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.