Advertisement
Published: August 8th 2007
Lotus Lantern Festival
Rebecca with some Sri Lankans...they were in love with her! Well I am writing to you from the inside of my little studio apartment on a sunny saturday afternoon. I have officially been in South Korea for three months...one third of the way already! Its so hard to believe how fast the first three months have gone by! It's crazy to think that when I come back to Canada that it will have been a year since I have driven a car and Edmonton will seem like a small city to be living in compared to Seoul! Things here are still going great and I have just finished up my first round of after school report cards. A more gueling task then I thought but now I know what to expect and can be more prepared for next time.
Last weekend we had the chance to venture out to the Lotus Lantern Festival. A celebration with traditional Korean lanterns in honor of Buddhas Birthday. It was a really neat experience and I was amazed, first, how many lanterns there were, and second, the art and meticulous work of the Korean people. There was a parade that night and all the floats had some sort of lantern part that was glowing!
Lotus Lantern Festival
The beautiful lanterns... It was amazing to see all the creations and the time and effort that these people must have spent on making them. It was an experience I will never forget. After the parade, a friend of mine (Rebecca) took Adam, Jasmine and I to a traditional tea house. The tea here was so delicious and I think this is a place that I will frequently be visiting! It was such a peaceful and relaxing place, perfect to sit and read or write or just be with your thoughts. The festival was great, couldn't have asked for better weather and I even have a lantern as a souvenir. Not too sure how I am going to get it home but I will think about that later!
As well as Buddhas big birthday celebration, I had a birthday of my own! The big 23! Yikes its so weird to think about being 23, not that that is an old age but I can remember when I was a kid and thinking about what I wanted to be doing when I got older. I dont think South Korea was ever in that plan but life has a way of taking you down many
different paths! My coworkers and I ended up going out for a huge buffet dinner at this place called Carne Station. Its an all you can eat and drink place so you can imagine how much trouble they got me into! We ended up going out for a bit after as well and I danced up a storm! It was a lot of fun and it was pretty sweet to be able to celebrate my birthday internationally! So that was friday night and then on Saturday we went to the Hyatt Hotel to watch Morgans Boyfriend's band play. The Hyatt is a pretty ritzy hotel in Itaewon and there was this special event going on so Morgan, Jasmine, Janice and I went to see the show. It was so much fun! Christians band is from Montreal and they are called "Exit T", they put on an amazing show and we all had a great time. So the weekend was successful and a great celebration.
Thanks everyone for the Birthday emails and messages, it was nice to hear from all you and to know you all haven't forgot about me! I miss you guys and I hope that you are all
Lotus Lantern Festival
Lanterns at the Jogyesa Temple doing well.
The weather has been really great here this past week so I am hoping it continues so I can get myslef out to a beach...the tan is lookin a little weak!
Keep in touch!
Much Love, Trena xox
P.s Go and see pirates of the Carribean 3...you won't be disappointed!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0805s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Your Guide Jordan
non-member comment
Happy Birthday
I had no idea that it was your birthday! Well...happy birthday! Looks like you had quite some time! I am now back in Canada, looking for work. Whata blast asia is! Looking forward to rewading the next blog!!