Boryeong Mud Festival

More-so than anything else, Korea is a country obsessed with festivals. You'll find them for most anything - ranging from religious inspired festivals such as Seoul's Lantern Festival (for Buddha's Birthday) to debaucherous borderline orgies such as Boryeong's (in)famous Mud Festival.

 

While it's true that a lot of the Korean social experience seems to revolve around consuming vast quantities of alcohol and making out with your peers, there's also a lot of opportunities to get out and interact with people without the influence of alcohol. A year round calendar of festivals means that, if you're game, you'll rarely have a weekend where you won't have the option to get out of town and soak up a little bit of the local culture.

 

 

For those contemplating the leap that is teaching English in South Korea, there's plenty of documentation out there to highlight the big picture draws of the country and the career. You know about the good money, the free accommodation, and the fact you can use South Korea as a launching pad into South East Asia - so here are the ten small pleasures that I've picked as reasons I love being in Korea again.

Officially back from two days away at Mud Fest, Korea’s annual festival held on Daecheon Beach and devoted to, well, mud.  Shenanigans included 40 foreigners discovering a microphone on the Friday night bus trip up and breaking into (among other tunes) a rendition of “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations.  The Mudslide, Mud Prison, and Mud Pit had Leah, Dianna, Bryan and myself caked in grey by early afternoon Saturday.  In an effort to preserve my Canon, mud pics are on the disposal, to be developed asap.

Meanwhile, we couldn’t resist getting our new friend Branden from Michigan to snap a few shots of us in our weekend living quarters…upon arrival, we discovered the booked-for-four hotel room provided one bed only. 

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