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I named my last blog “The Mother of all
blogs,” as I had neglected my blog duties for weeks, thus
resulting in a massive outflow of pictures and information into
my blog. And you may or may not have noticed, but I’ve been on
Radio Silence for the last couple of weeks as well. With
10-12 hour days at ECC, a packed social schedule and booked
weekends, I've been busy. Well, here
comes another blog and I guess there’s only one title for it:
“The Father of all blogs.” Let me start from the beginning.
In the beginning, God created the Heavens
and the Earth. Okay, okay, I’ll get to The Point. |
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Months and Months ago, in the dead of
winter, when I first visited my Abandoned House in Cheongdo
County, people had asked me why I wanted to go to that county.
They told me that it was famous for only three things:
Persimmons, the annual Bullfighting Festival and Boredom. I
always replied that the House was always my draw and that it
didn’t matter which county an abandoned house was in, as long as
it was abandoned, it was cool. After blank stares, they would
always tell me to visit the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival. So,
I looked into it, became interested and decided to go.
I didn’t really understand Korean
Bullfighting until after I arrived in Cheongdo. This is what
they do: The cowboys pull two bulls by the noses right into
each other to try and instigate a fight. Once the two bulls are
angry, they start a little brawl—the one that backs away first
loses. Its pretty simple and painless (Sorry Spain—I love your
country, but killing bulls is not for me). We watched one round
and then decided that they would all be similar and decided to
explore the fairgrounds.
The highlight of the fair was definitely
the Korean drummers. A traditional Korean drumming troupe
includes different types of drums, gongs and cymbals and when
they get a beat going, you can feel it deep down in your gut. I
love listening to a live drumming troupe. At the fair, they
were even dressed up in the traditional drumming regalia despite
the unseasonably warm weather. Before wandering across the
small stream that divided the fair, we peroused the various
stalls, looking at traditional wares and sampling local foods
(including Persimmon and Water Sprouts—another county
specialty).
We ate lunch on the banks of a small
riparian called Seowon Stream. Nearby a directional sign
pointing towards the bathroom had been tilted so that it pointed
into the stream. That gave us quite a chuckle. Everyone knows
that Korea is one of the most polluted countries and that’s just
how all the rivers seem: like bathrooms. This stream, however,
flowed with clean, clear water.
On the way home, we stopped by a nice
coffee shop called Poongyung (Scenery) in Gakpuk, the closest
town to my House at Hulti Pass. We ordered some beer and played
the traditional Korean card game, Gostop, for a couple of hours
before returning, slightly sunburnt, to Daegu. |
