lanterns, buddhas, and breakdancing

Hi everyone!
I have a little bit to catch up on, since I think the last time I updated this was after we all returned from Boseong. 2 weekends ago was Buddha's Birthday celebration.

When I think of Buddha, the above image is definitely the first thing I think of. I'm sure you feel the same.

Basically, Buddha's B-day means there is a huge parade and celebration in Insadong (the old-style/massive Saint George St. of Seoul). We had a great time and saw a lot of interesting things.

Everything started at Jogyesa temple. The whole place was covered in Lanterns. My friend, Brian, and I had actually gone there a few weeks ago when they were beginning to prepare for it. However, they had added many, many more lanterns since our last visit!

It was a whole festival where you could go to booths and make things.

Above is one of the booths featured at the festival. Apparently, they give out free teeth examinations...and, also, paint your face. So, if you are cavity-free you get a happy tooth painted on your face. If you need a root canal, sad tooth. Actually, I really don't know, that's just my prognosis.

For example, my friend made this lotus lantern cap. He let me wear it for a little while. It was hilarious. Any Korean person that saw me in it took my picture. I had one guy come up to me and tell me I was a Korean princess!

All around us there was music playing and people having a great time. This is an example of one of the many shows going on at the time. I was really hoping to see one of those traditional Chinese dragons, but I suppose I'll have to go to China for that.

We got to Insadong around...1pm and the parade didn't start until around 7pm. It started to rain too so we went to this board-game room place for a little while. Actually, it is quite a novel idea. Basically it is an establishment that primarily deals in board games. They give you a "menu" of the different games they have. You choose one and pay a set fee for it. Then you can sit there as long as you like and play the game. We chose Monopoly, and had a grand time. They also served probably the best hot chocolate in the world!

Finally, it was time for the parade. This is one of the many, many floats we saw. Although we had to wait an excruciating amount of time for the parade to start. It lasts about 3 hours (if you want to see every float that passes by). We, however, decided not to stay for the entire thing, considering we had not eaten dinner yet. We discovered this amazing restaurant named Toma-Tillos, nearby. Best Mexican food I've had in Seoul thus far. Don't get me wrong, I love the Korean food, but sometimes you want a little taste of "home"/tex-mex.

Somewhere in between that weekend and the past weekend I did a whole lot of nothing...work was really, really dead. We had virtually no students because of the fact all the kids were testing. Now, they're back though.

On Saturday a bunch of my ex-pat co-workers and I went to this performance called "We-on". It was really fascinating to see because it was traditional/nontraditional. They had the kind of traditional instruments pictured below, however, they increased the tempo a bit of the music. Meanwhile, there were break-dancers grooving to the beat. Seriously, artistically,probably one of the coolest things I have seen in Seoul, thus far.

Last weekend I went to a baseball game with a co-worker. A Korean baseball game, and an American baseball game are very similar...with some exceptions. The whole crowd sings really cheesy and effeminate songs. They hold this really long blow-up sticks that they hit together for the games entirety, oh yeah, and all of the players ( minus one) are Korean. I went with one of my co-workers from my school.

Rachel and I enjoying the game.Their half time show...these two guys came out and pretended like they were going to fight. They had been big bobble head guys, but when they took their heads off they had these masks on underneath. It was actually kind of odd.

This little kid had lost his family. He came up to the front of the stadium with his cell phone. He had been trying to call his father, but his Dad wasn't picking up his phone. Poor kid.

I just got done with a really long day at work today (Amanda, has off all week because she went to the Phillipines. So, we've been having to cover for all of her classes. Definitely have to be in high gear this week). Fortunately, we had yesterday off for this thing called Children's Day.

More to come soon. I'm going hiking this weekend with some of my Korean friends! :D

Miss, and love you all!