Soft Beach, Crunchy Beach: Dadaepo Beach

In a remote Busan neighborhood called Saha-gu sprawls a remote beach called Dadaepo. Dadaepo is notable because it's got what most places here lack: the elusive and sacred sense of space. Openness. Room to breathe deeply.

Blockish high-rises tower behind the beach, but ahead is only calmly lapping seawater. Well, that and a rusty crane bewilderingly sitting on a cement platform fifty yards off the coast.

Quiet waves arrange wettish sand into neat curving ridges. Old men cast lines while young men race remote controlled cars along the shore. The beach isn't popular in November and for a few moments, Shane and I forget we're in a city of 3.5 million.

We head toward the wooden walkway built into the side a hill. On the other side of the balcony the sand turns to crunchy seashell. We scuttle on the rocks for awhile and allow the wind to blow our hair. I'm instantly in love with the tiny red rowboat anchored close to shore. 

Don’t Miss: Picking through sea glass on the shell-covered southern end. Because sometimes it's just nice to gather sea glass.


Getting There: Take Bus Number 2, 11, 338, 96 or 98 to the Dadaepo stop and walk 5 minutes to the beach. Or, take the Busan subway line one all the way to the Sinpyeong stop and hop in a taxi for a short cruise.

Fall Colors Reach Busan

Fall's changing leaves are in full throttle here in Busan. 

Crimson, gold, and rusty leaves litter the sidewalks 

and run up the mountainsides. 

Teacher Showcase

Today our Hagwon (private English academy) held an open house for families of prospective students. The parents toured the facility, peeked into classes, and listened to presentations. 

The teachers' required participation was minimal. Nice, since we were all tied up with a little invention called "phone teaching" wherein each teacher calls students at home and attempts a conversation. For the open house, our one role was to line up at exactly 11:25, walk into the auditorium in said line, bow, smile, laugh politely, and walk back out, still in line. 

And that's how you have a teacher showcase. 

Pepero Day: Fake Holiday, Real Tasty

November 11th. Back in the U.S., citizens are thanking a Veteran. Thank you!

Here in Korea, we’re celebrating a holiday of a different sort: Pepero Day. 

Pepero are very thin, long cookies dipped in chocolate or another tasty candy coating. You might know them as the Japanese confection Pocky Sticks. I now know them as the calories overloading my desk drawer waiting for a stressful day at the office. 

Every year on November 11, couples and children exchange packages of Pepero, manufactured by the company Lotte. In Korea, Lotte is the company that owns, well, everything, from the Busan Lotte Giants baseball team to large apartment complexes, get-everything-you-could-possibly-need-in-one-place department stores, soda brands, amusement parks, and insurance companies. 

The mythical beginnings of Pepero day date back to the 1990’s, and it’s origins remain controversial today. Some say (Wikipedia says) it was none other than Busan middle school girls that exchanged Pepero first, as a well wish to others that they could become long and slender like the cookies. Others (my students) say that it is a marketing ploy by Lotte to sell more product. November 11, 11/11, looks like four Pepero sticks. Clever, isn’t it?

Contrived as it is, the small celebration today was a nice relief for the kids. And all the teachers, who thanks to the generosity of our students’ mothers, now each have a drawer full of chocolate.

Hanguk Halloween: The Party Part

Fresh leaves cut from bushes. Check. Ray gun. Check. Two or three pre-party soju cocktails. Done.

Around 10:30 p.m. on October 30th, a beer fairy, Baccus, Leela, and a love triangle jumped in cabs and headed for Kyungsung University. We didn’t know how many people would be reveling, but this is Busan, and there’s a great expat presence here. 

And here's the rest of the story:

At Old '55, I hung with the fabulous Lady Gaga.              

  

While Shane chatted up Audrey Hepburn.

Back on street level, I ran into my animated friend Marge.

Kyungsung’s streets were packed.

So these guys made a ton of money peddlin’ drinks on the street.

We bought a few. Several times. 

Then Shane met this guy...from guess where...Watertown (next to Jefferson, Shane’s hometown). We made a bunch of new friends that night.

And these guys were there too.

... later, there may have been kebabs.