Cherry Blossoms at Eumpa Park
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aster means spring. In Korea, spring seems to mean the start of holidays. The past two weeks have been the Cherry Blossom Festival in Eumpa Park. Over the weekend some of us went and walked the park to look at the flowers. I think I am in love with Eumpa park...I would love to live closer to it if it weren't so far from my school! However, if I walk there, it takes a
bout 30 minutes; which is good exercise.
We have been trying to meet up to go to some of the events at the park, but, since none of us know Korean, it was kind of hard to read the sign with all the events listed on them. About the best anyone could do was recognize the park name so we knew something would be there. We did catch the end of a B-Boy Group Wednesday night, but they were hard to see in the crowd.
A Traditional Dance at the festival.
Hoehyeon School Picnic in Buyeo
I don't know why they're doing this, but it was super cute.
Today was a school picnic that was less picnic-y than I anticipated because of the rain. The whole school was loaded onto three buses and driven almost 90 minutes to a place called Buyeo. It is some kind of fortress that was the capital city of one of the dynasties before Korea was unified.
We started to hike up the mountain but before we even got halfway it started to sprinkle. Koreans were already worried about acid rain from China, there is a myth that if you stand in it too long you will go bald. With what has been happening in Japan, they are now worried about 'nuclear rain' and think that they will get sick. So it was a mad rush back down to the buses to wait for the rain to stop. My mentor teacher clung to my arm the whole way down under my umbrella with me. I think it's kind of cute the way she does this.
We had lunch in a pavilion at Beyeo. The students were all going crazy for all the kitschy little stands set up around the parking lot. I think they all bought at least one silly toy. One of the third graders gave me a glow-in-the-dark cross and insisted I wear it. It was a very sweet gesture. I picked up a handkerchief with a map of the area on it and some decks of cards because they were cheap there.
With 4th Grade. My Mentor Teacher Mrs Lee is sitting next to me. She is their teacher.
Afterward we went to a Korean National Museum to look at a lot of ancient relics. It was a typical museum, not too exciting. It had English displays though, so I wasn't entirely lost. Their prize item is called the Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner of Baekje, which is very pretty. It's a 25 inch tall bronze egg-shaped burner with holes in it for the smoke to come out. I thought it was pretty and unique enough I picked up a keychain at the giftshop for myself.
Tomorrow the Provincial Office of Education is taking the TaLK scholars to Jeju Island for our 'cultural experience' trip. Teachers in the other provinces are going to the DMZ it sounds like...but I think we're all pretty happy to get to go to Jeju instead. I expect there will be a lot of pictures taken while I'm there...and I have to remember to get out the video camera.
10:42 AM |
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