Our Weekend: Firsts

Nearly a year ago this weekend, I went to a beach party on Songjon beach, and half way through the night two guys with what sounded like the thickest London accents I'd ever seen stumbled onto the beach. It turned out that Nick's accent was actually an Essex one, which is only slightly worse. A few drinks and a bruised shoulder later, firm friendships were made that are still strong now.

After a year of spending lots of time with the boy with Marty McFly hair has come laughs, excitement and adventure and I'm looking forward to another year to see what it might bring. To celebrate, we went to the same beach, where it turned out it was some sort of initiation for Korean Universities. Cue lots of Koreans playing strange inexplicable games and diving into the sea fully clothed. Nick also gave me a carefully hand crafted troll, which was very thoughtful of him. I was hoping the nickname wouldn't stick.

Other firsts this weekend were...

Playing poker, Nick and his friend Chris spent the night on Friday explaining the rules to me, so hopefully I'll be able to join in next time there's a game.

First time I've ever seen a huge dragon lantern that exhales smoke. This was at Nampo's lantern festival on Saturday night. Next weekend there is a big national holiday to celebrate Buddha's birthday, so for the build up to it, they had a procession. Unfortunately my camera wasn't taking great pictures and then it died. There were lanterns in the park under Nampo tower, so it was really pretty to wander around at night. The atmosphere was really nice too, everyone seemed so content to be out late at night enjoying the first warm summer nights.

With the sun shining brightly, I had my first bike ride in Busan, we went fora ride and a picnic down the banks of the Nakdong river, before it was time to get back to watch Nick's football game.

So that was another busy few days, but our last one before the long weekend away to Namhae. Last year for Buddha's birthday we went to a festival and were nearly blown away by a massive storm that swept through Seoul.

Did you do anything new this weekend?


Here is a video from the lantern festival:



















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