Music, Pigs' Feet, & Paddle Boats

I'm afraid you won't be doing much reading in this post. Instead, you're going to be doing some guessing, as there are only pictures, not words. You'll look at the pictures and think: Where was he? What was he doing? You can glean this from a few words below.

Quick ideas as to where the pictures were taken. . .

The first few photos are from the Andong Mask Festival: Crowds flock to City of Andong from all over Korea to see Korean traditional mask dances and taste traditional Korean foods. It was a delight to experience it myself. Most of what I saw I had seen previously, elsewhere in Korea, but it was nice to see something cultural, especially since I had half the day off. The festival was during high school midterm exams.

Then you'll notice fireworks, meat on a stick, and cityscapes. This is Seoul. I caught the last twenty minutes of the Seoul International Fireworks Festival in Gangnam, and I was joined my friend Tori. The fireworks were amazing, but to say it was crowded would be an pitiful description. The area was flooded with people. We had to be very careful not to get shoved into the sea, the sea of people that is. --Apart from the fireworks I spent the better of my time in Seoul taking in the city life, hitting up a few bars, and catching up with Tori and our Korean friends over dinner.

Following this are photos from an elementary school speech contest (a favor I did for my friend Nina) and cream cake decorating with my Korean friend and school counselor at the Daechang Middle School next door. This friend is very kind. He never passes up a chance to invite me or the middle school foreign teacher Zach to a class activity. He's also not bad at English and likes making people laugh. We have tea together often.

Next is the Yecheon Girl's Middle School Saturday Camp (another commitment I made for my friend Nina), followed by the Yecheon Fall Festival. The Fall Festival was a sort of city "fair" if you will, complete with cows, cotton candy and the works. It's been ages since I've seen a fair back in the States. But this compensated just fine.

 Yours truly,

                Evan