Buddha the Birthday Boy

Anyeong! Another week down. I feel like I just put that last post up! Oh well. This week I will be updating you on our cooking class at Little America and Buddha's birthday celebrations in Seoul.

Let us start with the cooking class, shall we? As always, my girls don their cutesie aprons and begin creating whatever new food item the Korean teachers come up with. This week its a spongy, pink rice cake decorated with more rice cake in flowers and leaves shapes with the use of small cookie-cutters. A much simpler cooking class than those previous, this one took a short amount of time but the students were able to be very creative with their rice cake decorations. One student decided that the more the better and piled on endless amounts of rice cake flowers on the top of her sponge cake. Others went for the minimalist look, only wanting one or two flowers. Either way, the students could create this yummy treat and then eat it in about 5 minutes. A short-lived spectacle.

cutting out flowers

example product and inside of the sponge-rice cake

the more the merrier

and it's gone

I enjoy watching the students in the cooking class. I also learn some more Korean while I'm in there. One boy asked if he could eat his rice cake yet (in Korean) and I understood! I got really excited that I said, "Yea sure!" then realized that he still needed the photo shoot of him holding his rice cake (pre-bite) from the Korean teachers. Oops.

Can't say anything terribly exciting happened this week at Little America. Very much the same. My students are all doing well. They are getting nervous for tests coming up next week, but I've assured them they are all little geniuses and will be fine.

Now time for Buddha's Birthday celebrations! Korean Buddhism has been an intriguing topic for me since I arrived here. My temple stay experience earlier this year made me want to learn more and possibly do another stay at a different temple. Not only just the monk culture but the customs, beliefs, and overall spiritual feeling of Buddhist temples are inviting. I've looked into the history of Korean Buddhism and how it has changed over the years and I came across this segment taken from buddism.org (original url huh?);

 "Since being brought to Korea in the late fourth century, Buddhism has evolved under the influence of the Korean spirit. Based on Buddha's enlightenment and teachings of wisdom and compassion, 'Korean Buddhism' was created on the Korean soil by the Korean people. It has three unique characteristics compared to Indian and Chinese Buddhism. Firstly, Korean Buddhism is universal and liberal, especially in solving cultural problems...Secondly, Korean Buddhism protects the nation and the people. From the beginning, it has played a vital role in times of turmoil. While searching for its religious goals and ideologies, it has always been concerned with national glory and peace....Thirdly, Korean Buddhism symbolizes harmony. It has not only reconciled conflicting religious ideas and schools, but also harmonized religious disagreements between theory and practice."

Even just reading this makes you want to go to a temple and get that feeling of peace and tranquility, no? So technically Buddha's birthday is this coming Friday, May 17th, but Seoul had its Buddha's Birthday parade and festival this weekend. In Korean this day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), which means"Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) which means "the day when the Buddha came". In order to celebrate, Kaitie, Katrina, Seol and I headed out to Jonggak station to wander around in the absolutely gorgeous sunny weather until the parade began at 7pm. We walked through Insadong street, right near where Mum, Dad, and Edward stayed on their trip. The weather was slightly different this time though, trees covered in new green leaves and flowers sprouting up everywhere. I loved not having to bundle up against the cold. 

 

 Lanterns lining the street

There were a lot of people out that day, most likely doing the same thing we were. Just wandering around until the parade festivities began. We met up with some friends at a cafe nearby called Radio M and caught up until walking down to find seats along the main road through the city. 

I love sitting in cafes around Korea. It's where I can not only enjoy a yummy caffeinated beverage but also partake in one of my favorite pastimes, people watching. I can shop for cute clothes and shoes (though most of the time 4 inch heels and teeny tiny skirts aren't my thing), I can ponder why an 'agima' decided on those patterns to wear together, or just watch the little puppies go by with dyed pink hair or dresses and bows.  Its a great afternoon activity if you have nothing to do but wait for a parade to begin. After chatting for a while we walked to the main street where there were thousands of plastic chairs lining the shoulder of the road. We found some perfect front row seats where we got a lantern to hold during the festival with a candle inside!

For a while we sat wondering when they would shut down the busy road, as civilian cars were still commuting down the traffic-heavy road hoping to get somewhere. Eventually though, the policemen with their incessant whistling cleared the area for the parade to begin! As people around us began clapping I looked down the road and saw...

Taxis...

Covered in balloons...

Hoping that this wasn't a sign of what was to come I anxiously awaited the more traditional portion of the parade to make its way in front of our seats.

 
  Next came flag bearers and musical performers wearing traditional Korean garb, which is much more what I was expecting (phew!).

 

 

 As it began to get darker the lanterns started coming down the street. Now if you remember the lantern festival on the river that I attended over winter time, multiply the size of those lanterns by about 10. These were huge! Yet they still had just as much detail and beautiful colors as their smaller counterparts. 

Ps. I apologize ahead of time for the bright green road sign that made its way into the majority of my photos.

 With each few lanterns came a group of hundreds of people carrying smaller lanterns. Each group represented a different temple, or branch of a bigger temple. Either way, Buddhist temples from around the country participated in this parade. Women wearing gorgeous hanboks, people performing traditional Korean music, children representing their schools, and hundreds of other people walked through the streets to celebrate the birth of Buddha.

The picture above gives me chills. This group of monks was praying while they walked. Some of them in a trance of solemnity others smiling and waving to the crowd. There were even some small children wearing the monk's attire! I asked about this later and they were most likely orphans who grow up in the temple.

Small little monk

Next came a float with a young child in a wheelchair. At first I wasn't sure what this was and then I saw a group of students with special needs being led down the street. I suddenly got goosebumps and stood up to clap for these children. Honestly, I have only seen one group of students with disabilities since I arrived here in Korea. They do not have an inclusion policy, therefore these students are put in different schools and for the most part kept away from the public view. Not only was in incredible to see these children in this parade but it made me miss my students from Meadowood! I will miss them terribly this summer!

 Each performance would have something to "ooh" and "aah" about. This group carried Korean characters that spelled out a verse from the Bible. The group was HUGE and it went on forever! Such a neat idea, though I can't imagine trying to read it.

 And then things turned weird, as they always do. Some unearthly, Jurassic-park-style noises were coming from down the street and the lanterns became decorated with LED lights and moving parts. Turns out the strange noises were not in fact prehistoric creatures, but elephants... a common error.

Cue Kaitie and I singing "Moulin Rouge"

And a chicken

 Some lanterns even breathed fire! It was pretty incredible.

 Ladies danced on the tops of some floats, either leading a group of dancers behind them or just doing their own thing like this purple woman below.

 I think they forgot a piece of this one...must have left it at the beginning.

The parade was such a fun way to spend the evening! I even got a paper lotus flower from a middle school student walking by! Perks of being a foreigner. We left as the parade began dying down and headed to a place nearby to get some dinner. Sadly the restaurant we chose was out of pig's feet, which is what Katrina, Seol and the other couple we joined wanted to have. I would have tried it! If I can do chicken feet, I think I can do pig's feet. We ordered some boiled pork instead and enjoyed the meal with some beverages to celebrate. After dinner we found a tent on the side of the street and spent the rest of the evening playing games and chatting until taking a van home to Bucheon. Today I'm hoping to study a bit, clean a bit, and just rest getting ready for next week! Monday we have TOSEL tests with the elementary students, Thursday is a sports field trip with Kindergarten, that night I have a Korean lesson then a teachers' dinner to celebrate Teacher's day! Then Friday morning, bright and early, a big group of us head out to the beach for the long weekend! So looking forward to warmth and sun. Can't wait!

xoxox

Korean phrase of the post: 
오늘 날씨 뭐에요?  (ohneul nalshe mwoayo?) 
"What's the weather like today?