Namsan International Folk Festival

It is Chusok break, the Korean Harvest festival - similar to the American Thanksgiving (well, in theory, not in food choices!).. and we are enjoying a 5 day vacation from school! On Friday evening, we decided to jump on a bus and see where it went... as we were riding the 405 around Namsan mountain, Jarrod saw a stage that had Korean music and traditional dancers... so we decided to get off at the next stop and check it out. It turned out to be an International folklore festival.. which was going on for several days - and we happened to catch some of the performances. There were traditional Korean dancers and music playing...
Some sort of tribal dancers...
AND!! A group of high school students from MEXICO that traveled to Seoul for two weeks to put on various performances.Most of the students in the group didn't speak English, much less Korean.. so it was SO FUN to talk to them in Spanish! In order to fund their trip, they were selling different authentic Mexican items - such as sombreros - that many in the crowd were buying. There was a Korean gentleman sitting behind us, having just bought a lime green sombrero - he put it on his head to wear it the rest of the night! We loved it - and so we bought a little sombrero as well to support the group... and so that we could have a reason to take a picture with the Korean! :) He was SO happy to take a picture with Jarrod and gave him his business card afterward. Jarrod proceeded to walk around Seoul for the rest of the evening (like 2 hours!) with the sombrero on his head. :) We definitely got some comments... So now we have a Mexican sombrero on our wall in our home here in Seoul... to remind us of our family back home - the Garcias - and of a fun evening out in Seoul.

I am so thankful for this break from school - a time to truly rest. I look forward to many other fun outings, as well as times to get together with friends... more to come!