We were asked Friday by our co-worker if we wanted to go to Busan on Sunday with her and her husband. Hmmm. Chin-cha? Interesting and why Busan?
There was to be an educational conference, of sorts, taking place at a Foreign Language College. Of course we had to go.
Wake up at 3:30am. Dress and catch a taxi to the train station. Arrive a little after 4am. Wonder why we are here this early when the train doesn't leave until 5...looking around for a coffee place to be open and then remember--too late--that the world of Korea coffee doesn't open until 10am. Dang it.
We meet up with our coworker and her hubby and board the train. They wisely arrive about 10 minutes before the train left. Things run on time here in Korea (I know, right?).
We board the train and try and sleep most of the way there of the 3 hours.
Arrive bleary eyed and a little less sleepy and take the taxi to the college. We have to admit here that we were not expecting a great conference. We have been to our share of conferences back in the United States and most are great while others are sorely lacking. This one was surprisingly okay and actually informative. We had coffee, snacks, etc. as a breakfast and we were given a coupon for lunch (and reminded not to lose our coupon several times during the morning). Cambridge Press, Harcourt and eFuture were there along with Costco giving out coupons, cookies and discounts on memberships. There were maybe 200 people there to attend and there were 6 presenters speaking about how to better teach English Language Learners.
This is all information Joseph and I have learned and mastered in our State side trainings and teachings; however, it was lovely to get a foreigner view on how to use these strategies to our advantage in Korea.
After the conference was over we took all of our goodies and decided to go to the world famous fish market. It was awesome. A street filled on all sides with fish vendors and most of those vendors having a shack in the back nibble that vendors speciality. We walked around and settled on one of the vendors for dinner. Six whole fish and a plethora of refillable sides (the usual) for less than $30 USD for four adults. Okay. We left soon after with bellies full of fish and wandered across the incrediably busy street to Busan Film Festival Street and Food Street where tons of people go nightly to sample the goodness of food and film. The night we were there (Sunday) was no different. Packed and crowded as sardines in cans we wandered around and slightly wished we hadn't eaten because there were several things we all wanted to try.
The train ride back was interesting. Joseph and I had standing room only tickets which means that we play musical chairs all the way back to Daejeon. We stand until there is an available seat then we sit until that person comes to claim their purchased seat. Then we stand and repeat. Picture a crowded cattle car (without the smell) and you have an idea what the train looked like on our way back. We actually got a permanent seat about an hour left of our journey and were able to sit the rest of the way without changing. Nice. Got home about 1am and crashed. Awesome day in Busan!
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