K-pop, Buddha and Picnic

I must admit, I am terrible at keeping up with the blog. My apologies to those who are following me. Fortunately, I have many photos to refresh my memory of what I've been up to.

On Saturday, May 22 I went to the Dream Concert with a group of friends. It was the ultimate concert for K-pop (Korean Pop Music). 20 artists performed for 4.5 hours. Those of us who attended were the elders of the crowd, besides the parents who chaperoned their young children. We didn't mind one bit, in fact we decided to make the event even more fun by donning matching hello kitty t-shirts. Our attempt to pay homage to the Korean matching shirt wearing people. It was great fun. The concert took place at World Cup Stadium, the stadium was 3/4 full with raging teenie boppers screaming and screeching. Many had glowing light sticks with their favorite artist's name on them. Others had a balloon which they shook to the beat. L and I snagged a balloon and joined the fun of banging our balloons to the beat. Once you start the balloon a bouncing, it's hard to stop the monotony. Sections of the crowd were fan club seating so the sections were lit with blue, pink or whatever glow stick color to coordinate with the artist they were fans of. Each group had a chant for their artist. The tickets were only 5,000 won which is about $4. What a bargain! K-pop is really infectious and catchy. I was happy to see so many performers that I knew the songs of.

At my childcare centers, there have been many birthday parties lately. They really make the birthday extra special for the child. There is a long table with a full spread of fruits, cake, juices and treats. The classmates sing various songs to the birthday child who sits front and center with a crafty crown made by the classmates. The students create all sorts of handmade gifts for the child as well as a thoughtful card with messages from each child. There are a series of games that they play. The special lunch consists of KFC chicken tenders and a lovely ganache cake from Tous les Jours. The parties are really endearing and so enjoyable for the kids.

The weekend of the 22nd was a three day weekend in observance of Buddha's birthday. It was only appropriate to visit Bongeunsa Temple. The temple was adorned with many lanterns and was full of people coming to worship. The azalea blooms that were abundant a few weeks ago were no longer there, but the grounds were just as tranquil and beautiful. It is such a juxtaposition to see this rustic temple site to your right and huge skyscrapers and shopping complex to your left. When you are within the temple grounds you are whisked away. The air seems fresh and pure, it is a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the city within the city. For lunch I went to Jackie Chan's Dim Sum restaurant in CoEX which was super delicious.

After temple, we went to the CoEX Aquarium. Such a nice facility with a broad collection of aquatic life and animals. My favorite part of the Aquarium was the children's exhibit. Unexpected everyday objects were transformed into aquariums: fish in a toilet bowl, refrigerator, lamp post, phone booth, mailbox, television, vending machine, sink, etc. Really creative and quirky, I liked it a lot. The large aquarium area had the glass tunnel to walk through so you could be up close and personal with sharks and large sea creatures. One of my all time favorites are penguins, so I was pleased to see the penguin exhibit of the little tuxedo-ed cuties.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from my cousin who had arrived in Seoul. After my sightseeing, I went to the Seoul Renaissance Hotel to meet him. We enjoyed some apéritifs and small bites at the hotel club lounge and then ventured to dinner in Apgujeong to a Japanese restaurant S had been to in previous visits to Seoul. We shared a lovely bottle of sake with a spicy, fruity blend. S called a colleague to order our meal directly to the waiter, so each dish that came to us was a surprise. All were delicious and one in particular was memorable: a hot stone pot with tofu, sauce and thin fish scales on top. Due to the heat of the dish, the fish scales were squirming about which made the dish seem alive. After convincing myself that nothing was alive, I was happy to try the dish and really enjoyed it. It was so wonderful to see my cousin here in Seoul. Who would have thought I would see him here during my stay. What a great eve. Thank you S!

Although I have visited the Gwanhwanamun area many times, it has always been in the daytime. I was happy to finally visit in the evening to see the area with a different glow. Nearby is Cheongyecheon stream which I particularly love in the evening. It is such a nice walk along the stream. There are digital light displays along the way and many Korean couples and friends sitting along the stream. Like the temple, this area is a nice retreat away from the city streets although it is smack dab in the city.

When I arrived to class last Wednesday, my Dohwa kids were wearing their adorable aprons, hats and gloves. They were about to cook a snack of gim and bap(thin seaweed paper and rice). They mixed the two ingredients drizzled with a little sesame oil and put a lump of the mixture into cookie cutter forms. Popped them out and voila... little bears, angels, hearts of gimbap.

Last Saturday, L and I went to the NEST Korea picnic in the Yeouinaru area. Such a pretty park adjacent to the river. The weather was gorgeous for the event. There was a great turnout for the picnic and I was happy to see so many KAD (Korean Adoptee) friends there. We were divided into teams of 7 people and competed in various team games. The first game was to put a sheet of newspaper on the ground and for all team members to put their foot on the paper for the count of 3 seconds. Then you keep going folding the paper smaller and smaller. You have to get creative once the paper gets smaller. Game 2 was a traditional game that I forget the name of, but it was essentially hackey sack. Back in the day, I kicked around the hackey sack quite a bit, but I was a bit rusty. I ended up competing as 1 of 3 to represent our group and had the highest number of hits of anyone. :) Next game was to toss the slipper. There were target areas lined out on the ground 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 points the further you got from the starting point. You slipped a rubber (bathroom) slipper on your foot and flicked it off trying to get it the farthest within the lines to score points. After that we did a 3 legged obstacle course which I was exempt from since I had twisted my ankle the day before. It was pretty entertaining to watch though. Couples ran with legs tied, ate a onion ring chip hanging from a string, ran to blow up a balloon and pop it by squeezing their chests together, ran to a tray of flour with gummy worms and had to fish one out face first into the flour. Faces were covered with flour, hehe... glad I didn't have to do that one. Next was to lay out any thing we had in a straight line across the grass in a time period, whoever had the longest chain of things won. There was a long jump rope contest kinda like double dutch, but with only one rope. We played dodge ball where it was couples dodge ball. There are two square areas and 4 couples versus 4 couples, with other team members outside the squares firing at the couples. The couples had to be locked by the person in the back hugging their arms around the front person. The object was to hit the person behind. Guys could only throw with 2 hands, girls could throw any way. Last was a relay running race. Through the entire competition, my team was winning, but in the end we lost. :( I was so happy that J brought a football, so I spent a few hours throwing football with some of the European KADs and Korean volunteer. None of them had ever thrown a football before. I had to teach them how to hold it and throw a spiral. J said I should play in the NFL. haha It was a really enjoyable day outside with a great group of people. Two adoptee friends were running in a marathon in Seoul. It was the 5th marathon for S in a matter of months and the 1st for M. In fact, M only began to train a month ago and S had never run a marathon until coming to Korea a few months ago. Pretty incredible. Our picnic was along the marathon route, so I kept a lookout for S & M to run by. When I spotted them, L and I ran over to cheer them on. T had joined up with them in their final stretch and ran along with them. So happy we got to support them in their awesome accomplishment. Way to go guys! You rock!