28) Cherry Blossoms and other Random updates

I was extremely happy to see that the Cherry Blossoms were beginning to bloom during the last week of March. All of my schools had the trees planted nearby but my favorite was Aewol High School which has the trees lining their entrance.

Here they are near my house:

During the first week of March, my co-worker Mr. Che offered to take me and the new Japanese teacher on a cultural field trip since classes were cancelled. We went to a Shamanism ritual to welcome Spring that included banging pots, singing, and dancing.

I have two videos from the festival. This two minute video shows the singing and dancing that occurred throughout.

This video (30 seconds) shows the Haenyeo, women divers of Jeju, participating in the ritual. They believe that this will bring them fortune in the new year while they dive. Each year they allow a very small number of foreigners, less than 6, to train with them and learn their techniques. [If you’re interested in learning more about these women divers the New Yorker did a great write up with pictures. (Opens in a new tab)]

Once we finished viewing the ritual we took a hike which none of us were dressed appropriately for. (If you remember my first hike on Mount Halla with Mr.Che I’m surprised he trusted me to walk anywhere.)

I was trying to take a picture of how steep this climb was (it was steep) but he posed instead. Sayo, the Japanese teacher isn’t pictured – she was behind also taking pictures.

As for the random pictures:

I moved across the hall this month. It has been glorious. The top picture is my old place and the bottom is my new place.

It took four separate days, five different people, and a total of seven hours to install wifi into my new apartment.

We had spaghetti for lunch at school one day. They seem to have confused the garlic bread with a buttery toast topped with whipped cream and a strawberry. Also I’m not sure why but Italian food is often accompanied with pickles.

I was so pleased with my $2 lunch that I wanted to take a picture. I had soup, kimchi, pickled radish, and a rice triangle filled with BBQ beef. It was delicious.