Busan International Motor Show

During my trip to Busan I stayed at a hostel by the name of Guesthouse Cooool (spelled with exactly that many o's). Normally I don't stay in hostels when I travel as I prefer to have my own space, but this time I was glad I made an exception. Cooool was clean, it was comfortable, it was stylishly modern, and it was within five minutes walking distance of Haeundae Beach. The woman who ran the hostel was incredibly friendly and helpful, and every morning she went to the trouble of making a fresh and delicious Western-style breakfast for all of the guests. Without trying to sound too much like a paid shill, if you're ever in Busan and looking for a place to sleep, I definitely recommend her guesthouse.
It was still dreary outside when I sat down for breakfast one morning with the other hostel guests, and while we talked about what we would do that day one traveler mentioned there was a car show currently going on in town. With not much else planned, I decided to check it out. I'm not a car buff in the slightest, but I figured a car show would be a good chance to try to take some dynamic looking pictures.
The Busan International Motor Show, or BIMOS, is held biennially in the Bexco Exhibition Center. When I arrived I found many other tourists with expensive-looking cameras shuffling about; car enthusiasts, I assumed. However, after buying my ticket and entering the main viewing hall, I quickly realized that the shiny new cars on display may not have been the main drawing point for most of the people there...

Busan: Taejeongdae

When I reflect on my first year in Korea, I feel like I did and saw so much, whereas in comparison my second year seems a tad more complacent. Everything was new to me back when I was fresh off the boat plane, and by simply leaving my home and walking down the street I would be able to see something exotic, a novelty that started to wear off after I had been around the block a few times. When I came back to Korea for my third year, I decided that if I wanted to re-experience the wonder of living in a new country I'd have to be more proactive and go look for adventures instead of waiting for them to find me. To that end I've been making a strong effort the past few months to get out of my home and go to the places that I've only read about; hence that lovely trip to Jirisan a few weeks back; hence why this past weekend I took a four day holiday to Busan.
Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, a port city on the southeast coast famous for it's seafood, beaches, and different dialect. With a population of roughly 2 million it's not nearly as large Seoul's 10 million, but during my stay I still found Busan quite lively, especially on the weekend when the sun finally poked out and Koreans from every corner of the country descended on the beaches.
Speaking of sun, crowds, and beaches: I arrived in Busan on a Wednesday thanks to a school holiday that gifted me an extended weekend. The rest of Korea had only Friday off, which meant I had a head-start and could hit the beach before it became too suffocating with people. The weather in Seoul was already dreadfully hot, and I was looking forward to enjoying what I assumed was going to be an almost empty beach. When I did finally sink my toes in the sand of Haeundae, Busan's most famous beach, it was relatively deserted, just like I predicted. However, that was more likely to do with the fact that it was raining, and would continue to rain until Friday afternoon.
Fantastic.
Busan has many other attractions, and I entertained myself with those for a few days while I waited for the weather to permit me to frolic in the waves of the East Sea. My first stop (after the disappointment of Haeundae) was Taejongdae Park, located on an island connected to the mainland by bridge and close to Busan's main train station. A trek through the park was perfect for a short day hike, and though a train was available for touring the island I gave it a pass so I could stroll at my own pace.

Comic World: Where the Koreans Go to Cosplay

Every month in Seoul there is a comics and animation convention called "Comic World". Basically, just imagine the anime cons back in America but with more Koreans.
I've attended Comic World twice now, once last fall and again this weekend. As far as cons go, Comic World is pretty basic: there's a big room for people to sell their art and there are cosplayers. There are events too, but nothing as extravagant as what I'm used to seeing at American cons. In fact, Comic World is pretty small when directly compared to conventions like Comicon in America or Comiket in Japan. But it's the biggest event of it's kind in South Korea, so it's the place to go if you need a con fix.
One of the things I like about Comic World is I get to see where the interests of Korean, American  and Japanese fans intersect, as well as where they diverge. From what I could tell, what's popular elsewhere is popular in Korea. Shonen staples like Naruto and Bleach had a strong showing despite their age, fan favorites from Japan like Touhou and Fate/stay night got more attention than I would have expected, and of course, this being Korea and all, a lot of love was given to League of Legends. The most humorous surprise for me was the volume of interest shown in western properties like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty; I didn't think Koreans played any American video games other than League of Legends.
In the artists' room, most of the fanart for sale centered around the already mentioned titles or whatever cute girl show is currently a hit in Japan. I spent about an hour walking up and down the aisles, but pretty quickly it all began to blur together. That's not a crack at any of the artists; by all means the work they had on display exhibited a good degree of talent. It's just that I can only absorb so much anime before feeling over saturated by the countless doe eyed girls with pastel colored hair. Oh, and gay stuff. If you're in the mood for a Thor and Loki forbidden romance comic or some hot Captain America on Iron Man action, look no further than Comic World.
For me, the highlight of Comic World (or any convention for that matter) is the cosplay. The cosplayers at Comic World do not disappoint, though most aren't present inside the actual convention hall. To see the best, you have to go outside and follow the foot bridge behind the building into nearby Yangjae Citizen's Forest, where cosplayers prance about and pose for photographers while old people out for a weekend stroll look on with staunch indifference, having long ago accepted that they must share their woods with costumed invaders every month.
Photo etiquette is about the same as it is in America: ask for a picture, the cosplayer poses, take your photo, do a little bow and say 감사합니다. More popular cosplayers would have a queue of hardcore photography hobbyists lined up to take their pictures; these guys were fully decked out in gear and brandished cameras that looked strong enough to take photos of the American flag up on the moon. I felt intimidated standing next to them with my little Canon Powershot, so I'd wait patiently in back for a turn to get a quick pic.
All of the cosplayers were courteous, and some even attempted to stay in character when I approached them. Every now and then a cosplayer would attempt to speak English with me, and I would return the favor by attempting to speak Korean. Like I wrote about in my hiking post, the people in Korea are more eager to interact with strangers when doing what they love, and cosplay is definitely a case of that.

Baby Steps

So I did the unthinkable today: I signed up for a Korean class.

Now you'd think having been in Korea for almost two and half years (and with no present intentions to leave anytime soon) that I would have started taking a class a long time ago.

Well sir, you'd be wrong.

My running excuse for whenever a friend, family member or coworker chides me over my inability to speak the local language (one dear friend lovingly referred to me as a "cultural free loader") is that after teaching all day, the last thing I want to do is spend my down time in a classroom on the opposite side of the teacher's desk. And you know, I don't think I'm wrong for feeling that way. I need a break to vegetate and let my mind decompress if I'm to stay on top of my game. Besides, it's not like I've learned nothing while living here. I've picked up a fair amount of vocabulary and I can read the alphabet, so I can function fairly well when out and about without a Korean friend to babysit me.

Yet still. I feel frustrated when I can't have conversations with the people I see on a daily basis. It's isolating when I'm at faculty dinners and I don't know what's being said around me. I get jealous when I overhear a westerner on the street speaking fluent Korean. So yeah, I guess you could say something finally snapped in me, pushing me to be more proactive about my monolingual handicap.

Easier said than done, of course. Now that I live in the countryside, it's less convenient than ever to attend a Korean class. The closest schools to my home are in Seoul, and Seoul's not all that close. But my hunger for knowledge is not satisfied by excuses, so this past week I did a web search and emailed every school that looked legitimate. I got a few replies, arranged to take some placement tests, and now I'm enrolled.

Succinct as that sounds, I hadn't planned for everything to happen so quickly.

I wanted to visit at least two schools today. The first I went to was further from my home than the second, and I even got a little lost while looking for it. I did find the school eventually, and after greeting me the kindly staff sat me down in the front lobby with a test and a pencil so they could evaluate my smarts (I warned them not to be impressed). As I was stretching the limits of my limited Korean abilities, I overheard other students walk in and speak with the receptionist. To my surprise, they weren't speaking Korean at all. They were speaking Japanese! Later I learned this school was mainly attended by foreigners from other Asian countries, and even kept a few Japanese natives on staff. If I were enrolled, I would be the only westerner student.

I finished, my test was reviewed and a teacher interviewed me. She gave me overly positive feedback disproportionate to my skill level (I figure it's not good for business to inform potential customers right off the bat how much they suck) but was also fair in saying that I would need to begin in the lowest level class. She then quite suddenly started filling out the paperwork for me to enroll. I hadn't yet said I would commit to a class, and since I was planning to visit another school that afternoon I was getting ready to tell her to step on the brakes. As if sensing my hesitation, she informed me I'd be in a class with three girls from Hong Kong.

"So... Where do I sign?"

Jokes aside, I think this will be an interesting experience. If things don't work out, I only paid for a month of classes so I have the option to bail after four weeks. But really, I'm hoping for the best. It would be nice not to feel so out of place in the country that's become my second home.

Anyway! Remember that dog I posted a picture of in my first blog post?

Guess who had puppies!