It all began with about 3 cakes. Friday was my birthday which called for a much needed celebration, so Courtney and I hit the road again and met up with other foreign teachers in Andong for their annual Mask Dance Festival. It was certainly something I will never forget. We also brought with us another foreigner from town: Sara Woo, a Korean-American college student from New Jersey who is working in the city orphanage as a volunteer for one year. I had met her once before but this weekend provided many great opportunities to get to know her better, and since she's one of the few Christians here that I know, it was especially wonderful to have her around.
We met lots of different people and had many interesting experiences. One night, while watching a dance performance, we were approached by several Koreans who would tap our shoulders and say, "Welcome to Korea!" or just smile politely, but one man was different. An old man who sat behind us kept grabbing my arm or my shoulder and shaking me with a giant grin on his face. Then he would point his shaking finger at Courtney, smiling and mumbling things in Korean. This went on for about 20 minutes before we got tired of him and started to move away but he followed us where ever we went! I eventually started slapping his hand everytime he grabbed me and that still didn't deter him! We eventually had to leave because he had become so aggressive in whatever it was he wanted to say to us.
We also spent some time watching a few drum ceremonies. The photo above is actually of a young boy playing the drum for a Japanese mask dance performance.
At one point during the weekend, we made our way up to the Hahoe Folk Village in the mountains--another site of the mask festival. After several dances Saturday night, there was a great fireworks demonstration off the top of a cliff above the river. At first we were really confused because the program said there was to be a fireworks show but all we saw was a giant curtain of dangling sparklers that went across the sky from one end of the river to the other (it was actually quite beautiful--the first picture above). The second demonstration consisted of several men lighting giant bushes on fire from the top of the cliff and then throwing them down the mountain side into the water. We were all a little confused as people cheered when a brush fire started along the river, but hey, it's Korea. Whatever. They did eventually show real fireworks, which were quite entertaining as all of us foreigners sat on the beach and enjoyed the show.
These are the two Steves--the one on the right is from New Mexico and the one on the left is from England. Both are great guys and both are teachers with the same program as me. 
We also enjoyed a wonderful Japanese mask dance performance at the village where the story consisted of some warrior who kills a dragon. At one point fireworks shot out of the dragon's mouth during the performance.
Us girls (Jill, Courtney, and I) enjoyed our time on the beach and walking through the river which closely resembled quick sand under the water. At one point Courtney sunk all the way up to her knees while walking around!
It was a beautiful day and we all got a little color, though some of us got more than others. Courtney and Ceri headed home with some pretty nice sun burns.
There was also a wrestling competition going on where both men and women competed (though the only competitors I saw were teenagers and children like the ones pictured above). 
The Korean mask dance that we saw was equally wonderful and I really enjoyed the costumes as well as the dancing though I was unable to understand any of it.
At the main festival site was a Buddhist alter covered with prayer flags. I thought it was pretty interesting. 
A cute kid that I was able to snap a quick photo of. He was pretty surprised when I did--the click made him jump and then he ran away. Haha. 
While we were walking through the festival site, we found ourselves right in the middle of a big Thai mask parade. Sara has somewhat of a phobia of masks and was pretty un-nerved by the scary Thai masks. I must admit, they are a little creepy... Ceri took advantage of their friendliness and posed for a picture with three of them.
This is a tradition Korean puppet. I think the character is actually a famous one in Korean folklore because I saw it everywhere, but alas, I have no idea who it is.
Some Korean countryside. 
On Saturday morning, before meeting up with the rest of our crew, Sara, Courtney and I set off in search of the Seven-Story Brick Pagoda, Korea's largest pagoda. It was a little hard to find since the pagoda was in a pretty ghetto-like neighborhood, hidden behind a freeway overpass, down a deserted street, tucked away amidst run down houses. It would have been nice to stay longer since there was several historical homes and a museum in the area but I think they were all closed--or maybe we were just too early. 
There were also many carnival type games at the festival. I took a minute to catch this guy manning the balloon booth. If you look closely, he has a really weird lazy eye. I found him quite interesting. :)
A photo from one of the drum ceremonies we watched.
A display of some Korean masks. Aren't they beautifully colored?
2 comments:
Great photos! So, it sounds like a good time was had by all-glad to hear it.
hi kortney! beautiful beautiful pictures. :) hope to see u again soon
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