Mud Festival, Etc.

This past weekend was the busiest few days I've had since arriving in Korea. It also included the three earliest times I've gotten up since being here :) Here's the full story... Saturday morning we (Tracy, Cori and myself) woke up at 6 am and left our apartment at 6:50 in order to make a bus we thought was leaving at 7:20. We took a taxi to the intercity bus terminal, got our tickets without a hitch, got on the bus......and sat there...for over 30 minutes. We still aren't entirely sure what happened... perhaps the times were off or maybe they cancelled the earlier bus, or maybe the bus driver just didn't want to leave. We were a little worried that we wouldn't make the bus at our transfer point. Eventually, though, we drove off, getting out of cement and out to where we could see the hills and the fields of rice and other crops. The thing about taking a bus, however, is that there are many stops along the way. There were at least 6 stops on the way to Daecheon beach. One of the stops was where we switched buses. In spite of our late departure, we made it in time to get the early bus there. That bus took us to our destination--Daecheon station. Even though that is its name, the station is actually located in Boryeong, 15-20 minutes from Daecheon. Once we got off the bus, Tracy and I needed to use a restroom. There wasn't one in the bus station, so we decided to try to find one at a nearby restaurant. We pulled out the trusty Lonely Planet Phrasebook and went straight to the dictionary in the back for the word "bathroom." After asking and just getting a very confused look and gestures indicating upstairs I realized that we had made a stupid American tourist blunder. In looking for the word we wanted, we looked at "bathroom" rather than "restroom" or "toilet." We were asking for the room where you bathe, not the room where the toilet is. They aren't the same word in Korean!! So, I felt pretty silly :). From there we grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel by the beach. It's a very built up area with TONS of hotels and seafood restaurants and bars and such. We knew we were getting close because we drove along a street that had banners for the mud festival every few feet. Because of the festival, all of the lodging in the area was charging double the normal rate. So, for a less than clean room with a double bed we paid approximately $80 (80,000 won). After a quick change of clothes we got some bimimbop to eat and headed to the beach. We were about 3 kilometers from where the mud festival was taking place, so we walked along the beach (me totally enjoying having my feet in the water and sand!) to get there. We had arrived on the first day of the festival (it runs for a week), so it seemed that people were just getting there. The closer we got, the more people we saw walking away covered in gray mud. Eventually we found where the source of the mud was. There was a big stage set up, and many inflatable games and pools around with mud in them rather than water. Our first stop were the tables that had basins of mud, paint brushes and mirrors where you could cover yourself with the soft, gray mud. Once we were covered, we went up the stairs to where more events were taking place. We watched an obstacle course for a while and then got in line to go down the mud slide. It was a bit of a wait, and once at the top we waited some more for them to bring more mud. When they had made it sufficiently muddy we slid down--Tracy and I together, head first! If I thought I was covered before, I was wrong. The slide bumped me up to a whole new level! At that point music started on the stage. We watched a couple middle-aged white guys play other bands' songs (Matchbox 20, John Lennon, Simon and Garfunkle...), and then it started raining. Tracy and I were already chilly from the mud and the breeze, but the rain made it worse. After looking at some vendors booths, we rinsed off in the ocean. From there, Tracy and I chose to head back to the hotel to clean up and warm up. On the way back we saw some cultural performance on a stage and ate a hotdog. After getting clean we went out to find a coffee shop. It started raining more, but we found a fun place where we could see the beach while sipping our (overpriced) coffee. While we were there a parade came by with people in various cultural outfits. From there we continued back toward the festival to pick up a couple souvenirs. On our way back to the hotel in started raining harder. We were tired of being wet and cold, so stopped under an awning to wait it out. Well, it didn't show any signs of stopping, so we continued on, grabbing a cardboard box to hold over our heads. That was pretty amusing! We got a lot of stares :) Eventually Cori and her friends returned from the festival and we all headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at an open-air seafood restaurant. Unfortunately none of us was very good at Korean, so we didn't know what we were ordering. It turned out to be a variety of shellfish--clams, snails--that were dumped right onto the wire grating over hot coals at our table. We were told that when they opened up they were ready, and if they didn't open up, they were bad. That was an adventure! Unfortunately it wasn't very filling and it was pretty expensive. So we left unsatisfied. At this point our group split up. Tracy and I went to find more food while the others went out to continue their night of drinking. We went to Can More, a Korean chain that sells various dishes involving fruit. I've been to the one in Dangjin twice for fruit loops with fruit, milk and cream (called "Wildshing"). Tracy got fruit spaghetti, I got ice cream, we both got hot cocoa, and we filled up on the toast that accompanies the meal. Once our tummy's were full we made the wet hike back to the hotel to hit the sack. This time we bought a $2 poncho to share between us (there was a lot of extra money spent on the weekend compared to what we had budgeted, so we wanted to make sure we had enough to get back and eat breakfast the next day). We planned to leave early Sunday, so went to bed when we got back to the hotel. On Sunday Tracy and I were on our own to make it back to Dangjin. We managed to find a city bus to take us to the intercity terminal, and while on that bus a friendly Korean guy started chatting with us to practice his English. He ended up being super nice and communicated with the people at the terminal to get us directed to the right bus to take. We had an extra hour before the bus left, so we went down to a convenience store to grab a bite to eat. The trip home was uneventful--I tried to sleep most of the way. As we were getting off the bus in Dangjin, I noticed that a girl who got off with us was a girl I had met at the English service at church the week before! She was happy to see me and I invited her to accompany us to our apartment so I could throw on church clothes and come with her to church. We made it just in time for the service to start. After English service we sat around chatting for awhile and she started teaching me some more Korean. Then Benjamin (the African preacher) and Brian (his real name is something I always get wrong in Korean) and some other people wanted to go hang out. So we got some lunch (kim bop) and then started exploring Dangjin. One by one people started leaving until it was just Benjamin, Brian and myself. They showed me around some parts of Dangjin I hadn't visited before, we stopped for ice cream, we came back to the apartment and got Tracy and Joe and went up to the park (Namsan) where we sat and talked for a long time, and then we went out for some dinner. The whole time it was great to just talk to people and get more insight into Korean culture from both of the guys. I also found out about the other foreigners that live in Dangjin. Apparently there is a pretty good-sized population of Indonesians who are involved with the factories in the area. They are cheap labor here, and many are illegal immigrants (hmm... sounds strangely familiar to the U.S....). There are also some Philippinos who work as English teachers, and German engineers. Crazy. I was also recruited to help out with an English camp the church was running for kids on Monday. Because I was a last minute addition I didn't have many responsibilities, but I did help out with the English songs and taught them, "Praise Ye the Lord, Allelujah" (you know the one where you sit down and stand up when it's your side's turn?). They thought that was just great! I had to meet at the church to leave at 7 am, so it was another early morning. I went to work after the morning at camp, so by the end of the day yesterday I was exhausted. I slept harder last night than I have for a long time. I doubt I even rolled over!! Whew! That was the past few days! Now Tuesday is already over and tomorrow is the halfway point of this week! I've added pictures of it to my yahoo album. Enjoy!!