Cherry Blossom Festival Part One - Friday Night and Sataurday

Tasha told me during the second last break at school on Friday that all of the teachers were going out for supper. I don’t know when it was planned, but at least they told me this time. After school, the teacher, Mr. Kim, the director, and the bus drivers went to a near by samgupsal place. This was the place that shut down very suddenly, was completely renovated, reopened in about two weeks under a new name, and under new ownership. Being the only foreigner, (Sally didn’t come because she was sick) I just sat there quietly eating the never-ending supply of samgupsal, and drink the endless flow of beer. Occasionally, I was called upon to answer questions about Bryan and his visit. (“Yes, of course he is handsome.” “Three months”. “Yes, that is a long time, but not long enough”. “No, I have made no plans. He can easily entertain himself”. “No, I don’t have a picture”...etc.) However, I was clearly not getting drunk alone. Skinny Korean girls get drunk fast. Soon there was much laughter and joking and the director tells us he’s getting married in Korean, there was a pause and then the ladies all make loud exclamations and and clapped their hands and I had no idea what was going on and then they looked at me expectantly and I stared back blankly. Finally Tasha told me the director was getting married. I gave the appropriate expected reaction.
Most of the teachers are married and many have children, so I figured dinner and home. I was wrong, of course the director wanted to go to a noraebang, so at about 12:30 we rolled out and I followed along. This is the first time I have properly noreabanged with Korean females. It was awesome. They sang all the best songs too. Gee Gee Gee, Nobody, and other hits that were before my time. I sang To Be With You and everybody knew it. And later I sang Complicated and then politely took my leave. It was already past 2:00 and I knew I would have wake up at 5:00.
After a solid two hour sleep, I was up and atom at 5:00. I had to meet Sarah and Amber at 6:15. All the people on the subway were very tired looking, a combination of those going to work and those coming home from partying. In the past I have only been on the subway that early on my way home. It felt very different to be headed out instead of headed home. We went to Jamsil to meet Song-Hoon and his friend, whose name I don’t know and never learned although I spent the rest of the weekend with him. They had rented a car for the weekend because it was cheaper than taking the train and we could go to more places. We were on the road by eight. Obviously, I fell asleep almost as soon as we were driving.
Our first stop was a rest stop, Korean style, which means extra awesome. We just grabbed some snacks and used the facilities. The boys, had a breakfast of Ramyeon (noodles). The girls grabbed chips and cookies. We almost got to use the batting cages at the rest stop, but they were broken. Damn it.
Our first real stop included a hike up to a real Buddhist temple. The kind where monks actually live. It’s for worshiping, not just site seeing. Although, we were there for site seeing. Apparently Buddha’s birthday is coming soon and the temple was decorated with colourful lamps. Song-Hoon warned me not to steal anything. Although there was this great turtle statue that I really wanted to lug home. I think he knows I’m joking.
After this temple we drove for a about an hour more. Our next destination was a Korean folk village. Think Mennonite Heritage Village but with Koreans. I kept asking Song-Hoon about all the traditional Korean things, like the traditional Korean cowboy hats and the traditional Korean giant plastic pens, and the traditional Korean pencil cases and pointing out the traditional Korean CCTV and the traditional Korean fire hydrants. I think he knew that I was joking. (“No, no Dee, they are not traditional, no no” “sure sure Song-Hoon, NOT traditional, sure.”)
Occasionally, the authentic Korean folk village illusion was shattered when we caught those in costumes chatting on their cell phones (hand fones). Also, the giant plastic pens and I don’t think there were any cowboys back in the Unified Sila period, but I could be wrong.
After the folk village, we visited the Sunchoen Bay Wetlands. Think Oak Hammock Marsh but in Korean. We walked on the boardwalk through the wetlands and then climbed a million stairs for a nice view. This prairie girl really hates walking up hills, but it is always worth it when I get to the top. I tend to remember the spectacular view and not the hideous climb to get there.
Down at the bottom again, we snacked on some hard boiled eggs and carried on to find a hotel and place for supper. Both were apparently much more difficult than anticipated. We stopped at one hotel, but it was way out of our price range. We continued to search, unable to find hotels and then finally we did, but they were all full. By this time we had driven Hadong, where this Cherry Blossom festival is held (apparently there are many). All the hotels were full, so in traditional Korean style, we headed to the nearest jjimjilbang.