Strawberries and Blossoms

 Mmm... warm, delicious hotteok!

 

Dancing and having a blast!

Last weekend I headed to Nonsan with Elizabeth (as part of a large tour group) for a strawberry festival. Sadly it was quite a cold, rainy day. But I still managed to enjoy the festival, and I will probably go again next year! We mostly walked around, visiting the different booths. At one point in the day, there was a dance competition for foreigners that I obviously took part in. I didn't get chosen as an outright winner, but I certainly had a blast. And I got a strawberry plant for braving the stage (though I ended up tossing the plant, because there is really no where to put it in my tiny apartment). The festival didn't have a whole lot else in the way of entertainment, but there were plenty of foods that incorporated strawberries. And they were delicious! My favorite strawberry-infused item was the hotteok (it's kind of like a cinnamon syrup-filled pancake). It wasn't easy getting the hotteok though. When we first got in line for it, the ladies ran out of dough, giving the last one to the person before me. Ugh, bummer! So Elizabeth and I diligently returned to the booth about five times, until our persistence was finally rewarded with a new batch of freshly cooked hotteok. I also really enjoyed the strawberry ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries I had. We also sampled wraps, rice cake and jams that incorporated strawberries. It was really all quite tasty. But nothing compared to the absolute deliciousness of picking strawberries right off the plants at a nearby strawberry farm. We were able to pick strawberries for about 30 minutes, filling up tiny containers and cramming as many in our mouths as our bodies could stand. I ate a ridiculous amount of strawberries, but they were just so good! Definitely the most delicious strawberries I have had in my life. I basically want to go to the festival again so I can go back to another strawberry farm and pick excellent, fresh strawberries!

 Jinhae

 

Making rice cake!

On Sunday Elizabeth and I joined up with another tour group bound for Jinhae. It was quite an adventure getting there. About 10 minutes into the journey, and before even getting out of Daegu, a car cut off our bus and we crashed. Luckily we weren't hurt. But it did set us back about 20 minutes waiting for everything to get sorted out with the police and insurance swapping. I guess now I can say I experienced my first (an hopefully only!) car accident in Korea (actually, now that I think about it, it may be my first car accident ever). But on we finally went to Jinhae! We were under the impression we were going to a cherry blossom festival, but it turns out that the festival was actually to celebrate the armed forces in Korea. The festival was pretty typical of most Korean festivals, and sadly wasn't as beautiful of a setting as I had hoped. Jinhae is known for its cherry blossoms, but unfortunately many of them were gone by the time we arrived, either from growing out or being washed away by the rain the previous day. But luckily we stumbled across a nice set of trees still filled with the blossoms. So we were able to get some nice pictures! As with most festivals, we also enjoyed some tasty treats. For lunch we had seafood pajeon; snack was red bean-filled dough balls; dinner were doner kebabs. It was a delicious day of eating and leisurely strolling around Jinhae. We also climbed up to an observatory on a hill. It had stunning views of the festival and the nearby ocean. It was quite a spectacular sight! I will probably skip this festival next year, but it was nice to see once.

Colorful Crabs

This past weekend I joined two outings that were both a great time! On Saturday, my friend Katt and I joined in with a group headed to Yeongduk for the annual Snow Crab Festival. The festival was a bit small, and we were able to see everything it had to offer fairly quickly (even with Katt’s broken foot setting the pace!). But it was a nice, relaxing trip. And also delicious! We were able to try so many delicious crab dishes, and lots of free samples! We had free samples of crab legs, makgeolli, and cream-filled bread to name a few. The dishes we purchased were quite delightful. We enjoyed a crab soup (my least favorite item), a crab wrap, crab spring rolls and a crab pancake-like food (my favorite item). We also tried the chicken skewers you can find at any Korean festival for good measure, since we had wanted to try them for a while, but for whatever reason failed to do so at festivals we previously attended! It was all scrumptious and incredibly cheap! I was so happy to eat so much fresh crab. And there were thousands of them in tanks or laid belly-up on display. There were also many other sorts of sea creatures, including lobsters, octopus and an intriguing looking animal that looked like a combination between a fish and an eel. Over all it was a delightful trip, and a festival worth checking out at least once!

On Sunday Katt and I joined forces again for the Holi Hai festival in Busan. Holi Hai is an Indian festival that is celebrated each year to welcome spring. Basically you wear white and get a rainbow’s supply of richly colored powders. Then you shout, dance and prance with joy while throwing the colored powders in the air or at your friends (or complete strangers too!). Face paint is also distributed (think of the acrylic paint you use in elementary school) to paint everyone around you with. The goal is to get as colorful as possible. If you do it expert level, no one will even be able to tell your outfit started out white! The party got into full swing after we became Easter eggs, and everyone danced to the blaring techno music. It was a great time.
Ever since going to India, and first hearing about Holi, I have desperately wanted to take part in a celebration of the event. While I would certainly love to attend one in India, I was very happy to join the Indians in Korea (along with other foreigners and Koreans) to celebrate at Haeundae Beach. We didn’t dance away the entire day at the beach, but decided to get a nice cup of coffee to help warm ourselves up. Later we went to a nearby “Hawaiian” restaurant and enjoyed a very scrumptious buffet lunch, though I’m not sure where the Hawaiian food came into play. Our colorful faces and attire got us some side glances, and stopped dancing children in their tracks (their faces quickly registered fear and confusion upon seeing us), but most people just seemed to chalk it up to foreigners being crazy foreigners. I did have a couple moments in the meal when I just started laughing, because I realized how ridiculous we looked, but it just added to the general merriment of the festival. It was a great day and I certainly plan to go again next year!

Catching Up

Well hello again! As usual, I have gotten caught up in living life, and have failed miserably to update this neglected blog. So be prepared for a peppering of what I have been up to these past few weekends.

On March 2, I traveled to Cheongdo to watch some bull fighting, taste persimmon wine in a wine tunnel, hang out at a park and see a light show. It was a fun day trip and a great group! And I was really excited to watch the bull fights, since I didn't end up making it to the Jinju bull fighting festival. I really enjoyed the bull fighting, but sadly we were only able to watch two matches. It is pretty civilized as far as animal fights go. Two bulls are brought into the ring to face one another. The bulls size each other up and can choose to fight or run. In both rounds I saw, the bulls tangled for a while, using a variety of techniques with their horns and bodies. Finally, one bull is declared the winner when his competitor runs off. Then the bulls are taken from the arena and it is prepared for the next set of bulls. There didn’t seem to be any mistreatment of the animals, and the bulls get to decide when, if and how long they want to fight. It is a pretty popular event in Korea, so it was nice to see it firsthand.

After the bull fight, we headed to the famous Wine Tunnel. I was a little underwhelmed by the tunnel, and the wine was far too sweet. But still something to check off the list of life, so glad it happened! We then headed to an outdoor recreation area, which turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. My friend Jocelyn and I jumped on a tandem bike, and shakily biked our away along the nearby lake. I have always wanted to ride a tandem bike, so I was so excited to get on and go. It took us a while to get our rhythm, but after a while we got the hang out it. I had such a ball and giggled the entire time. Jocelyn probably thought I was crazy, but I think my fits of laughter made her laugh too. It was such a blast! We finished the trip off at a light show, which was similar to the one I visited in Gyeongju. If you see one, you pretty much see them all. So now that I have been to two different ones, I am set!

The following weekend, March 9, my friends and I had an utterly delightful Spanish fiesta. We made a bunch of delicious Spanish food, including empanadas, stuffed bell peppers and tortilla de patatas. We ate obscene amounts of food, and I spent a majority of the time cooking, but it was such a fun time. I really loved sharing the food together and being able to try out making new dishes. Thinking about it makes me hungry all over again! We have tentative plans to do another cookout, this time with Italian food. That will also surely be a delicious occasion.

St. Patrick’s Day weekend and the following weekend were pretty laid back. I enjoyed the free weekends by resting, catching up on cleaning and completing odds and ends tasks I had been putting off. On the 24, I headed to Busan with Holly, Elizabeth and Lindsey to celebrate the lunar new year. The festival is held to pray for good health and good fortune in the coming year. The main event of the festival is the Daljip burning, which is basically a HUGE bonfire. A heap of straw and other flammable vegetation was piled way up high and set ablaze around the time the moon rose. It was a magnificent sight, and I was amazed by the intensity of the heat the fire put off. There were several events held throughout Busan, but we decided to attend the one at Haeundae to get a little beach in our lives. It was an interesting cultural experience and a nice, quick day trip.