A festival in Gwangju and a cat cafe

Who knew Gwangju would be so good at throwing festivals?

I went downtown Wednesday night to meet friends for dinner and ended up at the opening ceremony for the Chungjang Recollection Festival. I was once again reminded that festivals in Korea are awesome and it was a pretty rad start to a four day weekend. This festival celebrated Gwangju's downtown area and this year was themed 70's and 80's. Apparantly there were booths and performances that were supposed to illicit feelings of the past...if that happened it went over my head. The main street shut down for four days for concerts, street performers, food tents, art, and a big parade on Hangul Day. Hangul Day is a national holiday in Korea and celebrates the creation of the Korean written language, Hangul, by Korean monarch Sejong the Great. Interestingly enough, South Korea celebrates the day in October while North Korea celebrates in January.

I've  never seen the downtown as busy as it was over those 4 days. It was hard to move and a little intimidating. Not only were people enjoying the festival atmosphere but there were also massive sales at all the stores (regrets- all I bought this weekend were more hangers for my closet). I was elbowed more times than I could count by older Koreans (I think once you're over 60 you just stop caring about asking people to move and you just shove them out of the way), but overall had a great time people watching. We saw different dance troupes, performers from Ecuador, traditional drum shows, singers, Taewkondo exhibitions by adorable children, and more. Here are a bunch of pictures to prove I was there:

Group from Ecuador performing traditional music. Super popular

Street performers wowing and confusing the crowd by 'levitating'

Cuties watching the parade dressed in Korean high school uniforms from the 70's (I think)

Man holding a duck- waved it around and delighted kids. Poor, poor duck.

Clothes from the 70's and 80's? i don't know. Teens didn't look excited to be in the parade

Men dressed as muscular ants because Korean parades

Local Taekwondo schools performed

Traditional drum performances during the parade

Ladies looking lovely in Hanboks (traditional Korean clothes) in the parade

Traditional candy using sugar and honey. Kids stamp a design and then use toothpicks to slowly/painstakingly cut the design out without breaking the rest of the candy. If they can get their design, they get another candy for free.  

At one point during the festival we were getting overwhelmed by the crowd and a little tired. What do you do in such a situation? You go to a cat cafe! A cat cafe is a coffee shop that is filled with cats roaming around and willing to play with you. It was the greatest experience ever...until I make it to the Dog Cafe down the street. I think I'll actually cry of happiness when I get to drink coffee with dogs.

A shot of the cat cafe in all its glory. Lots of hiding spaces for cats, cat toys and happiness

My friend Nygel and I posing with a (judging) cat

That lighting...happy people after playing with cats.

 Overall it was a really great weekend and it made me love my city even more. It may be on the smaller side and be considered the country by the rest of Korea but I'm really happy I ended up here. The end.

Peace!

Busan International Film Festival i.e. I saw celebrities

This past weekend I went to the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

But first, I spent one night in Daegu visiting a friend. We didn't know what to expect (we didn't plan out where we were sleeping, what we were doing, etc) but it ended up being a lot of fun. Grant (Hi Grant!) invited us to join his co-teachers and him for Singles Night. We ended up eating, drinking, and enjoying the company of all of the young, single teachers from his elementary school. His co-teachers were absolutely amazing and made us feel welcomed to the city. We ended up crashing on the floor of the co-teacher that ended up driving us to Busan the next day.

I made a pretty little triangle this past weekend. It takes 3 1/2 hrs to get to Daegu, 1 hr from Daegu to Busan, and 3 1/2 hrs back to Gwangju. 

When we got to Busan, the second biggest city in Korea, we immediately went to see our first film. Our first film was shown at a gigantic department store called Shinsegae (which can be found all over Korea). While I say department store (imagine Nordstroms), it's more like a mall. Shinsegae's tend to be up to 8 or 9 floors with food courts and movie theaters. Our first film was a Korean movie called The Target. It was an action flick based on the French film Point Blank. The Korean style of action/thriller seems to differ from the Western style in the amount of blood and gore that's shown. I liked the movie but it wasn't my favorite. After the film, the director came out and answered questions from the audience (they had a translator for English speakers).

When we came out of the movie we noticed a crowd growing outside. Turns out that Ku Hyesun, an actress well known for her role in the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers, had directed a movie that was being shown at BIFF and was there to answer questions. We didn't really stick around because we had actually gotten tickets to see her movie and knew that we would be seeing her again. After grabbing lunch, we saw another celebrity. We ended up getting really close to him but, once again, didn't stick around. We then saw our second film...which I hated. It was an Italian film that was beautifully shot and extremely boring. I don't know if it was poor subtitles or just the archaic sounding script, but I really didn't understand the movie. I don't even feel like sharing the title- not worth revisiting. After the movie we met Grant's friend Soohyun. She's the greatest. Why? She booked all of our tickets, booked our hotel, and just showed us an amazing time in Busan.

Waiting by the red carpet for a celebrity

I'll figure out his name soon and put it here...whoops

That evening we enjoyed dinner near our hotel and then Soohyun gave us a very informal tour of Busan at night. Our hotel was near Yongdusan Park- a popular park with statues of historical figures, the Busan Tower, and the love heart fence. People write their name and their partner's name and a love promise (or something) on a paper heart and tie it onto the fence. While the Busan Tower was closed (it was almost 1 am), I really want to go back and check out the view from the observation deck at the top.

Pretty pgoda and the Busan Tower at night

A slightly blurry picture of Busan at night and the love heart fence.

The next day we saw a Korean movie called Daughters that was directed by the actress Ku Hyesun. It was absolutely amazing and made me cry. It was about the relationship between an abusive mother and her young daughter. I loved it. Watch it. Ku Hysesun and the actress who played the daughter answered questions after the movie and just generally looked pretty.

Ku Hyesun and other actress discuss the film Daughter with the audience

Afterwards we grabbed a delicious lunch and saw the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. Busan is a major port city and the Jagalchi Market is on the Busan Harbor. It smelled awful (to me) and was really crowded. It was pretty amazing to see all of these old ladies cutting up fish and hosing down live octopus and squid. While the market was really interesting and fun to see, I'll happily never go back. That smell....just no.

Different kinds of fresh fish on display

More fresh fish on display

We had the option of seeing a second movie but Megan and I decided to check out the famous Haeundae Beach. It was incredibly windy but still really fun. We stumbled upon another celebrity being interviewed at the beach who happens to be very famous in Korea. Have you seen the movie Old Boy? A remake was recently made in America. We saw the actor Choi Minsik, the lead actor from the movie.The beach was really crowded but there were lots of booths that were handing out free items. Due to the wind, we didn't stay for too long. That night Soohyun suggested that we go to the Busan Cinema Center, the official venue of BIFF, for dinner and drinks.

Busy Haeundae beach

Everyone was just standing around taking pictures

Megan and I looking pretty and cold at the beach

The Busan Cinema Center. They show different graphics on the inside of the roof such as flowers, stars, etc.

The next day we didn't do very much. We ate and then went home. The end.

Busan is amazing. I want to live there. We should all live there.

Peace.

Why being sick in S. Korea is actually the greatest

This is just a really short post expressing my love and gratitude towards the Korean healthcare system.

So I'm coughing quite a bit and I have been for a week. This isn't exactly a pretty cough- I kinda sound like a barking seal mixed with death. My throat is destroyed and I sound a lot manlier then usual. BUT THATS OK! Why? South Korea.

Yesterday at school my head teacher not so subtly hinted that I should go to a doctor (she said "I'll call a doctor- please go). Thinking that I was sounding better (ha ha) I said that I would wait a few days. After a lovely night of coughing up my lungs, I went to the doctor today. Here's what happened.

My head teacher called ahead and warned them that a waygookin (foreigner) was coming and told them some of my symptoms. Then she printed out a map to the doctor and wished me luck finding it (which I needed since I have no sense of direction). Turns out that I had no reason to worry since I caught a ride to the doctor from...wait for it...a doctor. Every week I've been meeting with someone to exchange English and Korean and he happens to be...wait for it...an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I would have gone to him but my head teacher suggested and insisted on the original doctor.

The appointment took about 15 minutes. The doctors office made me feel like I had either 1.) been abducted by aliens, or 2.) traveled to the future. The technology felt so much more advanced than the States. The doctor sat me down, stuck a tube up my nose to take pictures, stuck a tube down my throat to take pictures, and, my favorite part, they stuck a thin, flexible tube into my nose that continued down my throat to take more pictures. While the doctor was immediately able to see my destroyed vocal cords, it was incredibly uncomfortable. I'm really happy we don't have that in the States.

AND NOW COMES MY FAVORITE PART. The entire appointment cost me 6000 won (around $6) and the 2 antibiotics that I have to take cost me a total of 2500 won (around $2.50).

Some medicine comes in small plastic bags. Like mine. 

Why did it cost so little? I received my ARC (Alien Registration Card) and have healthcare through the government. All EPIK teachers apply and receive this card during their stay in Korea. You need it to be able to open a bank account, apply for a phone plan, go to the doctors, and more.

Bonus: There was also zero wait time at the doctors office and I had porridge for dinner (that has nothing to do with healthcare- it's just awesome).

Hopefully I'll be healthy in a few days!

Peace.