 |
| Jinju City Lantern Festival |
My co-teacher: “Sarah, we have three days
off next week, because of holidays. So no school Mon- Weds.”
I wish I had been told prior to the Monday
before. Andrew and I sat around talking about what we could do/where we could
go for a five day weekend so we didn’t let this free vacation go to waste.
After a wild scramble of researching
destinations, places to stay and pricing options, reality set in and sadly, we
were unable to leave Korea. The most logical location was going to be Taipei,
Taiwan, however, they were supposed to be hit by a tropical storm this past
weekend, so we didn’t want to risk being hostel ridden as it typhoons…we
already know what that feels like.
So we went to plan B. Stay in Korea, but
get out of Pohang for a little bit. So that’s what we did.
On September 29th, Andrew and I boarded a
bus and headed to our “hometown” in Korea, Ulsan. We wanted to check out all of
our old stomping grounds to see what had changed and what has stayed the same.
After a quick hour and fifteen minutes, we arrived at a familiar bus terminal.
I have to be honest. It was so strange being back in Ulsan. When we left in 2010, I never thought we would come back to Korea, let alone, step foot back
in Ulsan.
Not much had changed to “new” downtown. We
walked around a bit, got a smoothie and then got in a taxi to take a look
around “old” downtown. Again, not much had changed. Some new shops replaced the
old ones but the atmosphere was the same. We decided to save a little cash and
walk the 30 min to our old apartment. Again, surreal feeling. As we approached
our street, the first thing I noticed was my old school, and WOW, had that
changed so much! Hakesong had gotten a fresh new paint job, an indoor gym with
a skywalk connecting it to the main school and they got actual turf! No more
dirt field! I was so excited for them, what a huge difference.
As we were about to board a bus to check
out Andrew’s school, we passed his old haircut place. We took a thirty minute
break so he could get his $10 haircut from a familiar face! Yeompo Elem. hadn’t
changed much, but they got an indoor gym as well!
 |
| Costco: Cheeseballs and Crowds |
Before leaving Ulsan we made a trip to the
new Costco! Yes, Costco in Korea! We were like kids in a candy store, I wanted
to grab everything in sight! We got there at 6:30pm and it was closing early at
7pm due to the Chuesok holiday (Korean Thanksgiving) that was the next day. The
place was PACKED! Everyone was shopping like mad, the payment lines were the
longest I had ever seen and there was not a seat left at the food court. Korean’s
were stuffing themselves with Costco pizza and hotdogs. Andrew and I made a
quick plan at how to cover the most ground in 30 min and then we were off.
Cheese, salsa, chips, oatmeal, Clorox cleaning wipes, peanut butter, a blanket,
and frozen ravioli. Doesn’t seem like much, but those items are EXTREAMLY
expensive here and at Costco we could get more for our money! Something Andrew
and I began to notice as we lurked at the Korean’s carts, curious as to what
American products they gravitated to. Cheeseballs….the massive bucket of Cheeseballs
you can buy at Costco, EVERY cart had one! We had a good laugh when we saw the
cheesball display and there was only one left!! After about two mins, we saw
two little kids run to the display and grab the last one with satisfying
smiles. Hilarious! We loaded up our American goodness, and boarded a bus back
to Pohang.
Sunday, was the actual holiday, so most of
the city was shut down. Andrew and relaxed and took a long walk on the beach!
 |
| Setting our lantern afloat |
We ventured around the festival. It was
filled with tents of carnival games, interesting street food, and random
products for purchase. The place began to really get packed around 6pm, two
hours before all the lanterns were going to be lit. They had literally TONS of
lanterns. Hundreds floating on the river, thousands hung in archways with
wishes and dreams attached and even some floating ones that you could pay $3
for to make yourself. Andrew and I made one together, wished for a happy
marriage, and even got interviewed by a Korean news station about the process.
We are famous now!
Setting our lanterns afloat was such a
pretty sight. Glowing, and floating down the river, with our wishes attached,
it was a special moment. Until an couple hours later when we saw where most of the
lanterns ended up…such a depressing sight.
 |
| Rough journey... |
We lined the river with the other people
there to get a good spot to watch the fireworks display and official lighting
of the lanterns. It was supposed to start at 7:30pm, but it began fashionably late
at 8:05pm and was finished at 8:15pm. But wow, what an AMAZING fireworks
display! Korean’s know how to put on a show, this picture just does not do it
justice. When the show was over, we thought we would go the back way out of the
festival to “beat the crowd.” HAHAHA! Everyone took the back way. I had never
been pushed and tugged so much in my life. I can’t even describe the scene. (For
the KC people reading this, it’s like the cluster of people leaving Corporate
Woods on the fourth of July, but times 100, because there are 48 million people
living in a country the size of Indiana and I swear most of them were at this
festival!) We successfully made it out, sweaty and alive.
We would have loved to have seen another
country, like Taiwan, during our five day weekend, but then we would have
missed something as neat as the lantern festival going on right in "our own backyard!"
 |
| Amazing fireworks display over a river of lanterns! |
No comments:
Post a Comment