Solnal

A few friends and I went to Namsan Hanok Village (a park with a set of traditional Korean buildings in central Seoul) for a Solnal Festival. We listened to some traditional Korean drummers that were actually pretty good. Afterwards, Tess and I took part in making a kite out of glue, rice paper, strips of wood and string. Mostly we just watched as an old adjoshi (old man) took care of everything for us.

We also made a New Year's wish by writing a wish on a piece of coloured paper and attaching it to a string. I'm not sure if you are supposed ot tell others your wish but mine already failed to come true so I guess I might as tell you that I wished "to have the best kite in Seoul." How did I know it didn't come true? Tess' kite flew quite well but mine did not enjoy going airborne. Instead it liked spinning and crashing into the ground.

Later on, I forgot my kite at a restaurant so I have abandoned my dream and will have to wait for next year's Solnal to make a new kite. How sad!



A few pictures for you (sorry, didnt have my camera during the festival):

The entry to my apartment building during one of our 4 winter snowfalls

Just one of the infinite trashpiles that litter the Korean streets, this one is just down from my apartment

My favorite class, hard at work

Solnal

Well I have discovered how hard it is to keep a blog updated....

I used to usually do my updates at work but now there is another teacher but we don't have room for her so she just uses the computer desk.

Monday is a holiday here because it is Solnol ~ Chinese New Years. It is the kids favorite holiday because one of the big events is that they have to do a bow in front of their elders and for doing so the elder will give them money. Sometimes they get quite a lot of money. I think it usually goes straight to the bank (college fund?) but the kids still really like getting money. Who doesn't I guess? I have informed them that I will bow to anyone for a hundred bucks.


Now for some random stories...

Now that the computer is taken, I often read the newspaper when I have a break. Seoul has an English daily, which our school subscribes to. The kids are amazed to see me doing this. They all come and sit around me and watch me read it. Then it is only a matter of time before they ask, "You can read all of this?" I have to laugh. I guess it is so much English on a page that they just find it overwhelming to think that anyone could read it all.

I travel by subway a lot and and there is quite often somebody hawking some product. When the train starts moving they go to the middle aisle of a car and start making their presentation to the commuters. I've seen a pen/flashlight/magnet/laser pointer combos and gloves that make you hand look like it was in an x-ray. How cool, right??? The other day, though, a man was selling pocket sized day planners/calendars. He made his pitch and held up the product for display. Now for some reason, the man thought he might save a few bucks to hold up a dayplanner that looked like it had fallen off the top of a really tall building, been ran over by 3,000 cars and then went through the City of Seoul's sewer system. This thing was completely falling apart. The colors had faded and it was held together by Korean duct tape. I said to myself, "Wow. Those are nice. This is an actual day planner, since it will only last you a day." The train reached my stop so I had to get off but I was curious to know whether he made any sales. I wouldn't doubt it. Something told me that he didn't take Marketing at University though.