Seoul Tower and The Lotus Lantern Festival

SEOUL TOWER:









This was a pretty productive weekend. Tyler, Tia’s boy, is in town so we’ve been going out and doing some site seeing. On Friday night we went up to Hongdae, went bar hopping and stayed at a hostel for the night so we could wake up in Seoul. The hostel we stayed in was really nice! Katie was really nervous to stay in a hostel. I think the name “hostel” got to her, but she was pleasantly surprised. All of the amenities were really nice and the women running the place spoke in perfect English! We had lockers and plenty of room to get ready. In the morning there was coffee, toast and tea for us. We all congregated in the main lobby to eat and chat. There was a small group of university students staying there too. They were from Slovenia, Latvia, Holland and Estonia. I played it cool, but for some nerdy reason I get really excited when I meet people from Europe. I find Europeans interesting, makes me wish I were in Europe and really excited to go back!

The main plan of the day was to go to Seoul Tower, a communication and observation tower on Namsan Mountain in central Seoul. It is 777 feet tall, and although it isn’t a very high tower, since it is located on top of a mountain, it provides an outstanding view of all of Seoul. Looking out at all of Seoul reminds me of how enormous this city is!! It’s a lot of concrete buildings and rivers, much like any other large metropolitan city, but I don't get sick of seeing it. We walked around for a long time, and even had the pleasure of watching a traditional Korean samurai show. Men dressed in samurai attire where grunting, stabbing and swinging their swords in unison, slicing sheaf’s of wheat with every swipe- like something in Disney’s Mulan. I was standing there watching this, having one of those rare moments where I can’t believe I am seeing this with my own eyes. I have never in my life thought I would witness something like this, or even had interest in doing so, but I was certainly neat to see. We rode the Namsan cable car down the tower, which gave more interesting perspectives of the city. Going to Seoul tower and taking the cable car ride wasn't the most spectacular thing I’ve done in my life, but I had a good time and took some great pictures anyhow.

Tia, Tyler and Katie were exhausted from the long night, little sleep and a day of walking, so after the tower they went back to Dongtan. Andy, Amy and I decided to go check out the Lotus Lantern Festival to meet up with some friends. We made the right choice! The festival was awesome!!!

THE LANTERN FESTIVAL:
















The lantern festival takes place on the first day of the week long celebration of Buddha’s Birthday. The opening day always starts with religious ceremonies in the morning and is followed by a large street fair near the temple. The street fair was filled with pedestrians shopping for Buddhism-related items and Korean traditional crafts, participating in one of the art and crafts making booths that lined the streets. At the booths you could learn how to make your own mask, lantern or Buddhist rosaries. I really wanted to make a mask, but we were too tired from the night before to do any arts and craft. Instead we decided to walk around, people watch and watch a few traditional song and dance shows.

Something that I found interesting and appreciate about this holiday is that it is not only for the religious Buddhist community, but also way for believers to educated non-believers. . Many events surrounding the festivities serve to explain and demonstrate the religion, its practices and even give glimpses into the daily lives of the monks. Amy, Andy and I walked passed an area where monks were offering for pedestrians to join them in a 3-minute meditation session. I’ve always been interested in meditation and the Buddhist religion since I did a project on the religion in high school, so I jumped at the opportunity to meditate with real monks. How cool! Right!?! Amy decided to join me as we listened to the bald, woman monks share the importance and purpose of practicing meditation. To sum, she said that mediation is crucial in order for you to find your center and happiness in the midst of all of the ciaos of our everyday lives. She has a point. During the 3 minutes of silence I was able to down out the sound of the crowd behind me and truly have peace of mind. It was incredible. Hopefully I will try to meditate more often. Starting in 2004, Buddhists from countries such as Taiwan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Mongolia began participating in Seoul’s celebration to bring an international spirit to the celebration, however, I only checked out the Korean Buddhists.

Although walking through the street fair was interesting, the best part of the festival was definitely the parade!!! Thousands of people gathered early to get the good seats (we were there about 3 hours early) at Dongdaemun gate- this is the original East Gate of Seould when there was a wall around the city. The parade went on for miles through the heart of Seoul and ended at the Jogyesa Temple. I think the best part of this festival begins in the evening of the first day. Starting in early evening, thousands of people congregate at Dongdaemun Gate (the original East Gate of Seoul when there was a wall around the city) to join in the Lantern Parade. The parade will stretch for several kilometers through the heart of Seoul to culminate at the Jogyesa Temple (this temple is spectacular, but more about that later). The parade started when it started to get dark outside, so we could truly appreciate the beauty of the lanterns. The parade consisted of a river of dancers and lantern carriers wearing traditional Korea attire, huge dragons, lotus flowers, white elephants, kings, rabbits and tiger lanterns made up of hanji- traditional dyed Korean rice paper- lit up the streets. I read later that these lanterns represent long life, health and good harvest. The parade went on for about 30 minutes with floods of Korean monks and nuns holding lanterns, men dressed in brightly colored hanboke dancing and drumming down the street, dancers wearing creepy masks, even the children’s hospital had hundreds of children in wheel-chairs participating in the parade holding small lanterns. Most lanterns represent some aspect of significance to Buddhists. A common lantern is the lotus design. The lotus and candle inside represent the blossoming of wisdom and enlightenment. Korean folk music and Buddhist chants filled the air. It was spectacular! I didn't have my camera, but thank goodness for Katelan and Amy! You can thank them for the beautiful pictures, but honestly the pictures and my attempt to be as descriptive as possible don't do justice on the feeling of being here for this big celebration! If you ever come to Korea, make sure to be here for Buddha’s week-long birthday celebration!!

World DJ Festival

obviously "borrowed" this one from the internet.


Oh man, this weekend was crazy!!! Andy and I went up to Hongdae to meet up with some of his friends from home, and their friends. for the annual World DJ Festival. I would say that the Festival was one of the best times I’ve had, minus the fact that I lost everything I own. I was pretty upset about this, but my boss saw me crying and made me feel much better by reminding me that NOW I have nothing left to lose. It can’t worse. I guess that’s a pretty good way of looking at it. But enough about the bad stuff… back to the festival.

The World DJ Festival is the biggest party of the year in all of Korea. It attracts over 100,000 people a year. I heard there were about 120,000 this year. Nuts, huh!?! The festival hosts over 50 DJ’s from around the world. It is held outdoors at the Nanji-jigu Han River park, which is beautiful and makes for some great pics. The festival is an all day and night event with three different areas are crowds to wander through- the Black Zone where hip hop blared over the crowd, the Jagar stage with more of a reggae vibe and another stage area that played house music and techno. Before entering into the grounds of the festival, a big group of us decided to just hang out, drink and people watch for a bit. The party outside the party outside of the festival was just as interesting as inside. Picture a typical music festival in the US circa 1970. It was so great to see people from all walks of life coming together to listen to music and mingle. I met a lot of hippies and even more interesting Koreans. People seem to go all out for this music festival. I saw belly dancers, flame-throwers, people dressed up in big animal suites, and a lot of masks and face paint. The crowd was so huge that I would make an acquaintance with every push and shove. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, mingling and meeting new people.

Andy and I decided to check out some of the DJs performing, heading to the Jagar stage first. We pushed out way up to the second row and enjoyed the music with the crowd for a bit. Then, I had a bright idea that determined my fate for the rest of the night. I thought it would be a great idea to run onto stage and dance, jump up and down and pump up the crowd of sixty thousand people. The Koreans where loving the little white girl, so I came up with another bright idea- dive into the crowd for some crowd surfing. Fun, right? NO! Apparently they don't know what it means when someone jumps on them, so everyone moved and I went straight to the ground!!! I could feel the crowd staring at me with confused looks on their faces, maybe some laughter. I was in a lot of pain, mostly from losing all of my pride, but my back and nose took a beating too (its okay to laugh, I think this is probably one of the funniest/most embarrassing things that has every happened to me!) but I just picked myself up, walked away and pretended like nothing happened lol. Needless to say, this is the point of the night that I all of my friends and everything I own. Yup, the purse full of my camera, ipod, cell phone, keys, and wallet. Some might wonder why the hell I brought all of that stuff with me in the first place so I would like to add here that I needed my camera to document the most amazing/interesting festival, an ipod for the two hour trip up, a cell phone to keep in touch with my friends if I got lost in the herd of people, keys to get back into my apartment of course, and a wallet to pay for my ticket and cab ride home. (THAT'S why- mom!)

For the next 45 minutes, I just walked around checking out all of the booths and fire-eating shows, staying in the same area so I could increase my chances of finding someone I knew. I had no such luck, so I eventually just decided to just enjoy the rest of the festival. I walked around meeting a bunch of random people, talking to a few Korean girls to help out some guys I met, just mingling and having a good time. I checked out the other stage where a lot of techno was being places and rocked out with thousands of Koreans to the phenomenal DJ’s that were performing. The crowd went wild for Japan’s popular House DJ Fantastic Plastic Machine, or FPM. One of the most impressive electro lineups included Dirty Disco Youth from Germany. I also loved it when the DJ’s would put together a series of remixes of my favorite tracks. The most dance-worthy performance came from Vandalism, an Australian DJ who got the crowd to “Throw Your Freakin’ Hands Up” as a sea of heads bobbing up and down rocked out in the mist of the blue, red and purple hue of lights, as you can see from the pictures, it was quite the sight. I was having the best time jumping up and down and rocking out to the music until the mosh pit started getting to the point that i was getting stomped on repeatedly, so i pushed my way through the crowd and went back to meeting and mingling...

Another great part of the night was when the EV boys performed their hilarious song “Kickin in Geumchon” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM). It’s not as funny unless you are teaching in South Korea, but it’s all right. I'm growing sick of the song now, but seeing them as I stood RIGHT next to the stage was still exciting. The three boys are really goofy looking so it’s interesting to see the kind of fame they’ve reached hear for such a silly song. Later, as I was aimlessly walking around looking for Andy, I saw the goofiest looking one with his arm around a gorgeous Korean girl. I guess if you’re lady-luck in low in the US, come to Korea!

Mmmm, what else can I mention?? Oh, well I guess I could mention that there wasn't just music and a beer garden. There was also a ton of booths where people could make their own seat cushion, partake in some body painting, buy handmade bags and jewelry or check out a plethora of other forms of art. Hongdae is famous for its art scene, so it created a distinctive atmosphere of creativity with people exhibiting art or “becoming an artist”. It was incredibly cool to see all of the difference kinds of people all together in one place. One of the most interesting people-watching sessions I’ve ever had.

Oh! And if you’re wondering how I made it home… I ended up running into one of the friends of Andy’s friend and bumming some cash from him to fund my lonely trek home. Andy was save and sound- sleeping in his bed, having no idea that I didn't make it home until about 8 hours after him. Jade’s dad just happened to be at the apartment so I could swoop up a spare key to my apartment. Losing everything is incredibly depressing and making me broke and homesick, but I’ll take a great time, hilarious stories and an amazing night to remember over a few possessions any day. ;-)

Children's Day

Today was the Children’s Day celebration at school. Children’s Day, Eorini nal, is a national holiday celebrated in Korea that was founded by the children’s storyteller and writer Bang Jung-hwan in 1923. From what I read, the purpose of the holiday is to instill a sense of national pride and independence in the children. It’s sort of like Christmas for the children. Schools are shut down and the children are given the day off for their parents to take them to the zoo, amusement park or just spend quality time with them. For me, it was exciting to have a day off ☺

To celebrate, LCI planned a big day of craft, hikes and games for the kids. We all put on matching shirts and went up to a field near the school. It was a lot of fun to see all of my students from my special classes. Whenever one of my student saw me the would scream “Bri Teacher!” They looked so small among my older students, so stinkin adorable! I would get just as excited to them and give them a hug or a big wave from far away.

After the kids sang and danced to Korean songs with the Korean teachers, we hiked up a little mountain-side to make necklaces out of wood. The kids had markers and decorated their own pieces of wood on their necklaces. Of course they all had to run up to me and show me what they made once they were finished. I was full of lots of ooh’s and aww’s and woooow! Lol Next we ate ice cream (the best part of the day) , took some class pictures. We climbed the mountain even further, singing the alphabet song along the way. I think my kids really loved seeing me outside of the classroom environment because they kept calling me monster teacher- probably because I would growl like a bear and try to scare them- and jump all over me. Yesterday each of the student wrote a wish on a small piece of paper, and once we reached the top of the small mountain, I attached each of their wishes to a balloon. As a group we set our balloons and wishes free. It was adorable to watch the excitement in my student’s eyes as they watched the balloons soar farther away.

Today was one of those days where I really loved my job and what I am doing here. Especially when I was playing with my boys. They love it when they jump into my arms and I swing them around and upside down so I got a little rowdy with them for a bit before we walked back down the mountain. The rest of the afternoon we just played games. I cheered on my students during the races and competitions against the other classes. The rest of my day was pretty relaxed, I decided not to teach my kids new things and just watch movies for the rest of the day. It was their day after all, and I really didn't feel like teaching. Today was a lot of fun. It was great to play with my students outside of the classroom and do something different than the usual routine of things. Now if only they would adopt Children’s Day in the U.S.


For my day off, Amy, Tia, Katie, Andy and I went up to Seoul to attempt to go sightseeing. We ended up just eating at the phenomenal Butterfinger Pancakes restaurant, were too late to make it to any palaces or museums so we went shopping in Meyongdum until it was time for our Mexican feast to celebrate cinco de mayo. Definitely the lowest-key Cinco de Mayo I’ve had in a long time. Oh, and Andy and Amy had never heard of Cinco de Mayo before!!! Stupid Canadians! Lol just kidding.

Everland

This week was crappy, but today was a blast! Since I lost pretty much everything I own, I couldn't wear make up to work and felt gross all week, and I wasted another night of my life going back up to Seoul to hunt down my backpack. I talked to a few bartenders but no luck. I offered 50,000 won and a round of shots if they found it, but still no luck! Then I got sick, probably from a lack of sleep and spending hours in the pouring rain, which made work really hard! I love my students and all, but oh my god I can’t stand them when I am sick. When you teach kindergarten you have to be on all of the time. Its so much energy to get the kids excited about learning, or to calm them down when all they want to do is run around like maniacs. I kept trying to tell my kids that teacher is sick so they need to be really good and quiet, but it didn't register so I was forced to yell a few times. I absolutely hate yelling at my students. The last thing I want is for them to think I am mean or scary, but this week I just reached the end of my patience. I don't know if something was in their juice, or if I was just on edge because I was so sick, but the kids got so bad that I asked my Korean co-teacher to talk to them for me. Mimi and Amy both cried cause they thought I didn't like them. I felt really bad! But at least I got them to shut up! Haha. Wow, I sound really mean right now, but if you have ever had kids or had to babysit 8 to 13 kids for eight hours a day when you were mentally and physically exhausted, you would go nuts too! All I kept talking about this week was how I NEVER EVER ever want to have kids!

The only great thing about having such hectic workdays is how fast the weeks fly! Its like I blink and it’s already Friday! Cant say hi hate it, but its already our three month mark this week and I cant believe it! Its like every week goes by faster than the last one! This Friday we had a potluck with all of the foreign teachers. Our new boy, Josh, made invitations and we all picked out what were going to make for the party. It was sorta cute for all of us to have the doors open and walk up and down the hallway helping each other chop veggies and cook food. The soju was probably a bad idea though, cause all of were having too much fun, got distracted and burnt Katie and Josh’s kabobs to hell. It was a disaster! Katie doesn't ever cook and we all spent so much money on the ingredients, so she was really upset, almost in tears over the kabobs. Funny stuff. The night was a success and it was really nice to bond with the other teacher outside of work. We all get along really well, but Katie, Tia, Amy and I don't spend a lot of time with Josh, Rhonda and Sarah outside of work much. I had a lot of fun, especially eating! Yum! ;-)

We spent all day yesterday relaxing, catching up on emails, having girl time painting our nails and talking about the night before. It was so nice to just relax for the day to save all of our energy up for our day at Everland today!!! Everland is the Korean Disneyland and SO MUCH FUN!!!! Amy is 26 and it was her very first amusement park! Can you believe that??
The weather was beautiful and the rides were awesome. My favorite was the giant wooden roller coaster the T- Express. It went straight down and up-side down and super fast! I was stoked for it when we were in line but once the coaster started creeping uphill I began to get really freaked out saying I didn't want to do it anymore. Then after the two minutes of an intense adrenaline rush, I was liberated and ready to go again! I have been on some crazy roller coasters in my lifetime, and this one definitely exceeded my expectations! It was awesome! I wish I could stay at the park without anyone around and keep going back on it over and over again! The wait was about an hour, but we felt it was worth it, so we went back for round two. Tia and I sat in the very front and I ended up buying the picture it took of us because it was so hilarious. The Koreans sitting behind us looked terrified, I just had to have it!

The rollercoaster was pretty much the highlight of the day, other than the corn dogs- yumm!- and the area of the park that resembled a little Europe. Seeing the tiny shops that looked as if they were straight from Amsterdam and Germany, other than the fact that they were swarmed by Koreans, made me miss Europe so much! I can’t wait to go back! We took some nice group shots, ate lots of ice cream and had fun day in the sun! I cant wait to get back to class and tell all of my students about my day at Everland. They are going to be so jealous!!