Alrighty, I'm willing to finally admit I have no real excuse for neglecting my blog other than being busy have a life outside of my computer. So to make up for it (some important things have happened!) I present to you a super blog (well, maybe its really just a 3 part-er with an over-exaggerated title).
So first, lets talk lantern festival. Today marks Buddha's birthday for 2011. The weekend had lots of festivities to celebrate and I tried to feast my eyes on as much as I could. My travels in China sort of created a lantern obsession I haven't come to terms with so my camera and I tried to capture the events as best we could.
On Friday night, I ventured to Bongeunsa temple in the rain to see the exhibition of traditional paper lanterns. I have to say it was beyond impressive. Thousands of lanterns lit up the property. It reminded me of Christmas and also Halloween (so many outdoor lights and decorations!). The lanterns were massive towering above and around me. I was most impressed by the fact that the 'aquatic' lanterns were actually in water! The carp lanterns were in the stream lining the entrance to the temple, the lovely orange carp and frog/ lilly pad lanterns were in the pond. Some of the lanterns even had colored led's allowing the fragile white paper to change vibrant hues every color of the rainbow. I'll share my favorite photos from the exhibition and please note the photos are not in any way edited... it was enchantingly dark that evening (maybe that's why it felt a little like Halloween out there):
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| Carp lantern on the way into the temple grounds |
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| This lantern had colored led's that changed the color of his ribbon |
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| Possibly my favorite photo of the evening. This lantern was situated in a pond. |
On Saturday evening, the festivities continued. There was a massive 2 and half hour long parade of lanterns that evening in Insadong. We arrived at the parade route in lots of time and enjoyed some delicious Subway (tasted just like home) and were lucky enough to snag some front-row chairs before the parade started. The parade was excellent and I was able to feast my eyes and my lens on even more towering lantern glory. We left the parade before it finished as it tended to be the same sort of thing after a while.
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| Happy Buddha's in a lotus leaf! |
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| This is the only shot I have of hand-held lanterns. They were all walking so fast, every photo I took was blurry. |
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| There was a fire-breathing dragon float! I thought this was pretty impressive. |
On Sunday there was a street festival in Insadong infront of Jogyesa temple. Here we were able to make our own lotus lanterns to take home and we even got to make a Buddhist rosary bracelet. I didn't realize how daunting making a lotus lantern actually was. Our small lanterns needed 24 pedals and 6 leaves, all of which we needed to shape, form, glue into a point and then glue to the cup. There was lots of glue, in fact TOO much glue. The sun was blazing hot and the glue kept drying to my hands and eventually my hands were sticking to my pedals and the cup and things got really messy. Over an hour later the final product did however turn out pretty good!
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Exactly how this delicate tissue paper lantern will make it to Canada with me remains unknown.
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Next up, Zuli. So as you know after my encounters with a giant roach I decided it was best to get a cat for protective reasons, of course. Well I found a lovely kitty on Animal Rescue Korea's website (http://www.animalresuekorea.org) and things worked out! I've had her almost two weeks now and things were a little shaky at first but she is really starting to open up. Zuli is an Abyssinian that was originally rescued from the meat market. So I still got to help out an animal from there, without having to subject myself to the horrors of that place. Sometimes things are just meant to be. Zuli is great company, loves to play, eat sleep and oh yes, act super cute at all times.
And finally, why Magic Perms are oh -so magical. I have to say, I was a little skeptical going in, but friends that have had them done in Korea have said only good things. Since the rainy summer is approaching, humidity is starting to become a factor and because it was long overdue I made a special trip to Hongdae for Hair & Joy Salon on a recommendation that they were pretty fantastic. The perm and cut only took a little over 2 hours in total. It was essentially a perm (my hair certainly smells like a perm!) but instead of wrapping your hair in perm rods, they dry it and then use super hot flat irons to get it pin straight. For the first time in my life, my hair has come with very specific instructions. I am not allowed to get it wet or wash it for 48hours (it could screw up the hair bonds that were broken because my hair will want to curl) and I am not allowed to do anything that will crease or mark it for 1 week (tie it back, use elastics, pins, barrettes) which seems like a really long time for someone that constantly relies on a pony tail when the weather is so rainy! :( But on the upside, it looks fantastic and I love it. I have never ever felt my hair this soft or seen it this shiny. I have never been able to get it this straight. I'm sure it's pretty damaging, but it can't be worse than viciously attacking it with a flat iron everyday like I normally do. I didn't get the style changed, I just got everything trimmed and looking neat and here are the results:
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| I know, so many people think straight hair is boring. But when you wake up to an uncontrollable wavy, frizzy rats nest every morning, trust me - this is HEAVEN. |
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| It flows and sits so nicely! I have never been happier with hair salon results in my life. |
So why is this so magical you ask? Answer: Because the results will last a MINIMUM of 3 months, which will get me through the hot, humid Seoul summer relatively frizz-free. HALLELUJAH!
Cheers for now,
Sarah.
