꽃가득한 순천정원박람회 - Sooncheon's Flower Festival

There are weekends that seem to exist only to make you enjoy better ones. This weekend is such a weekend. I must be nearing that red phase of the month because small things affect me much worse than usual, and they sadly seem to happen more often than usual as well. 

At one baseball game recently, one of the busiest ones I have been this year, Mokdong was completely sold out. I sit with my cheering crew, and we practically have the whole block for ourselves, because all our season tickets are in the same spot, and we are about 30 noisy people dancing cheering and waving flags around, so people usually just sit in the block beside us and since there are tons of empty seats around, there is no problem. I am very tall in Korea, but it is never a problem at Mokdong because I always am at the front of the lowest row near the fence, and all the people behind me are higher up, and standing as well. 

Since the atrocious ship wreck that has left the whole country scarred, baseball cheer has stopped in Korea. It was a tragedy, and baseball was doing its part of the mourning. 

What I'll say here has nothing to do with how atrocious I feel the ship wreck is, please understand. However, since the cheer has stopped, baseball has become really awkward and boring. I feel like I'm in the states watching the baseball I've hated all my youth.

One dude in a white suit runs from one dot to another dot. 

We like it, we say yayy.

Then it starts again.

I hear that it's finally going to be over next week - like, we will officially have the right to be happy about things again...

But back to my story.

At that cheerless game, there were no seats left and a couple came late in the middle of... hm the 3 inning I think, right in the seats behind where I was standing and watching the game. Cheering or not, I don't like to watch the game sitting like an idiot. It's cold, and it's boring. In such a case, watching on TV has way more charm because at least, of you only watch, TV gives you much better angles to watch. 

They politely asked me to sit cuz they couldn't see. 

I was thinking. Man, it's a baseball game, can't they stand too, then we'd both see and we'd have fun with the game? I rolled eyes and told the person besides me what I thought. I was already irritated by the lack of cheer and space. 

I moved 3 seats on the right and asked ppl of the crew if it were okay for me to stand there. As far as it went they could see alright so no problem. Well apparently I was still in the way of that same couple. Man I didn't say anything, but my eyes could have killed. 

I don't pretend to be a good person, at least to myself. I know I am a very self-centered and impatient bitch. However, I also hate self-centered impatient bitches, so I have been working on myself for years. At that time though, a part of monster-me got out. I am pretty sure there was a black aura around me, that aura only my very close friends have seen in moments of angry weakness when my true self comes out.

All this to say, that a friend told me last week that that day, he actually got chills all the way down his back at that time. He felt there was something he could never have imagined, hidden deep inside me. 

Well this weekend, I think it's trying to come out again. Man so many frustrations. I am happy I am alone right now.

This ranting, by the way, is just a little prelude to my blog entry, that I had half finished before the system bugged and I lost it all. This weekend I dropped things everywhere, stained stuff messed up nails, got lost, hurt my feet in new shoes, couldn't get my bike because the cleaning ladies were washing the whole area outside and waxing the floor of the first floor of the building, arrived late at the game.......

So here we go, me writing for the second time. 

Enjoy.

On the last day we went to the hot baths in Boseong. They were like the usual, except that they also had a green tea bath. It felt like a blasphemy to bathe in the dark liquid that I love drinking so much, but I figured that at this point, no one would ever drink that tea in which a hundred of old grandmas bathe every day... just a thought.

Now that I got you all hungry.

After the baths we got on the way home, but decided to stop at Sooncheon see they flower festival. They had special garden sets with thematics from all over the world. The place was a bit too big for us to see it all however, so by the time we set ourselves to meet up at the exit, the both groups we had split into had each visited their own halves of the big park. What an irony that the groups would go in completely opposite directions.

The Garden of the World, the only indoor garden we saw, was the only one we walked through together, although we did split up while going through it.

There were tons of really nice bright coloured flower everywhere. I think that while the outdoor gardens were much more fun to walk through, the indoor one was the most impressive. It had lots of flowers from different places, while the outdoor ones, even if they represented different countries, they were restricted by the weather so instead of having flowers from those places, they had the design of the places looking like the cliché of each of those cultures.

I was really impressed by that small thing in the Korean indoor garden. It showed their green house system, back from few hundred years ago. I honestly never though about the concept of green house having been invented way back then. They had a clever setting with rice paper screens on the roof and straw mats that were probably rolled down the windows at night to keep the temperature warm in the house. As there is not that much snow in Korea I guess they did not have to worry as much about wet snow ripping the rice paper, but it must still have been a hard job, to take care of the whole thing.

It is in those times that I think. Hmmm I am the daughter of an architect alright...

They also had a plant breeding ware house with black light everywhere and plants stacked in rows on shelves. The blue color everywhere made it eerie and strange to walk through...

Did I say there was a lot of wind? Well there was lots of wind. Funny enough my phone recognized that all those pictures were taken with a few second difference and put them all together in a gif image without my asking. While I am still wondering about this weird action, I like the result because it clearly tells how windy it was...

In the split up teams I was Team Monica <3

We had a great time wandering around. Monica is master at the art of taking pictures that look natural and fun so I have great visual memories of that part of  the afternoon. I took loads of pictures myself, but I was far from being as good as she was, the sun was so bright that I didn't see what I was capturing most of the time, and took countless pictures of my thumb... man.

Cuz whenever there's a boat, it's Titanic all over again..

Me in the French Garden rose alcoves (do you call those alcoves?)

:)

Boseong - Le bout du monde Partie 2

La Corée du Sud, c'est le bout du monde.

Boseong, c'est le bout du monde, pour la Corée du Sud. En tout cas, c'est loin en titi quand on décide d'y aller en voiture lors du troisième congé férié le plus occupé de l'année. On a eu des plans, des plans annulés, des plans, des plans annulés... plus de trois fois. 

Le bonheur de la stabilité.

Je voulais aller sur l'île de Jeju pendant le weekend, mais ça a l'air que j'ai eu cette brillante idée en même temps que 2 milliards d'autres personnes. Le fait est que, finalement, on a décidé d'aller à Boseong en voiture avec le père d'une amie et deux autres copines. Boseong c'est la partie la plus au Sud de la Corée du Sud, si l'on ne compte pas Jeju et les autres petites mousses d'îles qu'il y a en bas. Comme je n'ai pas encore eu la chance d'aller à Jeju, on va dire que ces endroits là ne comptent pas encore...

Donc.

Boseong est renommé pour son thé vert, on peut trouver à peu près n'importe quoi au thé vert dans ce coin là. S'ils savaient comment faire manger du thé vert à leur poissons, ils auraient des fruits de mer au thé vert. 

... comme cette technique n'est pas encore inventée, ils se contentent de faire un BBQ de flanc de porc nourrit avec extra thé vert.

**Le porc n'était pas vert, dommage n'est-ce pas?**

Le voyage était sensé prendre à peu près 3 heures give or take an hour.

On est partis à 8AM, donc faites votre math...

9AM
10AM
11AM

...


...


...


midi
1PM
2PM
3PM

...


...


...


...

4PM
5PM
6PM

...

Vous arrivez à la même math que moi? 3 heures c'est ça?

Bon, comme vous êtes aussi bon en maths que moi, on va parler du bonheur du traffic en Corée du Sud. Il y a un truc à savoir en Corée. Il y a des dates en rouge sur les calendrier Coréens. C'est dates la sont des congés fériés. Il y a 3 périodes de l'an où ces dates là veulent dire "ON PREND LE METRO, OU ON RESTE CHEZ NOUS"

Le nouvel an lunaire.

La fête de Buddha.

Chuseok (l'action de grâce Coréenne à l'automne).

Bein la fin de semaine passée c'était la fête a Buddha.

Bonne fête Buddha.

J'ai beaucoup pensé à toi pendant la route Rouyn-Montréal. Euh. Seoul-Boseong.

Même affaire.

En fait je pense que je suis vraiment chanceuse de venir d'où je viens. Je suis habituée à rester complètement légume assise dans une automobile pour des heures sans vraiment rien regarder ou penser. 

J'ai même été quand même chanceuse sur ça, il y avait beaucoup à regarder: la nature de la campagne coréenne est magnifique, on ne se tanne pas. Surprise, elle est vraiment différente de la nature Japonaise que je connais. Au Japon c'est beaucoup plus bamboueux (hm... ça sonne merveilleux écrit comme ça) et comme il y a une période où ils ont complètement tout rasé les arbres sur les montagnes et ont compris trop tard que c'était une mauvaise idée, ils ont tout replanté. Les japonais étant perfectionnistes somme ils le sont, ils n'ont pas que replanté, ils ont replanté en rangées parfaites, ce qui fait que les gigantesques pins (pas sure pour la sorte d'arbre...) qui couvrent les montagnes, sont comme des petits étudiant japonais qui se tiennent en lignes. Malheureusement, comme les arbres sont tous collés ils sont beaucoup plus fragiles aux grand vents... 

mais je diverge.

En Corée les forêts qui recouvrent les montagnes sont pleines de feuillus et ont cet aspect naturel et robuste des forêts naturelles. Vert vert vert. Il y a un peu moins de plaines, en tout cas où on est passé.

À part le paysage, j'avais aussi autre chose sur l'esprit qui était parfait pour une randonnée d'auto dans le silence de mes pensées. 

Maudit gars. En tout cas :)

 Comme on est arrivés tard, on a attendu la deuxième journée pour aller voir le thé. C'était une journée très ensoleillée, mais venteuse. Parfaite pour la quantité de marche en forêt et montagnes qu'on a fait dans les champs de thé, mais inadéquate pour nos plans d'aller faire de la plage. On est allés sur la plage le premier soir et on s'est couchée sur et sous des couvertes dans le sable a regarder les feux d'artifices que d'autres touristes ont dépensé pour nous.

En haut à droite, on peut voir "I <3 Green tea" en Coréen. On le voyait d'en bas mais ils était caché par les arbres
qui entouraient le dessin alors je trouvais ça bien dommage. Ce n'est qu'après m'être essoufflée à l'escalade que
j'ai remarqué que le dessin avait probablement été fait pour être vu d'en haut, car il était parfait vu de cet endroit là.

Crème glacée au Thé vert (la crème de la crème glacée était merveilleusement
douce et fondait dans la bouche, moi qui n'est pas fan de la crème glacée j'ai été
séduite.

 Sur le chemin du retour on est passé à côté d'un site super neuf et joli, avec des pavillons traditionnels qui se sont avérés être la résidence d'étudiants de Pansori, un art Coréen où l'on chante et conte une histoire. Je devrai m'informer plus pour ce qui est de depuis quand ils ont cet forme d'art, mais ça fait au moins un bon bout de temps. 

On a vu deux fillettes, et le père de mon amie leur a demandé de nous chanter une chanson. Elles était incroyables. En regardant le vidéo, essayez de reproduire le son que ces artistes font. C'est une sorte d'art qui sonne un peu discordante à des oreilles occidentales, mais c'est vraiment impressionnant le contrôle que ces gens ont sur leur cordes vocales. 

Imaginez la même chose de la part de fillettes de 9 ans. C'était magique.

J'aimerais faire une formation de Pansori un jour.

On s'est aussi payé un lunch de roi :) dans une petite maisonnette où ils cuisine les plats traditionnels servis au roi (qu'on a aussi eu mes parents et moi l'automne dernier).

 L'endroit n'était pas traditionnel mais le repas était définitivement meilleur que celui qu'on avait eu au Korea House et avec une grosse différence de prix. La preuve qu'il est toujours mieux d'aller avec des gens du pays pour trouver des petits trésors. 

 Il y a deux raisons pour lesquelles les rois Coréens mangeaient leur viande coupée en mince morceaux, marinée et cuite en "streak haché". J'ai oublié la première parce que la seconde était plus logique pour moi. Les rois mangeaient beaucoup moins de légumes que les paysans et leurs dents étaient probablement beaucoup plus fragiles alors la viande devait être tendre. Ah les rois. Dans toutes les cultures, leur prétention les à conduits à la mauvaise santé à force de rejeter les légumes...... des enfants.

보성 여행

저번 주말은 1월부터 엄청 기대했던 주말 이었다.

오래동안 가고 싶었던 제주도에 가려고 했던 주말이었다.

일본에 살았을때부터 난 녹차를 사랑 하게되었다. 제주도 가서 찻잎을 딸 수 있으면 내 차를 직접 만들어 보고 싶었다. 제주 테디베어박물관도 가보고 싶었다.

그런데...

기대됐던 주말이였는데 올해는 어린이날이랑 석가탄신일이 5-6일 연휴라 제주 갈 티켓을 구하지 못해 최소되었다.

그래도 우리는 포기하지 않았다.

대신에 부산/거제도에 가기로 했다. 차를 타고 바다도 가고 여러가지 구경도 하기로 했다.

그런데...

그것도 결국은 안 되었다.

같이 가기로 한 언니 가족에 일 생겨서 못 가게 되었다 ㅠ.ㅠ

그래서...

4일의 여행 계획에 빈 틈이 생겼다. 

난 원래 긍정적인 성격이라 그냥 주말을 한가로이 지내려고 했다. 어차피나 구로로 온지 할달이나 지났는데 아파서 제대로 구경하지 못 했으니까 잘 됐다 싶었다.

...

그런데 밤11시에 전화가 왔다. "


"토욜 아침 8시에 아빠치로 보성가는데 같이 갈래?"

난 망설이지 않고 대답했다.

"물론이지 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ"

오늘도 어떻게 될지모르고 낼도 어떻게 될지 모르는 이즐거운 세상을 어떡하면 좋을까?

결국 우리는 제주는 아니더라도남쪽으로 내려갔다. 한국에서 만드는 녹차가 대부분 보성에서 온다고 해서 기대를 많이 했다.

바다도 보고... 나만 노메이크라 사진 찍기는 쫌 그랬었는데 생각 보다 잘 나왔다.

 갑작스럽게 가게된 여행이라 우리는 숙소를 찾을 수가 없었다.

하지만 찾으려면 언제든지 찾을 수 있는 무식한 자신감으로 도착 하자마자 우리는 숙소도 찾지 않고 식당 가서 밥 먹고 바다에 갔다. 그런데 우리가 밥 먹고 신경쓰지 않고 있을 동안 언니 아버지께서 이 바쁜 시즌에믿지못할 만큼 깨끗하고 싼 방을 찾아 주셨다. 그것도 한명에 만원!

그날 밤 우리 처럼 계획 없이 내려온 위국인 두명 만났는데 그사람들은 숙소를 찾지 못 했다. 우리가 같이 찾으러 다녔는데도 찾지 못 하고 결국 보낼 수 밖에 없었다. ㅠ ㅠ 

보내기전에 연락처라도 받아 놓을껄 혹시 못 찾으면 우리랑 같이 지내자고 말 할걸... 그런데 보내고 나서 이리저리 찾아봤지만 결국 찾지못했다. 좋은 곳 찾았겠지? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

보성에서 회도 먹었는데 그렇게 맛 있지는 않았다. 하지만 녹차 삼겹살은 완전 맛 있었다.