I Live In Korea

I recently made a return to Busan, a beach on the southeastern part of South Korea for the annual Haeundae Sand Festival. Looking back, I was there last October and had a great time.
Busan is amazing. It has beautiful beaches but is also a big city as well. It truly is the best of both worlds. A very laid back atmosphere during the day but the opportunity to rage at night, good restaurants, BIGGEST DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE WORLD, it’s just great. I left there and for the first time had regrets about coming to Korea, but it was only in regards to the city I chose to live in.

The Haeundae Sand Festival features sand castle contests, beach volleyball contest, arm wrestling contest, fireworks, sand boarding, music, etc. Here’s a bunch of pictures and a video.

Not to sound like a lush, but drinking in public is an amazing thing. In Western countries, people have a tendency of abusing any privileges they are given. This lax rule would probably lead to an obscene amount of kegs, big parties on the beach, people destroying things, etc. Here, it just means you can bring beers and chill out. No one going crazy (despite that one beer chugging contest sponsored by the hotel), no trash on the beach, no one disgracing themselves, etc. Just good times all around.

The freedom over here, is one big thing I’ll miss about Korea. The lack of certain regulations is great; drinking in public is okay, cell phones are used on the trains/buses, you can bring your own food/drinks into sporting events, bars don’t have to close at certain times, no big deal for cars to run red lights if no one else is around, etc. However, these luxuries rarely get abused. You won’t find many people talking on their phone on the bus or subway, and if they do, they’re usually quiet and quick. I can only imagine how annoying the NYC subway system will be the day cell phones can work when you’re underground.

I wasn’t in Busan for 48 hours that weekend and couldn’t stop raving about it. The entire time I just felt like I was on vacation. I hope I’ll make it back.

The pictures and video above are from a 2010 World Cup game which took place at 3:30AM on a TUESDAY night (Korea vs. Nigeria). Yes, there were thousands upon thousands of people gathered together at 3:30 AM to watch a soccer game outside. Not only that, but there were concerts (very famous Korean bands), dancers, cheerleaders, fireworks, everyone wearing the same colors, etc. Every time there was a game, kids at school were wearing jerseys to show support, and a lot had temporary tattoos painted on as well. I was getting shout outs from random Koreans on the street when they saw me wearing my colors. It was an amazing experience but believe it or not, it wasn’t the best one I had here. Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of experiencing one of the best sports atmospheres I’ll ever be a part of in my life.

The World Cup fever over here was out of control and I was all aboard the Korean bandwagon. Despite the rain, stadiums, Seoul Plaza, parks, and other venues throughout the country were filled to the brim with people to watch a game that would bring them to the quarterfinals. Although they lost, the atmosphere was amazing and the game was VERY exciting itself. All lead to a memorable night.

Somewhere over the past 6 years, I started becoming very apathetic towards caring about whether a team I like/liked won or lost. I recently realized that since August 2004, I have spent as many days outside of the United States as I have inside of it, so my ability to watch sports has been limited. Thus, my fandom has declined and I could really care less. Plus, I never cared about soccer.

But living in and loving life in Korea, I was really gunning for them to do well. A South Korea win, and a US win over Ghana, would have pitted those two teams against each other in what would have no doubt been an even more epic night. I guess I’ll never know what that night would’ve been like, but I am happy I got to experience the 4 other games which are well fun, whether they won or lost. I guess I’ll go back to my usual apathetic self, but I hope someday comes where I get a similar experience to the one I had the other night, only this time I hope my team wins. FIGHTING!


(minus points for drinking a little too much in front of my coworkers. Whoops. Oh well, it's happened before!)

World Cup Madness Part 1

Asia and bootleg are two words that frequently appear in the same sentence. Usually it's in regards to products, but in Korea it also happens with the names of bars, stores, etc. Let's check out some of my favorites...

I’m not expert on copyright infringement, but I’m pretty sure you can’t do the following things.

1. Name a store after an already existing brand that is known worldwide

2. Use the official logo of another company and simply change the name of your store/product


3. Name a store after one of the (if not the) most famous museums in the world


4. Create your own renditions of famous characters from tv/movies and pretend like it’s not a ripoff


5. Name a bar/store after a famous band


I like the Ting Tings and all, but I mean they are a new band. Queen is LEGENDARY and Jamiroquai is pretty famous. Seems like you're making a big leap naming it after a band that hasn't been out long and isn't a sure thing. Plus, the bar smells like a bathroom that's been urinated in a lot (with nothing ever going in the toilet) and never cleaned. That place is a hellhole and I never want to go back there. Ever.


6. Name a store after a famous video game.


7. Name a store/product off a famous movie or characters


8. Claim that you are a Hyatt hotel, when in fact you are just a "Love Motel" (gotta blog about these places eventually)


There's a bunch of fake Hilton's as well. Pretty sure the Hilton family got word of this and is suing.

I don't know how these places get away with it. I'm sure there will be crackdowns at some point, it will just be an easy way for these corporations/people who own trademarks/copyrights over these names to get some $ in a settlement. Until then, I'll laugh about all the funny places I see and will take pictures of them as well.

It didn’t take long for me to walk around Seoul my first weekend here and notice couples wearing the exact same shirt, or a shirt which looked like it was made for one person, cut in half, and sewn to make two shirts.

These are known as “couple t’s.” No surprise, couples wear them to show their affection for one another. It’s common to see people walking around them on random days, but if you go to a place like an amusement park, they are going to be out in full force. I’m not sure if it’s to make it easier to find someone, or, to show off to the other people/couples there that you two are serious. Here’s some more couple t’s...

People can also go the “couple jacket” route like you see below.

Or, you can go the couple OUTFIT route, where everything is the same.

They make some…inappropriate ones too….

There’s couple t stores which sell other stupid items like couple themed key chains, coffee mugs, etc. incase wearing a ridiculous t-shirt wasn’t enough. It’s pretty funny to see in person. I thought about getting it for some people as a wedding gift as a joke, but I passed.

Just a funny thing I noticed which is popular over here. That’s all.

What is Ddong Chim?

What is a DVD Bang?

What is Krumping?

What is Kimchi?

What is Children's Day?