July has been a month full of λΉ„ (Bi). A.k.a. rain but also the name of the Korean pop singer sensation. You may know him in America as Steve Colbert's
arch nemesis after Rain was rated higher than him in Time magazine's 100 most influential people of last year. It has been my dream to meet Rain while in Korea. My dream almost came true over the weekend.
I boarded a bus with handfuls of foreigners from Ulsan at 2 am Friday night for Boryeong beach, home to Korea's infamous Mud Festival. Leaving at 2 am insured arrival by 8, just before the Mud Festival activities began. I wasn't too excited to go, (especially as 2 am rolled around and all I wanted to do was sleep) but knew I couldn't past up the experience. Besides that, the company of Kat and Jenny always means for a good time. We karoaked on the bus ride after Jenny and I promised the bus driver everyone would be seated and singing. Oooops, total lies! But he must have known this wouldn't be the case. Immediately everyone was up and dancing in the aisle. Could you sit still to Momma Mia or Beat It? I don't think so!
When we arrived to Boryeong at 7:30 am, Kat, Jenny and I (since we had no hotels booked like most people) took a taxi to a jjimjilbang to get some rest. We crawled into the batcave-like sleeping room and didn't flinch until noon. With no need to shower (duhh, we were going to play in mud all day) we were back on the beach soon after we woke up to begin the festivities. In our taxi to the beach we find out Girls Generation and Rain are going to be performing at the festival....wwwwhat?!? We screamed like 12 year old girls! We covered ourselves in mud and ran around with thousands of other people doing all the different mud "stations". Mud prison, mud pool, mud shower, mud painting, mud slides (lines were too long)...etc. Great time! I don't have any pictures to show of the day since I left it locked up, away from the dangers of the mud, sorry guys. But I may post a few from Jenny's camera once they are up on Facebook.
We break down and get a hotel room despite the ridiculously high price for the comfort of being able to lock up our things for the night, beds, our own shower, and being a block away from the beach. Best decision evvvver. We cleaned up for the Girls Generation concert but in the end that didn't matter much since it started raining. Before the concert was an AAAaaamazing fireworks show. By far the best show I've ever seen (Sorry Grand Mound) as they shot the fireworks from a barge out on the ocean all put to a medley of songs including Regina Spektor (how cool is that?) and the Pirates of the Carribean song. It was a good thing the fireworks were so good because Girls Generation was a huge disappointment. They didn't sing their biggest K-pop hit "
Gee Gee Gee"! How dare them! Another disappointment being, Rain (the singer) was scheduled for the next night at the same time we would be on the bus back to Ulsan. Buuummer! We considered waiting to see him, taking a train home, and being super exhausted for work on Monday, but it didn't seem worth it.
After the concert we had samgypsal with people from Ulsan, made some new Korean friends from Seoul University, and ended the night with my first experience in a Korean dance club (surprisely much like any other dance club). It rained off and on the whole night but that didn't stop us. Our 2,000 won ponchos kept us from being grumpy and cold like others. The next day it was monsooning (not really but I'm convinced it was the same feeling) from the time we woke up until we left at 2:30. No Mud Festival action was seen that day, just taking cover inside from the strong winds and rains.
Rainy season is in full swing in these here parts lasting through most of July. It has rained nearly everyday for about 2 weeks now. A bit frustrating at times but a nice break from the otherwise insanely humid summer days. The rain will not stop the adventures though. It cannot because my time is packed full of plans until I leave in a few weeks. This weekend roadtrip, next weekend camping, and the last weekend PACKING!
I just purchased my plane ticket to San Jose....it's beginning to feel more real now. Eeek!
Camping with friends = consuming a lot of grilled meat and great memories
One week from today I will be in Costa Rica. Eeek. All that is familiar will be gone. Eeek. I'm getting increasingly more nervous as the day of departure draws near. Mixed with extreme excitement. I hope to get a final blog in before I leave Korea but I can make no promises....
