Friday we slept in a bit and I spent the better half of the morning making arrangements for the next leg of my trip in Jeju Island and catching up with the family via skype. That afternoon we walked to Haeundae Beach, world famous for the Pusan International Film Festival. The streets were laced with shops, markets, typical Korean “street food” and as with most touristy spots in Korea all of the usual western chains were present and accounted for… Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robins, Starbucks, Outback and Coffee Bean and Tealeaf. The weather was perfect and the beach was less than crowded which was perfect for my taste. It was nice to kick off the flippy flops for a few while we strolled, eventually making our way past the Busan Aquarium and down past the Busan APEC…..

After a nice, long, platonic walk (haha, sorry no Korean romance…yet!) on the beach with aaron my couch surfing host and I headed back towards E-Mart (korea’s version of Walmart) to get some budget-nice’ish clothes for Chuseok and some wine for both Brenda, and the host (her husband’s eldest brother). It was crazy, E-Mart was slammed. People getting their last minute gifts (as were we), cute traditional Korean dresses for the girls, last minute ingredients for the feast…

After that I met up with Go Eun & Arum (probably totally messed up the spelling, sorry girls!), Brenda’s daughters, and their cousin Sam. I was looking forward to hanging out with some younger generation locals not only because they were pretty on top of their English but because I was craving their perspective on Korean culture & traditions, Western influence on Korea, POP culture and so much more! We ended up back in Haeundae where we shared an ice cream fondue at Baskin Robbins and eventually found ourselves in the market where we dined on some street food…finally! Id been waiting for street food! They told me how street food was more of a staple to their diets in high school years. There would be stands out front of school and they would eat that stuff all of the time but as they got older it became a less prominent part of their diet. Anyhow, We had some pepper sauce dipped rice cake things, fried squid and shrimp, and some other thing that was a rice based item of sorts…all good…the squid was a wee bit chewy though. It was cool, we just stood around this stand and took whatever our hearts desired, and at the end we told them how much we ate, and we paid. All based on a honor code and trust. It was an interesting transaction… glad I was able to share in this.

As we continued to stroll the market we came across these pretty traditional dresses for sale, and these little pouchy thingys that they said were “fortune bags”. It was a korean tradition for the kids to carry these bags, and they would bow for elders, where then the elders would give them money to put into their fortune bag. The girls surprised me and bought me one as a gift, ill look forward to collect my “fortunes” here in the future!

Brenda’s family has really taken me under their wing and regardless of whether i find my birth mother or not i will always feel like i have a second family out here in Korea. As we wandered around Haeundae Beach and eventually back to Aaron’s neightborhood Go Eun would take me by the arm similar to other young women and girls here in Korea. I felt like i was a kid again, hand in hand with my best friends on the streets of Ridgefield, Washington! Hmmm, wait… did we hold hands? Surely we walked arm in arm!? Libby, i know we went at least 2 years seeing each other EVERY single day, going to the Clark County Fair on the bus, biking to Josh’s house, sneaking wine coolers, sleeping in the same beds, surely we strolled arm in arm??? Anyhow, it was cool to feel like Go Eun and i were “tight” enough to tow each other around town as if BFF’s! Thanks Go Eun for the fun night!

All right, Saturday October 3 was Chuseok. Brenda and her whole family showed up at Aaron’s place at 8am to pick us up where we headed over to her husband’s eldest brothers apartment (many many people live in apartments here -due to the population density i think). When we got there they were setting up and preparing to honor Grandfather. As seen in the photo above, they would prepare this great feast… the box with the scroll like thing on the back of the table is Grandfather’s name, and later all the men would gather around and honor him by preparing a plate for him, basically “feeding” his spirit. Most of the women (including myself) stood in the back watching on, handing over more dishes as needed to hand to the men. After each course we would bow twice which the women as well Aaron and i participated in… this pleased the eldest man in the house.

After honoring Grandfather they ladies set the tables and i got to sit at the childrens table in the back, the older ladies sat at the next table, and the older men hung out at the main table. The meal was incredible! So many fruits, rice dishes, fish, chicken, tempura style veggies, kimchi, soup, rice wine, beef and a lot more… haha, not your typical breakfast but it was pretty rad to have experienced this AND the food was actually really satisfying (despite no eggs, pancakes, or “sweets”).

There’s a ton to be thankful for…. i wish i could have sat up and shared my gratitude with interpretive dance or something cause words really could not describe my appreciation. Even the eldest man in the family (oldest brother i think?) who was in very fine traditional dress, made us feel so welcome. He was that quintessential traditional Korean “elder” that you so desperately dance around and seek approval from…with a smile that could make your day. I was super nervous around him at first but he spoke in English a couple times directly at Aaron and i..that was a nice ice breaker. Than after the meal we all sat around, and he asked if i enjoyed the meal, i responded with a “Yes, very much, thank you” and he smiled and said something in Korean… it seemed that they were very proud to have had us and that we were pleased with the meal. Again, i felt SO lucky to have shared this experience…. it was something out of the movies i tell ya.

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