School Science Festival and Looking for Cherry Blossoms

The last post was lacking photos, so this time I'll make it up to you with a lot of pictures from our recent adventures. In case you're behind on the times and still think the biggest news about Korea is surrounding Psy's Gangnam style video, I will just say that you do not watch enough Saturday Night Live. The new topic of interest is the war between the North and the South, that thankfully has remained a war of words thus far.

On Friday, I found out at lunch time that afternoon classes were cancelled due to a school-wide science festival. The students were really excited to test out the model airplanes and rockets they'd built as part of the science of flight. I just hoped that the North would not consider my students' actions a provocation. 

rocket launcher

the rare model plane that didn't just nosedive

The rockets were made from pop bottles and bits of cardboard, while the airplanes were built from metal and paper kits. Most aircraft did not survive their initial flight.  

students waiting to test launch their rockets

students waiting to fly airplanes

Sometimes, the walk home from school is almost as much fun as actually being at school. Now that the weather is nice I can go on the adult-sized monkey bars with no mittens. I only made it 2/3 of the way across, but by the end of spring I'm going to be so pro!

monkey bars!

Saturday morning, we got on the subway and headed to Yeoiudo to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. One of my co-teachers recommended that we not miss it. Unfortunately, I think due to the cold weather, there were very few trees showing off their pretty pink blossoms. We could see that there were many bare trees that lined the walkways which surrounded the main festival area, where food of all kinds was being served, and games being played, despite the lack of actual blossoms. 

 eggs for sale

or octopus

 or gummies!

balloon darts. Play on roller blades for added difficulty

hot dogs and bottles of rice tea

the green and yellow are all stalls from the festival. Endless!

We still enjoyed walking around the park area. We also ate a hurricane potato and several gummies (a very rare find here) that we bought from the stalls at the festival. 

Happy Emily with hurricane potato and rare blossoming trees

Corey and water

These are not cherry blossoms, but they're pink and blossomy. They'll do.

A huge statue of Emperor Sejong

When we got to the edge of the park, we saw... another park! This park was right on the edge of the Hangang river. There were people riding bikes, flying kites, and listening to live music. We stopped to watch all the fun and then sat and got some sun by the water. 

Park on the river, with Seoul skyline

Corey in front of the water again :)

After a while, Corey and I decided to begin to walk toward Itaewon in search of the delicious falafel we had last time we were in Seoul. It took us about an hour with a few stops along the way, but we did eventually reach our destination. Plus we got to see a lot of areas that we usually miss when we take the subway. We had an early dinner and then headed back to Incheon. 

The bridge toward Itaewon

That's what's going on here. Not quite the images you're seeing on CNN, eh?

p.s. people keep asking me "What is kimbap?" Here is a picture of it. It looks like sushi, but it doesn't have fish (necessarily). This one has egg, carrot, pickled radish, and green vegetable stuff.