Saturday, September 25, 2010

CHUSEOK! (so far. . .)

Completely stolen from Wikipedia short explanation of Chuseok:  Chuseok (Korean: 추석), originally known as Hangawi (한가위) (from archaic Korean for "great middle"), is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food such as songpyeon.

My students explain it to me as a time to go to their families home towns, study, get money from their relatives, play computer games, eat a lot, and sleep.  Other people tell me it's like Thanksgiving.  I'm supposed to get pictures from my students of their own Chuseok celebrations, so if I can get copies of them I will post those as well.

For us, it meant a long holiday :-)

On the first day of Chuseok, my true love gave to me. . . .Galbi and Karaoke :-)
 Monday night:
After our classes on Monday Lindie, Albert and I met at Three Pigs and had lovely pork galbi, which is where you have a grill in the center of the table and you grill your own meat and it's wonderful.  I should be more specific by saying that anytime we do this Lindie grills all the meat (and the onions and the garlic and whatever else) while Albert and I sit like perched, starving vultures :-)  Good times.

I forgot to bring my camera, but there are actually pictures of Three Pigs galbi posted in an old post when I went there with Ricky my third or fourth day here.

After we literally stuffed ourselves with delicious grilled meat we decided it was high time to Nori Bang again.  This time we tried two different ones.  The first one we went to added time depended on how well you scored on a song.  I think we won about an hour of time because we're just ninjas like that.  This one didn't have as many English songs to choose from, so after we ran out of time we went to the Eversing that I've blogged about before and sang for another two hours.  Eventually I think we were mainly screaming hoarsely because we had really no voices and it was the middle of the night.  Fun times :-) 

So, that was our Monday night, technically the first night of Chuseok.

On the second day of Chuseok, my true love gave to me. . .paddle boats and movies :-)
Tuesday: 

I think we didn't get home from the karaoke rooms and talking to random other foreigners until morning (I don't remember exactly what time) so we slept in very late on Tuesday and Lindie and I watched movies until late afternoon when we decided it was time to get out and do something.  Paddle Boating :)

Remember these??  :-)

Beautiful evening on a beautiful lake!! 
You know, the traditional "we arrived!" photo :-)
The man handing out the life jackets was very clear that we needed "LARGE" life jackets.  Whatever.   :-)  Here we are on our very own duck paddle boat :-)  Lucky number 10.
It was intense.  Don't question it.  :-)
Good times :-)
Here's the lake from the lake :-)
We wanted a whale, but the duck was pretty awesome too :-)
Pretty scenes on the lake :-)
:-)
Where our little duck lived.  We were out there for about an hour, just relaxing like crazy :-)
Lindie was a little sea sick. . .
These guys were freaking out about these ducks, so we had to check it out.  As usual, the big white duck was a huge bully and almost ate all the baby ducks, so we had to go in and break it up. . .or just watch, whatever.
Lindie died.  Sad day.
Our majestic, noble Mr. Duck with his dashing bow-tie (it's like a Dr. Lokey duck!)
The sun setting behind the stadium :-)
Look at the moon! :-)
I don't know I thought this was amusing, but it is :-)
It didn't photograph so well, but after we got off the boat and started walking back home we saw this, and it was a line of lamp posts all with different colors bulbs.  It was really pretty.  You'll have to use your imagination just a little :-)
After the paddle boat ride we ordered McDonald's (delivered.  It's awesome) and watched movies the rest of the night.  Vacation is amazing.

On the third day of Chuseok my true love gave to me. . .a Bennigan's food baby and lovely mushroom soup!
Wednesday--Chuseok Day!

So, Wednesday morning we woke up hungry and decided to find something to do.  We were planning on going out of town that day but when we woke up it was raining.  Also, it was Chuseok Day, so everything was closed.  We thought we really should try to find some food, so off we went. 
We met up with Tom (this really nice guy from England) who decided to forage with us.  And then some more foreigners who told us that it was a useless venture; everything was closed.  We thought for sure we could find something, and they seemed to think that Paris Baguette would still be open, so off we went, in the rain, to try to find something.  We missed it by 15 minutes.  Everything was closed.
We figured, since it was a holiday and all, we deserved to have some good food, so we hopped in a taxi and went off to Samsan hoping that Bennigan's was open.  We figured that since it catered to foreigners, maybe it would be.  Fortunately, it was, and we enjoyed lovely steak, pasta, soup, sandwiches, fries, you name it, we ordered it and enjoyed it to the point of gluttony.  :-)
Because I'm a little stupid, I forgot to bring my camera, so I can't show you our lovely meal or our lovely friend Tom (who's last name is WildMan.  Not Wildman.   Wild. Man.  Which is awesome.  Mostly because he's such a laid back and nice guy :-)
We thought we would check out the movies, because it was right across the street and it was still raining and they were playing Despicable Me in English.  On the way across the street we saw an epic taxi driver fight.  I have no idea what they were fighting about, but right there at the taxi stop, with taxis lined up all along the road, two of them got out, in the rain, and started pushing, head butting, the whole nine yards.  And we stood, in the rain, and watched the whole thing :-)  Finally one of them got in his car and drove away.  But then he came back and they started all over again!  It was amazing.
The movies were slamming.  So, we decided to skip it and do movies at home.  Really original for our vacation, but it's classic and what vacations (and rainy days) are all about.
Somemagicalhow Lindie and I got hungry again.  We went to the grocery store to get a couple of things to make mushroom soup.  We had some at Bennigan's and just needed more.  Plus, Lindie likes cooking and I like eating (and I LOVE soup) so it made complete sense.
Here's a pic :-)
My little kitchen and all the ingredients you need to make wonderful mushroom soup!  :-)
And, of course, the master chef.  :-)
The soup was awesome.  Awesome.
We also bought what we were pretty sure was candy that you made.  And since this is a blog all about food and stuff that happens in the apartment, here's the process:
You start out with tubes of chocolate.  Shown here.
You squeeze the chocolate into the tiny little plastic muffin tin.
Then you put little cookie sticks into them and put them in the freezer.
Then they come out as little mushroom candies :-)
And then you go around your apartment building knocking on doors and handing out little miniature happiness :-)
And then we watched movies for the rest of the night :-)

On the fourth day of Chuseok, my true love gave to me. . .roller coasters and fried goodies on sticks :-)
Thursday, Tongdo Fantasia

Thursday we knew it was time to get out of Ulsan and on to something different.  We looked for bungee jumping and things like that but everything was too far away, so we happened upon this little theme park that was only supposed to be half an hour away or so and on a bus that we could get to easily--and it even had a roller coaster!  So, off we went.  It was a beautiful day!!!


Waiting to the bus to Tongdo Fantastia!
Oh my goodness!  So exciting!  :-)




And, here we were!  Tongdo Fantasia!  Not exactly how it looked on the website, but you know, we make our own fun. 
Just like this.  That's the spirit, Lindie!  :-)
And, that's it.  :-)  Our fun-filled day at Fantasia!  Awesome.
Okay, so it was up the mountain a little bit.
There were a lot of people waiting in line to get in. . .
We never could figure out why it took so amazingly long to get through this line.  We literally got our tickets in two seconds after waiting for a long time. . .mystery.
We made it inside!!
I thought it was adorable, so I had to take a picture :-)
Isn't it pretty?
I think it's going to step on that guy.  We never actually did this, we always just missed the show.  It was a 4D theater.
We did this.  This was the Ride of Doom.  The problem with this ride is that the protective lap bar thing cut off circulation to your legs AND crushed all abdominal organs while you were waiting, but as soon as you started the painfully slow process of being hung upside down for about twenty minutes at a time, it rolled, and then so did we, right out of the restraints, and braced ourselves on the top bars screaming for dear life.  This ride lasted about three days and then we died.
First glimpse of the roller coaster :-)
On the bridge to get to the roller coaster.  How beautiful is that?  This whole park was surrounded by mountains like that.
Almost there!!  This roller coaster had three cork screws in a row.  I don't think I've ever been on a roller coaster that had three in a row, and I've been on a lot of roller coasters, let me tell you.  One big hill, three cork screws, two caves, good times.  If you want to see the entire actual ride, Albert took a video from the front seat and you can see it all at http://southkoreaetc.blogspot.com/

We had to take a photo before we actually got on the ride in case, you know, we didn't survive.  :-)
This ride was actually really nice :-)  Just slow and relaxing and we all took a little nap.  Lovely.
Are you ready?
For some reason, this entire part of the ride was all foreigners.  Apparently we have to do everything together :-)
View from the top :-)
This ride was actually pretty cool.  We went on it twice and the second time we nearly got hurled into the parking lot. Awesome.  :-)
This ride was awesome.  We rode it I think about 20 times. 
One time we rode it, we decided to sit on opposite sides from each other so we could take pictures and stuff.  But these four little girls decided that they NEEDED to sit with Albert.  When the guy running the ride said there was no way five people could sit in one row they tried to throw him over the side.  Finally, we convinced one of them to sit with us. 
Not sure if we scared her, or if it was just the ride, but the poor little thing was terrified by the end of it. 
See?  Anyway, good times :-)
Lindie saw cat ears and had to have them.  Aren't they awesome??
Then we saw corn dogs and had to have them!
But, shockingly, we were still hungry, so we got some dongas.
Then we found a Hello Kitty store :)
Anything you could think of, literally anything is available in Hello Kitty and is somewhere in this store.
Do you need sponges, ironing boards, slippers, bath mats, plungers, toilet seats/covers/cleaner in /Hello Kitty??  Well, here's where you can find it.  Plus much more.
Hello Kitty chopsticks for babies.  Awesome.
A hat made out of a wind shield heat thing?  Not awesome.
Giant walking stuffed animals?  Very awesome.
There was a carousel :-)
So we had to take fantastic. . .
. . .motion-blur pictures :-)
When the sun went down in Tongdo Fantasia the entire park emptied out and everyone moved out of town.  I've never seen people clear out so quickly!
Good bye, Tongdo Fantasia.
This is where we had dinner.  Not really.
It says Ulsan.  I don't want to tell you how long it took us to figure that out.  Lindie saved the day.  :-)  And we caught the very last bus from Ghost Town to Ulsan.

On the fifth day of Chuseok, my true love gave to me. . .a picnic in the park :-)

Picnic in Ulsan Grand Park.  In the designated picnic area, of course.
So nice and relaxing :-)
Lindie made us all food :-)  Without her, we would starve.  To death.
Lindie showing off her special skill.  She was even able to get it right in her mouth after this without dropping it.  Too bad I didn't get it on video.
Relaxing days are often exhausting. 
The weather started to look not-so-friendly, but we weren't afraid.
Then Tarryn came, because who can say no to a picnic?

There was a playground nearby, and there was no way we could leave that alone. 
The little guy crouched down was showing off his English to Lindie.  She asked him if he liked to sing, after he asked her if she liked to dance.  He said yes and actually sang a whole song for her, and did a REALLY great job WHILE he was spinning around on the merry-go-round.  He hit these really high notes no problem.  I wish I had the video.
Mr. Cupcake masters the monkey bars :-)
Remember the windmill by the path of pain?  This is what it looks like at night!  And my camera made it look like it was on fire.  Which is pretty awesome.  We did half of the footpath of agony (which was a bit better without scalding rocks) to show Albert, then took off for home.

And that's Chuseok so far!  :-)