Chuseok in Jeonju, Part 1

This last weekend was Chuseok. It's Korea's version of Thanksgiving. The best part about Chuseok for me was having two days off of school. Cris and I traveled to Jeonju for the long weekend (about a 4 hour bus ride for me from Chuncheon).

Me and Cris with Araceli, another TaLK scholar who lives in Jeonju. We hung out with her just for a couple hours at this restaurant (she spent the rest of her Chuseok in Seoul, like many of the TaLK scholars--I'm lucky I'm so close to Seoul and can travel there any weekend, not just over vacation).

I only took this picture because of the funny name..."Safety and Homemade Kitchen." Korean English is fun.

I like the photo-bombing Korean in the background...too bad he's blurry.

Cris and I stayed the night in a jjimjilbang, per usual. And then we taxied to Hanok Village the next morning. Hanok Village is a traditional Korean village that has been preserved, for the most part, but has also become a huge tourist attraction.

I love all the traditional architecture.

We found the cutest cafe and had this amazing breakfast:

We happened upon a concert/performance thing in the village that was kind of entertaining:

Some military guys did a dance thing...eh, it wasn't terribly organized, haha.

 

This singer was funny. Haha...I think you have to be Korean to appreciate this style of music.

The crowd loved her.

People watching is my favorite. I love Koreans.

Ahh, these kids were the best part of this concert! They were dancing like crazy. It was adorable.

Haha...I like the contrast in this next video between the dancers and the old man watching. Two totally different "Koreas":

You gotta love the Korean b-boy groups. Er...don't blame me if you hear some swears in the song in the video. Koreans don't really pay attention to English lyrics. If they did, I don't think they'd let their kids listen to those songs. As it is, I hear F-words in songs playing at the supermarket...haha.

The kids' dancing was almost more entertaining...

 

I don't really know what this character was...but it might have had something to do with this squid ink bread:

I didn't try any...but it sure sounded interesting.

However, I did have a lot of choco pies this weekend:

PNB Bakery in Jeonju is known for their famous homemade choco pies. They were pretty good, for Korean desserts. They have jelly, cream, and almonds in the middle.

Jeondong Cathedral in Hanok Village: 

I have seen the Pieta in person! Haha...I wish. Just a Korean replica...

Such a content Jesus...

Boys shirts growin. Yesss.

Street food. This was a meat skewer smothered in cheese and spicy sauce. We should have tried the fried octopus they were selling, though.

There were people in the village selling these random hair clips of fake flowers and leaves. You clip them in your hair and it looks like you have a plant growing from the top of your head. So random. 

If you look close, you can see a flower sticking out from the top of this guy's head:

Yeah...Cris and I may have bought some and wore them...

A giant dog just chilling at one of the cafes: 

I love prelzels...

Ahh! Check out the cute married couple and their couple outfits! Right down to their shoes: 

Everyone was dressed in Hanbok this weekend. They looked so beautiful. I loved these hats, too.

Jeonju spiders. Not beautiful.

Our guest house we stayed at for 2 nights:

It was very comfortable. Well, for being a traditional Korean home, which means we slept on floor mats...

We did get to watch some Korean cartoons, though...

The video was too quiet, so this is only a picture. But it is really funny watching animated dinosaurs speaking all Korean...