Busan Sandcastle Festival and Geoje-do

This Monday was a holiday, so Chris and I went on a trip for the long weekend. First, we went to Busan for the annual sandcastle festival. Here are some of the memorable contest entries...

Geoje Island is beautiful. There are black pebble beaches and giant hills covered in deciduous forests. I'm really glad we went.

We ate some very authentic Korean seafood. This seemed to mean fish cut in half and grilled: lots of bones and scales. Chris loved it, and I did my best to ignore the fishy parts hah.

The black pebbles were perfect shapes and sizes for skipping stones.

The next morning we tried to go on a boat tour, but it was sold out. We opted for "Artland" to see the natural rock formation and traditional Korean art.

For some reason, phallic objects are traditional Korean symbols in art.

We saw some pretty lakes with duck boats.

Next we hiked up to a waterfall.

It was an excellent weekend, and I think I will go back to Geoje-do again.

Corinne's birthday weekend

I've been so busy lately, that I've neglected my blog. Today I had to update, however, because it was someone special's birthday.

Corinne, of course.

We went to the salon during the day, out for an amazing dinner, and then out on the town. First, we had to sing birthday-themed songs in the noribang (karaoke). Next, we took some Korean-style photo booth pictures.

Off to MF for cake and drinks.

Chevelle, Corinne and I

Corinne's friend Chloe was kind enough to bring a shirt for all of us to sign (of course I wrote about a paragraph). Rui, on the right, is rocking one of Corinne's birthday gifts (the bow on the side of his head). I think he can pull it off.

Chevelle, Becky, and Laura

Chevelle and I being silly. I will spare my loving family the partying photos, but can ensure that a good time was had by all.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, nine of us girls decided to go to the cherry blossom festival in Jinhae. Surprisingly, we all made it to the station on time and had a fabulous trip.

How many hung over ladies does it take to decipher train times?

First goal of the day: figuring out how to get home.

We saw the Jinhae Tower, and decided to hike up it. It was beautiful. We got some great views of the city and ocean.

The six of us, brave hikers.

We went on a walk to find the bus station, but climbed a tree instead.

The eight girls I went with, after realizing that we waited for the wrong bus for an hour, since none of us bothered to read our tickets.

Its been a whirlwind, I feel like 2 months have passed since my last update. I feel so thankful and appreciative to have met so many wonderful people in Korea. My group of friends here is supportive and understanding, and most importantly, likes me for who I am. It really is a life changing experience- moving here and being able to become friends with people from all different fields and countries. Don't get me wrong, I miss my friends and family back home every day - but my life here is full of love and positive people, and that makes every day I am here a good one. Lately I've really started to understand that true happiness isn't fleeting - I am happy with my life and the person I am becoming, and that makes me feel so much more fulfilled than I can describe. I've been happier scrubbing floors and windows lately than I have doing much more interesting things in less happy times. I've always believed that life is what you make it - and I have to say, that my life is pretty fantastic.