Choo-Choo-Chuseok pt. II: 'What happened in Busan'

Alright scrotes.

As is my wont I'm already getting ridiculously behind on blog posts and a lotta stuff is happening or things I want to post about are being put on the long finger so I may try make this one snappy. So without further ado.

In our previous installment, our two young heroes had endured a harrowing journey via the depths of hell to Busan. But they made it! We hopped on the subway and were met by our good friends Ciara (who was generously letting us stay at her apartment) and Emilio (who was generously letting Ciara stay with him while we crashed at hers). We didn't mess about too much and headed out for a birthday/ugly clothing night celebration. We did our best to ugg ourselves up for the occassion and some succeeded more than others:

Needless to say, the craic was had, alcohol was consumed in copious amounts and their were heads in the morning. Here's a great picture of the whole gang that met up that night:

The next day was Baseball day! Baseball is huge in Korea and Busan offered myself and Maireads first opportunity to witness the sport at first hand. Yet again, a gaggle of westerners was assembled and we headed out to see the local Busan team Lotte Giants overcome some other team that we never did quite manage to get the name of. Anyway, with one eye half on the game and the rest of my attention focused on drinking, I ended up thoroughly enjoying my baseball experience wherein I even allowed myself to sample the wonders of a corndog. The strangest moment of the game had to be when the whole home crowd proceeded to place orange plastic bags on their head towards the end of the game. Me and Emilio had happened to be out smoking when they handed the bags out and got quite a large chorus of 'Boo' when we appeared from the inner recesses of the stadium bagless. Luckily a kind Korean woman spared our blushes by producing two spare bags.

Now I may be getting the days mixed up but I think that evening resulted in us beginning our epic search for the fabled 'Korean donut' for Mairead. Mairead's sweet tooth salivated as she was informed of the wonders of this exotic foreign treat that was not like a regular donut. She had to have one. The guy who sold them had closed his little stall however so we went to a rock bar instead where we requested banging tunes all night, enjoying such classics as The Pogues, The Beatles, a birra The Boss etc. It was the first time I'd heard good music while on a night out since I got here so I was chuffed.

The next day we chilled for the most part, nursing our ever growing accumulative hangovers. That night however it was time for some beach drinking and boy was it eventful. The evening began on a rather low note as we absconded to a well renowned Irish bar famous for its craic, caint agus ceoil- The Wolfhound. It was very dead and we were a little disappointed. But not to worry says you! Beach drinking was a mere walk away. So we headed on down to  Haeundae beach. We sat on some steps and sand and knocked back some beers and soju, we ignored the fact that what seemed to be a genuine American nutcase had infiltrated our ranks.

It was at this point that Mairead, Ciara and Emilio decided to go out and stand in the water to enjoy the swirl around their feet. Being the dour kill-joy that I am, I did not join them, opting instead to drink more soju on the steps. Suddenly I was approached by Emilio with the news that Mairead had been grabbed and dunked into the water. We were pretty pissed off about it and promptly went in search of the culprits. It was hard to tell who it was and we may or may not have accosted the correct people at one point but we couldn't be sure and everyone claimed innocence. Without even so much as an apology, we returned to the now drenched damsel in distress. She was taking it pretty well, unlike American nutjob who proceeded to shout expletives about the French. Every so often our conversation was interrupted by him getting increasingly louder as he uttered "...the fuCKINNGG FREEEENCCCCCHHHHH!"

Anyway, Mairead was soaked and beginning to shiver. But never fear, the boyfriend was here. My mind instantly went into overdrive in an attempt to somehow rectify this situation so that we could stay out, have more fun without Mairead being uncomfortable or getting sick. It clicked. I dashed off not a moment too soon in search of the nearest apparel store. I came across a charming little woman with a less than toothy grin who was selling an array of beach shorts and flip flops. Without caring to attempt to break our language barrier and inquire about sizes, I grabbed the cheapest pair of shorts I could find and returned at a canter to the rest of the group. Myself and Mairead afforded ourselves some privacy by the shore and I gave her my dry jeans while I slipped on the recently purchased shorts. She had already acquired a spare tshirt from ciara as well as a cardigan. I had to make one more rather embarrassing trip back to the aforementioned lady to buy a pair of flip flops for Mairead. The end result of this whole debaccle looked a little something like this:

The shorts got plenty of comments and stares and even some props when the backstory behind them was filled in. The night however took yet another nasty turn. As we returned to our steps to continue our beverage consumption, at some stage an Asian fellow approached us and sat down. He seems to have been Japanese. As a friendly gesture Emilio offered him some Soju which he quickly accepted. He wasn't so willing to accept the fact he had to give it back however. He turned quite nasty, insisting the Soju was his and at one point grabbing Emilio. I had barely noticed he was there up unitl this all erupted so I'm not sure of the full details. Anyway, he seemed crazy. There was a very short Mexican stand-off and then we left him to harass other unsuspecting members of the public along the beach. Eventually it was time for home after a rather dramatico moment in our lives. (Korean in-joke)

The rest of the trip I am unsure of the order of. We explored Busan and Mairead frequently and in vain searched for the famed Korean donut. Although she did find Krispy Kreme

Where she became a window licker and donut lover! We went to another branch of the rock bar we'd been at before. This one was 14 stories high and overlooked Haeundae beach but unfortunately the best I got out of the DJ was some Eminem- which was very enjoyable to rap out however.

At some point we visited a temple which I forget the name is but I think I'm already at the point of ya seen one ya seen em all.....and I've only seen two. Cynicism growing exponentially with age it would seem.

A momentous finish to the whole trip was when me and Mairead were actually on our last sojourn around Busan before getting our gear and going home, one last attempt was made to see if Korean donut man was there. Miraculously he was. Donuts were ordered, satisfied groans were exchanged between sweet lovers and smiles were evident all round. It had all turned out ok.

Me and Mairead left Busan with one lingering thought hanging over us "I wish we had the beach in Daegu."


Later scrotes. There is much to fill in, such as my exploits with my Expat football team Daegu Devils, The lowdown on the area where I live, the school I teach in, the kids I teach, some odd items for sale in Korean shop windows.....so I'm unsure what the next entry will entail. For now hope you all had a very merry Chuseok at home and I can't wait to celebrate it again next year.

Peace scrotes.