"Not all those who wander are lost.": November 2011

The first weekend in October was a long weekend because of the Korean holiday Gaecheonjeol (National Foundation Day). This is an old holiday that has to do with a Korean legend of the sky opening and a divine figure coming down to earth and founding Gojoseon, ancient Korea. I think most people don’t believe in the legend anymore but the celebration has been around forever and it is a national holiday in Korea.

Not only was October 3^rd a holiday, it was also the birthday of a teacher at my school. She was talking about what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she said she was interested in going to Everland. Everland is a huge amusement park near Seoul (and Suwon). It’s advertised as the Disneyland of Korea (although it really doesn’t compare… Disneyland wins hands down). I wanted to go too and so five of us went to Everland. It was a lot of fun.

Korean girls are really into being cute and Everland is no exception. We saw a ton of people wearing headbands with various animal ears. Of course, wanting to integrate ourselves fully (excuses, excuses) we also bought animal ears. I bought the koala ears which we later thought could also possibly be a lemur…. You decide:

Me and Stacey, the birthday girl!

At first the ears were totally for mocking purposes (at least for me they were) but I do have to say that I think it would have been a completely different experience without them. There’s something about seeing your reflection in the middle of the day and remembering that yes, you are in fact wearing animal ears. The big attraction of Everland is a roller coaster which has the steepest drop for a wooden roller coaster in the world. The lines were really long but the girls I was with made it fun and it didn’t feel like we were waiting for hours (2). The weather was also perfect that day.

I do have to admit that I spent most of the day trying to get pictures of couple outfits without being too creepy. I think you have all realized that they are one of my favorite things here and couples outfits were all over the place in Everland. Some were even wearing couples animal ears – how is that not amazing?! A particularly funny moment was when the Korean guy behind us in line realized what I was taking pictures of. He was with his girlfriend although not in couple outfits. It was awkward and I don’t think he 100% understood my fascination but the girls I was with were helpful even going as far as to pretend to pose for a picture in front of the couple so I could zoom the camera around them and get only the couple. I’ll post my greatest couple outfit pictures at the end of this post.

It was a great day. One of the girls’ boyfriends joined us and brought a cake for the birthday girl which we sat at a picnic table and devoured without even cutting it. It’s been a while since I’ve been to an amusement park and I enjoyed all of the rides. The wooden roller coaster was a lot of fun although I think the girl behind me had a different opinion. As we were climbing for the drop she could be heard alternately crying and saying (what I’m assuming) were prayers. After the ride finished she was still crying and was hitting her boyfriend. I guess she didn’t care for it.

Enough about Everland, here are the couples :)