Lotus Lantern Festival

Buddha’s birthday is on May 10^th so we have another day off of school! There was another festival that was going on all weekend with numerous lanterns, crafts and activities. Jennifer and I met and luckily had some more beautiful weather! The festival was near Insa-dong in Seoul. There were tons of shows going on with people dancing and putting on little plays about Buddha.

They are making a picture with little colored sand grains

Some decorative lanterns

We pretty much hit up every craft tent to make different things like fans, key chains, candles, lotus flower lanterns and origami hanboks. There were tons of different kind of lanterns on display and for sale.

Buddha knows sign language

With some of the dancers/ lantern holders

 The Buddhist temple was covered in lanterns and there was a parade of lanterns once it started to get dark.

Buddhist Temple

windows

The Temple

Some lanterns

Dragon Lantern

Some lantern holders in the parade

Hi Seoul Festival

Since everyone had the day off for Children’s Day there was a big festival in Seoul called the Hi Seoul Festival. Since Children’s Day also coincides with Cinco de Mayo the foreigners like to put on a little festival of their own. Jennifer and I met up to go to Seoul and we started at a foreigner owned Mexican restaurant called Tomatillos. They had a big square with a live band and DJ. They had some Mexican food for sale with margaritas and Coronas. We had some Mexican food and watched the band play for a while. We met up with Stephanie and Jeremy while we were there.

Donations - you could throw won coins and try to get them in a bucket.

We then walked around the festival to see the other attractions. Kids were playing in the river and everyone was enjoying the amazing weather! There was an exhibit dedicated to the children of the Korean War with pictures. It was a pretty moving exhibit to show that not only adults are affected by war.

We then sat in a bit grassy field and bought bubble guns. The kids all loved the bubbles and wouldn’t leave us alone, they just wanted us to cover them with bubbles.

Tangled up in ribbons on the bridge

A view of Seoul and the Han River

Jennifer, Stephanie and I got something to eat by the Han River while we waited for what they called the Rainbow Drops show. This was in Hangang Park in Yeouido. This show used a giant crane and lifted people up. It was really crazy! They all wore white so you could see them a night as the lights were shinning on them. They also had fireworks for the show. I can’t really describe everything, but I did make a video that might give you a better idea of what went on throughout the day!

My Hi Seoul video!

http://youtu.be/MjKWDuOKcD0

Children's Day celebration

So, today is Children’s Day. Also, known as Cinco de Mayo, but here in Korea they celebrate the Children with a national holiday and no school! Yesterday we had a big party at school. All the kids got to dress up in their fancy clothes. Some of their definitions of fancy are only used by 5 year olds, but, none-the-less they were dressed up. They all brought in some food or fruit to share for lunch and we had quite the feast.

All of the 7 year olds went to the auditorium where the gym teacher was dressed up as a tiger and they got to dance on the stage, try and break boards and win candy! We then went outside for a little for more pictures and for them to just frolic in the sunshine! The kids were given a gift of t-shirts and chocolates for the holiday. There were no after school or after lunch classes and no teacher training for me, so it was an overall great day for all!

Rainbow class with their Korean teacher and me.

Rainbow class boys

Here is a video I made of the day. It’s my first attempt at a video so it certainly needs some work, but you might enjoy watching the kids try and break boards!