Golden Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!

Wooooo, today I turned 28 on the 28th! So that means it's super special and awesome. Mainly because I decided it is. :D But, yeah, I've a really great time, especially since I am also on vacation!

Last week a co-worker and I went to down to Busan, which is the big beach city at the bottom of Korea. We took the "luxury" bus down and it took about 4 hours, and wasn't a bad ride at all. It has seriously been raining here for the last 3 weeks with no breaks, but we finally caught one! It was very lucky, the three days we were down there, the weather was amazing! It wasn't crazy hot, so we had a lovely time laying on the beach. For the first and last days, we were at the really big, popular beach. It was a little too intense for me. It was nice and I enjoyed it, but there were soooo many people...even for a weekday. We got down there Wednesday and also spent Friday at the same beach. It's so different from beach time at home. First off, pretty much everyone sits under an umbrella, which you can rent from 100 different people up and down the beach. You can also rent chairs and tubes, as well as buy chicken, beer, ice cream and an impressive array of other things. The water was super cold, but a ton of people still swim and most of them are in the tubes. It's actually pretty funny. The waves are pretty high so everyone screams from the cold and the waves, so there are tons of people just in these tubes, floating and screaming. Koreans are also interesting with their swim wear choices, so there are a lot of people wearing like, a full set of clothing in the water. Also, for whatever reason, tons of people wear hats and hardly anyone wears sunglasses. But, Busan has been one of the most chill places I've been in Korea. There were lots of people with tattoos, which you rarely see up my way.

Wednesday night there was some sort of outdoor concert on the beach and it was so random. It was basically a deejay outside on a stage with a bunch of people standing around watching. Koreans are pretty terrible at dancing and getting enthusiastic about concerts (from the ones I've been to), so there were only a few people busting a move. And I guess since it was a Wednesday night at 8, there were a lot of young kids there. Even some babies cruising around. I find there are often babies in unexpected places in Korea. Anyway.

Our hotel was SUPER nice in Haeundae (the first beach)...it had a huge bathtub, bathrobes, lots of cute toiletries and our own personal water cooler! Can't beat never running out of water..hot OR cold! When we went to the other beach (Songjeong) the next day, we found a pretty decent hotel a 5 minute walk to the beach for a really good deal. It wasn't as nice, but it was clean and had a huge TV in it. Plus, super close to the beach so I was thrilled. I just love the beach so damn much. It was so fabulous to just lay on it all day, even if there were lots of crazy things going on around me. Songjeong had a lot less going on and there were less people, so I liked it more. You could rent chairs and stuff (we did) but not quite as much craziness as Haeundae. They did have outdoor norebang (karaoke) at night, but overall, pretty quite and peaceful.

When we went back to Haeundae Friday, it was PACKED! The stage that had the deejay Wednesday night was hosting a some sort of beer and sunscreen promotion and it was completely ridiculous. There was a guy in a Psy mask dancing around with some girls and they played his songs, as well as a beer commercial he's in for like, 5 hours straight. I love Gangnam Style probably more than anyone, but it got pretty old after about hour 3. Other things that got old: the same 5 people wandering up and down trying to sell chicken and beer. The girls next to us that took hundreds of pictures of themselves. The girls on the other side that spent an hour putting on makeup and doing their hair with these huge mirrors that they brought TO THE BEACH. The girls in front of us that sprayed an entire bottle of spray on sunscreen on themselves, which got all over us. Basically all the girls we saw at the beach. Things that didn't get old: people watching all the ridiculousness. The super cute kids that were perplexed by my friends and I's foreign-ness. All the super hot men wandering around. Men that weren't super hot, but were hilarious to watch. And basically just being in the sunshiney goodness that is the beach.

On the way home I decided I'll be taking the train from now on. The bus ride isn't bad, but they only stop one time halfway through, and I had to pee so bad I thought I was going to die. I was seriously contemplating how I was going to successfully pee in a bottle when they announced they'd be stopping soon. Then I bolted off the bus and just barely made it to the bathroom. It was horrible.

Anyway. Then I came home and had an epic birthday party that lasted until 5 in the morning last night. A pretty good way to ring in 28. Now I'm going to use the rest of my vacation to recover because I am SO OLD. Then I'll have another party next week, but maybe slightly less crazy since I'll only have one day to recover. We'll see.

So yeah. Thanks if you sent me a birthday wish. There is still time if you haven't! Plus I'd love you anyway...even if it is my super special amazing golden birthday. I'd forgive you.

Dream big people!