Parade of Lights

Truth to be told, we didn't even realise that there was going to be a parade of any sort the evening we were at Everland. Almost all of a sudden, small children and families started disappearing from the lines of the rides we were walking by. We didn't really think much of it, we thought it just must be about that time for kids to be heading home to be tucked into their little beds, while dreaming of their Everland adventure. It was only when we finally stumbled across a huge group of people sitting and expectantly waiting that we realised that something was on the go. It was quite dark, so we didn't really know what to expect... and then we saw it coming in the distance... was it a bird? a plane? superman?


Nope! A parade!

It's almost here!

Naturally, we elected to continue to go on the rides while the parade was going, so as to take advantage of the shorter lineups, but not before I snapped a few quick pictures of the parade that was going by.

Here it comes!

Dancers danced through the streets, while princesses and princes kissed on their horse drawn carriages and Aesop's characters told important fables. There was also a smoke breathing dragon, because what Asian parade would complete without a dragon or two?

All it all, it was a pretty nice show... but then I wouldn't have expected anything less from Korea, now would I?

Laura at the Monastery

A few weeks ago some people from church and I went on a journey. A very long journey which involved me leaving home on Friday morning, and only finally getting to my house on Sunday afternoon. Yikes! That sounds more dramatic than it actually was -- to be honest, the journey really only happened on Saturday. But, I digress... the most important point in all of this drivel is that we went far outside the city, where fresh air still exists in Korea, and visited a beautiful orthodox monastery. It was amazing.

After spending the evening in a neighbouring city, Incheon with my friend Stephanie because it was much closer to the bus station than my house, we (Stephanie and I) woke up early Saturday morning, met her student Jason and then headed for the bus station where we met the other people who were going with us. After a few hours on the bus, and quite some time in a taxi we still had a little bit of a hike ahead of us, but its been so long since I've seen nature here in Seoul, that I was more than up for the change of pace.

Did you know that they have dirt roads in Korea? And forests!?

Beautiful!

Stephanie and Jason

Constantin and other boys.

Once we got there the monastery was absolutely beautiful. All trees and flowers and green-ness and nature... can you tell what I've been missing during my time in the city?



The monastery is home to the Orthodox Bishop of Korea, Ambrosios, as well as a few nuns. There was a little bit of a party going on there that day and so they had a huge tent set up outside that was filled with people and food. I was mostly just happy to breathe the fresh air and see not-city for a while.

And then, as if we hadn't already availed of a wide enough variety of transportation to get to the monastery in the first place -- subway, walking, taxi, bus -- we finally got the train back home. What a day!

Busan

Busan is located on the southern tip of South Korea, and is the second largest city in the country. It is seen on the map below, highlighted in pink. It is called the summer capital of Korea due to the large number of tourists that it attracts during early and mid summer to its six beaches.

My friends and I this past weekend were some of those very same tourists as we made the trek to Busan for the annual Haeundae Sand Festival which marks the official opening of the beach for the season. Haeundae Beach is one of the most (if not the most) popular beaches in Korea, and we were not to be disappointed.

Friday was a long day that started with myself and Lindsay trekking to the gym at 7 am, and it was non-stop go from there. From the gym I went to the dentist where I got my new crown that I posted about on Friday. I felt like a very important person to be live blogging such an experience. Really, I was just bored. From the dentist I went to school, and then from school straight to the train station where we grabbed a quick bite to eat, got on the train and then headed to Busan.

On the subway to the train station.

Yes -- Eating McDonald's on the train.
It was all there was, please don't judge us.

View from our room and view from the beach. Pretty fabulous!

Busan is about three hours away from Seoul by KTX --which stands for Korea Train eXpress-- so it being around 1 am by the time we got there we didn't waste much time in hitting our beds to get some much needed rest to enjoy our Saturday.




Saturday caught me, and I'm ashamed to admit it, doubting that Korea will be everything that it says that it's going to be, because dressed up in our beach finery as we were, Saturday was COLD.

We had to wear our jackets and huddle together for warmth. Where was all this 30 degree weather that we had been experiencing in Seoul? Of course Seoul is inland and very crowded, so I guess the temperature change was to be expected, but we were still a little disappointed that our day celebrating the opening of the beach for the season didn't involve any basking in the sun.



There was still lots to see and do though, including listening to an orchestra play (on the beach!) and looking at some pretty amazing sand sculptures.

We wandered around looking at everything for a long time, did some shopping, treated ourselves to dinner at TGI Friday's and we were pretty tired by the time we were done.

Some people went out after, but Amanda and I stayed in a watched movies and were down for the count by about midnight.

Unlike our first day the next day was gloriously wonderful. The sun was hot, but not sweltering and after we checked out of our hotel we headed straight to the beach as we were having to leave that day and didn't want to miss out on any of our much desired beach time. The weather was beautiful and the hot air made us think that the water must also be warm. We tried our best to get in but to little avail. The water was freezing! Two girls actually made it all the way in for a brief dip, but I was not one of them.

We left the beach around 4 pm, went to the train station and were home at our apartments to recover and get ready for Monday around 9:30. A pretty fabulous weekend if I do say so myself.

Even though this was the end of our weekend, this post would not be complete without the following picture of Korean beach attire. On Sunday it was hot. Everyone with white or black skin was in a bikini, bathing suit or swim trunks, but the Koreans around us were all dressed like this...

Jeans, long sleeves, huddled under umbrellas... and they brought so much food with them! It was like a picnic in the sand where you hide from the sun. Koreans are know as a group to be pretty obsessed with the color of their skin. There are many many beauty products here to help you whiten your skin and it is very common to see Koreans on a sunny day with a parasol or with an umbrella so they can avoid the sun when they have to go somewhere outside. Amazing cultural difference!

Seodaemun Prision

Auschwitz-esque?

Seodaemun Prison History Hall is a museum and former prison located in Seoul, which was used during the Japanese occupation of Korea to house and torture Korean freedom fighters. It was built between 1907 and 1908 and was officially opened on October 21, 1908. It was one of many prisons used by the Japanese during the occupation; capable of housing 500 inmates. The prison continued to be used by the South Korean government after the Japanese occupation ended from 1945- 1985, and is now preserved and restored as a national historic site in Korea. It's a really terrible place, and although I visited a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to bring myself to blog about it until now.

This map shows the locations of Japanese prisons distributed throughout Korea during the Japanese occupation.

Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 and was officially annexed to Japan as a Japanese colony in 1910 through a bogus annexation treaty. August 29, the day the treaty was signed in 1910 in known nationally as, "the day of national shame." It was preceded by increased control by Japan of Korean interests as well as assassinations and military coups of government. Koreans were none-too-happy about the signing of such document under threat of the use of force by the Japanese government and took to the streets in huge numbers in anti-Japanese rallies and protests. According to Korean records in the first 12 months of demonstrations 46,948 were arrested, 7,509 killed and 15,961 wounded. Those arrested ended up in prisons like Seodaemun, where ended many of their lives.

Restored as a typical example of what a Japanese prison would have looked like during the occupation, the prison was well fortified with towers and even a secret escape route so bodies could be disposed of in local grave yards without the knowledge of the local population.

The stamp on this brick indicates that it was made on-site by prison labourers! It really made me not want to walk on the path anymore. A very uncomfortable feeling.

Throughout the prison there were mannequins reenacting torture scene from when the prison was in use. The Japanese are accused of many war crimes, and the visual depictions at the museum make them seem very real, and very disturbing.

There were special forms of torture for men and women, and no one was spared. Among those tactics approved and commonly used against women were many forms of sexual torture, I'm not even going to begin to or try to describe. I'm actually wincing at myself as I write this.

Even today in Korea there continues to be a level of hostility towards the Japanese, especially among the older generation. This is fueled by the fact that the Japanese government continues to deny its involvement in many of the war crimes that it is accused of by Korea, in spite of new evidence supporting the accusations being found in the new millennium.

For a guided tour through the prison on someone-I-don't-know's blog, please click here and she'll take you through. Also, this video is pretty gripping, but be prepared for something pretty graphic, its not pretty.

Lotus Lantern Festival

Please attain Buddhism in your next lifetime by lighting a lantern in this life.

As predicted, the Lotus Lantern Festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday was amazing. There had been traditional Korean festivities, lantern making, and more Korean food than you can shake a stick at all day long in downtown Seoul.

By the time we arrived the day time festivities were winding down, the sun was setting, the rain was starting and the evening festivities were gearing up in spite of the cold and wet weather. We wandered around for a little while and explored the temple and what was left of the day time festivities and the settled in to watch what I consider to be the main attraction... the parade!

This is a picture of some of the pillars at the temple, as well as some of the lanterns that were hanging in the immediate area surrounding a the temple. The lanterns actually have Korean writing in the pattern. Cool!

After a full day of festivities the parade kicked off at 7:00pm and was everything that you'd ever imagine such a parade would be. There were millions of people watching, thousands of people marching, colourful displays of everything from fire-breathing dragons to Buddha riding in Thomas the Tank Engine. Marching bands, drummers and traditional musicians provided musical entertainment while dancers, high school students, people dressed as Buddha, monks, soldiers, small children, people from a hospital being pushed in wheel chairs walked, danced and rolled by while waving and smiling at the crowd. I was particularly impressed by a group of ladies wearing traditional Korean hanbok who all danced very gracefully while walking in the parade, as well as a troupe of men preforming stick-taekwondo with flag poles.

Having been plenty excited about the Christmas Parade in St. John's for the majority of my life, I was pretty much beside myself with glee as the parade wore on. It went on and on for a full two hours, and I was jumping up and down, clapping my hands, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit, occasionally shrieking with excitement. I felt more like someone about to turn four, not twenty-four, but I digress.

What I've been trying to avoid admitting all along, is that I couldn't bring my camera to the parade, and all the other pictures? Yeah.. they're not mine either... are you mad? Please don't be mad... Ah.. I knew you weren't!

My camera was left in school over the weekend because I had brought it to class on Friday to take this video for one of the other teachers that was sick. It's completely adorable so I'll show it to you to make up for it, and I'll continue to steal my friends pictures of the festival to put on a future post. So, without further ado, I present you, Kiwi class:

Anna Teacher:

Please don't be sick.

We miss you.

I love you x 11.

Buddha's Birthday and Lotus Lantern Festival

Although a much smaller number than it once was, a fully 23% of Koreans today declare themselves as Buddhist, and Buddhism continues to play a substantial role in the history and culture of Korea. One of the best ways to see in it action in modern day Korea -- aside from visiting one of the many beautiful Buddhist temples scattered across the mountains -- is through attending Buddha's birthday celebrations. They involve thousands of people (but then, in Korea, what doesn't?), a lantern festival and a huge parade from Dongdaemun to Jogyesa with 100 000 lanterns, which is all going to be happening this weekend!

I am so excited about it that I stole other people's picture from the internet -- shush, don't tell anyone -- and am planning on plastering them all over my blog until the weekend arrives!

If I've noticed anything since I got here, its that Korean's take their festivals and parties very seriously, and I don't plan to be a doubter like I was two weeks ago at the cherry blossom festival. Besides, what is more quintessentially and stereotypically Asian than a gigantic dragon lantern? Although, I can imagine that something along the lines of, "eating dog" or other such nonsense going through your heads back at home, I beg to disagree! I'm so excited!