Gyeongu World and the Onggi Festival :-)

Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated!  I spent the last couple of weeks with this cough and stuff, so I finally went to the doctor and he told me it was bronchitis.  I was scared to death to go to the doctor (language being a big issue, also the fact that I'm just terrified of doctors) but I finally went, he was wonderful, and he gave me a lot of medicine. 
I will post what happened last weekend, because it was really nice.  Lindie and I got our hair finished, and then Ji Young, Anne, Raina and her family took us to chicken soup that was supposed to help us get all better.  It didn't actually heal us, made us incredibly homesick, but it was a really lovely time with our new Korean family :-)

But this past weekend we decided that we'd had enough of the inside of our apartments and it was time to get on a bus and head to another city:  Gyeongu, and more specifically, another little theme park called Gyeongu World :-)
So, off to the bus terminal we went, and with only minor confusion we were on a lovely bus, all spread out across the back seat, and I fell asleep almost instantly :-)

About an hour later we arrived at the terminal and hopped in a taxi to the amusement park :-)

We made it!  :-)

This was a little moped place across the street.  They had Louis Vuitton mopeds.  So, we had to get a picture.

Gyeonju World!  :-)

And this time Gomini got to come along! 

Family resemblance.  :-)

This is one of the many elaborate planers they had all over the park.  There was some really beautiful landscaping here. 

It wasn't even busy.  And it was such a beautiful day!!

Can you spot Lindie??

Tada :-)

Some friendly Gyeonju World characters.

Mushroom time.

Mushroom love.  Dunno why.

I have no idea what this is, just an elaborate outcropping of cuteness. 

Lindie can't reach the monkey :-(  The tree looks a little wary. . .

This was the first ride we went on. . .after the really creepy haunted house (which we literally did in a bruise-inducing chain. . .we are really chicken dogs.)

Then Lindie and Albert decided to cheat death.  I warned them, but they didn't listen.  They lived, though, so it was okay.

This was part of the petting zoo.   At first, no big deal, just one monkey very gently grooming another monkey, in a glass house.

And then a mother and two babies.

But I have to warn you, I wasn't impressed at all by the petting zoo, or the condition of the animals. . .

And it still mystifies me as to why these poor dogs were here.  They didn't come to us for a long time, and that little puppy that's sleeping in the corner didn't come at all.  Just the scruffy light colored one, who was skin and bones.  We were all absolutely heartbroken, even at an amusement park.  I hated walking away from these guys.

And these cows were in the tiniest little pen, and although it doesn't look like it in the picture, they were filthy and their feet were just sitting in wet grossness. 

This guy was in the same pen as the cows.  I don't know if I'd ever seen a sadder looking donkey :-(

This was incredibly random, they had this hutch with about 40 or 50 chipmunks in it

Mini having a little convo with one of the chipmunks.

This guy showed off like crazy.

They had this little mesh tube that connected from the hutch. . .

. . .to tunnels all over the petting zoo.  It was the strangest thing.

Here were the monkeys again :-(  poor little guy.  I'm not going to show you the rabbits or all the chickens, peacocks, turkeys and stuff like that, because they were too pitiful.  It was strange, even at an amusement park we were so bummed it took us quite a while to get un-depressed. 

Lindie found a little friend.  Then we got yelled at :-)

We had just gotten off the best bumper car session/show in the world when we heard this show going on.

It was a pretty crazy show.  Lindie said it was like Korean High School Musical, and I think that was pretty accurate.

It was a lot of fun though.  And at some point three of the performers came off the stage and grabbed Lindie's and my hands and sang to us for a while.  You get a lot of attention around here when you're foreign, let me tell you :-)

Crazy times on the family stage.

These guys got into it like their lives depended on it.

We had no idea what this ride was, but it had a HUGE elaborate facade and it was called Tour of Space or something like that, so we stood in line for probably twenty minutes and then Lindie and I both literally squeezed into the "two person" car having NO idea what was going to happen.  They laughed at us because they didn't think we were going to fit. . .but we did!  And then it was pitch black and we started climbing. . .turned out it was an indoor "roller coaster" and was actually pretty fun, but SO random.  We laughed our heads off the whole time.

 This ride was crazy.  The first time I rode it, it was a lot of fun, but I was absolutely sure that it was out of control and it lasts about twenty minutes.  When you think it's going to start slowing down it goes totally nuts.  It's actually really scary, but SO much fun.  We rode it I think four times.  The last time we freaked everyone out by just keeping our hands in our laps and pretending it was no big thing when people all around us were literally crying or moaning or some other such amusing thing.  :-)

 

Do you know those like, white water rafting rides that they have?  Where there are rapids and little water falls and things like that but you never really get wet?  Albert convinced us that we should do it . . .even though it was literally cold enough to keep my hoodie on all day.  They were selling ponchos for 1,000won, which is a little less than a dollar, and since they didn't have any place for us to put our bags or cameras or anything we decided to get some.  We.  Got.  Soaked.  This was our after picture.  Not amused, Albert.

In the arcade they had this horse video game.  Too cute.  :-)

She didn't win, despite her enthusiasm.

 There was also this really awesome roller coaster that we went on.  It was an under the track roller coaster, smooth as silk, and we rode it a couple of times.  It was not very crowded at all, so we got to ride a lot of things as many times as we wanted :-)


The ride home was pretty good.  I fell asleep once again.  We got lost a little bit and had to walk for a ways before finally giving up and getting a taxi, but that's par for the course.  It wouldn't be a good trip without at least a little of that, right? :-)



The next day we had plans to go with Ji Young and Jonah to the Onggi Festival.  Onggi is a type of pottery, and there was plenty of it.  Festivals here are always a lot of fun, so we were excited about going.  When we got to the cafe Sunday morning we found out that there were several more people going.  Field Trip!  :-)

So, we got on a bus that was going to take us to another bus.  The city was running shuttle buses to the actual festival for free, which was awesome but incredibly crowded.  All part of the adventure :-)

On the first bus :-)  Mini got to come again!!  Big weekend for the little guy!

This was at the entrance to the festival grounds.  Lots of pottery :-)

Lots and lots :)

This is Zach, another teacher at a different Yes academy, and the guy who told us about the English cafe in the first place, and Ji Young looking at pottery.

This is a beautiful fish bowl!

I love those mugs in the middle that looks like tree trunks :-)

Ji Young and Jonah :-)

This was on the way to lunch.  Lindie in a field of cosmos, a flower from home :-)

:-)

This was my lunch, Korean noodles.  Pretty tasty :-)

The thing in the middle is a sort of grilled, spiced veggie, and Zach and Jonah both had beef soup.

Right next to where we ate lunch they had a mini carnival.  There was a huge Hello Kitty.  Lindie needed it.  And Zach was commissioned to give it a shot.  He got almost every single one, but that still wasn't enough for the enormous cat.

But it was enough for a little penguin :-)

The guy who was working the dart booth said it was okay if we took pictures with the guns.  So, here's the kick butt picture :-)

Back to the festival.  This was one of the exhibits and this was Onggi in the walls.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Some history about Onggi.

Mini and his new friend enjoying the festival. 

A lot of the exhibits had real, live, growing things all over them.  They were just beautiful.

Look at all these pretty orchids!  :-)

A kiln for firing the onggi.  I will never, ever be able to see a kiln, see the word kiln, or have anything to do with a kiln without thinking about Ethan Brand and my Literary Theory class.  Thanks, Dr. Sepko.

These are potatoes that they were giving away at the Lions tent.  Everyone in our party got potatoes without issue, but Lindie and I got a ceremony.  They took pictures of us shaking hands with different men and taking the potatoes.  We're in a newspaper somewhere.  Random.  :-)

This was a traditional tea ceremony that we got to take part in.  The girl sitting next to me is Vanessa, she's from Montana and she's been here for three years.  She was pretty awesome, she was with us most of the day.

They gave us some little rice cakes and then steeped the tea.  The woman in front of us poured it for Lindie, who poured it for me, and I poured it for Vanessa.

We had to take a sip, then set it down, then take a sip, then put it down, then take a sip, then put it down, and then take a last sip.  And then do it again.  It was really cool.  I was glad we got to try it.

All of those pieces of paper have wishes or prayers on them.  I just thought it was pretty. 

There was a tent where children were making fans and bowls and things like that.  Lindie, Vanessa and I decided that wasn't going to stop us and we made stuff too.  They were super friendly to us too :-)

This is a man making one and telling everyone about it.  Seems like that would be so calming.

There was a whole building covered in tiles like this that were all children's drawings.  Too cute.

Look at all that pottery!

So much!

So, I decided to make one.  Looks pretty good right??  just kidding.

She was schooling me on proper onggi making techniques.

This little pig with fog coming out of his mouth almost came home with us.  He was so cute :-)

Isn't it pretty?

Where's Gomini??

This little lambie reminded me of my mom.

So, we'd been at the festival for several hours and we found out that we weren't even at the actual festival yet!  That was all a pre game show!

This is where the action was :-)

This was a man making a very small lid for a very small tea pot.

There is a very small pig balancing on her nose.  We got a couple as cute tiny souvenirs.  :- )

We were sitting in this small alley when I learned something about Lindie.   She's scared of mascots.  I mention that we were in an alley because for no reason at all as soon as we got settled in there he decided it was quitting time and walked right towards us.  Right into the tiny alley.  Right behind us.  Awesome.  :-)

This guy did too.  Our timing is awesome.

This was a rice liquor that they were letting people sample. 

This was the woman who was making it.  It was very strong but really tasty :-)

Lindie was very tired, so she employed the help of a tiny girl who was with us that day  :-)  Good plan :-)

There was another stage, and these women were really excellent but for some reason right in the middle of their song they were cut off and sent off the stage.  Random.

These guys came up next.  They were so cute.  :-)

Then this magnificent show started!  It was part acrobatics, part drama, part martial arts and all awesome.  Absolutely beautiful.

For some reason it was really hard to get pictures of this show, but you'll just have to take my word for how fantastic it was!!

 Then, it was time to go home.  It was a lovely day with some lovely people.  And we came home absolutely wiped out!  :-)  Time for another week of work!  :-)

Have a great week everyone!