This first photo is Laura and I standing in front of a hole in the ground.. .literally. But it's a special hole. The Kings from way back used to come to this castle (no longer here) and float cups down this river-hole and recite poetry and have a party... It's funny how this has evolved into todays culture of getting "crunk" and rapping with their boys... not all that different... right...
Here's a similar pic of my co-teacher mi-kyung and her boyfriend chun-il.Sidenote: this weekend i found out that when something is not found to be funny (like the "joke" above) Koreans will cross their arms and give a serious face to the person and make the sound "hurr"... haha.. i found this histarical and use it all the time now...
Another big reason we came to Gyungju was for the cherry blossom festival in Korea. The cherry blossoms are the way the Koreans know that Spring is around the corner. The same way we know this when the flowers start to bloom; however... they don't have a lot of flowers here, only cement... and cherry blossoms. Koreans go crazy for cherry blossoms. I find it kind of ironic that they love the cherry blossom so much but hate the japanese... this is because this is actually a japanese flower "sacorro" that they brought over not too long ago and is now everywhere... which would act as a constant reminder to me. Pretty Kunfusing to me...
Anyways.. we went to this first little tunnel hole and then drove about 30 mins to a small lake that was built for a King long ago. It was really nice and cherry blossoms were everywhere. I did a horrible job of photoshopping a really off hue sky into this shot.. haha.. maybe I'll do a good one and post to flickr... maybe.. They say maybe here all the time.. and it's usually always probably frustrating... Example... Can I get my check for last month? I didn't get paid. They answer "maybe"... I'm pretty sure they think it means yes...
Before we left there.. we found a little waterfall type of area where you were supposed to make boats out of leaves and make a wish as it went down the little river.. kind of neat...
Next.. we drove about another hour to a temple that was really cool... the architecture of the main building was mind boggling and you really had to be there to understand what i mean by that.
The way it was built.. well.. without going into anything technical.. let's just say that the foundation should have fallen apart about 100 years ago but it's still perfectly level... They definitely knew something we don't know now... 
This is a photo of Rora and I standing in front of a smaller temple and further below there is a picture of some angry looking guy who doubles as a door-handle.. tough life... you'd be bitter too if you just got banged around all day...
And below is a shot of the main building in black and white...
Next we went another hour to eat "authentic" Korean food... i thought I was eating authentic korean food now.. The difference is that wayy back.. when the Korean economy was very poor (i mean really poor.. so you guys can feel good about yourself when you read this) the families could only afford to have real dinners every once in awhile.. and they would make a meal consisting of about 50 side dishes (no overexaggeration) and no main meat b/c they still couldn't really afford it..
Their meals today consist of a main dish that is communal and also about 10 side dishes (to carry on the tradition)that are communal as well.. The only thing that is your own is rice and sometimes soup... no wonder they're always sick here...
So here's a picture of the food... psyyyyche... All of the korean restaurants were either completely out of food or too full and we had to wait an hour.. soooo we ate at pizza hut.. nothing more authentic then that.. MMMMM!
Then we drove another hour (keep in mind that we have now been in the car 2 hours to get here... and about 3 hours during the day.. every korean has the same idea on the weekends to go to the same place.. so they all just wind up sitting in traffic all day and that's supposed to be fun?!?!?).. drove another hour or so to a big lake called Modum.. ok.. i made that up.. but it started with an M... This is where they rented all types of bikes, dirt bikes, atv's and what we rode around the lake.. double-bikes!!.. hahah.. what a double date... here's a picture of a "family" bike that fits 4 people who all pedal.. it even has a roof.. haha...
Unfortunately.. I can't find the picture of Laura and I on the bike!.. It was on my memory stick and is now missing.. I really want to find it b/c it's hilarious!.. We rode around the whole lake and then drove home about 2 hours... All together this double date... lasted around 13 hours... They do things differently here... My next post will be about cherry blossoms and then maybe a soccer game post... maybe..
