Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Seoul. I guess the park was supposed to have lots of Cherry Blossoms. As it turns out, there are actually more of those trees in a park that is only a mile from my house. We took an hour and a half bus ride, packed in like sardines, standing up, the windows didn't open, and there was no air conditioner. At first I was a little frustrated that we had traveled for so long to get there, but it was such a beautiful day to be outside that the frustration soon melted into pure contentment of just being outside.

This was an extremely random photo op set up. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be advertising, but my friend Chloe sure makes a good angel! The funniest was when a little boy (maybe three years old) was standing there, but his head only went about 1/3 of the way up the wings.

You could also see the Blue House (first picture of me) from the park. This was the first time that I had ever seen the Blue House, which is where the president works. (I thought he lived there too, but as it turns out, I thought wrong.) The second picture of me is in front of a statue of King SaeJong. I guess he is the one who invented Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) 600 years ago.

After we walked through the park, we went for a stroll by the Han River. I had never been to this area before, and had also never seen an amphtheater that was built on a river. I thought it was interesting. We also saw a little boy who was playing right on the edge of the concrete. He was probably only 4 years old, and was playing and dancing within inches of the dropoff to the river. (Never mind that there aren't railins there in the first place, where the heck were his parents?) I was terrified that he was going to plop right into the water. When he sat down by himself, looking so cute, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the adorable scene. (And no, he never fell into the water.

This morning I ran a 5k with some friends of mine. It was their first time running a 5k, and they were pretty proud that they finished. I jogged with them, and encouraged them when they were exhausted. It would be fun to enter a race to actually be able to run for myself. Maybe I'll do that half marathon soon....