Yesterday we went to the Busan Aquarium so that I can at least say I've seen something in Busan (the second largest city in Korea, about 2 and a half hours east of Suncheon). The aquarium resembled a much smaller version of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, with no cute sea otters. Another thing that struck me was that the animals seemed capable of seeing me through the glass. That shouldn't be that strange, but at all the acquarium's I've visited I've never thought that the fish could see me. Yesterday when I approached the penguin exhibit several penguins were diving close to the glass, and a couple, apparently thinking we would feed them, kept following our hands. I would drag my finger across the glass and the penguin would be working his beak like my appendage was a little fish he wanted to gobble up. It was cool for awhile, but then it felt too much like taunting and I stopped.
The other two memorable experiences were the glass-bottomed boat ride over one of the largest tanks (it actually scared me a little---but now I can say I've been in a boat mere meters from a man-eating shark) and then watching foreign female synchronized swimmers dressed up as mermaids swimming around in that same tank that contained the man-eating shark. Of course I don't speak Korean very well, but I could tell that they were acting out some of the storyline from "The Little Mermaid" movie. I may be wrong, but I filed that away under "Only in Korea," both for the introducing of people dressed as mermaids to aquarium tanks, and the blatant copyright infringement. Though I realized recently that when I say "Only in Korea" it really means, "Only Everywhere Except North America."
The Aquarium is right near Haeundae Beach, so we went out and wallowed in the waves a little before heading back home. Busan was definitely in full summer mode, there were people walking around in bikinis and everything (a little head-turning for us humble country-folk). It was definitely hot enough to go swimming, the rainy season has ended and now we're just being baked constantly, but I'd left my swimsuit at home because I wanted to avoid a 10-hour plane ride with a painful sunburn.
I enjoy spending time with my host family, but it's unfortunate that traveling seems to bring out the worst in me (i.e. I get quietly irritable) and my host mother (who has a tendency to seem anxious and bossy in most situations, anyway). We had fun together, and with Saegyung and Saegyung's mother, friends of the family who came along to Busan, but I was conscious of being maybe not fun enough or upbeat enough. These next couple days will be laid-back, as I just tie up a few loose ends.
