Spring has FINALLY Sprung in Korea!!

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First off, Happy Easter to all! We hope you had a wonderful, relaxing Easter weekend and enjoyed the fantastic weather!! Here in Korea, as with most holidays we are used to celebrating, this weekend felt nothing like Easter to us! After a colder and rainier than usual March, April has brought us some warmer and sunnier weather and we could not be more thrilled!! After being cooped up for the winter months, we are anxious to get out and explore more of this beautiful country.

For me, the weekend started on a sour note as just after lunch on Friday my school informed me that they needed lesson plans for both my before-school and after-school extra class for the entire semester. Only, they needed them by the END OF THE DAY! Needless to say, I was less than impressed, especially given that I am never told anything until the last minute (or after the thing has occurred) so it is very likely that they knew this information for days and neglected to tell me until 1:00 on Friday. Poor Mike had to deal with my venting after school so we went to our favorite samgipsal restaurant to cheer me up, then we met our friends at the bar for a birthday celebration.

Saturday we went into Busan, to the Haeundae Beach area where we met up with some friends and walked along Dalmaji St, also known as Art Street. This long, windy road is lined with beautiful cherry blossoms (which were about half bloomed) and art galleries/cafes. Since this was the first weekend with really nice weather, the sidewalks were packed with people itching to get out and enjoy the sun. Even though the cherry blossoms were not in full bloom, the bright pink buds and the emerging flowers were so pretty! The cameras never stopped snapping! We visited one art gallery called RED, where, you guessed it, all the paintings were red! It was a tiny gallery, but had some amazing pieces of art!

After a relaxing coffee break by the beach, we all went to PNU to check out a new Indian restaurant, which was amazing! Now, I have not eaten much Indian food before (or ever) but this curry and tandoori chicken was simply delicious and authentic!!

Sunday we went with James and Sarah to Jinhae, cherry blossom capital of Korea. Jinhae is the host of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the biggest festival in Korea which draws up to 2 million visitors each year in 2 weekends! That's a lot of people to cram into that little city! Luckily, every street is lined with cherry blossom trees, as far as the eye can sea! The city is literally turned into a sea of pink and white for a couple weeks in March/April.

It was about a 1 hour bus ride from Busan to Jinhae and the festival was in full swing when we arrived. Many streets were lined with vendors selling all types of food (including 'cherry blossom dumplings'!), clothes and there were even carnival-type games where you could win prizes. The difference with these carnival games is that, while some booths gave away the typical stuffed animals as prizes, others had bottles of alcohol as prizes! Those attracted many people!!

We did the obligatory walk down the famously depicted cherry blossom alley, which is a stream with walkways and cherry blossoms lining both sides of the stream. Despite the trees not being in full bloom, it was a gorgeous sight and we can't wait to see what it looks like this coming weekend when we return!

After having enough of the cherry blossoms, we went to the harbour front for a "free yacht cruise" that was advertised in our festival guidebook. We waited in line for close to an hour for this free yacht ride, not quite knowing what it would entail since no one spoke any English. It was sunny and there were kiddie rides nearby so the wait was not so bad. Finally, it was our turn to board the "yacht" which was more of a small boat for our "cruise" which was more like a 15 minute ride. It was over before we knew it, but it felt wonderful to have the wind blowing in our faces, breathe the fresh air and feel the hot sun beating on our skin! It was invigorating, albeit a little short!

Jinhae is also home to a large Naval base and academy so we walked around that, getting to tour an old turtle ship that was used in combat hundreds of years ago and see other old combat artifacts. After dinner, we went back home, exhausted from a long day of walking and pushing our way through the hordes of people in Jinhae for the same reason as us.

Looking around Yangsan this week, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom now and hopefully they will be in optimal viewing for our second trip to Jinhae this weekend with our visitors! Friday night we have 4 special people coming to visit for 10 days and we are so excited to see them and show them our life in Korea. Mike's mom, brother Chris, aunt Christine and Uncle Larry are about to board their loonnnng flight to Busan! We have a busy, action-packed 10 days planned for their trip, so hopefully they are ready for the adventure! We'll keep you posted on their trip and their takes and opinions of Korea!!!

As always, we miss you and think of you all often! It's hard to believe that the end is in sight here (although it's still a ways off)...less than 5 months left!

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