Halloween, Suncheon Bay, Seonamsa...

This is probably going to be a long post...

On Friday, I went to my island school and had a great time with my 5 island students. I had brought 2 small pumpkins and they had a big orange one, so we spent most of our time talking about Halloween and making Jack-o'lanterns. I also had some masks with me, so the kids took turns trying them on and running around. It was one of those memorable classes that stay with you once all the readin', writin' and 'rithmatic is done...

At one point, we realized that we didn't have any candles, so my 6th grade boy ~ in a stroke of genius ~ rigged together a battery, some wires and lightbulbs so that we could experience our works of art in full glow-y happiness.

From the island, I ran home and grabbed our costumes, then went to the bus terminal to meet up with Terry (who has returned to Canada, finding more reasons to be there than here ~ it was good to have a last blast with her though), Zach, Luke, Wim and Fallon. We had to get from Mokpo to Yeosu for the big Jeollanamdo Halloween party. It can take up to 4 hours to get there from here, but somehow Fortune smiled upon us, and we got to Yeosu (even grabbing supper along the way, and changing buses) in less than 3 hours!

Just as we were getting to our motel to meet up with Stu (yes! He's back in Korea!), my phone rang. It was the recruiters from the UK, calling about one of the UAE jobs that I've applied for. There's still nothing set in stone, but all that finger-crossing seems to have paid off...

Anyway, once at the hotel, we had to get cracking on costumes. The thing about Korea is that Halloween isn't really done here, so you can't always find masks and makeup. Costumes end up being exercises in creativity. I decided to be Shrodinger's Cat (as Jessica says, my costumes often have layers of meaning to them...) while Ty was getting dolled-up as Hedwig.

Schrodinger's Cat, The Joker, Black Cat, Jack Jombie, Thalia (Greek Muse of Comedy), OB-Man, Hedwig...

The scene in Yeosu...

Bodhidarma Stu, and me (picking my nose apparently) beside a Rubik's cube

We got to the party and there was about a million people... including a few old friends from Suncheon, which was awesome. The costumes were amazing, and it was great to be in such a vibrant and fun atmosphere. I've posted a few pics (stolen from Zach), but people with Facebook can find tons of photos of that evening on there.

In a surprising twist, Ty ended up winning the costume contest (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), beating out a Sumo wrestler and an un-flushed toilet. Ummm, yeah...

The next day, we were suitably tired from so much, um, trick-or-treating until all hours of the morning. After a relaxing morning in Yeosu, we headed up to Suncheon Bay, where there was a reed-festival happening. Essentially, it was eleventy million people milling about, looking at the reeds.

Reeds

Although it is a really gorgeous place (and one of my favourite places in Korea), we were kind of "over" the crowds, and decided to head back to town.

The crowds

Zach and I are excited about all the crabs in the mud. The others... maybe not so much.

Ty and I had arranged to stay in Suncheon for the weekend, so we said goodbye to our Mokpo friends and went back to my old home of Shidae apartments. After supper with Melissa and Chris, we once again got costumes on, stopping at Nina's on our way to another Halloween party. We didn't stay long at this one, though, as we were a) too tired and b) hoping to get away early the next day.

Before I moved to Korea, there was a photo like this in my Korean guidebook. I remember being so excited about being able to see things like this here. This is one of my favourite things... the "Dragon Bridge" at Seonamsa.

Seonamsa, Seonamsa, Seonamsa... I don't even know where begin. When I was in Suncheon, I went to Seonamsa so often that I think I finally got sick of it. Not having returned there since my move to Mokpo, I was really excited about going back. I was also super excited about showing this gorgeous temple to Ty.

Making a wish on our way to the temple

Big old tree

We walked over the whole grounds, finding new places that hadn't been there when I'd lived there before. We went through all the structures, then up to the Turtle graves, and around to where we could sit and drink some local green tea.

Turtle graves

Playing in the trees

Ty took a bunch of great photos of the natural beauty around there, and the fall colours...

Sap on bark

He's a good photographer, eh?

One of the new bits that we found was a sort of Tea museum and pavillion, which I think has just opened. We didn't have time to try everything out, since we needed to get back to Mokpo.

It was a really full weekend... one of the best this year, I think. We connected with old friends, hung out with new ones, got to dress up and have fun, then got to experience the cultural side of Korea in a new way.

Obligatory self-cam couple shot.
We're just in front of the Dragon Bridge.