This weekend from 12 September - 17 September is 추석 (Chusok), which is Korean Thanksgiving. It is the second biggest holiday in Korea aside from the New Year, and it is a big family event. We get Friday (yesterday), Monday, and Tuesday off from school (at least the elementary schools get off! Universities do not, at least they don't get Friday and Monday off..), so after less than 2 weeks of teaching we have a vacation! It's kind of crazy.
Because of 추석 , we don't have normal training this weekend :(. So 성생님 (Coach, literally 'teacher') and I met up at 10am at the Yacht Club, where we had practice last Sunday. We did an hour ocean swim in Haeundae, and then went for a 30-minute recovery run -very chill - it is so great to actually have a coach to monitor how hard I am working, because if I weren't under his guidance I would have gone much faster, and probably would be on the road to getting injured. After running, he took me into the APEC Building - Asian-Pacific Economic Corporation.
*누리마루 APEC House - (Nurimaru - That's the name in Korean) Added 17 Sept*
It is BEAUTIFUL. We just walked in, sweaty and in triathlon clothes...and walked through this stately building. It is a little strange - it has a room that looks like a Senator's room, with a big ring-shaped table, with a seat for all participating Asian countries. Outside of that is a room with lots of technological devices in glass cases, like digital cameras and maybe even cell phones...I can't remember exactly - that threw me a little...just because I don't understand the significance - I'll make sure to ask 성생님 next time. Those are the two main rooms in the building, and then there are a few halls with pictures and maps (there is a sweet map that shows the time of day in each time zone). Outside of the building there is a balcony that surrounds the circular building that overlooks the ocean (Haeundae Beach). It's amazing. Then we went downstairs and walked around a very scenic area with lots of trees and lots of colors, again, right on the water. From there we took the back way back to the car to go get lunch (I asked 성생님 if we can take pictures in there and he said yes - that next time we will bring cameras - so I will post those later :) ).
We went and ate some food, and then went to Starbucks for some coffee and chatting (Starbucks in Korea...I heard it was more expensive, but it is literally 1.5times more expensive than in the States - 3,000 원 (about $3.00!) for a small coffee!!) We sat and talked about training, and various other things, for about an hour. He is going to help me get a stationary trainer for my bike, because biking in Busan is so difficult that getting a trainer is almost essential. :( But at least the rides that we do do will be beautiful, because Korea is amazing. Also, he was giving me advice for membership to pools and suggested instead of a membership, just taking morning lessons several days a week, for apparently it is much much cheaper to do it that way, and then I am guaranteed a lane to swim in, as well as an instructor. Sweet! I'm psyched about that. I just need to find out how to get a bus home from the subway, because as it is now it takes me about 90 minutes to get home from Haeundae and only 60 minutes to get there...
Sorry that this post is all over the place, but I am a little rushed, because I am going to visit a friend near Gwangali to go to a fish market and then to the Busan tower. So I'll continue this post later :)
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