Wow have we been busy bees lately. The last week and a half included not one but two field trips and a beyond amazing weekend in Seoul. I have hundreds of photos and many great stories to tell. Oh and we booked our tickets to Thailand! It might be a good idea to grab a beer or snack for this one :)
Last week we traveled to a village over 400 years old for our first field trip and a few days later took a second trip to do some tomato picking. Both were fun and the kids were super cute. Except for when Prince (Smile's older brother) threw up all over himself in my van on the way to the tomato farm. I don't think further details are necessary. Overall they were both good trips and it's always great to get out of the classroom.
SEOUL! This Tuesday is Buddha's Birthday, so we get the day off! Not only do we get the day off, but we attended a giant parade and festival in Seoul to celebrate. Of all the Birthday parties I've been to- this one was definitely up there-I have to say Buddha knows what is up! We left Friday night right from work and arrived in Seoul around midnight. Saturday all the fun began. We spent the day walking around the city, I went to the most giant Forever 21 I've seen- with 3 floors- and we grabbed some food. The festivities began around 7 Saturday night - Lotus Lantern Parade! This was the first night time parade we've been to and also the largest parade we've ever seen.
There was a special section for foreigners with lots of white chairs all lined up on the street- score!! And let me just say that when I say foreigners, I mean foreigners. There weren't just Americans around us, but people from all over the world, the UK, Italy, India, Sri Lanka, on and on. I have never seen so many diversities all together at once. It was so cool. The parade was spectacular with tons of lanterns and dancers, illuminated stages and bands. It lasted over 2 1/2 hours.
While we were watching the parade, we decided the chairs just weren't close enough for us, so we joined the kids siting on the ground right up front. They kept asking people in the parade for their lanterns and the people would just give these giant lanterns to them! You know I wanted one. But let's be real, I'm not nearly young enough or cute enough to be asking these people for their lanterns. So I told myself maybe someone will just hand me one. I left empty handed. :(
After the parade was an after party/celebration. There was a giant stage with performers and dancers, and all the floats were lined up on the streets. We started walking around checking out stuff away from the stage and all the hoopla when we saw a small crowd huddled around the side of a building. We walked to see what was happening and found onlookers clapping and singing a song while a monk broke it down in a way I did not know monks could. This guy was a dancing fool. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. He had a lady dancing with him at first, and then they began pulling bystanders in to dance with them. It was awesome. Brendan helped me get on top on this giant metal box thing (I have no clue what it was, can you tell?) so I could see better. I was sitting on it enjoying the side show and all of a sudden an old lady came up to me and handed me up her lantern! I was so happy, I got my lantern and didn't have to beg for it!! :) I told Brendan I willed it to myself. The dancing monk and the nice lantern lady was the first magical thing to happen this weekend.
As we were watching the dancing and singing, we saw confetti falling from the sky in the distance where the giant stage and dancers were. We immediately started running towards it because we didn't want to miss the confetti falling. We arrived to a scene that I've only seen in movies. There were boatloads of never ending confetti shooting out of giant blowers, as people of all ages from all over the world were dancing in giant circles and party trains. It was out of this world. The people on the stage would do dances and the crowd would mimic those dances, it was hilarious and so fun. Everyone was having a blast and we were laughing the whole time. We took tons of videos and I'll be sure to post those. It was a dreamlike time.
Sunday was another day to remember. We actually went to breakfast- for the first time since we've been in Korea. It wasn't any old breakfast place either. Butterfinger Pancakes was the name of this spectacular establishment, with a menu bigger than the upper half of my body filled with every breakfast food imaginable, including a breakfast dessert menu. It was wonderful. After our feast we headed to the Lotus Lantern Festival. The streets were lined with tents with tons of activities to do and much to see.
We made bowls out of clay on a pottery wheel, I got my face painted, we made buddhist prayer bracelets, we wrote wishes down for monks and they blessed us and gave us keepsakes to take home, I made a lotus lantern headband, with a lotus flower sitting on top of my head (it was funny) and we had an accidental Indian photo shoot.
More on the photo shoot- I saw a girl dressed in a sari getting her photo taken and I've always wanted to try one on so I thought, "why not?" After we found out our $7 (7 won here) would go to a good cause - helping children in India- we decided to dress up in traditional Indian garments and receive a photo. The next thing we knew I was being dressed by 2 women for well over 10 minutes, wrapping me up like a present with layers of cloth, decorating me with head ornaments and bracelets...all while a not so small crowd began to form. Brendan and I were laughing hysterically as a giant group formed snapping literally hundreds of photos of us. A Seoul TV station asked if we minded being filmed, and our cute little photo op turned into what should have been a paid gig. Ha. I don't think either of us have had that much attention ever before, and those damn clothes were getting hot! :) It was really fun and something we'll always remember. Right now all I have is a picture of a picture because we haven't received the photo they promised to e-mail us yet.
The Lotus Lantern weekend was one we'll never forget and we hope to someday return and relive the magic with our family. We were thinking of you the whole time.
Look at all the people lined up.
I want to dance in a flower like her. :)
I love the colors.
Mama and babies.
This dragon breathed real fire. The camera wasn't quick enough to capture the flames.
This guy was awesome. I saw him and Brendan convinced me to ask him for a photo after about 3 tries.
Dancing monk.
I told you he knew how to get down.
