puppet show and 4th of July

So one day my Korean co-worker comes to me and says, can you create a little puppet show for our 70 VIP guests who are coming to visit our Center next week. Just a little 3-4 minute thing. I said oh, like a commercial for the Center? Yes, was the reply. So this is what we did. I was soooooo proud of the kids. The 2 older girls did the puppeteering and the two younger ones did the voices. Too, too, cute!!

The lighting totally sucks. There is a sign on your left hand side of the stage that says "English Class". That's what the little guy is looking at and worried about.

And then came the 4th of July. Man did that day bring up some stuff for me! I was soooooooooo homesick; missin my neighborhood buds like crazt. I could taste the memories. All the years we have cooked out together then hiked downtown to our perfect spot for viewing the fireworks......... My cheeks aching at the end of the evening because I had ooooed and ahhhhed and smiled so hard. So many laughs and good times. So in order to be proactive I knew I had to do SOMETHING!! Rumor had it that they were doing some fireworks at the army base nearby. Rumor added that there was a barbeque as well. Man, the visions I had in my head; potato salad and barbeque beans, cole slaw, green salad ( oh the wonderful salads we make at home!) . WRONG. Meat and chips, folks. Meat and chips. Meat choices included hamburger (looked frozen), hot dogs (looked lame), ribs (I'm not much of a ribs) and brats (your choice of smoked, hot or mild). I opted for the brats and they were great - but man, I could have done with a little potato salad!! Still, it was a fun evening. I was in a gaggle of teachers - about eight I guess. Nice group.

When we arrived these guys were parachuting in.

It was a lovely evening........ but as Dorothy said, there's no place like home!

Cannot live without a dream!

This pretty much says it all.

...other fun photos from a public sculpture garden in Chonan

Korean women LOVE their accessories!

And this guy is literally 'hanging out'.

fun stuff.

The most amazing Buddha yet!

I had heard there was a lovely Buddhist temple in the city of Chonan, which is not that far from me, so fellow teacher Mary and I set out to see it. When you arrive at the bus station in Chonan you are greeted by this .......... !! Hey - they're very proud of their walnuts, OK?

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• The temple is pretty high up on a mountain and set back. I didn't COUNT these stairs, I FELT them!!
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  


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  It was a beautiful spring day and trees were in bloom.

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And then you come to the clearing...................... and there he is, in all his glory. Such a beautiful site.

And inside the temple is incredibly beautiful as well...................

...... more intricate carvings then I've seen anywhere else!

And after the temple, we hung out in the sculpture garden I shared with you already followed by some great food at a very Western restaurant called VIPs. It was a good day.

big love to all

p.

Our trip to Jenju - home of Hanji paper

So a whole slew of us foreign teachers went on an adventure recently that was more of a fiasco in the end. But it's worth telling you about the city of Jenju, because it is a huge source of pride for the Korean people. Any of you who have ever shopped the beautiful hand made papers at Blue dowtown Asheville or other places, may have been admiring Hanji paper; hand made Korean paper whose history goes back thousands of years and it's uses range screens for windows and doors to tables, to armor, to beautiful lighting. It can last up to 1,000 years. I am so in love with the paper that I'm into creating a variety of paper mache projects with it.

So Jenju, the city we visited, has the most famous paper of all. All Hanji paper is made from mulberry, and all is made in basically the same way, but the water in Jenju is said to be very pure and make the paper even more special.

So here's Johann (S. Africa), Mary (US), Maria (S. Africa) and me on the bus.

Nick and Sarah were also there (although clearly these are not pictures from the bus) and I want you to meet them because they are a really sweet couple from Canada.

The whole point of visiting Jenju is a trip to the 'traditional village' where all sorts of Korean made stuff is for sale. It was a quaint, very well done, touristy kind of place...................... the kind of place Korean families and couples go on a holiday weekend or Sat. Sun. jaunt.

We, unfortunately, chose to go on a National Holiday, and had no idea what we were getting in for. The traffic on the roads was horrible and I spent 7 hours on the bus traveling and 3 hours on the ground shopping. Not a good ratio! It was a cloudy day that eventually led to rain and that just added more melancholy to the situation. Ah well. Lesson learned. Either stay home or plan to spend the night!!

When we first entered the village they were doing a fashion show on a fairly large stage. That was fun!

And there was a Catholic cathedral there. A slightly rare sight in S. Korea.

I love the tiles everywhere; I think they're beautiful. I sooo want to do my roof like that.

My trip to Jenju gave me great appreciation for the Hanji paper and when we decided to do a special Hanji Project with our families one Saturday, I felt like I 'got it'Great fun - we went to a Hanji artist's studio very close to my school, and each family made a 'tea table' to take home. Yes, I got to make one too! What a great momento, eh? These are a sort of 'cardboard' form covered with Hanji paper.

Next............ my trip to another Buddist temple, but this time Buddha's sitting outside with the mountains as his backdrop!

love to all. p.

Buddha's birthday and the Lantern Festival

Welcome to Buddha's birthday celebration in Seoul. It's called the Lantern Festival and it was awesome!!!

This festival is, of itself, worthy of a trip to Korea! You have to get there early though. There is so much to do that it is difficult to fit it all in one day. There are over 100 booths of activity to keep you busy during the day and most of it is FREE. They provide materials to make your very own lotus lantern, wood carving paintings, clay work, small lotus buds and on and on. It was GREAT fun!

Here you pour water over a Baby Buddha to declare your intentions for the year.

Here we learn about 'traditional' tea ceremony.

And then there is the temple itself which is quite beautiful............

But the parade at night is the spectacular culmination of the day. Over 100,000 lanterns light the streets of Seoul. Since pictures are worth a 1,000 words........................ here's a few images from that magical night.

And this last image is the sweet face of a young monk. His mother (I am assuming) was close at hand and she was beaming with pride.

Big Buddha love to all!!!