At 8:15, my boss met me and told me he’d drive me to the airport. This was an extremely nice gesture, as I thought I’d have to take the train there and back. We had a wonderful chance to talk together and I got to know more about his life and stories of his youth… he’s a very interesting person.
The wait for Jessie’s plane to arrive was made longer due to the fact that she was delayed. As I was waiting for her to walk out the doors I could hardly contain myself. My boss was telling me all about his dreams and ambitions for the next five years and all I could do was stare at the door with my nerves on end.
Finally, she walked through and I rushed over to hug her. Being as we’re so close and it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen her, of course I started bawling as soon as we hugged. My poor boss came over and saw me in a weepy mess of joy and didn’t know what to do. I don’t think he’s used to females that emote as much as I do.
My boss kindly drove us back to my apartment where we hauled her two large suitcases and she began unpacking. Inside them were many assorted baked goods from home… I was so excited to taste them—they bring back many flavors of home for me. We stayed up until about 1:30am talking and then drifted off to sleep, happy to be reunited again.
By 6am, Jessie was wide awake because of the time difference. Due to the small size of my apartment, this meant that I was also awake. It would take her a while to adjust to the time difference, but for now, we just decided to roll with it.
We had a nice breakfast together. I made her a special meal of chocolate chip pancakes with beautiful red strawberries on top… something I had been dreaming about and craving for days beforehand. Afterwards I took her to a bible study that I have been attending at a friend’s house. This apartment was right on Haeundae beach and gave Jessie a great view of one of Korea’s top beaches. She also met some wonderful women and enjoyed a nice morning together with the group.
Afterwards we took a stroll along the beach and ended up at my work. We ate some Korean food for lunch (Jessie LOVED it!) and then Jessie sat in on my classes for the day and met some of my students.
By 10pm, when I finished work, Jessie was pretty exhausted and so we decided to go home. On the way, we passed the spa where I have a membership, so I made an executive decision and told Jessie that we’d go in for just a little bit. Well, she was pretty apprehensive because this is the naked spa, where you bathe and relax with other naked women… she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it. I decided that she just needed to plunge in, so I told her she’d be just fine.
Afterwards, she told me it had been one of her favorite things so far. We both came home a little while later; relaxed, refreshed and ready for a good night’s sleep.
Saturday morning came all too quickly. Jessie was still recovering from her jetlag and woke up at 7am… at least this was an improvement from the morning before. We had a nice breakfast and then went for a long walk along the beach and surrounding boardwalk. The morning was so beautiful and was the perfect opportunity to take pictures.
In the afternoon, we headed to the Busan Cultural Centre for a traditional Korean performance. The Gukak Chamber Orchestra played a very interesting selection of songs including Sujech'on, Gayageum Sanjo, Gyeonggi Folk songs, Daepung-ryu, andPansori. These were great to experience as they are very different from our typical western style of music. Jessie and I decided that when there was no rhythm or beat in the songs we considered it to be quite unpleasant noise, however as soon as there was some type of beat, it was much more enjoyable. Overall it was very well done.
Afterwards we took a stroll to the nearby UN cemetery however it had closed so we went to a stationary shop and Jessie bought all sorts of ‘cutezy’ items. Note: Korea is packed with all things cute… Jessie was like a kid in a candy store.
Following the shopping spree, we met up with some friends for a delicious shabu-shabu dinner. This is a meal similar to hot pot, where you get a large pot in the centre of the table and add various meats and veggies. Apart from being a little spicy, it was very delicious. This is also where Jessie tried her first taste of Soju… quite the facial expression at that one!
The evening ended fairly early after a warm cup of tea and plans for the following day…
Sunday morning we started with Church. I was curious to see what Jessie thought, but she was warmly welcomed and really enjoyed it. She finally was able to meet my beloved Anna who has become my Korean grandmother. Anna was thrilled to meet Jessie, as she has heard so much about her the past year. The two of them quickly grew very close, and we are all excited to get together later this week.
Afterwards we headed to Haeundae area. We walked around and then settled on a restaurant overlooking the beach where we had two different dishes. Although one was a bit spicy again, both were delicious and Jessie thoroughly enjoyed the Korean flavours of kimchi.
We walked along the beach and made our way to the boating area where we were thinking of boarding a boat cruise that would take us to nearby islands. Plans changed when we saw the prices of the tour and we decided to be economical and take a beautiful walk to the APEC house. The APEC house was built for the 2005 Leader’s meeting and luncheon. It cost around 19 million dollars to build and is now open to the public for viewing. It was interesting to tour around it and see the various rooms and information boards.
The area around the APEC house is covered in beautiful gardens and manicured paths. We spent some time wandering around and finally walked back through the city and made our way home.
Jessie and I took a little rest and then wandered out for our last outing of the day: SPALAND! Spaland is another naked spa but it is a world class attraction. This was my first time visiting this particular spa, and it definitely puts the other ones to shame.
There were so many jaw dropping rooms and facilities it’s impossible not to have an oasis retreat. We spent some time in the baths (one of which included an outdoor steaming hot waterfall) then made our way to the Jimjilban part, which is where you put on a uniform and just relax.
We visited various rooms but my favorite was the last area where we sat in leather recliners and had body massages…. Amazing! It’s needless to say that I slept well that night… what a wonderful weekend.
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