Orphanage

Recently I have been visiting an orphanage on the first and third Saturdays of the month. The kids are around Kindergarten age or a little bit younger. Here are some photos.

Busan Snow and Seomgyeopsal

While my belly is still full from the delicious food I just ate, I will make a post so I will not forget to later. Today It snowed for the first time since I've been here, granted I've been here less than a year but I was told from students it's the first time it's snowed in five years. While I'm not sure of "weather" that's true or not I can believe it since people were going pretty crazy about the snow when it only snowed about 54mm (about 2 inches), tests were canceled I know some Koreans didn't go to work, and I even saw one vehicle with chains on their tires.

The snow was a pleasant surprise and a nice break from the cold rain we've been getting. It was very beautiful, although I didn't get to experience much of it spending most of the day inside, teaching. After school I went through my normal Wednesday tradition and went out to eat with Ji-hye tonight we ate seomgyeopsal (Korean BBQ).

Here are some pictures of my day

Some snow on the mountains.

Another snowy mountain

A mountain with snow

A Snow covered mountain.

I thought this was a little excessive, there was no snow on the streets.

A mountain near work, the clouds are gone and the snow is finally starting to melt.

Delicious delicious seomgyeosal.

It's cooking that is some kimchi in the back, some pickled turnip next to it, garlic in the front and seomgyeopsal in the middle.

Busan Museum

Today I decided to take a trip to Busan's Museum. It seemed like a good thing to finally do, and today was a good choice because it turned out to be Korea's Independence Day. Which meant the museum was free. Unfortunately taking pictures was not allowed inside the museum, although I did take a few photos of things that I thought my camera flash wouldn't damage. While I was there I learned quite a bit about Korea's history, and why most Koreans hate Japan. Without further ado here are the pictures.

Ji-hye pointing to something, this was before she knew I had my camera with me.

Some wax statues at the museum

I think this was a typical Korean house hold.

A copper smith

A tool shop

A fishmonger.

Jagalchi Fish Market

Today I decided to visit Jagalchi Fish Market, this is a nice open market right near the ocean. The furthest part of the market maybe is only 100ft away from the ocean. Visiting the market was a very interesting experience. There are many live fish that are ready to be sold to restaurants mainly but they will sell them to anyone. The best way to describe the market is to show pictures. So here they are.

Shellfish

Some Ajuma* weighing squid

Each of the tanks have constant circulation of water and are always overflowing into the drains on the floor.

Some Crabs

These were the biggest shrimp I have seen they were maybe 3/4 the size of my forearm, the pink shrimp next to them were jumbo sized shrimp.

Behind the indoor section of the fish market.

This cat was also behind the fish market, he was there for obvious reasons and was very friendly.

The outdoor section of the fish market.

An escapee.

Caught.

Giant squid for sale.

So the main reason I went to the fish market is because I wanted some raw oysters. While I was there I found several places that sold oysters, but ended up buying from the first place I asked the price at. I was able to buy 16 oysters for 5000 Won (A little less than five dollars). When I got home I was able to practice my oyster shucking skills that I have never done before, after the first 8 I got the hang of it and was able to do it pretty easily, and luckily I didn't get cut. Here is the finished product.

There are 2 missing in the picture because I ate them before I decided I should take a picture. The oysters were very good I ate them with lemon and a little bit of horseradish sauce. I tried them with hot sauce, which was good but not as good as the lemon and horseradish sauce.

*This term is used for middle aged or married women, they typically have permed hair and wear wind breaker suits.

Haedong Yonggung Temple.

Here are some pictures from the Haedong Yonggung Temple, I visited after I went to Haeundae, I arrived later than I was hoping so I couldn't take as many pictures as I wanted but I was still able to take quite a few. I commented on the picutres I thought needed explaining but most of them I left without a comment. Enjoy.

I was confused about what this tire meant apparently it's a shrine to protect people from getting hit by cars, which is one of the top deaths for children in Korea.

Buddha for couples who want a baby boy.

Buddha's for school tests.

Buddha for sick people.

I like these pigs they seem so happy

A very large statue of Buddha

Another one of those

Drunken Sleeping Korean on the Subway platform.