Busan Fireworks Festival

Last weekend I had the privilege of going to the 7th Busan Fireworks Festival hosted by Gwangalli Beach and the Gwangan Bridge. I had the desire to go but I did not have the desire to stay the night in Busan. The fireworks show was scheduled from 8:00-9:00. The buses stop running at 9:00(as I found out on the way back from China Read about it here)  This meant that if I wanted to see the fireworks I would just miss the last bus and need to find something to do with the 9 hours till the 6:00 am bus. No longer my idea of a good time.

But then something happened. I was sitting at home and my phone rang, I hesitated to answer it having received a number of calls in Korean lately but got up to see if I recognized the number. Turns out I had won a round trip ticket to the Busan Fireworks Festival in a private car all I had to do was say yes.(Oh the life of having friends with cars, it's something else, let me tell you) The invite(I mean victory) was pretty short notice only allowing me enough time to put on some clothes and grab a few slices of sustenance before needing to run out the door.

We got to Busan and were greeted with the typical backlog of traffic. We inched our way closer to where "the action" was going to take place, we began to catch sight of droves of people making their way on foot. It appeared that we should have already parked. All too soon the traffic parted and there we were, about to cross the bridge. Thanks to some quick thinking we managed to avoid the bridge. Thanks to our foreignerness we managed to get past the police line and parked just a few short blocks from the beach.

Due to the length of notice I received, I did not have time to look out my window to see what the weather was doing before I left. As a result I was not prepared for the rain that had decided to join us on our evening out. All I could do was pull my non waterproof sweater hood over my head and hope I would find a cute Korean girl with her own umbrella that would be kind enough to share with me...

One thing you may not know about Korea is the amount of Koreans there are here, this country is full of them, they are literally every where you look. The country of Korea has been rumoured to have the highest number of Koreans(per capita and outright) of any country in the world. Let me tell you, it seemed like they all had decided that they wanted to see things explode(as if they didn't see enough of that in the 50's).

There were so many of them our view looked like this(thankfully we were tall and Koreans are generally sma...rt):

The fireworks themselves were like nothing I had ever seen before. That is not entirely true, they were fairly similar to every other fireworks show that I have ever, seen put together and multiplied by a couple or two. The volume of fireworks going off at any given time was pretty out of hand. They would have a sequence, like the one above and below, that would last 20-30 seconds, volleys after volley.

They lit off the fireworks both from the bridge and from barges in the middle of the bay. It was great! I can only imagine the safety procedures needed to shoot fireworks off a bridge.(I literally can only imagine, no one actually told me)

As you can see from the pictures it was still raining and I did not wipe my lens very often, as a result, a whole album of gems has turn in to an album of goat feed. It's more about the experience though, and this was up there.

Bonus story: After a while of taking pictures from behind a lamp post I decided to find a better angle. I managed to find a nice little space a few rows from the water and as the fireworks alternated from bay to bridge the people shifted enough to allow me to get right to the front. What did I find when I got there? A cute Korean girl who offered to share her umbrella with me. What are the odds?

Storefront Surprise

Saw this in a storefront the other day. Nothing to see here folks, just a typical day at work.
Wait a minute...

EarPeace: Peace For Your Ear

A few months ago I started teaching a class that was unbearably loud. Try as I may, they would not lower their volume, it seemed that they could not grasp the idea of being quiet. So I decided to take matters in to my own hands and look for something that would protect my ears. Something that would allow me to hear speaking but would take the edge off the shrill voices of the children.

Having rejected standard ear plugs for their distractive visible qualities and over protection for what I needed, and not understanding the Korean language enough to look in to more technological options, I was at a loss.

That is until I stumbled across a company called EarPeace(www.earpeace.com). They seemed to offer just what I was looking for. They promise to cut 11 to 17 decibles off the top of any noise in the area while still allowing your to hear normal voices. They are designed in a way to keep their visibility at a minimum. They are made from silicone making them washable and durable. Plus it comes with a carrying case to keep them clean while you are not using them. All this for $13.

I ordered off to a pair of them right away.

They arrived quickly and looked just as advertised. They did take some getting used to as I don't normally stick things so deep in to my ear that I wonder if they will come out. But there is a nice pull tab to get them out. They also work as advertised, doing a great job of lowering the volume enough to be comfortable while allowing you to converse at the same.

A few weeks of use the thing I feared the most became a reality. As I went to remove them, one of the tabs detached itself from the body leaving it stuck in my ear. Thankfully there is a tube in the middle of the body that I was able to pull out and with the help of a pocket knife able to pry the object out of my ear canal.

There were 3 included in the package so I was still able to use them but I promptly emailed the company to let them know what had happened. They replied quickly and positively. Letting me know that they were aware of this and had already redesigned it so that it would be stronger. They offered to ship a few my way promptly. There were a few complications in the process but I did received them. I have been using them now for the past 5 months and have been very pleased with them.

For what they are Ear Peace $13 does sound a bit steep, but they offer a lot more flexibility and repeated use than standard ear plugs. They have filled the role that I bought them for and I am quite happy with them. Plus at the moment my price per wear is $0.13 and by the end of the school year it will be down around $0.07. This is a small price to pay to be able to hear whatever you will want to hear when you are 75 years old*.

*(There is no scientific proof backing the idea that EarPeace will allow you to hear whatever you want to hear when you are 75 years old.)

Bridge Update

Like it or not, it is time for a bridge update. After spending a week or so tearing up the dirt along the riverbank they started to put in some supports to hold the dirt so it stays where it is. I assume that this is the point where the new bridge will begin. As it looks now the new bridge will have to be almost twice as long if they want it to span the gap that they have opened up.

The supports are a piece of work, I am no metal worker but once again it looks like they are using pieces that have been used before. Nevertheless it is fascinating and frankly, a little bit distracting. What they are doing is lifting up twenty foot sections of metal by crane, linking them together and vibrating/slamming them until they are level with the ground. Since the school is right beside it I notice my kids attention span drop when ever they start a new piece of metal.

Here are a few pictures of it:

Homemade Mandu

I made mandu or Korean dumplings, for the first time the other day. While they were most certainly edible, they weren't good enough to keep me from buying them pre-made as that is much faster, cheaper and easier. 

Card From a Student

I got a card from a student the other day, which was a nice surprise. But as he handed it to me he said, "I'm sorry" which very much confused me.

His teacher later told me, that he had told his mom, that during a gym class that I taught, he had told me to go back to my country. I can only assume that his mom was not as shocked as my mom would have been seeing that I only got a card.

That aside neither of us remembered hearing him say it and the student has a history of telling his mom things that didn't actually happen so chances are it didn't. It's a winner of a card none the less.

Geoje-Busan Link Bridge

I finally was with in eyesight of the Geoje-Busan Link Bridge before they turned the lights out for the night. As it turns out it looks much better with the lights on. Here is a picture of it.

I will try to get one from closer one of these days, if it doesn't get to cold.