The Accidental Artist

I'm not much of a visual artist. I come from a long line of painters, illustrators and what have you....and here I am, a certified doodler. To add insult to artistic injury, my digital camera quickly began revolting shortly after I spent way too much money for it...it would eat my batteries in one fell swoop and then the screen would go blank or (on a good day) appear with a gentle but firm smack only to roll like a ghetto tv screen without cable. I've often thought that this was in protest of my poor picture taking ability which I confirmed when I moved to Korea and the camera completely decided to just stop being digital... After a week of taking pictures through that picture thingy on the back (like an old school camera), the digital screen reappeared now possessed by the spirit of a photographer much more interesting than me. And just in time for the Lotus Festival (in honor of buddah's birthday!)

Evidently, though Korea reportedly celebrates Christmas in relative obscurity and with a bucket of KFC, buddah's birthday garners parades full of beautiful lighted lanterns and a glorious day off work (this coming thursday!!!) Here are the pictures with less commentary than usual. I'm tired.

This parade is well attended by foreigners and it seemed that the parade participants were looking for waygookin action the whole time. I had my hair down and so I was easiest to spot in the sea of thick black hair. This meant that I was given 2 free lanterns, 1 beaded bracelet by children screaming, "HI HI HI" and mauled by drunk Korean men twice. And the performers played right to us! This was fun!

These energetic women constituted the most tenatious choir I've ever seen...2 hours of singing a 2 line long chant song that my friend Nari tried to teach me. It said, "Thank you for your buddist blessing." over. and over. and over...

I took this picture for my students because THIS is Tech V or something like that...a huge cartoon hero...I liked the way the float made it look like he was tromping through Asia like it's a set on an old japanese creature movie.

The story is that buddah was born out of a lotus flower. I don't know much more than that. But this picture was essential.

The parade was lovely and I think the perfect representation of Korea.... I have more to write about my life but it really is late and I have some other things to do. I will try to post more tomorrow.