We're back!

Hello and sorry that it has been a few to many days since we have updated the blog. We have been very busy working, and the Internet has been out of order.
We had a great vacation in Busan, and we saw a lot of cool and interesting sights. When we got there the bus station was right at the end of one of the subway lines. So we hopped on the line and heading to Haeyondae beach. It was a little rainy, but we were still happy to be at the beach. We walked around and tried to find a hotel. We found the Sea Cloud which seemed to be a nice place right on the beach. The manager cut us a deal for two nights, so we got a sweet deal on a really nice hotel. The Buson Aquarium was right outside of our hotel, but it did not look like much from the outside. We soon found out that was because it was all underground. Ethan went a little picture crazy, and captured almost every fish at the aquarium. The next day we saw a very cool temple located right on the coast. Then we headed up to a traditional pottery gallery.

We got the idea to go to this gallery from a brochure we found in English for key touristy places to see in the area. We tried to tell the cab driver but it was a little rough trying to get the information across. Finally he called the number and got proper direction. It was like a wild goose chase. We ended up in some small village at some ladies house that was turned into a gallery. The pottery was all really nice, but there was so much of it, and it was all stacked up in piles. We walked around (all the while this woman was talking to us in her broken English) and she told us about the process for making the clay and glaze. It was all made naturally, "in the traditional way" (as she kept saying). It was time to buy some plates and maybe some bowls. She told us several times that the bowls were 5,000 won and the plates were 10,000 won, (which is about $5.00 and $10.00), so of course, we thought it was a great deal. Well, all great decisions take some time, so we were there for, I don't know maybe an hour and a half. Well, as it turned out, she meant to say 50,000 won for a bowl and 1,000,000 won for a plate (like $50.00 for a little bowl, and 100 bucks for a plate!) Well, we weren't about to spend that much. So here we were, in the middle of nowhere Korea up a tiny mountain road in some village with this lady who is getting a little bit feisty (and whose husband, we are slowly realizing, is actually a famous artist). She invited us for tea. We thought, oh this is nice, we can laugh all this off and get on our way (as quickly as possible). Well, traditional Korean tea is sipped from tiny, tea-party style tea cups. This part was actually really fun. But once the tea was done and we managed to work our way from this chatting lady's tea room. It was time to pay off the tea and get out! So, she finally compromised on selling us a plate for about 20 dollars. She even wrote it down this time. We wondered how the price could really drop from 100 to 20, but didn't think about it too much because were like, let's do it and get out! So she wrapped up 2 plates, in the fancy Korea way, and Ethan attempted to pay her. She seemed confused and a little insulted, then she told us that was 20 bucks for the tea! We about died! We just said that we were sorry that we simply couldn't buy the plates, but then she made a "gift" to us, and gave us the tea and 2 plates for $50. Otherwise, I'm sure we would have never gotten out of there! Then she had some man in a pickup truck drive us to a bus station (or something like that), where we eventually caught a bus back to the beach.

The next day, we experienced a place was in complete contrast to our happy aquarium we experienced a couple days before. It was the seafood market of Buson. I'm talking almost any kind of dead (or soon to be dead) animal of the sea was there. We walked through isle after isle and never ceased to be amazed at the fish, or other creatures, that Koreans would soon be eating. We walked for about an isle, and still didn't see every booth of "seafood." It was cultural, but coming from someone who still dreams of being a mermaid, it was a bit too much. To top it off we ate at a small outdoor restaurant, not realizing we would be served eels (that didn't stop moving for at least 15 minutes).

We met up with some friends on New Years Eve, who came into town from Gwangju and another town nearby. We had a lot of fun. They had a beach festival with drum circles and sand art on the beach. A boat went out and shot fireworks off for about 30 seconds, but they were good ones. Plus, just about everyone there were shooting off Roman Candles from their hands! It was freezing...seriously....freezing so it was hard to stay out too long. We planned on staying up all night for the sunrise (as is traditional in Korea) but we didn't make it. Thanks to Maria, we were up in plenty of time to see it. It was beautiful. We were so surprised to find more people were out for the sunrise than for 12 midnight. It is such a cool tradition. We're so thankful we had the opportunity to participate.

We returned to Gwangju the next day to find about a foot of snow on the ground. But don't worry, nothing stops Korean children from getting their education. Not even record breaking snowfall. So, we were back to work January 2, early, of course.