We took a tour bus to the countryside 2 1/2 hours outside of Seoul. Our first stop was the Hyoseok Cultural Festival! It's a festival that coincides with the short blooming season of a beautiful white flower (the name of which I am completely unaware of). The festival consisted of a marketplace, traditional forms of entertainment, and a huge field of the little white flowers! There was a path you could take through the field that had photo ops along the way as well. It reminded me of the Tulip Festival in Oregon! Walking through the marketplace was odd, though. It felt like being at Farmer's Market, except that I had no idea what anything was! I did get to try a sample of octopus while I was there, though! That was very interesting... it didn't taste awful, but the texture was grossly chewy. Long story short, octopus definitely did not make my "favorite foods" list.
Our next stop was the "sheep pasture." Odd thing to make an attraction out of, isn't it? It was literally just a huge pasture on a hill that had sheep in it. There was a path that went around the entire thing (which was actually a really good workout!) and some food/souvenir stands, but that was all. Us Americans were like, "Well, it's a really beautiful place, but... is this seriously it? Just a hill with some sheep on it?" But it turns out sheep are actually really rare in Korea! For Kate's Korean roommate, that was the first time she had seen a real, live sheep! It was really cute how excited she was about it, too.
After our stop at the sheep pasture, it was time to go home! On the bus ride back, Kate's roommate taught me how to say some important Korean phrases like, "I missed you a lot," "Awkward," "Excuse me," and the name of a food dish that is the equivalent of a Korean elephant ear (the dessert served at fairs, not an actual elephant's ear). You know, the essentials.
Once I arrived back at my dorm, I asked my roommate about her day. Very nonchalantly, she informed me that she went to the dentist because she was in so much pain that she couldn't sleep last night, and it turns out she had to get her wisdom teeth removed. So that's what she did with her day! Crazy, right? But she said it didn't really hurt. And on top of that, getting her teeth removed, xrays, and the appropriate meds only cost her about $50! The moral of the story: if you're going to have your wisdom teeth removed, Korea is the place to do it!
Overall, today was a very good day! (more fun than my roommate's, at least!) It was nice getting the chance to see a part of Korea outside of Seoul. The difference is absolutely incredible! Seoul is the epitome of a large city. But the Korean countryside is the total opposite! It actually reminded me a lot of Oregon, because it was so incredibly green, and all you could see is green hills all around! It was wonderful to see landscape similar to home, but also a little bittersweet.
You had octopus. We had Subway. Basically the same thing.
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