Sorry about the long last post... But that wasn’t the end of
my weekend. There’s still Easter Sunday. I woke up early and went to church in
Seoul. They were selling overpriced Easter eggs in the courtyard of the
cathedral, so naturally I bought one. A few minutes later as I was walking
through Namdaemun Market, I random lady accompanied by several kids walked up
to me, told me it was Easter, and gave me another one. I ate them both after I
got back to Suwon. The one from the church was mysteriously brown, but I had
seen eggs like that before, so I ate it anyway.
From the lady on the street
Nicely wrapped and dyed
It didn't taste bad at all
The weather was gorgeous, so I went for a walk after lunch.
DBSK grafitti
Yay! Sunshine!
Random house/tower
I ended up back at the stream running through Suwon which looks much nicer now that
spring is almost here.
There were even ducks
I followed the stream for a while and ended up at a park
next to a large lake. There was a fire truck and an ambulance there. I think
someone may have nearly drowned. L
Fire truck
With a rescue boat on an island in the middle of the lake
Walking through the park, some foreigners were passing a
soccer ball around and invited me to play. I saw no reason not to, so I did.
After a while, some Korean kids joined our game. Five westerners against four Korean
boys. They ended up beating us during the penalty kicks.
All the soccer players
The foreigners, most of whom were English teachers, invited
me to stay, so I ate their food and attempted to communicate via whispers. We
also played Uno and apples to apples, generally having a great time. When the
sun started going down, I walked the mile back to campus.
Blooming flower pots
Stepping stones across the river
Sunset-ish
Just for grins. I bet you weren't expecting that...
Getting ready to plant crops
Unknown flowering tree on campus
In all, spring is pretty much here. Many trees are already
blooming, though most are still bare, and the weather (at least today) is warm
enough for me to wear shorts. I’m so glad winter is finally over. J
Man. I think the past few days had the potential to be some
of the best in Korea thus far, if not for my having misplaced my voice sometime
Thursday evening while out with the photography club. Today makes three days
total that I haven’t been able to speak above a whisper. It kind of really
sucks, but I made do and had a great time anyway.
My weekends start Thursday night since I don’t have class on
Fridays, so I went to a SAPA study meeting (I arrived late and didn’t learn
anything), and afterwards went with them to eat delicious chicken from a
skillet. If you haven’t caught on by now, Korean eating is a very communal
experience. It’s very awkward to eat alone, and many restaurants offer portions
for multiple people that are cooked directly on the table. Everyone eats from
the same dish, though smaller bowls are sometimes offered for you to spoon your
food into.
After midnight, it was one guy’s birthday, so some of his
friends purchased a cake which we all shared, after the birthday song (sengil chuka
hamnida) and some routine hazing (everyone added an ingredient to a bowl
which the birthday boy had to drink). This was pretty much the last time I
could talk all weekend.
The birthday boy on the left. Seongjin helped him out with the dreaded concoction.
Friday, I went with Eomji to try to get my cell phone
working. That was lots of drama and a lack of communication on all fronts. Long
story short, I still don’t have a working phone, though I do finally have a
working SIM chip.
Eomji is a manager of the football club, so we met up with
them and ate dinner. The SKKU foreign students then went for a foreigner’s
night out. I met the other exchange students that had been in Suwon for a
semester already. I had fun, but it would have been better if I had been able to speak…
Meh.
Saturday was the HI-Day tour, organized by the HI-Club. We
went to a Korean folk village in Yong-in City, about a thirty minute bus ride away
from Suwon. The Seoul exchange students were there as well, and I saw a few people that I had met before. The first planned event was pottery making. We got to make pottery using the traditional Korean method, using two slabs of clay, one for the walls of the vessel and one for the bottom. They are going to fire our pieces and deliver them to us. I really enjoyed the ability to exercise my creative juices, and hopefully my pitcher will make it to Suwon in one piece.
Entrance plaza
This guy explained how to make the pottery
All the exchange students and HI-Club buddies
Part of the Suwon group with their masterpieces
Small boy sweeping dirt...
This guy was selling sweet rice candy. I bought some later from another vendor
Flowers!!!
Dried corn and herbs hanging from the rafters
This guy was making straw baskets
More flowers!!!
Spinning silk
These are silkworm larvae. A filament of silk from each goes into the main thread
Finished skeins of silk
A loom
Chestnut roasting ajumma
This is a traditional Korean game. You try to throw the spears into the pot
Jumping rope. A worldwide past time
I caught the tail end of a vocal performance: girls in heels playing traditional Korean instruments (plus electric violin) and singing the arirang. Arirang is a traditional Korean song with many different versions. This one was sung using the Korean style of singing, which takes a while to get used to. Have a listen.
The courtyard of the provincial government office contained several torture devices.
Whatever did the poor girl do to deserve this?
Chair of doom
This is how it works. Apply pressure and your thigh muscles are squeezed into oblivion.
In the jail
There was an equestrian performance, though my friend said it was Mongolian style, not Korean.
Performers and their horses
The only female
Pyramid!
Next was the farmers' music and dance performance. The noise was horrendous, and most of the performers were wearing hats with long ribbons on them that they would spin around by bobbing their heads. You'll have to see it to get the full effect.
This fine lady was the announcer for all the events
The creator of the annoying wailing noise
More performers
The last performance we got to watch was a tightrope walking old man. He was quite the comedian as well if the audience reactions were any indication. Too bad I couldn't understand him.
Climbing up
He made it look so easy.
Taking a rest
We also got to see part of a reenactment of a traditional wedding.
Here comes the bride
And the groom
At the market...
The spoon making process
The smith hard at work
There was a nice little waterfall
Water wheel
Korean dog, not for food I think
The easy way across the river
This lady took the much narrower path
Making acorn jelly
The sweet rice taffee was rather tasty
That was pretty much the end of the tour. Most everyone went to Seoul for the afterparty, but I decided to take it easy to give my voice a chance to recover. Back in Suwon, I tried the traditional Korean food for sick people, juk, or porridge. Two of my friends went with me to help me order since I couldn't speak.
The cute takeout bag
I now have a tupperware container
Mushroom and oyster juk. It tasted better than it looks
