MUD FEST

last weekend was the kick-off of the boryeong MUD FEST, which has been an annual festival since '98. the mud, which is used in cosmetics because of its proclaimed rich mineral content, is dug up in boryeong and then carted to daecheon beach (on the east sea) for the festival. this festival attracts more than a million tourists each year ... many, many which are foreigners.
so this is what happens at mudfest, according to my experience: you paint your entire body with mud (or to be more efficient, you use the mud hose), then you participate in the mud fun! there's a mud slide, mud bouncy castles, mud wrestling rings, a mud prison (where people sling buckets of mud at the voluntary prisoners), etc. plus there is a big stage, which provides all-day / nite entertainment.
i went w/ a group of about 50 people, and we had a blast playing in the mud when we first arrived. we went back to our accomodation for a rooftop bbq, but that's when the rain began. and it proceeded to rain for the remainder of the weekend. we still ventured out into the drizzle at night for the "celebrity performance" on the big stage, which was pretty lame & then the rain started to pick up again. as we were walking back, the fireworks display started. i must say, the fireworks were AWESOME. we just stopped where we were and ran around like crazy kids and danced in awe of the fireworks to the music provided from the sound system that filled the air.
back at the crash pad, the party was just getting started. most everybody was so drunk, but a small group of us staked our claim on the room w/ the ocean view and had our own little festival. i'll just call it spoonfest. mucho blankets, pillows, massages, cuddle puddles & spooning. good times.
the next day, the weather was just horrible. we did our best to entertain ourselves inside by playing cards, filling the room w/ soap bubbles, more massaging, more cuddle puddles, games of chess ... and we were about to play marbles when we decided to up and leave early. so onto the noraebang bus we went ... and we were back home before dinner time. a hot shower never felt so good.

update from the cabbage patch

notes from the garden last week: new lettuce seeds have sprouted! ... our pal william's plot that we rescued is full of luscious greens! ... lots of dirty, ripe cherry tomatoes on the vine! ... the eggplants that we relocated (because they were being taken over by our monster tomato bush / mess) are alive again! ... the radish seeds we planted have taken off! ... our herbies are getting too big for their britches (namely the mint) ... and i snatched a couple shots of some jungle wildlife: spidey & mantis.

july 4th weekend....river party!

this was the best fourth of july that i can remember....funny enough, i can't really remember the specifics of any other july 4th weekend. anywho...to clarify a bit, it is one of the best weekends i've ever had. period. i took a trip w/ fantastical people to go rafting and river trekking in gangwon-do, which is the northeastern region of s korea.
as rafting goes, it was a great time ... the rapids were pretty weak, but we somehow flipped, we all got wet, we jumped off of rocks, etc. oh, and the guide of my boat was hot ... and i didn't think i'd ever say that about a korean dude. ^^
the most fun, however, happened that night. bbq ex-tra-va-gan-za. cooking was a group effort ... everyone had a job of some sort, from washing, rinsing, chopping, sauteing, & grilling, to playing music to simply keeping everybody's cup full. the food turned out pretty amazing, for both veggie and meat-a-tarians alike.
after the eatin', some folks started the jam off old skool w/ some pots and pans to accompany the sole guitar. i think just about everybody joined in w/ some noisemaker and some rhythm at some point...and maybe i was just drunk, but i think we sounded pretty sweet. so sweet that we gave ourselves a name... "rice beats".
while jamming, ka (my newfound hawaii friend ... who is just awesome, btw) fired up his hookah and a new circle formed. so a little smokey, chill time. and then began the fireworks fun. i can't really remember what all kinds we had, but the usual, roman candles, bottle rockets, sparklers... i do remember that i was given some sort of sparkler wand, which freaked me out because it looked just like a roman candle, but it was really just a big tube that threw lots of sparks. there was lots of jumping and running around, and of course a horrible rendition of the US national anthem. oh, and then ka busted out his glowing poi balls and was teaching a few of us to spin...until trisha succeeded in killing one of the poi by repeatedly smashing it on the concrete. ha.
then......some people decided that mud wrestling would be a good idea. and i don't disagree, because it sure was entertaining. before long, the whole group (i think there were 54 of us) formed a ring around the big muddy spot in the schoolyard. we shouted and cheered as different tough guys stepped into the middle. the grand champion was this big english dude, who was surprisingly given a run for his money by a much smaller korean guy. all ended well & w/ no injuries. after that, the crowd dispersed....some went to bed, some continued drinking & some continued jamming. i joined a massage train and then went to bed. and i slept well.
the next day was really saweeeeet. we went river trekking for like 6 hours. entered the river by jumping off of a bridge, then did a medley of stepping cautiously, climbing, slipping, sliding, jumping & floating for however many kilometers of that river we followed. river trekking is probably my most favorite outdoor activity ever. for real. being cool & wet & climbing all over warm rocks. it just doesn't get much better.
after the trek, we all sat down for some traditional korean grinds...the best vegetarian bimbimbap i've ever had. then back on the bus, where we had our own noraebang (karaoke) set-up to entertain us for the ride back to our other, less interesting, lives. EPIC.

time to catch up....

whew! i've been having way too much fun to post anything in the last few weeks....so....what exactly have i been doing? let me think...after the deserted island.....oh yeah, the following weekend I stayed in Seoul and did a lot of barefoot dancing my tooshie off.

friday was the reggae bar, then saturday was the wild women's performing arts festival, which was pretty darn great, i must say. the venue was all cavelike and gushing w/ beautiful people and expression. activists, poets, dancers, drumming, fire spinning, singers and music makers of all sorts...and a dj to keep us moving until the early morning light. both nights i just danced until the subway started back up (which is 5:30am) and i could go home to sleep. super fun, but i can't handle too many weekends like that. sunday was a day of rest and relaxation w/ good food and a book.