July: Bijindo Island and Daegu


We have hit monsoon season! So naturally, the group decided to spend a night on Bijindo Island a few weekends ago for some...beach camping! We woke up bright and early Saturday morning and took the bus to the bus, to another bus to a local bus and then to the ferry. No sweat. But seriously, huge shout out to Selestia for all the research and planning for everyone! Saturday was also Canada Day so Selestia and Liam were all decked out with their red, white and maple gear to celebrate. We got to Bijindo around 3 in the afternoon and set up on the beach with our tents and mats. We were there to relax, so relax we did. We played a few games, took a walk, passed the volleyball back and forth, and just hung out and read. For dinner, we sat around eating ramen and some snacks that we purchased earlier in the day.

That evening, a group of Koreans were hanging out a few feet away from us in a group listening to music. Meanwhile, Sam and Cameron decided to play 1 on 1 dodgeball which was pretty entertaining for all of us to watch. But a short while later, it turned into a mix of our group and theirs, playing a game very similar to spikeball. But instead of spiking the ball onto a small trampoline in the center of a circle, the goal is to spike it and hit a person sitting in the middle. If the person sitting in the middle catches the ball, the two individuals switch places. If they do not hit the person sitting down, they must join them by sitting in the middle as well. This was hilarious to watch!

That night was a true test of our $20 tent that Luke and I bought on Gmarket (the Korean version of Amazon that  I'm slightly obsessed with). Right around 4 AM, it started pouring for about 20 minutes. but our tent survived and we were still dry. Yay! In the morning, we looked out the tent and saw nothing but the sand in front of us as there was a gigantic wall of fog covering the ocean. The entire island was extremely foggy all weekend but that morning it was on an entirely different level. Maybe it wasn't the typical idea of good beach weather, but I loved it since I knew I wouldn't be getting sunburned, plus it was so cool to look at! Because of the fog, the ferry schedule had been altered a bit and one of the ferries was postponed. We gathered our belongings and hung out inside a cafe during the rain, waiting for the announcement for the next ferry. A few card games later and we were on our way back!


Daegu Part One

The following weekend I wanted to go to Daegu and see the art museum, check out some shops and eat at an awesome pizza restaurant so that's exactly what I did. And Luke tagged along :) . The art museum was pretty easy to get to since their was a free shuttle bus right next to the subway station. Then it was only a few bucks to get in! The museum definitely had some cool pieces but it also had some pieces I did not connect with or understand at all ha, but I always enjoy looking at them. There were two exhibits: Ghost (mine and Luke's favorite) and Conflict With Flowers. And we both ended up having the same favorite pieces! Look closely and you can see a face in each one.

After the museum we grabbed some pizza at EtOH's pub which was very foreigner friendly. They even accepted USD! We decided to split a flight of beer and a Chicken Pesto Pizza and OH MY GOSH it was delicious. The beers were great and the pizza was even better. I was a happy Michelle after that for sure. We left to walk around the shopping district and were able to see a few different shops and restaurants. We made a note to go back to Daegu when we want sushi because there are sushi places everywhereee!


Daegu Part Two

So we went back to Daegu. But instead of sushi we got some of our favorite Korean food, samgyupsal (pork barbecue). It was Cameron's birthday so along with the "sam-gip" we had some soju and beer. Then after dinner we had some street drinks! They were like caprisuns but for adults, I had a Jack and Coke while Luke had an LIT. After lots of drinks and walking around the busy street, we went into a fairly small club called Valv which played western-style rap music instead of K-Pop and had lots of dancing. It was a super fun night and it was awesome to finally experience that in Korea. The next morning we grabbed breakfast at a nearby cafe. Luke and I split a decent amount of food, than some of us went to walk around a bit. We ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and had I tried pho for the first time! It was pretty good but it had a bit of a Korean twist to it so I'll have to give it a try somewhere else next time.