Cherry Blossoms

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So this past week was an interesting one. School seemed to fly by and the week was over before it had even seemed to begin. On Thursday one of my Korean friends took me to a traditional Korean Tea House, it looked like an ancient temple, it was even on a mountain and I had to climb some precarious stairs to get to the top. There was traditional soothing music playing and I sipped on an herbal tea that was supposed to cleanse my blood, I am not sure if it worked or not, but I felt really good after two glasses. I asked my friend what the name of the place translated to and he replied "100 year old tea house", my jaw dropped and I asked if it was really that out. To my dismay he just laughed, apparently it had been built sometime in 2002. Those crazy Koreans! I swear living in this country is like living in the some sort of Sim City Game. Buildings come up and down before your eyes, the entire city I live in was built in less than ten years, before that it was farm land, the building next door to my apartment will be done in just a few more weeks and they started like two months ago. Seriously everyday I am more and more amazed by the speed at which the landscape is changing.

So anyway onward to something more traditional. On Saturday Jonny, Michelle and I went to Jinhae for a huge Cherry Blossom festival (I forwarded everyone a link to this album). It was really a good time, and very inexpensive. We opted for the bus over the train this time and were pretty happy with our decisions, aside from a little traffic on the way home, our trip was fast, comfortable, and cheap. So no complaints there. I got a ton of pictures in Jinhae and bought a new backpack as well. One of my favorite moments there was when Jonny put on a giant Soju Bottle costume and started dancing around. It was pretty hilarious. After hours of wondering around shops and seeing some pretty crazy shows, we finally came across the observation tower, which made the whole trip worth while. We could see everything from up there, the coast line, the mountains, the cherry blossoms, and the festival itself. If you have any questions about the pictures please let me know, I didn't have time to caption them.

After I got back from the festival I ended up going out for a Soju night. I got a little tipsy and at the end of the night tried to jump on a concrete pillar, but ended up slipping and doing banana peel routine right on my ass. If you saw it you probably would have laughed because that is just the type of thing that happens to me. I twisted my ankle and gave myself a pretty sizable bruise on my butt. All and all it was a good night.

As for yesterday, easter sunday, I found that Koreans really dont celebrate it, despite being a predominately Christian nation. My coworker and her husband took me to church which was much more of an undertaking than I had anticipated, and lasted well into the evening. I gave up on doing anything else that day, which was the wrong decision in hindsight because I left my friend Kat hanging in Gumi and she's not doing so well here in Korea. I am hoping to make it up to her last weekend. But my penence was hobbling around downtown with a swollen ankle the whole day. It was a good experience and I feel a lot more connected with my coworker now, too bad she is leaving soon.

Well that's it for now. I'll send off another email soon, because I have alot more to write about, just dont have the time at the moment. I hope to hear from everyone soon! I've got a phone card so let me know when would be good to call! It'd great to hear everyones voice!

Wishing you all the best!

- Matt

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