Weekend before last, on Friday night our friend Michelle headed down from Seoul to our neck of the woods and spent the night. We went to go see a movie called The Five.
I knew the basic premises of the story so it wasn’t
too hard to follow, although I do have to say it was a pretty violent film and
overall was just terrible. Some parts were good, though. And of course, since we
were together it was hilarious (see the pic below). Of all the movies we’ve seen since coming to
South Korea, this one is probably my least favorite.
….But that’s okay! Because it’s still November and that
means it’s also still Movie Month (seriously, they keep…coming…out).
Anyway, we’d originally planned on sleeping in on Saturday
and doing mostly nothing apart from some much needed spring fall
cleaning. However, one of our co-workers informed us that there had been a
lantern festival going on at the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul (a small, famous
stream we visited once before) and that this past weekend would be the last
time we could see it. Of course we had
to go! So, we made new plans to meet up with two of the other foreign teachers
at our school on Saturday afternoon in Seoul.
That’s how we found ourselves: freezing in front of the City
Hall station in Seoul, mouths agape as a grungy ajusshi (middle-aged man) decided to pee in the bushes only a few
feet away from us.
Ironically enough, because of the lantern festival there
were police officers everywhere. In fact, there was a group of them standing
right in front of the exit for the station (about 10-feet away from us) and
they just happened to all have their backs turned and totally miss this dude
violating some serious public edicts right behind them.
To be fair, it’s not the first time we’ve witnessed someone committing
this offence…it’s just…the area was swarming with people. And he was like
5-feet away from law enforcement. Yey, Korea!
Anyway, our friends were a bit late because they took a taxi
and traffic was horrible. But it was okay because that gave us time to meet up
(again) with Michelle since she left her sweat pants at our apartment and we
wanted to give them back. We talked and laughed…(particularly at a guy walking
by with this long stick that had a teddy bear tied on the end of it…process
that for a moment).
Our co-workers showed after a while and we merged in with
the swarm of people heading towards the festival after saying goodbye to
Michelle. There really was a lot of people there but it still wasn’t as crowded
as the International Fireworks Festival.
Going in!
We were herded by crowd control through a weaving line
(think waiting for a ride at Disney Land) that luckily moved fairly quickly. Then
we walked along the “river” (stream) in a shuffling crowed that progressed both
too fast and too slow.
The displays were fantastic, though. They were in the middle
of the river and lit up in a display of various colors and (generally) historic
scenes. Sometimes we would lose each other due to attempting to take pictures
so whomever was ahead would wait for the rest of us to catch up and it was all
very funny.
We ended up spending a few hours there and then we went up
the road a ways to see a nice view of the Yi Soon Shin statue at night. It
looked great all illuminated, which we obviously didn't get to see before when
we went during the day.
It was a pretty fantastic day and I’m really glad Jenee and
I spend it with some great people instead of lounging around at home. Although
a lounging around day needs to happen sometime…soon…
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