More Seoul

  When we returned from the DMZ, we were taken back to the fancy hotel.  This was near a shopping center, so we explored a bit... meaning we found the Krispy Kreme.  We may have put away a few donuts... Here is a picture of Emily and Anna delightfully finishing up one box.  Yummy!

 I liked the artwork inside this shopping center, and I particularly found the umbrellas interesting. Look through the window to the outside...

 This is the sculpture from the outside:

Koreans really love their doggies... which they basically treat like accessories.  Often, they are spray-painted (yes, really) some ridiculous non-doggish color like hot pink or blue.  This little guy was dressed in stripes to MATCH his owner.  When I asked if I could take a picture, the guy looked down like, "No, no."  Then I raised the camera - and this is what I saw.  Classic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Eventually, it was time to try to find another love motel for the night.  As we walked through the city, we saw the lanterns hanging in the streets and over the river.  Beautiful!  We knew there were lanterns all around for the upcoming May 10th celebrations of Buddah's birthday.  (which is a national holiday in Korea)

 As we walked around, we saw not just hanging lanterns, but giant "float-like" lanterns, like this.

 Of course I liked the elephant.

There were big lanterns of animals and people.  I'm sure there was more history here, but we didn't know it.  We just knew it was like a parade of sorts.
    We walked around the corner, hearing music.  This was the bell tower from the night before - but Anna and I had thought that the people were taking DOWN the stage - we then realized that they were setting up for something, a something we were about to walk right into...

THIS is what we saw!

 There was confetti falling from the "sky" - actually from the top of a huge building.  It reminded us of Times Square in New York for New Year's Eve.

 Confetti, up close.  Fun!

 A few of our new friends were there.

 The stage had lanterns.  Everyone had lanterns.  There were people in costume, singing and dancing.

Surprise! Confetti.  Party!  Music!  Holiday!  Mini vacation! Fun.

 Falling from the sky...

 Lanterns.

 Anna was enjoying the festivities.

 Yes, a few others were there...

 Party!  Concert!

 The performers were pretty interesting.

 It was an amazing event.  We saw foreigners and Koreans of all ages and backgrounds, just dancing together in the streets.  There were people in groups, all dressed to represent a part of Korea's history...

  I particularly enjoyed the lantern celebration because it was one of the few times that you could just see SHEER JOY on the faces of the Korean people, as a whole.  It was such a stark contrast from what is "expected" and acceptable for the majority of people in this culture.  You can see it with the young children - they will laugh and play and can just be SILLY, until they are about 3 or 4 (American age) and go off to school... then they study and go to academies and study more.  They stop playing.  It is difficult to get my older students to even SMILE during a presentation for school.... there is more ranting on this topic, but for now I will just say that it was refreshing to see people of all ages genuinely HAPPY.  So happy that they were openly dancing in the streets.  They were pulling each other, and us (even as foreigners) into their dance lines.  Older ladies were teaching me new dances.  It was a time to be festive and dance together.  It was a time of great celebration and joy.  It was incredible.
   All of a sudden, it was all over... as in we knew the confetti and all would be cleaned up within the hour.  People went home.  The music stopped.  We continued our search for that night's motel. This is what we found.  Check out the wall paper - it had glitter in it, of course.

 They had a robe hanging on the wall.  We wouldn't be using that.

 The bathroom was acceptable.  Hooray!

 We had internet access, which was particularly helpful since I wanted to look up the LCMS (ish) church to attend the next day.

 The chair had tennis balls on the feet.  It reminded me of when older people at "home" put tennis balls on the bottom of their walker feet.

After checking in and storing our things (which, yes, we had to take dancing in the streets with us) - we took a bit of a rest; then ventured out to see what we could see.  We were correct in that almost all of the party had already been cleared away, without a trace of the festivities.  Crazy.
   We saw these little critters by a shop.  I THINK they were being sold as pets...

  We saw a bubble, just one lone bubble, floating in the street.  Left-over remnant from the party?  I don't know, but I captured it in time with my camera:

 We walked over the bridge and decided to take a closer look.

 There was a walkway by the river, then stones for those who wanted to walk across the river.  We saw a young couple laughing.  Then the guy piggy-backed the girl across the river!  Cute!

 The river, and lanterns, as I crossed it.

 I got a lantern, and lugged it around with me!!!

 The stepping stones to walk across the water:

 On the other side, we tried to snap a picture of the three of us.  Guess I was still figuring out my new camera...

 There was an interesting wall by the river, too.  Not sure what it means, but it def. looks official.

   Sunday morning, I navigated the subway and taxis and did some walking, and finally got to church.  I went to church and Bible class.  Anna and Emily got up and went to the Seoul Tower.  Their view was very different from mine.

   After church, I met up with the girls for lunch.  We had a spot of coffee, and then headed to the bus station to return to Gwangju.  I had to work Monday, and our vacation was almost over.  This was Emily, as we returned home.  Oh yes, her excitement was not to be waned.  She was tired, but happy.

 Anna and Hannah as we returned home.  (Did you see the "before" picture on the bus on the way to Seoul?  It's in an earlier post. -- Here is the "after" picture.)  Fun times.  Things had not exactly gone "as planned" - but some of it was even better!  God is good. 

We arrived home safely and it was time for a bit of rest to recover from all the excitement.