Nongae Festival

The wooden see-saw and acrobats

Nam river from the Fortress (pretty flowers:)

We will one day get around to paddle boating

One reenactment of Nongae

Concert (some little girl ran out and was dancing)

Sweet sound board

Uninspiring food festival with a giant bug on the rice thing

Fortress at night

Bull fighting

Interesting sculpted wall in Jinju

Jinju at dusk

This past weekend was the 7th annual Jinju Nongae (Pronounced Nongay) Festival.  There was a night of drinking followed by an afternoon of bull fighting and walking around the Jinjuseong (Fortress).  The bull fighting was sort of interesting but also kind of boring and sad.  It is where two bulls fight each other, there wasn't a lot of blood so that was good.  Basically, two bulls are brought out from the pens and faced towards each other.  They struggle for sometime and then one bull eventually gives up and runs away and so the other bull is the winner.  It was pretty funny when some of the bulls really didn't want to fight at all and would just walk away and stand and the men in the ring would be pulling them together to try and get them to fight.  It sure was an experience.  

Nongae was a Korean entertainer  during the Japanese invasion back in 1592 or somewhere around then.  She seduced a Japanese General to a rock outside the fortress and threw herself and him into the river to drown him.  The rock is now called Uiam or Righteous Rock.  During the weekend inside the fortress there were concerts and reenactments of Nongae's jump.  On Saturday night they had a reenactment where two people actually jumped in the river and the whole thing was broadcast on a big screen TV just inside the fortress walls.  They also had a giant blow up air castle type thing that was blue and kids could climb up this big ladder that led to the top of the rock and jump off, they even went so far as to have a Nongae and Japanese General doll that you could hold onto while jumping off the "rock" into the "river".  Saturday night there was also a concert which, looked like a dress rehearsal but I think it was the real thing because when we went back on Sunday it didn't look like there was going to be another concert.  However, Sunday there were three acrobats jumping on a extra large wooden see-saw and doing tricks as they jumped.  It was also the first annual Jinju Food Festival.  This isn't actually as exciting as it sounds, there were a number of tables with some pre-wrapped food that you could look at and a few things to taste.  

Look at that girl's awesome guitar!

Just Hangin Around

This weekend was pretty low key.  We didn't go and see any crazy sites or any crazy concerts.  Friday night we went to a bar called Soundgarden where they were having an amateur comedy night to benefit the Jinju Orphanage.  Two guys from New Zealand did the songs from the show Flight of the Concord, they obviously had the best accent for that and it was pretty funny.  They also had a special on sangria which, I was a bit wary of at first but it actually was very good.  We were able to meet even more foreigners.  It is really interesting to get all these different opinions about the city and Korea and living abroad.  I was talking to a woman from Canada who has been here for 2 years and she told me that if I want to learn the language I really have to seek it out.  When you find a Korean friend who speaks any English they only want to practice their English on you and not speak Korean.  Basically, it just means more hard work for us. We also were talking a guy who was trying to convince us that we should buy a motorcycle which, brings us to Saturday night.

Saturday we walked around downtown and found the tailor who will hem my pants for super cheap (like $2-3, not quite as cheap as Rosemary but it will have to do).  On the way home we decided to stop at E-Mart where we discovered that they have Brie and Camembert! (definitely not the best but good enough in times of little to no cheese).  We also decided to try some more of the cheap wine.  We hung out over at our friend Alexis's house on her very nice patio, a gorgeous night for sitting outside.  While we were there her roommate's girlfriend was talking to us and telling us about how she has two bikes one is old and one is newer and she is going to get rid of the old one. So, of course I said, well I'll take the old one if you are getting rid of it.  She explained to us all about the bike, how it really is nothing grand but will get you around and she wishes she could keep it but it just doesn't make sense, etc, etc.  In the end it turns out we can buy the bike off of her for 100,000 Won (~$100)!  There is something wrong with it that she is going to get fixed for us before we go and pick it up.  So, probably next weekend or the one after we will have our very first motorcycle and in Korea no less!  (Don't worry we will be wearing helmets whenever we ride it and it doesn't go very fast :-) ) 

Paid Finally

New Chair! ASSA!

Chilling at Ceasars

This was the sketchy manager that quit. If you see him running around Seoul slap him for us.

Pressure Point guide on the foot path

This ones for Bill!

I really did try smiling here! To cool I guess.

Grinning, taking a break from the foot path

Musical Fountains

Ana lays an egg!

Nam River bend

Painting and wrapping the silk lanterns for the festival

Buddha Rave. PBmmTsss PBmmTss

Dont cry!

Grrroar!

Can we try these on?

Zzyyzzx

Just got over another holiday weekend. Monday's off are special, but makes Tuesday that much harder. What was great about today was that we finally got paid. It is nice to be able to take care of ourselves again. We bought a colorful little lounge chair for our computer room and plan to start really filling in our apartment now. Groceries... check! We are mighty relieved.

Despite getting through the weekend without the pay we still managed to have fun. We are in the acquaintance of another American girl, Alexis, and her Korean boyfriend Iljin. She is from Michigan and lives down the street. We did a little double dinner date on Friday night and wound up hanging out pretty much the rest of the weekend along with other friends. 

Sangipsa is a great choice at Korean restaurants. It's basically little chunks or strips of pork that comes with vegetables and all the typical Kimchi sides. There is a little basket with leaves of lettuce also. Essentially the center of the table at these restaurants are the burners, so you cook all the pork up and fry anything else you choose (potato slices, halved garlic cloves, kimchi, etcetera...) and wrap up your combos in the leaf of lettuce, dip in some sauces and chow down. It's fun to eat, smells great, and is pretty damn cheap! 

Monday night there was this large televised concert in the park by the river, we later learned from a Korean bartender that it was the equivalent to a Rush/Moody Blues concert, or something. After our third Samgipsa dinner night of the weekend Alexis, Ana, and I strolled down to check it out. We got there right at the Encore/Zenith of the show and found ourselves in the middle of a clapping frenzied middle aged Korean mob. As the show let out it was close to chaos. Police whistles were blowing and there was a dust cloud hovering over the hordes of people that clawed out of the park and spilled onto the street. 

After the concert the three of us headed to this snazzy bar called Zzyyzzx, with lounge music and a balcony bar. It was there the bartender explained to us the nature of the concert.  The bartender's english was good. She made a super intricate rose out of a napkin and gave it to us. She has plans to go to Australia and Turkey. Her favorite band was the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

So that was the Gist of this weekend. Let the Film Roll....

Watch out for the Dust Mask Lady crawling at me like a Zombie at the end!

Holidays and more!

Setting up the picnic

Strange river scuba diving man

Mikey at the outdoor gym

Just monkeying around!

Lady setting up flags and kicking us out of our spot!

When you buy ice cream in SK you get some dry ice with it for the transport home.  We decided to play with our dry ice!

The mysterious dry ice!

Mmmmmm :-)

A beautiful tank we found to make Sputnick jealous, bubbles everywhere!

Beans, it's what's for dinner!

Monday was a holiday and tonight is Thursday and that means it's almost time for another 3-day weekend!! This Monday is Buddha's Birthday, who knew? But anyway this past Monday's holiday was grand (it was Children's Day, I think they should start that holiday in the US).  

It was a beautiful day so Mikey and I packed a picnic and went down to the river.  In between two parallel walking paths there are workout stations, basketball and some sort of volleyball stations interspersed with big patches of grass.  We laid out ate, lots of food, read and played frisbee.  It was very odd but for sometime we felt as though we were in a ghost town there were hardly any people.  I guess it's just not common to set up camp down by the river.   

At one point, a man rode up on his moped in this odd looking suit.  He parked hoped off his bike and within minutes was in the river scuba diving!  Oh yea, there's no swimming in the river.  We speculate he was collecting something because it looked like he came out with a bag full of something but who knows.  

Later we got kicked out of our spot by some old men and women who were playing croquet or something like that.  All and all great fun.

Later that day we got a call from another foreigner (Rian) who invited us out to dinner with some people.  Even though we had low funds we decided to take the opportunity to meet some new people and go.  Yummy Korean food (pretty cheap too) and then off to Bobo's (haha).

Bobo's is a place that we thought was a dance club when we walked by one Saturday night.  Turns out it's a pretty low key place (at least on Monday nights) that has pleather couches and pillows of black, red and white.  Looking past the decor it was a lovely evening where we got to meet even more foreigners! 

Oh yes, and how could I forget, Happy Parent's Day! (That's today's holiday here in the SK)

Hiking about

Our Apt. is behind those big white buildings, near the hills

Cheese!

Ancient Buddhist Temple vs. Modern High Rise Housing

Lush

If you look closely down past the last bridge at the dirt path, that's where I was!

Wild strawberries!

On the driveway walk up

On the trail

The driveway walking up

Jinju

The farm and hills

Pretty flowers

Trail marker (guess which way I went)

Banner of something in the middle of the woods

The trail

More trail

Some sort of fruit

A hill with a backhoe on it (for Bill)

Outdoor gym!!!!

Jinju

Mikey climbing the uphill monkey bars at the outdoor gym

And up....

To the other side! 

(he didn't actually make it all the way across, he cheated and started from the middle!)

City from the Mountain

Mikey at one of the pagodas

Yesterday we went on a short hike across the river up to the TV looking antennae that we can see from our side of the river.  It's about a twenty minute walk down to the river over the bridge to where the trail begins.  Then, over a very primitive looking railroad track, around a bend then, a quick right onto a dirt path about 1 foot wide. This is a trail head that can be easily missed as it is surrounded by gardens.  As you climb higher and higher the views get better and better.  The trail is very well maintained and even has labels on many of the trees and flowers to let you know what they are, scientific names in English and everything.  There are a couple of spots to stop and rest with picnic benches, a pagoda and a wooden deck.  Also, if you are feeling very ambitious there are of course workout stations!   

We didn't get to check out the whole scope of the trail yesterday so I went back for a second jaunt today.  Walking quickly (rain seemed imminent) I made it to the top  in less than 40 min.  Once at the top a short break for myself and then onward.  Following the trail marker for the longest trail, of  course, I went down some super steep rocks and found myself at another pretty viewing place.  Walking further along you feel as though you are in the middle of the countryside however, the sounds of the city are still ringing in your ears.  You can hear the cars and the sounds of a construction site.  All that aside it was quite a beautiful trail with many flowers and farm on the other side of the mountain with a baying goat.  

I only saw 2 or 3 other people on the trail.  I said, "Annyong haseyo" to them all some responded others did not.  One man was carrying a puppy who looked injured and he said something more to me, but of course, I did not understand and we just kept walking in our separate directions.   Once I made it down to the other side of the mountain I found myself at a road.  I walked down the road for a bit and found a dirt road that traveled along the river.  Thinking I would be smart and head towards the bridge that looked closer I kept walking in the opposite direction that I had come.  I got to the bridge that is still being built and contemplated hopping the fence and running across because the bridge is actually complete on the lowest level and I've seen workers walking across it during the week.  Then, I thought better of it, don't want to get arrested in Korea for trespassing or anything, and continued down the road.  There was another bridge didn't look like any pedestrian traffic could cross but I had to make sure, got there and no luck.  Well, I thought perhaps this road will lead all the way down to the lake and I can cross over there and walk back on the side of the river to home.  Walking, walking walking, I come to what looks like the end of the road, and "Ah ha" I spy a trail heading off the end of the road.  So, I head down the trail thinking, how clever and adventurous am I, and 50 feet in the trail abruptly runs into the river.  Well, no luck there looks like I'm going to have to make the walk all the way up the mountain and back to the bridge I came over across on.  

First though, one more unknown stop.  At the end of the dirt road is a paved looking driveway with two stone pillars that have Japanese writing on them and a big banner up above that says something in Korean.  So, why not venture up this insanely steep driveway and see what's at the top? Up, up, up, I go around curves and up some more.  At the top I come across a little building that is a public restroom and a little further a map of some trail.  I look at the map and have no idea where it is I am on the map, they can be very hard to decipher, I haven't figured out what the "You are here" symbol is yet.  Anyway, there is was looks like a temple/house just in the distance, a van in a carport and a couple of dogs leashed up.  As I am standing there looking 3 people come out and are sitting on the porch drinking something out of mugs.  Thinking this is someone's house but not entirely sure I decide it would be best for me to turn back and head home.  Down and up and down and up and down and over back home.  Thank goodness it didn't start raining until I was crossing the bridge back to my side of the river and I had brought an umbrella with me (so smart ;-))