Polar Bear Swim

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February 15th was the 22nd annual Polar Bear Swim, which means that lots of crazy people flock to Haeundae beach to go for an icy dip into the East Sea. I went down there with a group of my foreign friends but heck, no, I did NOT get in that water! This Georgia gal can't stand the cold. Funnily enough, the only friends of mine that did it were from Canada or Michigan. Brittany (fellow Georgian) and Alyssa (from Florida) and I became official photographers by default.

The day had many festivities, including hula hoop, eating, and a dance contests, which my big, pale friend Ian won! It was very exciting, the Koreans get a huge kick out of everything we do. For example, when Karen busted out a permanent marker to start writing invigorating and inspiring phrases on each other such as "KILLER!" and "T-BONE," I was literally shoved aside in their efforts to take pictures of MY friends. It was ridiculous! I took many pictures of them taking pictures of us. Then, when we added Hangul writing, pandemonium really broke out. We were interviewed by several news reporters and dozens of people wanted pictures with us. I tell you, it's going to be hard coming home - I'll miss my celebrity status. It does wonders for the ego!

The warm- up: I have never seen so many people in speedos and swim caps, all running in place and stretching to the same oh-so-Korean dance mix. This picture is a great example.

The race: Everybody ran screaming into the water and tried to swim out about 20-30 yards to a line of buoys and back. The waves were pretty crazy at the time, and people were bowled over by the dozens. Our friends stuck together in the water, so it was easy to pick them out for a picture. A lot of people didn't make it to the buoy before coming back - I mean, it waaas freezing water! I don't blame them a bit. My feet felt frostbitten as it was. My favorite part was afterwards, when Jordan, from Canada, said, "Hm, that was actually harder than I thought it'd be!" He'll never scoff at the East Sea again, by God!

Afterwards, everyone changed quickly into dry clothes and we went for some Dok Galbi, which is a chicken, rice, some veggies, and cheese stir fry. Yummm.

More pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/k.a.sheridan01/PolarBearSwim#

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