Family visit

Ok, my brother Lee and dad came to visit last week. It was a whirlwind trip that lasted a week. They flew in to Incheon on Sunday afternoon then took the KTX fast train down to Daegu and I met them at the train station. I had only took the bus 937 one other time to scout out the way, apparently I should’ve taken it more because I got off at the wrong stop. So, we had a good long walk through campus, but we finally came to my apartment. Lee and dad looked rather tired and worn out, and we hadn’t done anything yet. They crashed at my apartment for a few minutes until they started saying they were hungry. So, I thought we’d go to a restaurant across the street from the main gate at my university. This place has marinated pork (golbi) along with five or more little side dishes and kimchi of course. This was their first time to use metal chopsticks. Lee did ok, but dad asked for a fork. After dinner, Lee and dad were tired and wanted to crash, so they came back to my place and got their bags then checked into a motel. Monday they went to Seumon Market, which is the largest traditional market in Daegu. They spent the whole afternoon at the market, just perusing the various food stalls and linen merchants. I met up with them downtown after work. Downtown is pretty big, so we just walked about for a while. We ate supper at Gorilla Burger. This place had pictures of famous celebrities on the wall, including Mother Teresa, Bruce Lee, and Obama. Then, we went to play Billa bowl. This is a combination of pool and bowling. We came back to my apartment for a respite. Then dad and Lee wanted to sleep on my bed, all three of us. I told them I don’t think we can all fit, but dad kept insisting. But, eventually I convinced them my bed was too small and to go back to the motel. The next day Lee and dad went to Gyeongju, which is the birthplace of Korean culture and kings. I have never been to this city, but I hear Korean revere it. It has kings tombs, museums, and other exhibits of early Korean life. So, I will let dad and brother tell the goings on. They had a time getting back to Daegu and to my school as they didn’t get off at the right bus stop. So, we finally left for the train station at around 7pm to head to Busan. We took the KTX which took about 50 minutes. My co-worker gave me a tourist map of the city with a few things marked. I wanted to check out Vesta Spa, which is a junjubang. This is similar to a bath house, but you can also stay the night. So, the three of took a taxi to Vesta, but the it was dark inside, but our driver knew of another one nearby. We went inside and well we had “cultural confusion.” We were supposed to take our shoes off before proceeding, remember this for later episodes. So, the man comes down off his perch and yells at us to take our shoes off. The man takes my shoes and puts them in a little locker and Lee follows suit. Then we go up to the counter to see how much it is and all, it turns out there is one price for a bath and another to spend the night. She said they don’t have vacancies to spend the night, but then they did or something like that. It turned out there were no rooms left, which meant we would sleep on the floor. But, after we paid we all decided we were hungry and wanted to walk down to McDonald’s. So, we had to get the key back to get our shoes. The workers were a little befuddled about what we were doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongju

After sliding down to McDonald’s we went back to the bath house for the night. I didn’t take pictures of it well because there was naked guys walking around. You put your bag in the locker and then go take a bath. Either you can get in one of two hot tubs or the sauna, or take a stand up shower. The soap and shampoo is provided. After we had our fill of the hot tub, we put on the ‘bed clothes’ they gave us and walked over the bridge that went over the road to the room where we sleep. There were no vacancies for rooms, but we could sleep on the floor. Dad and Lee slept on these reclining massage chairs and I had the floor. I used a few mats, so it wasn’t too bad but definitely not comfortable.

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Ok, skip to today. I had a fever and sneezing fits last weekend. It could’ve had something to do with my apartment freezing, but not to worry it is nice and toasty now. An exchange student from Oklahoma Univ. went to Home Plus and got some Campbell’s Soup Chicken Noodle and Cream of Potato. That’s the first I’ve seen of chicken noodle here. They are crazy about New England Clam Chowder and mushroom soup for some reason. I am giving writing tests in two weeks, then week after is final exams. This semester is really flying by. I have a 2 ½ week break over Christmas before starting the January semester, it’s like Maymester but in January. I went out to Papa Johns with Ben and Ava (OU). I had a coupon for buy a large and get two free salad bars. Their banana pudding is like what North Greenville used to make. Mayo does not belong with bananas. There was several noodle casseroles, tuna, and other random meat in there. We got a pitcher of Coke Zero, that stuff tastes like Diet but without the saccharine. It’s worse than Pepsi One, which according to the radio tastes like lizard spit. I got up at around 7:30 and turned on the clemson game on the radio waiting for it to start. I tried to find it online to watch, but to no avail. Although I finally found it at the end of the 1st quarter. I only had a few minutes to watch before I had to leave for Korean lessons. Thankfully, our coffee shop had wireless, well sometimes. So, I checked the score and Clemson came back and won. Rob is going home in 2 weeks for 2 months then returning to teach at a univ. in Gumi. So, we are going to eat and hangout at Outback this Saturday. Rob lives in Chilgok, it’s where I used to live. Pete, who is stationed at an Army base in Daegu, his father preached in service. He said he is the ‘ruling elder’ at his church, whatever that means. Church is having a thanksgiving lunch the Sunday before thanksgiving. I was going to lunch with Rob and we took the stairs and heard some commotion in the next room. So, I looked in and guys were playing ping pong and invited us to join. So, we played doubles for a while. That was a lot of fun, and it turned out they are there every Sunday playing. Where have I been that I’ve missed it? When I got home I had a message from an acquaintance of an acquaintance to go to a live show in Seoul on Saturday. After talking it over with some friends, I decided to go spend some time with her and go to Seoul. The show is called 'Nanta.'

http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/