Ko yeon jun (고연전)

Every year Korea University and Yangsae University have a sports festival, hosted alternatively. This year was our turn. Friends and I went to watch the rugby game. There are 5 sports they compete in. The practice for both the sports teams and the cheer leading squads is pretty full on. You can see the staduim divided in half by colour. We are red. The rugby game was a non event for most students but not because of the lack of skills (the rugby skills were not quite the same as watching the All Blacks!) but because cheering it seems was the main focus. It was quite an experience. We were even given a bun and some milk along with a cheering book on enetering! Just what you need on a hot day!

Alan, a co worker decked out in supporter colours!

Go Korea Uni!

The after party held on the streets not far from where I live was fascinating for me. I don't know another place in the world where after feirce competition opposing sides come together and party. Very impressed.

And another Korea only (?) tradition. The students gather in front of restaurants and call out to the owner to bring them free drinks and food. After some time out it comes and then in unison the students tell the restaurant he's a star and drink up, munch up and move on.

The party from a roof top bar. Note the

mix of colours in the circle.


It was quite a late night! Students gone and we wander home. Actually another highlight was catching up with friends I hadn't seen for awhile.

Aquarium

I went to an aquarium this weekend. I nearly got eaten by a shark....

..given the eye by some strange fish..

... had a few claws waved at me ....

...piranhas lick their lips at me...

...chameleons give me the 360º eye...

... teeth bared at me...

..boyfriends trying to scare me...

..water monitors pay no attention to me..

and anemones and coral amaze me.

Aquariums are some of my favourite places. After seeing all the creatures the big bang theory seems far more impossible than creation.

Nanta

Some friends and I went to a non verbal percassion performance. Woogi was brought up on stage and then me. They were very clever and soo funny. I'm afraid I didn't enhance the show!!!

Being taught how to make dumplings. My hat was a bit big and kept falling down.

Then the performers ran away and left us poor audience to carry on! Luckily they came back. It was a good night.

Day 3 & 4

I was invited to go pick grapes at a friends parent's farm in Chonan.We made a short stop at the beach to buy some seafood for dinner.

On arrival we were greeted by Kamja (potato).

BBQ for dinner! Yum!

The next day we were up early to start picking the grapes.

Sueng mi picking.

Song ha (Pakka) picking.

Young su picking......

...and Young su eating!

Sorting the grapes.

Wow, finished! These ones were just for juicing. There were about another 50kg for eating. They were good. Friends were happy to get some of the grapes I took home with me. Thankyou Mr and Mrs Pakka!

Day 2

The next day we were up at 5.30 to watch the sun rise. It was nice but it was a bit cloudy for a stunning sky.

After breakfast we caught a taxi and then a bus to the national park (Odae san) for a hike up to a waterfall. The street above wasn't very busy as it was weekday and for most Koreans summer holidays are over.


Sogeumgang gorge. You couldn't swim and some places along the way didn't look inviting at all for a dip. It was a pretty place though.

I found a frog in the crevice of a rock. The colour underhis legs were bright orange. I tried chasing some more butterflies but with no luck.

But, better than a butterfly we found some friendly, or maybe more to the point hungry squirels. They were very cute and it was a real treat as they are usually very shy.

Guryong Pokpo falls. It was sooo good to be out amongst green again. The animals, which we don't get in NZ were a highlight for me. It was nice to be able to share in all of it with Woogi too.

Day One

Woogi and I set off on Thursday to Gangneung, about 3 hours from Seoul on the East coast. Our first stop was to the Edison audio museum. Had a known what I was going to I might have put up a protest as it doesn't sound very interesting. In fact it was good. A Korean man had collect over 4000 gramophones and other bits and peices from Edison related things. It was quite fascinating. We got to listen to different machines playing music.

These were some of most pretty gramophones. Actually you weren't able to take photo's (????) but I snuck this one in.

Next stop was Ojukheon. This was the home of a famous scholar, Yulgok Yi Lee and his mother Saimdang Sin who was a very good painter. This building above and one of Saimdang Sin's paintings is on the 5000 won note. The place was really quite interesting. It had a museum with things that were used in daily life at the time they were alive. There were also pretty butterflies to try and chase down for a photo! There were paintings and calligraphy on display too.

I like these pots. I call them kimchi pots but I think they probably hold other things as well.


Next we went down to the beach and found our hotel which overlooked a lake.

The beach was quite pretty. They had just finished the World windsurfing champs and we were able to see an Auzzie have a last blast before heading home.

Woogi and I

The lake near our hotel.

Summer flowers

Sunflower

Daisy, chesnuts, and hibiscus