So its been a week but you know you love the suspense. Anyway, last Sunday on Brandon's last full fay in SK we boarded the train to Yeongdong to catch the Dried Persimmon Festival. Yeongdong is the largest fruit producing center in South Korea...some even call is the Holy Land of fruit....not me, but some...they do.
We arrived in Nunsan which was the closest train stop to Yeongdong. As always, a bit of an adventure figuring out the way to the festival but as always, the South Korean's bent over backwards to help us find our way ......which we did, after a $20 cab ride....which is pricey in these parts but nonetheless we were super psyched for some dried persimmon goodness.
The festival seemed to draw a decent crowd for a festival about dried fruit. A mass of tents that lined a pleasant looking spot along a river featured everything from carney games, clothes, fortune telling.....and yes, lots of dried persimmon. We sampled a ton and watched the dancing performances on stage that featured a variety of acts and some very traditional looking acts that were really cool to see.
After the fest we set out in search of some food which on a Sunday was pretty tough to find so we bussed it closer to the train station in hopes that we'd have better luck. The problem was that the bus we took kinda dropped us at about a 45min walk from the train station which was cool since we figured along the way through the town we'd surely find a spot to grub..........no dice...and so we walked more.
For Nicole and I this was no big thing since we've come pretty accustom to the semi-lost walking adventures whenever we leave home. Brandon was not quite as familiar and i think found it a little sketchy. This was however until we stumbled upon a crew of older Korean men drinking rice wine and BBQ'n near a footvolley court (volleyball with feet). They kindly ushered us over and fed us some dried seaweed and rice wine which was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how gracious they are and how extremely generous. As we headed to the train they bid us a farewell with some ramen noodles for our travels.
Once we returned to Gwangju we were starving yet again since the ramen at the train station did not do much for the hunger pains. We checked out the pricey but phenomenal all you can eat raw tuna joint up the road from school.....and boy did we eat. The $30 a person for the quality of fish we consumed was a heck of a deal when I think about how much Brandon and I put away but i think he enjoyed it as much as we did and it seemed like a nice way to spend the last day of his trip here.
Oh right, it's almost Christmas kids and that means some holiday bloggin is on the way. Hope you are all in the spirit of things this year. We're doin our best on the east side I promise, even got a tree ;) Remember that not everyone is as fortunate as we this holiday season and its easy to forget the true gifts in our lives as we run around gathering presents for one another and stressin over lines at the mall. I hope you take some time to appreciate those around you for the real magic they bring into your lives this season......I'll do my best to do the same.
...Olive's excited.....-adam
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