Dream Forest

This last week was so very long. I was ready for my Friday off by the end of Monday. Ugh. Sooo long. Classes seemed to take forever, kids were either WAY too full of energy (bouncing off the walls, talkingtalkingTALKING!!) or falling asleep. I had to use a lot of energy that I just didn't have to get their attention.

Lucky for me, the kids think I'm funny, so, yeah. I had that going for me. I'm teaching Korean middle schoolers sarcasm. I'm sure their parents are happy.

I made Friday a pajama day so I would be in a better mood for my Saturday classes (which I was) and then buckled down Saturday evening to write tests so I would have less work for Sunday/Monday. Didn't do too well. Oh well. I finished the tests Monday/Tuesday morning. Oops. That's life, I guess.

Sunday ended up being nice and relaxing as well. I met up with Chris and we went to the Dream Forest. It is the fourth largest park... thing in Seoul. And it was lovely.

Chris brought along one of his fancy cameras for me to use! Oooo... it was like being able to use the fancy camera from Creative Services, but this time for fun! Chris still hasn't emailed me the pictures I took, so I don't have any to post just yet, but as soon as I get them, I will put them up.

I rode a public bus for the first time here. Yay! I really dislike buses. I get lost easily (remember?) and you kind of need to know where you are so you can press the button for the driver to stop. I was glad to have Chris along who knew what to do and where to go so I didn't have to worry about it.

The Dream Forest is really just a big park with lots of wooded trails, a visitors' center, a few little cafes, an arts exhibit/theater. We wandered, took pictures, watched kids playing, and pretty much just enjoyed the fantastic weather and quiet park place.

Of course, the one time that he let me pick the trail to take, I ended up getting us onto a non-trail that never took us to any of the waterfalls that the sign promised. *sigh* We eventually found the waterfall, but it sooo was not in the direction the sign was pointing.

We wandered around to this big building with an awesome inclined elevator. I was way impressed. Not as impressed as one of the Korean girls, she was holding on for dear life and looked like she was not really sure that the elevator was actually going to make it up...

Fortunately, we made it to the top and got to look out over the whole green park. It was great.

That was pretty much the highlight of my week. We're in the last two weeks of the term at Chungdahm and the kids are going nuts because none of the grades really matter here on out! Hooray for whoever thought of THAT one! D:

In other news, keep your fingers crossed for me, okay? My voice is getting seedy again. *insert explicit language here* I don't want to go BACK to the hospital, because all they will say is, "Rest your voice. Take insane amounts of medication."

My boss even offered me her tutoring position. It sounded awesome (paid more than what I make at school... and it was one little kid!), but I would need to cut back even more at work if I took it. I had to explain to her it wasn't just teaching talking but ANY talking that puts strain on my voice. She is so nice. I love my boss. She is definitely one of the things I'll miss when I leave.

She also gave me some tea that is supposed to be good for healing sore throats. I figured, "What the heck. It can't be any worse than gargling salt water." (Thanks for that tip, btw, LaFawn. That was probably worse than the camera up the nose. Eew.) The tea wasn't as bad as salt water, but it wasn't much better. It tasted like hot potato water. Bleck! It also didn't do much better at making my throat feel batter than the herbal tea I've been scarfing. So, thanks for the thought, Helen, but I think I will stick with my pomegranate tea. Potato water... is just not for me.

Lotus Lantern Festival and North Seoul Tower

I had an awesome day this past weekend. It had been a long week and I was looking forward to getting to go out and do something touristy.

One thing I was really looking forward to when I first came to Korea was seeing the Lotus Lantern Festival. I was really upset when I had to work on the night of the parade (boo) so I was determined to get to the festival itself on Sunday. I know, I shouldn't make a habit of doing my touristy stuff on Sunday. It's a bad habit I've been getting into that I need to stop...

The festival did NOT disappoint. It was a beautiful day out and as soon as Tara and I got out of the Subway station we were greeted with some of the weekend festivities. We came out near the big statue of the man who created the Korean writing system (which, by the way, it totally amazing) and there were some people setting up to do a dance of some kind. It was very pretty.



The directions I found online for the festival were a little vague so we just decided to head towards tents we saw in the distance. Along the way we saw some kids taking advantage of the beautiful weather and jumping fountains. It looked like fun. :)



We got to the tents and saw a walking 100 won piece! It was exciting.



This turned out to be the Hi Seoul Festival and it was celebrating all the different countries that are represented in the Seoul population. I got really excited to see Mongolia there. They were totally making khuushuur like I made with my old roomy Nasa!! I was so excited.



We walked around for a while and got TONS of free stuff: brochures galore, a little bank, dental floss, a notebook, candy, two fans, coupons, and a battery powered back massager. We even got our hair styled for free! It was a booth advertising a salon that caters to foreigners.



Tara joked around with the owner a lot and he loved it. Tara is so funny. Man, I love hanging out with that girl.



While I was getting my hair done, this old guy was taking pictures of us. It was funny. The owner took a ton of pictures of us with the stylist.



We got pictures with these awesome representatives of Seoul. Tara called them "Power Rangers... but not really."



Then we met this random guy, Chris. I had seen his blog when I first got to Korea so it was really funny to run into this guy. He ended up taking us along to the actual Lotus Lantern Festival (you know... the whole reason we came out there in the first place).



The festival itself was a lot fun. So much to see! I liked this: it was made of colored eggs! How neat is that?



You could sit down and make your own little paper lantern if you wanted. It took too long so I just bought a little lantern. I need to find a nice place to hang it up,



Giant jenga!!



Tara sat down and did a meditation exercise with these representatives from a Buddhist temple. You were supposed to sit and concentrate on how many times she hit this little wooden block. Tara was off by only one number. The kid next to her got it right... oh well!



I love the flowers in this! They had this set up so you could bow and pour water over a statue's head. I'm guessing it was some sort of ceremony because of Buddha's birthday.



These priests were making a design completely out of colored sand! Isn't it pretty?



These are some examples of some of the actual "lotus lanterns" that were up and around. I love the shape! They are so neat looking. I got me a little pink one. :)



I love how the lanterns in this picture look like the canopy of the tree. Isn't that beautiful? I can only imagine how much work it took to hang all this up.



Gorgeous colors...



Chris was nice enough to take a picture of Tara and I standing in front of one of the lanterns that was in the parade the night before. That thing is made out of PAPER, peoples!!



After walking around the festival, we just started meandering. Along the way we saw this insane statue of two naked men head butting. A bit awkward.



More random statues... Peter Pan! I'm not sure who the gold statue is but Tink was standing on the other side.



This one is even more random: the girl from the Peter Pan sequel! Whaaaat? Captain Hook is looking at Peter Pan kind of strange, too.



I think this is the best explanation for why they had the Peter Pan statues. This was a little cafe thing that was fairy tale themed with Snow White and her seven dwarfs! How cool is that?



Somehow we ended up in Myungdung. Random. Somehow my weekends always end up in that area of town.

Tara ended up leaving in the early evening and Chris and I headed up to North Seoul Tower. We hiked up to the cable cars that took us up the mountain to the tower itself!



And then my camera ran out of batteries. Very upsetting. It was a really neat place to be. There are these observation decks with little locks all over them that people have put there. It's really neat. You could see out over almost the whole city! It was such a nice view.

The elevator ride was also really awesome. They made the wait for it seem less tedious with this "magic light wall" and a big screen TV in the ceiling of the elevator that showed a little video timed perfectly so when you reached a certain point in outer space (haha) the doors opened. Very reminiscent of a Disneyland where everything is set up to look really cool.

I will definitely be taking my sister there when she comes to visit. It was great. :)

Overall a fun weekend. The tower was kind of random and I ended up not getting any of the research and development work done that I had planned to do that evening (oops) so I had to do that on Monday. No fun. I am very excited for this term to be over. It has been a tough one. My schedule being rearranged, random days off, it's just seemed like a really long term. Although, once it's over, that will mean I only have one term left! 3 months! I can't believe my year is almost up.

Jongmyo Shrine

On Sunday, Tara and I decided to go to the Jongmyo Shrine to see the annual ancestral rite. It sounded pretty cool when the tour guide described it when Dad and I toured the shrine so I was excited to go see it in person.

There were three parts and we decided to hit the final part: the rite at the actual shrine. We ended up not actually seeing the rite (we got there too late to be let into the sitting area) but the shrine was beautiful and the people we met were awesome.

Allow me to introduce you to our "Shrine Visit Pals."

First, there's Subway Ajushi. He said hi on the subway, asked where we were from, and went on his way. THEN on the way to the shrine, he bumped into us again, said hi, and then we saw him again inside the shrine! How did we recognize him? Why, by his crazy awesome PLAID PANTS that's how! (He's the guy in the green jacket.)



Then we met a guy who pretty much quizzed me on what the Jongmyo Shrine was. It was funny. We asked him which direction to go and as we walked he asked if I knew what the Jongmyo Shrine was. I said yes and he said, "TELL ME." Then he asked where it was and I pointed up ahead. He said "WHERE?" so I told him forward and to the right. Luckily, that guy went away fast. He was kind of creepy.

This seemed like the day to practice your English with the random foreigners because we had a disproportionate number of people talk to us on Sunday. One guy we passed on a park bench asked us where we were from, how long we were here, how was his English, etc.

Then this old lady in a blue coat stopped us and just started talking at us in Korean. We had no idea what was going on. She opened her bag and showed us all these leaf cuttings. I think she was trying to sell us weeds. That was fun. We left and she went up to the guy on the park bench who had talked to us earlier.



Then there was this adorable little cutey in a hanbok asleep on her daddy's shoulder. Too cute!



We walked around the shrine for a while and it was really nice and relaxing. It was a beautiful day with a nice little breeze. Love.

We saw some fun things to take pictures of as well. It being Spring and all, these two little pigeons were getting a little frisky. The gray one seemed like it was getting a little annoyed at how fresh the white guy was getting and kept jumping away and biting his head, which he didn't really like. Ah, Spring.



These old people were sitting quietly on these mats in the park in front of the shrine. Meditating? Praying? Taking a nap? Not sure, but it was interesting.



All these people here were playing something that looked like chess or checkers. A bunch of old guys in the park playing checkers. I guess this is a worldwide tradition. :)



I don't remember who this is a statue of, but he seems pretty important.



Old guy with a cell phone got in my picture. :/



Another fun thing to do was spot the foreigner. We saw this big group of girls taking a picture with a random middle aged guy and we thought, "Oh, maybe he's their teacher or something," but then as they left and thanked him he said, "Nice to meet you!" That was odd.

Now it's your turn! Can you find the white guy?



This one's a little tougher. Spot the white guy!



The shrine really was beautiful. Lots of trees and blooming pink and purple flowers. I love the shape of this tree in the middle of the pond.



Picnic in the park...



We walked around town a bit more and found another lovely spot. It appears they are getting ready for the Lotus Lantern Festival. Doesn't that just look beautiful?



It was a really nice day with fantastic weather. I wish that the weather would stay just the way it is. Not too hot, not too cold, and all you need is a light sweater! ;)

Also, we got free coffee mugs for taking a short survey about the event. Great day. :)

Quick catch up

These last two weeks have been really, really, uneventful. We've had a lot of classes canceled because of middle school exams and while that is the perfect opportunity to go out and tour, it's also the perfect opportunity to do absolutely nothing! :D

So that's pretty much what I've been doing the last few weeks. Nothing. Nada. The biggest highlights of these last few weeks have been the following:

-Met Tara's friend who came up for Easter weekend from Hong Kong where he is an imagineer working on the designs for the expansions of Hong Kong Disneyland. Fun guy.

-Pajama days!!

-Cleaned my apartment

-Had an American afternoon in Itaewon where I went and bought pants, shoes, and made visits to What the book? (a new and used English book store) and the foreign food mart for burrito fixings

-Went to a ballet

Ta da! That's it.

The biggest event would have to be the ballet. I went with my friend Corinna. She had a Friday off and asked if I wanted to go with her to the ballet and since I'm a sucker for the theater (and for 10,000 won tickets which is roughly $10) I said "Heck yes!"

We met up in Itaewon and checked out some clothes, ate at an American diner, and then headed to the theater to see Prince Hodong. It was a fantastic show. The dancing and music were both fantastic, though really sad.

Two countries at war, the princess falls in love with the prince from the country trying to take over her country. They get married (with her dad's blessing... for whatever reason). He has to go back home to his country where his dad tells him he needs to take over his wife's country for good this time. The prince writes a letter to his wife and tells her to destroy her country's famous drum so he can invade. She does, her dad kills her, her husband takes over the palace. He sees her and does a really sad dance with her dying/dead body before killing himself. The end! D:

But it was pretty. And I had fun. :)

Here are a few pictures of the day:

A poster for the ballet.



A poster of "Famous Vegetarians" we saw outside this restaurant in Sinchon. They had pictures of celebrities but put wrong names on the pictures. I'm not sure if they just got the names wrong or if they are being deliberately misleading...



Corinna at the American diner. ^_^ V (that would be a smiley face with the peace sign)



Now we are all up to date and I can tell you about this past weekend when I actually went out and did something. On to the next post!