Screen Golf

I have heard of this somewhat new craze in Korea, screen golf, and knew with my golfing background (sarcasm is implied) I knew I had to try it out. Barry, Janine and I went to a GolfZon down the street from our work, and in a couple minutes were decked in golf shoes and golfing gloves.




So, this screen golf is literally just a virtual game of golf. You can choose over 50 courses (real courses), we chose St. Andrew's in Scotland. You hit this button and a ball would be perfectly placed on your tee. Not only does it calculate your swing and the distance the ball travelled, the platform literally moves in all directions to coordinate with the chosen course.

I am not surprised that this is such a big craze in Korea. Not only are Koreans technologically advanced in all aspects of life, there are so many people and not enough space for real courses! Come rain, snow, sleet or frost, you can always count on these screen golf cafes to be open, warm, full of booze and Korean food galore.

Mom in Korea Part 2

The week consisted of a trip to the Jimjilbang (a large gender separated bathhouse with hot tubs filled with lavender and green tea, saunas, massages, etc.), many home cooked meals and great conversation.

On Friday it was our schools Halloween party, so we all dressed up and had a great time, my mom even came too! Here are some photos of the cute kids and their costumes...


(Vicky, her cute costume, and an ax that she carried around all day)



(The whole school, the dinosaur in the front is priceless)



(instead of candy, Alex got a discount on fried chicken and graciously invited us to dinner)



(Andy, one of my favorites, sh)



(Dino class and the Indian/hippy)


After work on Friday, my mom and I hopped on the bus to Suwon Bus Terminal to make the 4 hour and 20 minute bus journey to Busan. Busan is the second biggest city in South Korea with a population of 3.6 million people. Busan is on the south east of South Korea making it the largest port in the country.



After we found our hotel for the next two nights (which in fact we got an upgrade because the guy tried to say that we didn't confirm, but we really did, and that's how you get a sauna in your shower folks) we settled in nicely and the next morning were good as gold.

On the agenda first was to go to the Jagalchi Fish Market, one of the main tourist sites in Busan and the largest fish market in Korea. The market was endless, stalls and stalls of different kinds of seafood, seaweed and whatever else you can think of that comes from the sea. The smell was atrocious but the atmosphere was awesome, you know you're in Asia when...







After the fish market, we decided to hop on the Busan city bus and do a tour of the beaches. It was nice to view Busan out of the main downtown area, the main beach in called Haendaue which attracts many Koreans during the summer. I can just imagine how many umbrellas and how much sunscreen is used on a given day. The tour was nice, there was a moment we looked around and everyone was sleeping, but it was nice to get on a bus and view a different part of Busan.







After the Busan bus tour, we decided to hit up another market called, Gukje market. This market is one of Busan's biggest filled with clothes, silks, linen and many odds and ends along the way. I found a great jacket for only 15,000 and my mom found great souvenirs to take back for friends and family.

After taking a rest back at the hotel, it was time to eat a late dinner. My mom's a vegetarian, so I thought this could be tricky...after wondering around for 20 minutes and my mom trying to get (and taking) a handshake from a guy with no fingers we were as giddy and hungry as could be. We decided upon a nice little Korean and after my mom showed the man her note "I do not eat meat or fish" she had a steaming pot of bi bim bap in front of her. This restaurant was nice, but we were literally the only ones in the restaurant. While we were waiting for our meal we started to hear this weird music and realized that our waiter (the one who hadn't even brought us our bottle of soju yet) was playing the saxophone to us in the middle of the restaurant. I have never laughed so hard in my life. It was a priceless moment that I frequently replay in my head.

The next day we decided to get on the subway and make the 40 minute trek to Lonely Planet's top pick of Busan, Beomeosa Temple. This is a buddhist temple that was constructed in AD 678. Of course, much of the temple was destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592-3, but was renovated after that. The temple was founded by a Buddhist scholar named, Ulsang during the reign of King Munmu, one of the most enlightened rulers of the Silla Dynasty. This temple is in a magnificent setting, a mountain backdrop and with the leaves changing color, it was just breathtaking...











After wondering around the temple we ended our stay with a visit from David Didomenico. I went to school with David and he works in my Mom's old office at Akron U. He is studying in Ulsan and was able to meet us for lunch.



What a weekend!

Mom in Korea Part I

These past two weeks have been some of my favorite times in Korea this far because I got to spend them with my mom! My mom arrived two Friday's ago after a very tiresome and traffic filled night (two hours late!) but she made it and settled into our cozy apartment quite nicely.

On Saturday afternoon, after my mom enjoyed a nice, long heavy sleep we decided that we wanted to go to Seoul and do some exploring. We hopped on the bus and decided the first thing we should do was of course get fish pedicures. Now, when Barry and I went to do this we happened to get stuck with the little baby fish but this past time with my mom we looked down in the water and saw the biggest fish alive. So, we stuck our feet in the water and felt as 50 fish tried to eat our feet. My mom and I joked that their Thanksgiving dinner came early that year.



After our feet were as smooth as could be, we hopped in a cab to explore Gwangjang market, a food market and one of Lonely Planet's top picks in Korea. We walked around the market viewing all the colorful foods, we finally settled on a nice bi bim bap for a little snack.





As all of you know, my mom is a vegetarian and Korea is not exactly a vegetarian friendly place as almost every Korean meal I have eaten includes some sort of meat. But, with a population of 10 million people, there are bound to be vegetarians. After googling extensively we found a vegetarian Buddhist restaurant in a very artsy area of Seoul called Insa-Dong. It boasts a 20 course meal with a live performance at 8pm. We all agreed the food was a little boring, but the Korean traditional performance was great. It included 5 or 6 short performances with drums and traditional masks and clothes. They even called me on stage to participate and when they wouldn't take no for an answer I found myself on stage shaking a drum to traditional Korean music.





The next day after a good night sleep and feeling refreshed, my mom and I wanted to do a little more exploring in Seoul. We started off in Gyeonbokgung where we explored the Gyeongbokgung palace. This palace used to be the main palace in Seoul until the Japanese government destroyed it in the 19th century. It is the largest of the five palaces scattered around Seoul. It was first built in 1394 by the Joseon Dynasty but rebuilt in 1867. The name of this palace translated to English means " Palace of Shining Happiness" Which lived up to it's name-my mom and I were so happy to be together let alone exploring a palace together!












Next, we went on to explore Damdaemun Market, a market that was constructed in the 14th century and served as the Great Eastern Gate of the Seoul fortress. This market was unbelievably massive. We walked for two hours and I don't think we saw even half of it. We both picked up some odds and ends, the market consisted of mostly clothes and shoes-incredibly cheap prices. After sitting down on the curb and deciding we didn't want to get up again, it was time to get in a taxi and meet Barry for dinner.

I had heard of this restaurant from a couple people called Zelen's, so I figured when my mom was here we should of course go to the Zelen's restaurant! It was Bulgarian and absolutely delicious! We even took a picture of Rachel who was standing in the middle of the restaurant.




Look out for part 2 of Mom in Korea which includes show and tell and Halloween at Bambini, a trip to the Spa, and some more odds and ends!