Teacher, Yellow Hair... no, Blonde... okay, Now Yellow

So, I got my hair dyed a few weeks ago. Of course, it was a total spur of the moment, I'm bored and I just want to feel pretty, moment of weakness. I went in to a hair salon which is just down the block from my school. Another girl I work with had gotten her hair cut and colored a week before and recommended the place because the lead stylist knew a little English.

I made an 6:30pm appt. that day for just a cut. I had already been warned that getting my hair highlighted in Korea would be a disaster and I should just avoid it. I brought pictures to show the lady how I wanted my hair to be cut and she asked about the color. I said I get it highlighted. And she nodded her head and said, "yeah, highlightee - bery pretty" She pointed to the pictures and asked, "highlight?". I said, "ugh, maybe?" She got out a color book and showed me a picture of chunky highlights. I said "ne, but mani mani" (yes, but many many... like many many little streaks). She said, "ne, ne. I can do." So, I said "kwenchanio" (ok).

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So, she mixed up the stuff... and as she was mixing, I realized she never showed me what color she was going to do. So I grabbed the highlighting book she was showing me and flipped to the only section with blonde color swatches (it was in the alternative color section, right next to blazing red, purple, blue, and gray). I realized there were only three "blondes" to choose from. None of them were really what I would pick but there was one that looked okay. I pointed to it and she nodded, "ne, ne". Then she picked up her paintbrush and parted my hair and glopped it on. Now, girls out there are all doing a collective gasp! Boys, let me translate - the fact that she didn't section off my hair into tiny pieces, apply a piece of tin foil and only dye a select section of my hair, means that she was dying hair... not highlighting my hair to look "naturally" blonde. But at this point what could I do. So, I just let her proceed.

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And as I expected, after an all too tiny and styled Korean boy washed my hair, I was brought back to the mirror. The towel wrapped around my head was dropped and behold... I was no longer white blonde with dull, dirty blonde roots ... I was YELLOW. I got the opposite of a highlight. She turned my dull, dirty blonde roots a freakish, toxic, electric yellow! The rest of my hair is white blonde.

(I've included the before and after so you can grasp the full extent of this tragedy... before right, after left, obviously! I will grant that the picture on the right might be a bit over exposed and the sunlight beaming down might give the appearance of an angle but make no mistake, the difference between my before hair and after hair is just as shocking as what you are seeing ... at least in my eyes :))

Thankfully, it has been two weeks, and after many many scrubbings in the shower, my hair has dulled to a less potent version of its previous self.

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On a funny note - I was in an elevator today with a bunch of my students. The kids were going to the dentist for a check up. A man (not a boy or even a teenager - a MAN) standing beside me, gently leans over, takes a small section of my hair, rubs it between his fingers with a quizzical look on his face, shrugs his shoulders, smiles and drops his hand. All I could do was stand there and watch the semi-assault happen. The guy got off on the next floor and never said a word. It was like I wasn't even there or I was an animal at a zoo to be poked, prodded and examined. I guess he just wanted to see if my hair was real or felt like his hair, I don't know? But the clear disregard for personal space was hilarious.

Butt Goat

Cherry Blossom season came and went in a matter of a few weeks. I didn't end up getting to a cherry blossom festival as I chose to go to the crab festival instead. And cherry blossoms are only in their prime for 1 week before they drop their petals. On a windy day, it looks like its snowing flowers.

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Anywho, I took a little hike one day after work to get some good cherry blossom pictures before it was too late. I won't comment much since the pictures speak for themselves...

I also lucked out that the sunset was just beautiful that night!

Picture of Dongbaek (part of Haeundae - just west of the beach).

Another picture of Dong Baek... the small peninsula (green lump of land) to the left of the buildings is called Dong Baek Island. It's a peninsula but whatev. The point is, the top of the hill is where I meet my yoga class Sunday afternoons for a little peace and serenity (and a killer ab workout).


As the sun set, the path I was walking on was illuminated by tiny little lanterns. Cute! (and practical!)

~Em

P.S. Cherry Blossom in Korean is pronounced Butt Goat. Really???? That is disappointing.

Jagalchi Fish Market

A few weeks back, I headed out to Nampo-dong again. If you recall, Nampo-dong is known for its shopping and I blogged about my experience a while back. But this time, I wasn't in the market for Korean fashion (which I still haven't found since Koreans are hell bent on looking like Americans) but fish. Lots and lots of fish.

Jagalchi Fish Market is a very famous Busan seafood market which resides in a large warehouse type building right on one of Busan's many ports. As I got off the subway, I followed the line of fish vendors until I reached a massive building which I thought couldn't possibly be the fish market. It looked too modern. And if I was farther away, you'd see in the picture that the roof line actually resembled the Sydney Harbor Opera House. It was quite beautiful (on the outside!).

The inside was a totally different story. Vendor after vendor had small booths lined up with just about any fish imaginable. Fish tanks overflowed as fresh water was constantly pumped into them. The water ran off into drains so the floors weren't flooded (much). I was amazed, as I walked up and down the endless isles, at how many different fish and sea creatures were for sale. But my favorite experience was the bloodbath that went on in the eel section. Little old ladies hunched over work benches as they grabbed fresh LIVE eels and ripped their skins off with amazing speed. The eels were still wiggling around (skinless) for several minutes before finally resting in peace.

So, how does one skin an eel? Lucky for you, I took detailed pictures of each stage of the process.

1. Have a fish tank full of live eels (the skinned ones are the slimy red things on the top).
2. Drive a phillip's screw driver through the eels head (or tail, I couldn't tell which end was which) to hold the wiggly sucker down. Then take a knife and cut a slit down the length of the eels body.

3. Last, pull the inside of the eel out of its skin with blazing speed. Throw the skinned eel in a pile with other freshly skinned eels and sell to the next available customer.
Alright, who's hungry????

Oddly, enough, I had eel for dinner the other night. A friend of mine has a Korean girlfriend, Sunny. Sunny's mom just opened a new restaurant and she invited us over for dinner. The main dish - eel! But this eel had the skin on (I think!). It was brought out on a plate cut up into small 1" pieces and then placed on a Korean barbecue. (Korean BBQ is a small grill in the middle of the table in which you - the customer - grill up your own meet and veggies to your desired perfection). So, Sunny grilled up the eel and marinated some in Korean hot sauce and other in a nice oil. Both were fantastic. The eel wasn't fishy at all. I would definitely order it again.


So, back to the Jagalchi Market...

I continued on my way, checking out the different fish selections. There were octopuses, squid, crabs, sting rays (that's what those things in the picture are called right?), and a ton of fish which I have no idea what they were.

I meandered to the second floor, expecting to find more of the same. But instead, I was delighted to see rows and rows of tables and tiny little kitchens in the middle. It was like a hundred restaurants inside one place. As I walked up and down the isle, not being able to tell the difference between one "restaurant" and the next, I felt a not so gentle pull at my arm. A very forward old lady had taken my arm and was intent on leading me to the only table with other with foreigners. Two gentlemen had just sat down and she pointed to them. Yeah, lady. I'm foreign but that doesn't mean I know these guys. I tried to back away and explain that I didn't know them. But she insisted I sit down and the two guys welcomed me.

Turns out the guys were both named Thomas and they were from Germany. The more talkative Thomas (we'll call him Thomas 1) was currently living in Germany and taught American Politics. The other professor (Thomas 2) was currently living in Seoul teaching at a University. We swapped travel stories and Thomas 2 shared some advise about living and working in Korea. It was nice since I hadn't been in the country a month yet.






















The Thomas' and I shared a fish which was pulled directly out of the fish tank behind Thomas 1's head. It was stripped, gutted and cut into strips of Sashimi. And in true Korean style, side dish after side dish was brought out to accompany the meal including some snails, kimchi and other veggies. At the end of the meal, the fish lady came back to collect the unused fish and she proceeded to make a nice soup which we ate last. (sorry for the lame picture, I didn't pull out my camera till after we were almost done eating).






After we were sufficiently full, the Thomas' invited me to continue with them to hike around Yeongdo-gu peninsula. Ironically, I was looking to head to the exact location because I wanted to check out the Korean Maritime University (long story short, I was looking to transfer schools and offered a job with KMU.. which I ended up deciding not to take). So, I hopped a cab with them, and took the hike up the small mountain at the south end of the peninsula. It was a beautiful day and the cherry blossoms were just starting to bud. I got a few good pictures of Nampo-dong as we circled the peninsula.



The first picture is looking North at Nampo-dong. The second picture (right) was looking east toward Haeundae (where I live... but you can't see it cause I live on the other side of that cliff).



















Well, that is about it. Hope you enjoyed the fish market and feel more edgimecated now that you how to skin an eel. ~Em

Crabs and Caves

This past weekend, I headed to the not-so-famous town of Hupo for the International Crab Festival. When I asked my fellow Korean co-workers if they'd ever been, they looked at me like "what festival?" Ha! Away I went anyway.

Hupo is a teensy town about 4hours northeast of Busan. It is along the Sea of Japan (or East Sea... Koreans refuse to recognize the sea as belonging to Japan. They are even petitioning for international books to be re-written to say East Sea and not sea of Japan... I'm not kidding). Anywho, a few friends and I hopped on a bus and four hours later, we were dropped off in Hupo at 2:30am. The place was deserted. Not a single light on for as far as I could see. Half the group went to stay with a friend who lived in Hupo and the other half (me included) went to stay at a "Love" motel.

Love motel? To make a long story short, Koreans live with their parents until they get married. So, if a couple would like to have a little privacy, they rent a "love" motel. Not surprisingly, love motels are extremely cheap. Thus, they are also a haven for budget conscious travelers such as myself.

Moving on... Saturday morning, we headed to the Crab Festival a few miles down the road. I was with three other friends (two from Pittsburgh, Tony and Teresa; and one from Arkansas, Will). As we were walking down the road, not really sure if we were walking in the right direction or not, a cop drove by, pulled a Uy, and drove up next to us. Now, in America, I'd be prepared to defend myself for unknowingly doing something illegal. But the cop just asked, "where you go?" We said Crab Fest and pointed down the road. He laughed and pointed the opposite way! He motioned for us to get into the car. Yep, we got a police escort to the crab fest!

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So, once we got to the crab fest, we perused the food stalls for some breakfast. I had a fried donut (bagels, cereal, scrambled eggs with hash browns isn't really an option. Oh, I'd kill for a eggs benedict right now!). I can't say there was a whole lot going on other than a lot of crabs, Korean food, a parade, some traditional dance entertainment, etc. The highlight of the crab fest would actually be us! We were the only westerners there for the first few hours. We were like celebrities. News reporters interviewed Teresa, and filmed us eating crab and fish. I was stopped several times and asked to wave at the camera. The treatment was phenomenal.

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We stopped at a large above ground pool to check out what was going on. Not more than two minutes later, Teresa was being pulled into a line of people to participate in God knows what? Obviously, we couldn't understand the announcer but the reaction of the crowd gave her no choice but to go along with whatever activity was to come.

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Turns out, she was going to get into the pool along with several other Koreans and try to catch fish with her bare hands! But after a closer look, the pool was filled with not only fish but also eels! I would have died!!!! The announcer blew a whistle signalling the beginning of the race. I swear it wouldn't take the Korean men more than a few seconds and they would have their arm above their head with a huge fish in hand signalling they were done! Needless-to-say, Teresa had a bit of trouble so at the end, the announcer handed her a fishing net! Haha!

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After she fished out two fish, the Koreans quickly whisked us off to another tent where the fish was quickly killed, gutted, and cut up into sashimi. It was delicious but I had to get the mental thought of the fact that this fish was alive no more than a few minutes ago. The second fished was grilled up and I'm not going to lie, it was amazing!!!! I think they just threw a little salt on it but it was soooooo tasty!

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The day continued and we were able to continue our free eating spree with some free whole crabs and some free traditional Korean wine. We toured a Korean Navy ship, the guys played a few carnival games, and we witnessed the guinness book of world records longest gimbop made (100 yds). Gimbop is pretty much a sushi role but in Korean it is similar in popularity as our PB&J. In the evening we finally sat down for some dinner and were greeted with more hospitable treatment. A neighboring table brought over a round of Hite (Korean beer) and two bottles of Soju (Korean vodka-ish drink). It was totally out of nowhere and for no reason. And it continues. The next group of Koreans that sat at the very same table, did the same thing!!!! It was ridiculous! Koreans definitely have the reputation of being rude and inhospitable and if you don't understand their cultural social structure, yes, it would appear that way. But in fact, once you initiate contact with a Korean, they consider you now a friend and Koreans do anything for friends and family. Apparently, just the fact that we would travel so far to participate in their celebration made us part of the family!

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Day 2, we headed to the city of Uljin. As we were walking to the bus station, guess who pulled up next to us! The cop!!!!! Only this time, he was just driving his car. I didn't recognize him at first but Tony was like, "hey its the cop!" We hopped in his car and he dropped us off at the bus station just a few minutes down the road. He is probably the nicest cop, I've ever met.

So, Free stuff tally:

• two rides into town
• four whole crabs
• 2 fish
• few cups of wine
• 9 beers
• 2 bottles of soju

Back to the story:

The most famous attraction in Uljin is the Seongnyu-gul cave. Apparently, there are more famous caves in Korea but this particular one is famous because it was the hiding place of an important Buddha statue during the Imjin Waeran. According to Koreans, during the war, towns people took refuse in this cave but it closed up and they died. Freaky! In we went....

Many of the passageways are very very narrow and ceilings dip down pretty low so you have to waddle through. It's definitely not an attraction for the causterphobic!

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But the caves are pretty spectacular. The stalagmites are made out limestone and based on the shapes, several had little signs on them with names. My favorite was Bacon Strips! (picture to the left).

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Well, that was it for the trip. We caught a bus back to Busan around 4pm but there was a lot of traffic so we didn't roll in till about 8:30pm.

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I've been here just over a month and this has been my first trip out of Busan for the weekend. It was really nice pulling up to my apt Sunday night and getting a little feeling of coming home. Mostly, I'm having good days and moments that I know I'm right where I should be but of course, the homesickness hits me every now and again. In fact, I still wake up most mornings not remembering I'm in Korea! But I had that same displacement feeling when I moved to Minneapolis and IU. I know it will pass!

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This coming weekend, I'm planning on hitting the beach for a surfing lesson on Sat and then some outdoor yoga on Sunday. The weather has turned nice and it looks like its here to stay. The cherry blossom trees are starting to drop their flowers which means summer is just around the corner... :)

Em