Sunrise Sunday at Homigot

Anyone who knows me in the slightest bit knows that I am not exactly a morning person.  Alright, I am not at ALL a morning person.  I hit the snooze button.  I drag my feet getting out of bed.  I whine.  It's safe to say that being around me first thing in the morning is an experience not wanted by many.  I say this about myself to tell you about my Sunday morning.

It was decided last week that Homigot, a famous landmark in Pohang, needed to be seen.  Not only did it need to be seen, but it needed to be seen at sunrise. Currently the sun rises in Korea at 5:43am.  I live just about an hour from Homigot.  Do the math and imagine how thrilled I was about getting up at 4:30am.  Let me paint you a picture as to why the very "un-Jenn" time of sunrise was decided. There are two enormous stone hands that seem to cradle the sun as it rises and sets.  One juts out of the ocean and (when photographed correctly) is at it's most beautiful right at sunrise.  With my time in Korea coming to an end, I want to experience as much I can in the little time I had left.  One of those things was a Homigot sunrise with Dan.  Check.

What's next on my list of "must see" adventures you may ask?  Well, next weekend we are going to make yet another attempt at finding that amusement park and those ever elusive cable cars in the beautiful town of Daegu.  Let's see if we can get our navigational challenged butts in gear and check another item off my ever-growing list.  Until then, here are a few pictures from our early morning adventure to Homigot.

Sunrise at Homigot with Dan

The famous "Homigot Hands"

Quick kiss before leaving.  One of the best mornings since arriving in Korea all those months ago. 

Even though it was early (before 6am) when these pictures were taken, it was by far the best part of my Sunday.  If anyone in Korea has the option to see Homigot at sunrise you would be doing yourself a disservice NOT to go.  Grab your guy (or girl) and watch the sun peek out from being one of Korea's greatest landmarks.  Breathtaking.  

Korean Kodak Moments

Quick shout out: In Montana there is a brand name of shoe called KEEN. It is for the outdoorsy type. Imagine my surprise to find that exact same kind of shoe here in South Korea of all places. There is an entire store that is devoted to KEEN. It just made me smile seeing KEEN while taking my afternoon jaunt around the city. Reminded me of a certain person.

Ok. Back to the Korea-ness.

#29. The bus system in Korean is phenomenal. For 1,000 won (less than $1) I can take a bus pretty much anywhere. It may take some time to get there but the $1 is well worth my time. The downside to the bus system are the smelly passengers. As I have said before...Koreans wear their clothes more than once so an entire bus filled to the brim with slightly dirty Koreans tends to be a bit on the smelly side.

#30. Koreans do not practice good dental care with their children. Kids have yellow, rotting teeth because Koreans feel that it is not important to take care of their teeth because baby teeth fall out. While on some level that does make sense ( I said SOME level) it's just gross.

So today was spent losing myself in downtown Pohang. The majority of my friends went to Seoul for the weekend but due to the fact I will not get paid for a few more weeks and the money is dwindling I decided to stay in town. I took in the sights and went to little shops, homeplus and finally Jukdo Market. The market has everything. Live and dead fish, fabric, vegetables, purses, clothing, hats, kitchen gadgets...everything. It's loud and the smell is overwhelming but it's awesome. I didn't end up buying anything at the market but now that I know where it is i'm sure it will only be a matter of time before I have my first Jukdo purcahse under myh belt.

I did however buy my first Korean t-shirt! Koreans love weird tshirts that make no sense. They also love tshirts with American colleges, states or sayings or on them. I saw one today that said "Indiana." One that said "Montana" on the front and "State" on the back. I even saw a "New Jersey." They love anything and everything to do with America. Mine says "Freak Love" with a girl wearing huge sunglasses. It rocks. trust me.

As soon as I get my charger from my mom get ready for pictures of everything I keep describing.

During my excursion around the city I stopped in at homeplus to get a few things for the apt and some food. My homeplus-ing takes quite a bit of time since i'm not used to where everyhthing is and Koreans think it's funny to move the produce. Often. I can just hear them laughing at eachother "hahaha...those Americans think honey mustard is in aisle 5. Let's fuck with them and move it to 4. Hehehe." Well if I spoke Korean i'm sure that would be what they're saying.

So i'm looking for honey mustard and as soon as I find it the song "We are the Champions" starts blaring over the loud speakers. Perfect timing. The Korean shoppers around me don't seem all that thrilled by it but I couldn't stop smiling. Not only do I have my honey mustart but this song is the first English song I have heard since I have been in Korea. I started to sing along under my breath when a little girl heard me and started to sing with me...complete with the use of an imaginary microphone.

It was such a Kodak Korean moment.