spirit still moves powerfully, though the people may not respond as dramatically as in more charismatic or less traditional churches. Like I always say, the different style churches are different parts of The Body of Christ – they serve different functions and are to suit all the different kinds of Believers. No one style is better than another… But, also, this was a personal moment for me. God knows I love music, and the complexity and arrangement was a real treat from Him. In the first service, that song very much seemed like it was just for me as I was the only one in our group that got to hear it, and most of the pews were pretty empty.
The second and third services were pretty… uhh… Well, not quite the same. I was just lost. :P However, after the second service, we had some church food with the pastors and elders, then Hyeonbee, Jay and a couple other kids from some of the host families took us out to walk around the college-town near Busan University. They took us to get some ice coffee, bingsoo [Korean shaved ice] and later took us to a photo-booth.
Like I mentioned, Pastor Park preached for the third service, then gave a presentation on KAM Center. MeriKim shared her testimony, and then all of us, our host families and pastors/elders met for some watermelon and chatting.
After, my host family took me to get… kalbi!! [Marinated short ribs, my favorite.] I’ve been waiting for this meal. It was sooo good.
Mmmmmm... How they do in Korea...
We came back home, and they presented me with a very nice shirt and a traditional Korean fan… I gave them their gift, a card, some instant Starbucks and Emerald chocolate almonds, which they seemed quite excited about. We exchanged some pictures, and then I got to blogging. Tomorrow, we’re leaving on the KTX to Daegu… I’m going to miss the Yangs. Mr. Yang always tried to teach me some cultural things wherever we went… Mrs. Yang always spoke to me in Korean, though she knew I could not understand her. Somehow, her intentions always came through even though I had no idea what she was saying. Hyeonbee and Hyawnoo are both very cute, and I would have liked to spend more time with them. I’m pretty sad that I didn’t get to play any guitar with Hyawnoo… I didn't even get to hear him play at all! And I’ll miss Hyeonbee… She’s a very sweet girl and was very good with the adoptees and showing us around and translating for us. They all made me feel really welcome and I really loved the stay with them.
It is now 2:10am, and I have to be up at 6am. Gonna be a long day tomorrow!! Every day here has been a long day, so far... Ughghghgh... I wish I could blog as the day goes by. No sleep is no good with all we're doing! Still, excited!
That is just too awesome! I enjoy reading this stuff... I'm glad that you're having an awesome time while taking major photos and sharing with us what your experiencing... I wanna visit one day. Korea is a photographers playground =P Ha! have fun and keep us posted Mr. Xu!~
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