Korea--Day 9 (Sunday, July 1)

A completely free day. No agenda.  The kids slept late, and Mike and I went for a long walk.  We started on the beach, did the coastal walkway (lots of stairs), and ended up on the streets.

 Foggy and very humid this morning.

 Our hotel is on Haeundae Beach (Hae=sea, un=cloud, dae=hill)

We really enjoyed the coastal walkway.

 A pretty little building along the walkway.

 Statue of Choi Chi Won, an ancient poet and scholar who named Haeundae Beach

Lighthouse at the end of the walkway.

So humid. Water dripping off everything. Like a rainforest.

I found a magpie feather and stuck it in my hair.

 I went to the beach by myself and made a fool of myself.  There were beach umbrellas set up, and there was nobody under one of them, so I sat under it.  About an hour later, a Korean guy carrying a mat came up to me and said, "Excuse me, excuse me" so I got up.  He put the mat down, and I thought, "How nice. That will be much better than sitting on this hotel towel." So I thanked him and started to sit down, but he shooed me away and said, "No no no!" and gestured to the guy behind him, who handed him money and sat down. I scuttled away like a peasant and walked the beach looking for shells.

The waves came in fast and hard, carrying their treasures and depositing them for a few precious seconds before whisking them away again, like a merchant proudly displaying his wares and saying, "Choose quickly; I am about to close."  If I saw a shell I wanted, I would dart in like a bird diving for a fish, and make my grab.  Here's my take:

 The kids went to the beach too, but with their friends. We also went to the pool and hot spring.

We took the kids out for dinner, and they were talking about how nice it is to be Korean in Korea.  Noah said he feels like everything is the just the right size for him: the beds are low; he can stand up in the deep end of the pool; the showers are low; and sometimes he's even the tallest person in a group.  He said he does look forward to being home, but not to being surrounded by white people again.  I asked them if they prefer Seoul or Busan, and they both said Seoul.  Noah said, "In Seoul, I feel like I'm home.  In Busan, I feel like a tourist."

 Grace braided Sarah's hair.

Tonight we had talk time with the other parents, and the kids had their "connect and chat"groups. After that, the old folks went to bed, and the kids walked to a video gaming room down the street.  Noah said it was awesome, and they could play for an hour for 1500 won.  When they got back to the hotel, the boys all went to Jae and Drew's room until after midnight.