Chuseok and Mask Festival

Holy moly it's been a long time since I've posted. So, what has happened?

Well, I've started a new romance. It's with this country. I am sort of in love with it. Uh-oh! ^_^

Last weekend, I went to Gongju (about a 30 minute city bus ride) to visit my friend Kayla and genuinely loved it. We went biking down the river and sampled the beauties of the World Bakje Festival which lasts an entire month! Gongju was the old capital of Korea and it is absolutely an enchanting city. We also saw a lot of Korean men singing 80s songs in drag.

Then I worked for one day, Monday. My mentor teacher told me she was quitting. That was a low blow. I am not sure what I am going to do regarding that situation, but I am hoping for the best. <3


Then onto a week-long vacation for the Korean harvest festival, Chuseok! A celebration of family and ancestors and warm loving love! That night, Monday, I went home with one of the parent volunteers at my school and spent the night at her house. She is the mother of four beautiful children and lives in a huge old-style house, not fancy but a very warm house. They are just so happy and awesome. I helped her make a dinner of dukbogi (chewy rice cake, fish and vegetables in a red pepper sauce) and about 10 side dishes. She helped me with my Korean a great deal AND we got to make songpyeon, a rice cake specifically for Chuseok with a sweet grinded sesame seed filling! Yum!

I stayed until Tuesday morning, then hopped on the train to my friend Luke in Suwon, about an hour train ride northwest of Jochiwon. Luke has an amazing loft apartment! We watched old Treehouse of Horror Simpsons episodes! Suwon is a nice little city but the severe rains prevented me from seeing many sights. Sadface. I am thinking of my family and friends back home often and have written letters and bought many gifts.

Wednesday morning, I took off for Waegwan, a 2.5 hour train ride southeast from Jochiwon. There I met up with my super vegetarian friend Corrie and we went to Rangpang Donut, where we were awarded free donuts (because they didn't make new ones and they were day old.) Soon thereafter, Emily and Steph showed up in Waegwan and we reunited a dream team! Baskin Robbins ice cream for starters! Then we slid down the bike ramp. Video to follow, I assure you. Waegwan was chilly and rainy and wet on Wednesday, and I'd forgotten my umbrella.. But friends made it entirely insignificant! We sang songs, made Korean-version smores, and went on an inappropriately-dressed late-night trip to the super market that night. We crammed into one twin bed that night as well. It was pretty amusing.

Thursday we went to Rangpang Donut again, (Oh so wonderful-- I want one in Jochiwon!) and went shopping. I spent about 65,000 won and got a metric asston of clothing, including adorable shoes and Konglish shirts, like "FANGS ARE FNTASTIC" (picture with me and Stephanie) which I bought for $5. For dinner, we had Dominoes pizza in a parking lot, because there was nowhere else to sit. Then we had a fashion show back at Corrie's massive apartment. AND we made macaroni and cheese. Our strainer was a plastic shopping bag with holes poked in it!



Friday, we left for Andong, the place of the annual International Maskdance Festival. We didn't arrive until about 6:00pm, but we were able to see the opening ceremony which consisted of beautiful elaborate dramatic dance. I was starting to feel sick towards the end of the night and ended up making an early night of it. We all stayed at Katelyn's place in Andong, 2 in the bed, 8 on the floor! But the next day we ascended upon the gigantic festival! It was pretty amazing! The masks were beautiful, and though the weather had been very chilly, the sun gave us balmy weather during the day! We made masks, drank slushies, watched shows, got bombarded by 15 paparazzi men, were interviewed by Korean TV, watched fireworks had a grand time!

We hopped the train at 8:20 and I was home by 1:00am. It was an amazing time.

CHUSEOK VIDEO:
http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/annunciata/Korea/?action=view¤t=Chuseok.mp4