Aliens in Daegu

Our Chuseok passed quietly and much too quickly.  We spent most of our time just resting.  However, during the weekend, we got out to see one of the Twelve Scenic Sites of Ulsan.  We made our way out to Jakgwaecheon (spelling variable).  It's this river out in the middle of nowhere that has been oddly eroded out.  Way back when, I've heard poets used to go there for inspiration.  Apparently, it is also the place where one of the first Korean movements against Japanese occupation took place.  It is a beautiful place.  

 There were families with picnics set up all along the river and just up the hill was a nice, serene wooded area.

Alan's a poet.

 The river itself is teeming with minnows.  There were several very wet daddies and laughing children with nets attempting to catch them.  I managed to catch a baby minnow.  











Work has been..rough..for me.  The stories I come home with every day seem to really amuse Alan, but I can't believe some of the things I've seen in my classes.  So this weekend was a welcomed break.  Friday night, I went to UNIST's gym to swim.  I haven't swam with any sort of consistency since I was a freshman in college, so it's always a downer realizing how out of shape you are.  But after sitting through my classes and on the bus all day, it felt really good to get some use out of my muscles.  I got a month-long membership, so maybe I'll get back into some light training.  

This week, I finally got my ARC (alien registration card), which means that I'm now legal in Korea.  It's very difficult to do anything in this country without it.  So now, Alan and I are able to get real phone plans instead of our current pre-paid, credit plan.  The nearest Olleh global store is in Daegu which is about a 30 min KTX train ride away.  Alan found some salsa dancing in the area, so we decided to make a day of it.  The Olleh store is just a short walk from the Banwoldang subway station (orange line), just a few stops away from the KTX station (Dongdaeguyeok in the subway), so we headed there first.  Unfortunately, it was a bust.  Olleh can't do anything with phone plans on the weekend, and we can't get to Daegu during the week.  Now come Monday evening, we're going to our Olleh store in town to try out our Korean skills and get phone plans.  It'll be an adventure.



Even though we couldn't get phone plans, we still had salsa dancing that evening, so we had a hotel booked.  We stayed at the Goodstay New Grand Hotel right outside Daegu Station (orange line).  It was clean, conveniently located, and had all the essentials.  The bed is hard as a rock, but then again, so are most beds in Korea.  

As a side note, this is how the subways in Daegu tell you when you're train is getting near.  They have a cute little train picture that shows up two, then one stop away.  This one is one stop away from us.  

 We found a Thai restaurant for dinner called MK Suki.  To get there, we got off at the Myeongdeok station (orange line) and took bus 402 until we got near the point where google maps said the restaurant was.  

It turned out that it was a Chinese-Thai restaurant and thus had a menu for each food genre.  I got my usual.  Pad Thai.  :)  It was good and they bring out jars of the add-ons so you can add as much pepper, peanuts, and sugar as you want.  Alan, who ordered a dish expecting some sort of fried rice, was not as pleased with his meal.  But it at least filled his belly.  The food was more authentic at this place than any other Thai restaurant I've been to.  The place itself, though not as grand as Arun Thai, was pretty and I liked the table setup.  

Chinese and Thai menus

They give you a big glass bottle of water that you
can pour your own glass from.  

That evening, we ventured out for salsa dancing.  The club was called Babalu and is generally run by the foreigner salsa community in Daegu.  They have a beginner-intermediate lesson every week from 7:30-9 and switch between salsa and bachata.  Sometimes they have salsa parties afterwards.  This week turned out to be their first week back after a summer hiatus and so only a couple people stayed after the lesson.  It was nearly empty when we showed up.  But after not having even elbow room at Bar Latino in Busan, it was nice being able to open up and dance as we pleased.  The music was also played at a much more acceptable volume.  Alan wasn't able to stay more than 10 minutes at Bar Latino for the pain in his ears.  Babalu was much more pleasant.  We're hoping to try the club again on one of their party nights to see how it is.  






More observations about Korea:


During a half mile walk down the street in Daegu, we saw 8 (EIGHT) guitar/violin shops.  It's like the coffee shop thing all over again.  Koreans don't seem to understand that they're just going to run each other out of business by setting up shop right next to each other.  There's a lot of turnover in Korea in terms of stores and shops.  Places often go out of business within a couple years.  They don't seem to have caught on to one of the major flaws in their business plans.  


Koreans like to party.  This morning, while on the platform waiting for the KTX train, Alan and I noticed a man passed out on the isolated platform across the tracks.  He was just sleeping on the ground next to the rails.  We at first took him for a homeless man.  After a while, some of the station staff went over and woke him up.  He was dressed in a suit and tie with a fancy messenger bag across his chest.  Definitely not homeless.  I'm pretty sure he was trashed last night and passed out on the ground. 

Because I'm foreign, people automatically assume I can't speak any Korean.  I've mentioned this before as the surprise they all have when Alan or I say the simplest of phrases.  So, when the Koreans can't speak English, this translates into a sort of fear of us.  I walked into a coffee shop last night and stood there for a moment looking at the menu.  The two young female cashiers looked at each other with wide eyes saying "Moat heyo, moat heyo".  The conversation was essentially, "I can't do it, you do it!"  "No!  I can't do it either!"  It was highly amusing, especially considering neither of them had any idea that I could understand them.  So when I decided that I didn't want anything on the menu and left with a quick "kamsahamida", the look of relief and confusion on their faces was great entertainment.  



Here's to a good weekend.