May Flowers
So I have now approached May in the second year of my Korean adventure…
Since I visited LMC during my February break, I have found myself to continue to be more nostalgic than usual this year. I guess I never realized how much I truly miss the wonderful hills of East Syracuse. I know I def miss all the friends that I visited those awesome 4 days, and also the new ones that I made. I also wish I could see my friends graduate next Sunday! I guess the nostalgia has also hit me hard because 3 years ago next Sunday, I graduated from college. It really hits me and makes me wonder…Seriously! Where DID the time go?
I went to my co-teacher’s wedding on May 1st. It was quite a different experience. The first major difference is that everyone gives the same gift-$30 in a special envelope with Chinese characters on it. You give this as soon as you get into the church, so it’s almost like your admissions fee. I did not have one such envelope, and I wanted to give her a gift too. So I printed one of my cherry blossom pics and also bought her a small frame. It was really a nice gift. But everyone was so confused as to why would give something diffferent. I was like umm I’m not Korean, and did I mention that she’s leaving for the US? I wanted to give something of Korea that she could bring there with her and keep! But in Korea doing anything that is different is weir, whatever I had the right feelings in mind. Anyways after “admissions are paid” they give you a ticket for food and you are led by others to this banquet area in the basement of the cathedral. There, they have every kind of food imaginable. This smorgasbord of food and eating it carries on independently of the festivities upstairs. That fact in particular really shocked me, because one would think that the main idea to be there is for the wedding, but if you indulge in the food like my co-teachers did you could miss the wedding! Luckily, though, we only missed the entrance procession. The last 2 differences were the facts that they make formal bows to the parents of both the bride and groom, and that there is no kissing-bowing totally replaces that. Overall, it was quite beautiful, and I hope to hear from her again soon!
On the following day, Sungjune and I joined some of his friends for a hike in Busan at Hwamyeongsan. It was an awesome spring day that was filled with lots of laughter and loads of fun. I hope that we do it together again sometime soon.
During the weekend of May 8th, Michelle, who come down from Incheon and I went to Sorimsa temple near the train station. It is a small temple, which only seemed to house a few Buddhist nuns. We got lucky on a temple that was easy to find, and also on a beautifully sunny day. I’ve uploaded the pics into my spring album on Facebook. Here are some of my favorites:
