2013:
My 2013 could not have started any better!! The 'actual' NYE night wasn't spent out drinking or with friends, Scott and I came home from work and jammied up and were in bed when the clock struck midnight. Maybe it is just the fact that I am now 24 years old, but I found this to be one of my best NYE's yet!
The next couple of weekends were filled with celebrating. First, our friend's from Australia, Sally and Shaun moved into their new Korean home. We spent an amazing Saturday night cheers'ing them... and a wicked Sunday morning cursing their wine!
*Special shout out to Sally and Shaun, they actually were just married last weekend on a beach in Aussie!*
And then the next weekend we celebrated Scott turning a quarter century with.....
SHARK DIVING - 2/26/2013
This was an absolute amazing... and a semi-embarrassing experience for the "non Asian shaped" blonde in the room... aka ME!
Getting to the aquarium was a thrill all of its own! We had set our alarm or 6am.... Or so we thought. We woke up at 7:05am (we had to meet all of our group by 7:30am and be on a bus by 8am to be to the aquarium on time). Luckily we had packed the night before but we had to quickly throw on clothes, brush our teeth and make ourselves "Korean presentable" before we could leave the house. We left the house and made it to the bus terminal right at 7:30am (when we told everyone to meet us) AND WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE!! Haha, the rest of our group, who had woken up on time, were LATE!
*Short story long, as my grandma Gen would have said, we made it to the bus on time!*
We made it to the aquarium with more than enough time and met our instructor, Mike. He was kind of a grumpy man at first and I thought the day was going to be a drag. We all got seated for our "song and dance" about not touching the sharks and not waving your fingers around like tasty treats and then to the good stuff.....
SHARK TEETH POLICY: "You are allowed to take home as many shark teeth as you can pull out of your wet suit."
And let me just state, again, it was early and I had a very rushed morning, so I wasn't thinking clearly and I raised my had and asked Mike if the shark teeth would like get stuck in our wet suits or be attracted to them for some reason.... much like a magnet *** And that was how I embarrassed myself for the FIRST time that morning. However, I did get the instructor to lighten up and actually turn out to be a really fun guy!
***disclaimer: it was early, cut me some slack!
Then Mike divided us into groups and I was stuck with the ALL boys/"amateur hour group" (aka: group 2). So we waited around and we got to see group 1 do their things with the sharks.... first.... = ( But then it was our turn!!!
We got into the back area of the aquarium and he handed out our wetsuits, Mike looks at me and says, "Well you're not Korean sized" and I said, "Most definitely, am not!" So he gives me this bright blue (woman's) sausage tube and I take myself and my dignity into the dressing room. Of course, I had an audience of about 5 Korean, "Korean sized" aquarium workers there to watch and my two friends: Katie and Jennifer to help. Wet suits are a bizzo to put on anyway, but when you give me 3 sizes too small, Jennifer and I really had to use that 9.81 m/s gravity business to finally get me into that wet suit! (burns and blisters to prove a job well done in the end).
So, I strut my finely packed body out into the aquarium area where I see our someone doing push-ups and "amping" himself up for this big dive and at that moment, I didn't feel like the biggest joke in the room.
Mike takes us over to the water where we will be practicing our different skills, little did he tell us that we would have to climb over a slippery, small tank of snapping sea turtles (the actual man eaters!) to get into the skill area. Skill, after skill, it was finally time to dive on down.
Scott was the first to go down in the tank, I followed. Now let me tell you, in my head, I looked like a cat burglar stealthy climbing down that glass wall into the aquarium - In reality - I had the grace of a walrus and just slide on down (this "glass" I am talking about is the glass tunnel of the aquarium, so people were right under me watching me slide on down. Embarrassing moment, #2? I think now).
So I am down in the aquarium waiting for the rest of the group to come down, just me, Scott and Cory (our other friend) down there in the freezing water. And I began to get the shivers, REALLY bad! The water was really cold! But as we were waiting, not only did I then get Cory and Scott to start shivering, but a big grouper kept coming up to us - only a foot or two away and then would open his mouth!! Mike had warned us that the groupers were actually the ones to be afraid of because they like to nibble on loose things like fingers... or arms not in the safe zone. One of his stories involved an aquarium, shoulder deep in a grouper and inverted teeth. I think I was more scared of the grouper than anything!! Those things are ballsy!
Once everyone was down in the tank, he had us turn around and face the porpoise in the tank behind us! It was the cutest thing ever!! (And that's a pretty big deal, because I HATE dolphins. They are like the rats of the sea) But this thing would come right up to the glass and nuzzle it and was just an absolute flirt!
Then we started making our way around the aquarium. It was super exciting to see all the sand tiger sharks up close, but they were SNEAKY!! I honestly never "really" knew where they were because they would glide directly over our heads. I finally starting noticing it because my bangs (which would float up) kept getting "touched"..... by the sharks belly! If any of you know me, Shark Week is pretty much the highlight of my year.... every year, and this year, I missed it because I was coming to Korea RIGHT before. But this was by far 60 zillion times better. Not only was my hair tickling the belly of a shark but I was able to REALLY see them and understand them. Shark Week makes them out to be this prehistoric killer (not just of men, actually "we" are usually an accidental meal for them), but they are absolutely beautiful underwater. They glided through the water with such ease, it was their domain and I was just a guest. It was an awesome feeling. For 100USD, I would tell ANYONE to go (but don't do it in a cage, cages are for pussies!)
Continuing on, Mike kept leading us around (we were walking around the aquarium) and it got to the point where I didn't pay to walk around, I wanted to just stand and let the fish come to me (most likely the grouper, that thing was a stalker!)!! But finally, he told us to start looking for teeth and showed us one and told us to look. I got so excited because I saw this BIG tooth in the sand so I dropped down, picked it up and strutted (for the second time today) over to Mike to give him my tooth. At first, he wouldn't take it and put it in his little pill bottle case. So I kept urging him (in under water language) to "take it, take it! Like look at this killer tooth! Why aren't you putting it in the bottle!?!"
FINALLY, he put my tooth in the bottle and I thought, my work was done in that department.
**Embarrassing moment #3 came when I got out and realized my "killer tooth" was just a shell.....**
I don't know if it was because of all of our excitement or I am just a heavy breather but our Oxygen tank lasted all of us about 45 minutes underwater. So we made our way back up to the surface. I belly slide up the glass this time and out over the snappin' sea turtles and into a warm shower to get that sausage suit off!
Then came the torment that will be remembered as embarrassing moment #4, when all of the boys found out that my "killer tooth" was nothing but a shell! Thank goodness Mike got a bunch and so did other people so I was able to swipe some from everyone! Mom, Dad, Kory - Expect a shark tooth necklace for Christmas this year! ;)
It was a memory of a life time, that is for sure, only made better by the fact that we were with a group of great friends and also made a few more on the trip! I have so much more appreciation for sharks that can't be taught or seen through Discovery. I also feel very proud because I was able to conquer my panic of "scuba breathing" with my asthma.
The celebrating didn't end with shark diving, we then took the party to Sharky's Bar and Grill in Busan (fitting, eh?) and met up with even more of our friends. (In the rush of the morning, Scott and I didn't eat breakfast and we spent a total of almost 6 hours at the shark dive, so I was about ready to eat Birthday Boy's arm off! Thank God for the delicious CHEESE BURGER I ate there!) In total I think 19 or 20 people showed up in Busan to celebrate Scott's birthday! I am very thankful to have been placed on a "small" island like Geoje because our group really tries very hard to always do things for one another and this was just another illustration of that! We have met a lot of great friends that I really hope to stay close with!
PICTURE TIME!!
Groupers: Mike told us that these things really love fingers - thus my hands are in the locked position for optimal keepage of fingers mode!
< < < Us attempting to get shark teeth. Unaware of the shark, directly, above us.
All of those thin, pointy looking things... Those are the teeth. That blob in the middle of it (not the coins) but the large thing is my "killer tooth". > > > > > >
I hope everyone has had a great start to their 2013 and are making the most of every moment!! Having a good cheese burger just reminded me of how much I MISS Midwest food!!
Love always,
-C
