Finally, the CBF

Cherry Blossom Festival

Click on the photo to see my web album with some pictures from the CBF (Cherry Blossom Festival). There weren't that many cherry blossoms, but it was cool nonetheless. I mean, there weren't many cherry blossoms to me, but this is Seoul and real estate is quite expensive so they aren't going to "waste" it on plants and stuff. At the palace I saw, for the first time since I moved here, manicured grass. That's right, grass. I had seen a little bit of grass on the sides of the roads, but it was basically weeds. It was weird to see nice grass, haha.

The CBF all took place at the palace grounds in downtown Seoul. The palace was finished in the late 14th century, only to be burned by the Japanes in the 16th century. It was then repaired in the mid-19th century, only to be burned by the Japanese again in the late-19th/early-20th century. btw, Koreans usually hate Japanese, maybe you can see why. They are now in the middle of renovating it yet again, and by the end of this year it should be about 40% finished (if history really does repeat itself, I should be more worried about the Japs invading the the North Koreans, haha). I just can't get over how humongous the place was. We walked around for 3 hours and still didn't see everything.

Me and Grace took the subway and met her mom there. We got off the subway just in time to watch the traditional changing of the guards. I got a couple of videos of it and a couple of pics. Then, we walked into the palace grounds. We got there just in time to watch some traditional dancing and watch how the king and his men would've enjoyed a meal. There were traditional instruments there and it all seemed pretty authentic.

After seeing all that, we just started walking aimlessly and taking picturres. I made captions on all the pictures that needed them, so I won't need to write too much here. After all the pictures and walking, Grace's dad picked us up and we went out to dinner, then home. It was quite a lot of walking.

I need to be going, but I will update you on how my Easter went, and some funny things my kids have said recently. I also need to tell you how I'm doing now that I have money, and I need to update you on a language exchange I'm doing.