Gumi Friends (not Gummy)

When living in a foreign country, I think it is extremely beneficial to create friendships of many kinds.  This weekend Trevor and I were able to spend some time with some friends who live in a place called 구미 (Gumi pronounced goomi).  I've mentioned them in a previous post when they came to see us in Ulsan so it was our turn to give them a visit.  They were extremely hospitable and provided us with memorable experiences.  

The first day we were in Gumi, we went on a hike that led to a waterfall.  Although the waterfall was more like a small drizzle (I've seen more impressive water action coming from my kitchen faucet), the hike was very beautiful and definitely worthwhile.  There were so many picturesque spots throughout the hike so excuse us exceeding our photo quota for the week.  Just past the waterfall, there was a small "cave" (more like an indent in the hill) that was set up as a meditation/worship area for Buddhist monks.  The view from the cave showed most of the mountainside all the way down to the valley below.  I'm saddened that our cameras couldn't catch the full splendor of the beauty around us.  Just so you are aware, these pictures don't even do it justice.  

Coming back down from our hike, the Kim family showed us a booth in the park where a famous man was doing traditional calligraphy for free.  He used a brush and ink to write wise sayings on thin cloth-like paper using old Chinese characters.  He worked so decidedly with every stroke and you could tell he had been doing this for a while.  My favorite part to watch was the area where he makes a series of small characters.  You can really see the detail and focus he puts into his artwork.  The one Trevor and I got said something along the lines of if you have family, and your family unit is good, then everything else will be good too.  Here's a video of the calligrapher at work.

That night, the Kim family treated us to dinner.  We had what is called samgyeatang which is basically a soup with a whole chicken stuffed with rice.  The soup came out literally still boiling it was so hot.  This meal is tricky for me because you have to pick off the pieces of chicken and discard the bones yourself.  I still struggle a little bit with chopsticks and I'm a slow eater to begin with so let's just say I didn't come in first place as far as finishing the meal goes. 

The next morning, we all took a drive to go to a traditional Korean Buddhist temple.  It is just starting to be fall here so the leaves are beginning to change so there were so many colors and once again pretty pictures to be taken.  The temples here were similar to the ones I posted about from our 4th of July adventures but some of these ones were even perhaps a bit more vibrant, detailed, and colorful than the first.  It was such a nice day to walk around, enjoy nature, and gaze at the beauty around us.  

After seeing the temples, the Kim family took us to dinner AGAIN (they are so nice!).  We had more traditional Korean food.  This meal mainly consisted of a huge variety of side dishes (note that each individual dish pictured contains something different) with the main attraction being pork.  My favorite was the pork that was red and spicy.  I'm pretty sure it was cooked on an open grill because it tasted kind of like that grill-charred taste that you get.  So good!

Our weekend was so much fun and it wouldn't have been as accessible and easy without the generosity of the Kim family.  

Seriously this is how my pics look when I'm putting together the blog, then they turn into scrambled eggs when the blog is actually viewed.  NO clue how to fix it.  Sorry again!

추석 (Chuseok)

*Disclaimer* This post will probably be best to see on a desktop or laptop as opposed to a phone or other such smaller device.

Last weekend and into Monday and Tuesday of this week, we celebrated Chuseok which is kind of like the equivalent of Korean Thanksgiving.  It is a time where families get together and prepare a lot of food and remember their deceased ancestors.  For us it meant Trevor got a few days off of work so we got to explore Korea more.  We took the opportunity to go to Andong to see the Mask Festival that is pretty famous there.  It has been somewhat difficult to discover any deep or significant meaning of the mask festival or of the individual masks.  All I could gander was that it's just a fun time to gather and show traditional mask dances, look at traditional masks, eat fair food, and just have fun.

There were a plethora of booths to visit from a large assortment of food booths, to novelty jewelry, to make-your-own-mask booths.  I tried my best to be connected to Trevor in some way or another because I was constantly distracted by things to see all around me.  Luckily, there weren't very many foreigners there so it was easy to spot anyone in our group. We went there with my friend Janelle and her adorable baby Ryan, and a new friend Elizabeth who came with Janelle. I think this time around, I'll post a picture or a video and then talk about it below the picture/video.

These first three are just a couple of items of entertainment.  You can strap your kid to some poles and a trampoline, or watch an entertainer spin around to drum beats.  Not pictured: lock your kids in a giant plastic bubble and set them in a swimming pool and make them look like a hamster.

 Booths, booths, everywhere.  Make a mask, buy some jewelry, eat fried food, hold a bug. There was so much to look at and do and especially a lot to eat.  My favorite food were Turkish Kebabs (not like meat on a stick like you're thinking).  They were pieces of chicken wrapped up with some sort of cabbage slaw in a tortilla with a sort of spicy sauce and another sauce that was something like ranch dressing.  It was pretty delicious and I regret my initial skepticism toward them.

You can't go to fair with a bunch of statues and masks and not pose like them, right?  We did our best to imitate the best statues.  How'd we do? :D Someone even came and took a picture of me and the pig having a fist fight.  He asked who was going to win.  I was, of course.

Baby Ryan.  What a cutie! He attracted all the attention because Koreans LOVE to see little white babies especially with his big blue eyes.  Way to steal the show Ryan! ;)

 Just some more fun stuff to look at.  I think the theme of the festival this year had to do with clowns so a lot of the masks/statues were more along the comical side.

There were several traditional mask dances in a big theater occurring throughout the day.  We were able to go to the Chinese one.  Although I didn't understand a word that was said, it was still fun to try and follow the story line.  There was some fun acrobatics, fire breathing, and quick mask changes.  A couple of the actors had like a bunch of different masks and somehow changed the masks like with a sharp shake of their head.  Every time the mask changed on a character, the audience simultaneously erupted into ooh and aahs.  It was really fun to watch.  I'll show a couple of videos below for you.

The whole play/dance was accompanied by a small band playing traditional Chinese music which was kind of cool too

Now please enjoy an odd tidbit that was hard for me to decide whether it was creepy or hilarious.

Trevor says the carts are called rickshaws.

The last day of vacation, Trevor and I went on a fun little hike in the hills about 5-10 minute bus ride from our house.  It was really pretty and had a little stream alongside the path and a couple of places that had bridge to cross the stream.  Sometimes it's nice to get away from the noise and congestion of the city.  Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.