I had an absolutely fantastic weekend in Busan with Courtney. She ended up being able to come for the whole three days, which was actually really awesome. We caught the train down on Saturday morning, travelling in first class on the KTX (Korea's fast train). It's really spacious and totally the way to travel! Not to mention it makes the trip only 2.5 hours compared to 5-6 on the bus.

So, we got to Busan about mid-day, then caught the subway to the beach and found out hostel. It has just moved to a new building so the whole place was brand new and really nicely done. Our room, while not very big, was comfortable and clean. The shared facilities like TV room, kitchen, and rooftop terrace were really great. And our bathroom was nice as!

The lounge

Dining room

Kitchen

World art


Deck
Officially became the best hostel ever when I found StarWars on the wall





After that we went and had lunch at TGI Friday's where we both had cocktails (non-alcoholic for me), and I had a tropical shrimp salad, which was delicious. Then we put on out swimming costumes in the restaurant bathroom, and headed across the road to the beach.

Me and my lunch

Haeundae Beach

Lovely! But freezing cold.



It was about 3pm and we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and sitting in the sun. Then we went and got an ice cream at Baskin Robbins (I had 'lunar cheesecake flavour) and went back to the hostel to read/relax for a bit before dinner. For dinner we went to a Korean restaurant and had a kimchi-pork rib stew. Yum! Then Courtney went to hang out at the foreigner bar and I went to bed.

The next morning I got up early and walked the length of the beach, plus did a loop of the headland. Then went back to the hostel and cooked some eggs for our breakfast. Then, we bought some sunscreen, got an icy drink (I got a delicious blueberry iced tea) and we hit the beach.. We just went swimming and sunbathed all day, apart from lunch when we had some more Korea food. And another ice cream - this time I had pistachio-almond flavour. We stayed at the beach until 5 or 6pm (!!), then went back to our room to shower and clean up. We got a little burnt, but most of it was gone by the morning. I've got a little bit of a tan now. The swimming was really good, too. Although the water was freezing! It got deep quite fast, and apparently Koreans don't really swim. The only people in the water (or in swimming costumes) were foreigners. Some of the Koreans went in the water, but it was just to splash around and they went in fully clothed. Weird! There were also lots of jet-skis and sailing boats and stuff.

Also, the beach was pretty busy, but huge bits of it were taken up by massive piles of sand that were being turned into amazing sand sculptures. There's a sculpture competition/exhibition next weekend.








Anyway, Courtney and I got cleaned up and then went and hung out at the bar for a little while. Then we went to a hamburger place and had dinner. I had a really good burger, but took the bun off. I think it was truly nicer without the crappy bread! Then we met up with Courtney's boyfriend and a couple of his friends and they got drunk on the beach. It was bit cold for me, and I went to bed about 11.30.

I got up early again the next morning and did my walk around the headland, taking some photos this time. 

Busan early morning

The loop I walked

Coastal walk

Mermaid statue

Swing bridge



View of Busan city

Some pretty roses


Then it was time to check out and go home :( Sadly, we miscalculated the timing and Courtney missed her train. She was able to get a bus with Mike, her boyfriend, though. I caught my train and was back in overcast, rainy Osan by 4pm.

Busan/ Haeudae beach was totally lovely and I had a super relaxing, really fun weekend! What's more, I still want to be friends with Courtney and never once wanted to strangle her or poke her in the ye with a pencil (as so often happens when I spend too long with someone). So, huge success!

I was a bit bummed to come back to Osan. I really like Osan, but being by the sea is amazing, and it was gorgeous sunshine and fresh breezes there, and it's muggy and overcast here. I just kept reminding myself that soon I'll be able to go Thailand and hang out at the beach all I want for a little while. I decided while I was away that it is my goal to live in summer for the next 12 months :)

A bit shocking, though, is that I only have about 4.5 months left in Korea. I'd better do all the things I've been meaning to, like the botanical gardens and stuff. I'd better make a list, and also leave some stuff for when Brook comes to visit.

I'm back at work today for a short week. I just helped the student teacher teach her first EVER lesson. Poor lady! It went ok, and I think the kids were very tolerant. I really hope the Korean teachers who were watching give her some good pointers :) 

Also, a new random goal. I want to grow my hair long enough so I can donate it to charity. There's some that make wigs for sick kids. So, I'm going to grow my hair until it can make a 10 inch ponytail (maybe 4-6 months time) and then I'm going to cut it off. And by 'cut it off', I mean for real. Like this:




Or this:

Serious. I'm excited!

What else have I been up to? Well, over the weekend I finished reading 'Wheat Belly', which is about how awful modern wheat is for us to eat. Luckily, I have actually naturally not been too much of a wheat eater recently anyway, so cutting it out has been easy. This book just cemented my resolve to really minimise it in my diet. I've been probably 95% wheat free for two moths now (along with maybe 75-80% sugar free) and I'm feeling amazing. Like a lot of the day I can't wipe the smile off my face. Now I'm reading the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris, who also wrote the 4 hour work week. While I think he has some interesting things to say, his approach is not really my cup of tea. He's all into supplementing with this and that and doing little tricks to allow you to 'cheat' (for want of a better word), and he recommends having one day a week where you eat whatever you want, and even recommends having one of those days a month where you stuff yourself so full of crap you feel ill so you wont want it so much during the rest of the month. That just doesn't sound like a good idea! It obviously works for some people, but I'd rather keep doing my best all the time, eat what I want when I want, but do it consciously. Luckily, at the moment all I want is good stuff anyway (apart from the odd ice cream).

Also, my article is nearly finished. I just wrote the abstract today. For the next three days I'm going to specifically edit it for each journal, and then next week = finishing touches and send it out to the first lucky publication! I'm not going to hold my breath for anyone wanting it, it's not very original or anything (and a bit more of a literature review than anything else), but it was more for the practice of doing it, and I might get lucky :)

All of today's five things are how awesome my weekend holiday was :D