On Buddha's birthday...

Although I wish I could post about the extravagant affairs that happen to honor Sir Buddha I will say I know of two events in Korea that you should attend. The first being Seoul's Lantern Festival. I met up with about 15 EPIK folk and enjoyed about an hour or so of the parade down the main drag up to the main Temple near Joggak. It was like the American version of the Rose parade (granted I've never been personally) and it was a delight. They hand out some of the lanterns- lit and unlit so try to get a good spot and wave, smile and bow to the parade participants! The other event was in Busan. I made my friend go on my behalf, but I will say the pictures I saw at nighttime were breathtaking. Leading up to this event I had mentioned to my co-teacher and the principle when we first met that I wanted to go. I felt an immediate sense of awkward after saying I wanted to go and my co-teacher asked if I was Buddhist. In Korea I have been told that Christians can be a bit strong willed with you if you waiver any direction but Christ so I did my best to say that I was a lover of all religions! *Although I do have my strong opinions towards/ against religions of certain faiths* If you come to Korea and do not participate in any Buddha traditions around this time of year. You seriously are missing out on a huge part of what founded this country.