If there's anything I've learned in my time here in Korea, it is how to have an action packed weekend in a new city with very little time. This last weekend Brandon and I met up with some friends and headed to Daegu! Daegu is the fourth most populated city in the country and only a two hour bus ride from our city. We had initially made plans to visit Daegu over Christmas but plans changed multiple times with the country going into an increased lock down and we decided to postpone our plans. It was such a great opportunity to get out of the house and see a new city after a few months of hanging closer to home. With really no plans other than our Airbnb we did a lot of walking and had a great time catching up with friends.
New Year's day we headed out at 8 am. Our bus arrived at 10 am and we searched for the nearest McDonald's while we waited for our friends to arrive. Upon arrival at the shopping center that enclosed the McDonald's I spotted an Auntie Anne's pretzels and about had a crap-attack! I have missed soft pretzels so dearly so we switched plans and were soon enjoying almond cream-cheese pretzel sticks, a cheesy jalapeno hot dog for Brandon, and a classic cinnamon sugar twist - all better than I could have ever dreamed. Soon we were fueled and united with our group so we headed out wandering. We started at Duryu park and walked through well maintained walking paths; stopping to take pictures of a Buddhist temple nestled inside the park and the outside sculptures at the Daegu Arts Center. The park was very close to the E-World 83 tower so we walked quite a bit until we finally found the entrance (we did a bit of back-tracking but made it there in the end).
Seeing the 83 tower was the only activity we had semi-planned before arriving so it was exciting to see it in person. The E-World park was full of cute little gift shops and photo opportunities that we definitely took advantage of. As soon as we entered the park we took the cable car straight to the top where the base of the tower was located and were already surprised at the views of the city we could see. After looking around the gift shop a bit we paid 10,000 won to head up to the 77th floor. On the 77th floor we were able to take in the 360 view of our surroundings and we were so surprised by how many apartment buildings surround the city. Every direction you looked there was another huge clump of high-rise buildings in mass numbers. While at the top of the tour we even saw a few flitting snow flakes around and it was our first official spotting of 'snow' in South Korea! The 76th floor was set up with lots of photo props to take pictures so we spent some time there as well.
After a long day of walking we decided to head to the Airbnb all the way on the other side of town. We finally dropped off our bags and tried to decide what we could eat for dinner. We walked around a bit and finally settled on chicken just down the street. We brought food back to the Airbnb and spent the rest of the night eating, chatting, and playing games.
Saturday morning we were excited to check out, "Dongseongno Cafe Alley". It is supposed to be a very cute alley filled with small cafes and coffee shops to make every coffee lovers dreams come true. We weren't sure if we had started in on it way too early or if it was a mix of Corona misery but every single shop we passed by was closed. We had such high hopes to start but after a lot of walking with absolutely no luck we finally settled on a Starbucks not too far away as people were hungry and disappointed. Although it wasn't a quirky shop specifically poised in the alley it was still a good experience and I was delighted to see a genuine cheese bagel we snagged for breakfast. Upon further inspection of the alley later in the day I think we did just show up too early (11 am for coffee seemed plenty late but... when in South Korea!).
After our late breakfast we headed to the SPARK mall nearby. We were intrigued to see a ferris wheel atop the building and decided to check it out further. We did a bit of browsing through the shops and eventually made it to the top where there was a fully functioning amusement park! It seems that the middle levels of the mall are home to indoor activities like laser tag, bowling, and roller rinks while the upper levels are smaller to allow for an outdoor amusement park surrounded by the city. We opted out of any of the activities but it was so fun to walk around and see what the innovative building design had to offer thrill seekers.
Once we were finished wandering around the mall we headed across town to Daiso and e-mart. Brandon and I have been to one Daiso before in the next town over from us but it was very small compared to the one in Daegu. In Yeongdeok, it was small store front that was rather reminiscent of a Dollar Tree but with more items that go up to about $10 in price. The Daiso in Daegu was spread across five different floors and it was basically like walking through heaven. Brandon and I picked up some new headphones, new embroidery kits for myself, a cute flowery mug that was only 2,000 won, and a few other treasures. After Daiso we went to e-mart; a massive grocery store that features clothes shopping on one level, groceries on one level, and home goods/supplies on another. We decided to stop here on our way back to do some browsing and potentially bring some yummy snacks back home with us. I'm sure you can only image how Brandon and I looked with our bulging backpack and arms overflowing with muffins, Belgian waffles, and yummy soup mixes as we crossed back to the bus station and waited to take all of our precious carbs home with us.
It felt great to finally be sitting again so the bus ride home was good. We used our new headphones and audio splitter to both fully enjoy Brandon's favorite Lorde album in it's entirety with a few cat naps mixed in between. I was so excited to get home to see our Nacho and was heart broken when we found our bedroom door closed upon our arrival. Luckily the kitty was fine and we were only gone for one night but from how much food was left in the bowl it seems he may have spent most of the weekend in there alone. Pros of the situation are that at least he had our comfy bed to sleep on in his solitude while the cons are that he was left without his litter box so we had an awesome night of 4 loads of laundry to wash the comforter, sheet, base blanket, and the mattress protector. What a night but we got a lot of very sweet cuddles and we've definitely learned we need to barricade the door open for our future endeavors.
Proof that the kitty is alive and well!
I am so pleased to share that Brandon and I have made it to the golden period of our teaching semester. School is officially out for winter vacation and we have two months of easier work happening. I will teach one winter camp next week but other than that we are mostly desk-warming. This means we no longer need to travel to and from our country schools. We wake up at the same time, walk to school together, walk home from school together, and are always home around 4:30 with no more waiting for buses in the cold. Desk-warming means I have almost infinite time to watch Netflix, do some coloring, and my most recent favorite: embroidery projects found at Daiso. I know Brandon is also in heaven working on his coding and playing computer games with friends back home. Because we are now officially in winter vacation we will have a chance to use some of our vacation days and we hope to do a lot more traveling within the country over the next couple of months so keep an eye out for that as our vacation days start to pop up!
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