Cheongsong Sagwa Festival

 

Lots of varieties of apples.

 

Apple arch!

 

My new best friend.

 

Fellow foreigners!

Today I took a two and a half hour bus ride (both ways) to 청송 (Cheongsong) for it's 사과 (apple) festival. I went solo, but found a group of foreigners who were also traveling to the festival. Ironically, they were supposed to meet up with a different Tara, but she never showed. So I happily filled the void and hung out with them for the day. I was really happy to have people to share the event with, because it made it more fun. And they were a really nice group of people! We had lots of free samples of delicious apples and fresh-squeezed apple juice. We also got to snack on bulgogi (bbq), soup and apple chocolate. The festival had a lot going on, with different shows of traditional singing and dancing. I joined in for some of the dancing and was greeted warmly. After the dancing ended, I was showered with free apples! It was so sweet of the people there. I think they enjoyed a foreigner getting in the mix instead of just spectating. One woman in particular (pictured above) was very enthusiastic and kept hugging me. It was so cute! I'm glad I decided to check out the festival, because it was a really good time, and I now have lots of delicious apples to munch on.