Road trip!

Sorry it's been a while. I feel like my weeks are very full and busy all the sudden. 

Last weekend Yuri took me to her hometown and went to a lantern festival. Remember how Korea loves festivals?

We got to her parents' house in the afternoon, and her mom and brother were cooking lunch. We had ssam gyup sal, which is like really thick bacon, some soup, rice, kimchi, veggies, pineapple, and a mystery fruit that turned out to be persimmons. They didn't speak English and I think they didn't really know what to do with me, so I basically sat in the room while they talked. It was a little uncomfortable, but fine. Yuri had brought one of her friends along, and this girl spoke really great English so she would translate for me every now and then.

Then we got on a train and went to the lantern festival. It's pretty famous in Korea and I'm so glad I got to go! This festival puts all other lanterns to shame

 People write wishes to Buddha on the yellow ribbons and pay money to hang them up

 Coolest peackock ever! Its wings and tail moved, and it breathed fire

 Lady liberty. They also had Big Ben, some pyramids, and some Disney characters

 Nighttime view. Most of the lanterns were floating in the river

 Funeral procession

 Coi fish

 Dragons

Persimmons

We took the bus back to Yuri's. She said its normally a 1 1/2 or 2 hour bus ride, and we were back in 50 minutes. I felt carsick for the first time since I was a kid, and I honestly thought the bus was going to tip over a few times. Bus and taxi drivers generally drive like they're in a nascar race, but this was extreme. Once we were safely home the Koreans talked some more and I played with the puppy. He's a teeny tiny little thing...I literally could have thrown him like a football, and his name means big and strong. That's wishful thinking.

In the morning we got up and had breakfast. It was the same meal as lunch the day before, minus the meat and plus a fish soup. Needless to say, I didn't eat much. I felt bad because Yuri's mom made her go to paris baguette and get me some normal breakfast food, but I was also really grateful and ate it.

Then it was time to go. Driving in the car was really nice. We listened to the Mama Mia soundtrack (not my favorite, but it was in English), and the highway looked the same as American highways except they have rice paddies instead of corn fields. It felt like I was home with my friends. Overall it was a good weekend.