Spring at Bugil

The Cherry Blossom Festival last weekend was a bust.  It was rainy and cold, and none of the trees were in bloom.  

(There was still ice cream though, so it was a pretty good festival in O.'s opinion.) 

On Monday, it snowed in Seoul. 

On Thursday, it snowed in the province to the south of us. 

On Friday, it finally felt like spring.  So, G. and the kids and I went to S.'s school for a picnic.  Beautiful. 

The walk up to school.

The magnolias were in full bloom overhead as we ate. 

The kids were playing in the grass.

We watched some baseball.

 

And some BASEBALL...they won the national championships last year.  

 

We took a break for some music. 

And reveled in the beauty of cherry blossoms, finally blossomed. 

    
        

Saturday night

So, S. was going out one Saturday night with his friends.  He left pretty late, and even though O. wasn't asleep yet, S. thought for sure I would be putting him to bed shortly.  

About 15 minutes after he left, this is the photo I sent him via text message. 

Then about 15 minutes after that, this is the photo he received. 

It was a late Saturday night for all of us.  

  

haircut

Well, I finally broke down and took O. to get his hair cut "professionally" instead of doing it myself.  (Ok, it could have been our friend G. telling O. over and over how fun it would be to get his hair cut in a shop that convinced him, which then convinced me.)

Anyway, he was a bit apprehensive in the beginning and wanted me to hold his hand, especially once the hair dryer came out.  (I was too as she started cutting around his ears and saw mommy's very crooked handiwork...)  But, while G. got her hair cut, we got bouncy balls to play with and ice cream for all afterwards.  No wonder he told me later that he always wants to go to the hair shop.  

 

Starting to warm up!

 

Can you tell we don't use a hair dryer at home?

Hey look, it's G. in the background!

 

All done!  Great job!

 
  

Bear tree park

Ahhh, one of those places that you just can't do justice to in description, even with pictures.  Imagine Longwood Gardens on a smaller scale combined with the strangest zoo ever (for those of you not familiar with this plant wonderland - it's over 1000 acres of greenhouses, meadows and fields filled with beautifully landscaped and arranged flowers of all manner).  

We had a gorgeous day in the middle of the week, so the place was practically empty as we wondered around the wonderfully seussical trees, over hills and through greenhouses filled with petrified wood sculptures, bonsei trees, water lilies, cacti, orchids and countless other flowers.  

We saw baby deer, peacocks, chickens, parakeets, reindeer, and bears.  And when I say bears, plural, I mean LOTS of bears.  

 

 

 

 

 
  

 
 
  

 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the bears coming over because...

 

my friend is feeding them bugles.  yes, the bears like snacks.

 

 
 

 
 
  

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

Vacation, part 3

So I realized that I never finished the vacation summary, and we went somewhere else new last weekend, so I have lots of catching up to do!  First things first though, the last day of our vacation.

**Ok, so total fail by me...I started writing this and then got distracted....and omg, it's almost like a month later.  Ack, I don't even have any good excuses....oh well, here goes...again...**  

We packed up and took pictures of the house where we stayed to show what a traditional Korean house is like.  Very little furniture (the table is low to the floor since that's where you sit to eat, and the legs fold up so you can tuck the table away when not in use), no beds since you sleep on the floor, and no separate shower - just a shower head in the corner of a sunken bathroom.  

 

 

We got ready to head out to Andong for our last day, but before we left one of our traveling companions found some bamboo that had fallen overnight.  We borrowed a hacksaw and took some lengths for pencil holders, special soju, and bamboo rice.  (Just a sidenote...we tried soju that was aged in bamboo for a few months at a restaurant last night and it was delicious!  Slightly sweet and fruity...have to get out that bamboo and try to home brew some.)  

After some sawing and drumming with our new bamboo pieces, it was off to Andong - and more specifically the Hahoe folk village on the Nakdong River.  According to wikipedia, "The Yu clan of Pungsan established the Hahoe Folk Village in the 16th century during theJoseon Dynasty and has been a one-clan community since that time. The village is notable because it has preserved many of its original structures, such as the village Confucian school and other buildings, and maintains folk arts such as the Hahoe Mask Dance Drama('Byeonlsin-gut') which is a shamanist rite honoring the communal spirits of the village."

Unfortunately for us we missed all of the mask dramas by like 2 weeks, which could explain why the entire village was empty save one or two other families.  It was beautiful though and we definitely want to go back and explore more. 

 

 

S. the acrobat is back, showing us the Korean seesaw or nolttwigi.  Traditionally in the village, women were kept separate from men by means of stone walls and separate buildings.  The women would use these nolttwigi and swings to get glimpses of life outside the walls of their compounds.  

 

 

Ok, so once again S. has been talked into demonstrating traditional Korean culture for us.  Here he is showing us a punishment for wetting the bed.  Evidently children would have to wear this rice winnower (Is that a word?  Its a shallow basket used for separating the grains of rice from the chaff) on their heads and then go to the all the neighbors begging for salt.  Not sure about the efficiency of it, but it does make for another lovely picture of the white guy.  

 

 

Lunch was an Andong specialty - dak jim, or chicken, potatoes, noodles, and other veggies in a spicy soy sauce based sauce.  Delicious.  

 

And finally, some random O. pics from the day....enjoy!