Lantern Lampoon
I just had a great weekend where it felt a little like Christmas (festivities, a really fat man smiling benevolently at you) - but it was instead a lantern festival for everyone's favourite deity, Buddha. It was a genuinely beautiful parade, even if it went on for a frightening amount of time (I never knew that so many paper lanterns could actually exist). My friend and I kept accidentally standing near side streets and then the parade would just decide to divert, without any apparent plan and we would have to dodge an endless line of lantern bearing children shouting 'Helllooooo!'
Korea somehow - probably through lack of media / tourist interest, countless bombings - feels like it can lack that genuine feeling of Asia. I know many people who would disagree with me on this but Korean culture, as distinct as it can be, doesn't have that mystical cliched Eastern feel. It might have something to do with the prevalence of Christianity, in particular Presbyterianism. But yesterday, as we watched people passionately bow to Buddha underneath a rainbow of illuminated lanterns, it felt a little like Asia again.
However, the tradition of offering Buddha bottles of soju is well and truly Korean.
The weekend was manic as usual - Friday night was a 'luxury' noribang in Yeonsinnae for a co-worker's dad. The place had free ice-cream which was useful for soothing our throats after a belting version of Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body. A group of us played board games on Saturday and a rousing game of Pictionary nearly broke up friendships (just you try to draw 'revolutionary war!) And, delightfully, I got to see American Jenny again for a night of galbi at the Sexy Pig and then far too many pitchers of sangria at Liquid, ending at my new favourite club, Funky Funky. Kevin and I danced the night away and we met an extremely cool Korean guy ever, who looked a little like a hairier, Asian version of John Lennon.
I am currently trying to get a Korean person to agree to do a language exchange with me. I have had loads of responses but my favourite remains a guy who actually lived in Bangor, Northern Ireland for a year. Bangor! Think of all the exciting things we could talk about - I could learn the Korean for 'defunct seaside town'.
Korea somehow - probably through lack of media / tourist interest, countless bombings - feels like it can lack that genuine feeling of Asia. I know many people who would disagree with me on this but Korean culture, as distinct as it can be, doesn't have that mystical cliched Eastern feel. It might have something to do with the prevalence of Christianity, in particular Presbyterianism. But yesterday, as we watched people passionately bow to Buddha underneath a rainbow of illuminated lanterns, it felt a little like Asia again.
However, the tradition of offering Buddha bottles of soju is well and truly Korean.
The weekend was manic as usual - Friday night was a 'luxury' noribang in Yeonsinnae for a co-worker's dad. The place had free ice-cream which was useful for soothing our throats after a belting version of Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body. A group of us played board games on Saturday and a rousing game of Pictionary nearly broke up friendships (just you try to draw 'revolutionary war!) And, delightfully, I got to see American Jenny again for a night of galbi at the Sexy Pig and then far too many pitchers of sangria at Liquid, ending at my new favourite club, Funky Funky. Kevin and I danced the night away and we met an extremely cool Korean guy ever, who looked a little like a hairier, Asian version of John Lennon.
I am currently trying to get a Korean person to agree to do a language exchange with me. I have had loads of responses but my favourite remains a guy who actually lived in Bangor, Northern Ireland for a year. Bangor! Think of all the exciting things we could talk about - I could learn the Korean for 'defunct seaside town'.
posted by Korrena at 2:30 AM
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