Jindo Parting of the Sea

The parting of the sea, the modern Moses, the magical seaway, the mysterious road festival. It has many names, but call it what your want, it was a great experience. The festival occurs once a year on Jindo island on April 25th-26th. Due to the tides, the water drops to a level that allows a path to emerge that links this large island with a small island out a little less than 3 kilometers and in some places it was 40m wide. Quite a festival, so we joined up with Dean, Chelsea, Andy and Jane and we rented a van for the trip.

All along the boardwalk they had food stands, performers and people playing traditional Korean music. I got grabbed and pulled into this dance by the lady in green. Hey let's watch the big foreigner dance!!



Here you can see the boardwalk decorated with colourful lanterns on the railing.



Ellen and Jane are posed in front of the statue that depicts the original story. "According to the legend, an old lady, who was left alone after all the Jindo villagers took shelter in Modo when dangerous tigers showed up in Jindo, eagerly prayed to the Sea God hoping to meet her family again, and the Sea God listened to her prayer and parted the sea, granting her wish. This magical parting of the sea became world-famous when a French ambassador in Korea named Mr. Pierre Randi visited Jindo in 1975 and wrote about this phenomenon in a French newspaper. Jindo Sea Parting Festival is held when the tide differences are at its highest peak, where visitors can enjoy various sea experiences and the unique scenery and culture of Jindo."



Can't cross without a good pair of rubber....socks? Not quite boots, but they were sturdy enough to keep us dry. Besides, quite the fashion statement no? Looking hot babe!!



Here is the start of the rush to get across. It was still slowly dropping, but people were eager to go.


Some parts of the walk we were in water almost to our knees. Good thing the rubber socks were good and long.


Here is a good shot of our group. Left to right: Andy, Jane, Ellen, Kara, me (looking like a goof), Chelsea and Dean. You can also see once the water drops that there is a good wide "road" to walk on.



We were all decked out in our rubber boots. Others decided to keep things simple. Socks though? C'mon mom. haha.

While we were having a good time and enjoying the festival. Many locals were hard at work picking sea weed and shell fish.


There are also tons of star fish on the walkway. Here is Andy showing us what a great hat it makes.


While Andy is showing us the newest fashions, here is Chelsea getting on local TV.


After finishing our walk, we posed for a shot.





With our rubbers off. We were walking around and sampled a local red wine/whiskey. It was actually pretty awful. A promotions guy asked us if we would pose for a group picture if they each gave us a t-shirt to wear. Why not. The promoter shot with his camera while his assistant took mine and snapped a photo. In the end, the gave each couple a bottle of the stuff for free.


Good times in Korea. Standing out like soar thumbs, but quite welcomed by the Koreans for dancing and socializing. We had an awesome time with our friends and it was a great way to enjoy a beautiful Saturday out walking around.

Spring is in the air!

Our winter was nowhere near as severe as what we heard happened back home this year, but we were still really happy to have the air warm up and see the trees start to bud and put some colour back into he countryside. Ellen and I have been taking advantage of the nice weather with day trips on weekends to local festivals, having some picnics and also playing badminton outdoor with Kara and Matt. What's been really nice is the cherry blossoms that were out the first couple weeks of April. Here are a few pictures we took during that time.

Surprised Ellen with a picnic on her birthday. Scored some cheese we had missed out on since we left Australia and made a chicken Caesar salad.




Ellen brought me out one night to the Mokpo University Campus. They had a small festival going on, but the tulips and cherry blossoms were really nice.







Ellen copying the Korean pose all the girls were doing with the blossoms.


On the weekend we hopped on a bus and went to the Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival.

Festival to "commemorate Wangin, a Confucian scholar born there during the Baekje Kingdom (18 B.C.-A.D. 660), who was dispatched to Japan and became the teacher of the Japanese crown prince, helping the country's culture flourish during the Asuka period."







The streets through town a lined with the blossoms. We had an amazing day. It was 26 C with no humidity. Nice to warm up our bones after our not so cold, but very damp and windy "Korean winter".






It's nice to have some colour back in our landscape and our cheeks. We've been here for 7 months and time has flown by. We are truly enjoying our time here and our lifestyle is extremely healthy both individually and together as a couple. Tonight is Tuesday night, and Ellen and I meet at the gym after school. Play some ball hockey on Thursday. Wednesday is low key rest day with lots of reading. We never turn on the TV except 1/week for a movie. It's now 2:30pm in the afternoon, and I have an online class to teach from 4:00-4:50. The time between now and then will be used to plan my two lessons for tomorrow. One grade 3 class and one grade 4. That's it for now.