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We had a bit of time off a couple of weekends ago. There was a holiday called Children’s Day on a Thursday. Naturally the kids don’t have to go to school. For me as a child, that would have been awesome. But there’s more—their parents take them to the amusement park or somewhere else fun. Or they are given money and allowed to go around town unescorted. As a result, I observed some 7 year old boys hitting each other with balloon animals on the subway.
On Children’s Day there was a festival going on downtown called the Yangyeongsi Herb Medicine Festival. We went to scope it out. Two memorable events occurred. One was seeing slices of deer antlers being sold to put in tea. They defo imported them because there are not deer in Korea that I’ve seen. The second was that my two foreign friends were recruited to pound ingredients with a giant sledgehammer-type tool in order to make rice cakes. There was a huge crowd watching the foreigners. Someone called The Australian the best foreigner (at pounding or whatever it’s called). A note: humiliating yourself in public is really popular here.
The next Tuesday was Buddha’s
Ad on a Taxi
There were many of these taxis in the parade later Birthday, another national holiday. According to Wikipedia, it celebrates the birth of the Supreme Buddha, Prince Gautama, who founded Buddhism. In Korea, paper lotus lanterns are strung up at temples and in town. We went to see a nighttime parade in Daegu (see pictures). It kind of reminded me of a Memorial Day parade, in that there were groups of high school students and/or community members. However, it was more interesting because of the floats and the different clothes people wore. I enjoy events like that because Koreans are more outgoing; they seem to appreciate that we are taking an interest in their culture. Many people said hello and smiled at us when they saw us there.
On that long weekend I also hiked Mt. Ap (Apsan). It borders Daegu so it’s really close. In fact I could walk to it from my apartment—I would just need to find a trail. Anyway, it was really humid and warm that day. However, the Koreans on the trail had long track pants, windbreaker/sweatsuit shirts, gloves, and hats on. I don’t know how they didn’t die of hyperthermia. Also, most hikers are about 70 years old. We were hauling a** to get
Paper Lanterns
They released paper lanterns before the parade up the very steep beginning and they were waltzing back down like it was nothing. I couldn’t believe they had made it up there and yet they made it look like a piece of cake. One of my companions attributed their fitness to a lifetime of kimchi (Korea’s national dish). We did make it to the top, which was a relief. It was nice to be in the woods, but I prefer the other mountain, Palgongsan.
I had planned to go to Gyeongju last weekend, but my traveling companion was too hungover. So I decided to stay around Daegu instead. First I went to the Daegu Arboretum. Apparently it used to be a landfill, and they created the park on top of it. It was a Korean immersion experience, as I saw only one other foreigner. Many Korean families were out picnicking. There were couples on benches stroking each other’s hair and couples walking arm-in-arm, with the girl in a very short skirt and high heels, and holding an umbrella overhead to block the sun. There were young families—the mother or father with a baby strapped to his/her front and the other parent taking pictures. The highlight, though, was
Woobang Land
The parade was near Duryu Park. Woobang Land is an amusement park next to it. seeing a squirrel. This is the first wild animal I’ve seen here. It was quite a sensation with the Koreans too. So the Arboretum was good (and free), and hopefully we can picnic there in the future.
After the Arboretum I went to a market about a 20 minute walk from my house. I’d been seeing the sign for it, but hadn’t had the chance to go. I need some new shoes, so I thought I’d go and browse. It was the most organized market I’ve been to. Essentially it was more like a Korean shopping mall with only the ground floor. There were normal stalls, but the long aisles are covered by a glass ceiling. Also there are a good variety of different products interspersed together. Usually there is one whole area of fish/seafood, one whole area of tools, etc. But this market (Gwanmun Market) may have a shoe stall, a baked goods stall, a rice cake stall, and then a fish stall. Variety.
The big news in regards to my home life is that I finally got a toaster oven (unfortunately still without a microwave though!). So I have been baking up a storm. First I
made chocolate chunk cookies. Then I made banana bread. Two days later a friend and I made carrot cake for another friend’s birthday. Yes, I baked 3 different items in about 5 days and, yes, I ate most of them myself. Soon I’m going to try pita bread so we’ll see how that goes . . .
Those are the main happenings in my life lately. For the next post I hope to do some cultural differences and a summary of my students’ English speaking tests (a lot of insight into the life of a Korean middle school girl).
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Lizzy Straub
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Hello Laura! I miss you!
Hello Laura! It is so nice to see what your life is like there! I'm glad you finally got your toaster over! Those cookies look yuuuuuummmmmmmmyy! The elephant float was my favorite! I hope your are enjoying yourself and I look forward to hearing about your students. When does your school year end? I have about two weeks left till the end of my school year! Can't wait to read your next blog!