Golden Week (芝桜公園,Seoul, BBQ, Mashiko)

Golden week holiday began on Monday for us, but it didn’t officially start until Wednesday, 4/29. On Monday, Michael and I spent the afternoon with our teachers. We had a small bbq at home and then went toしばざくら公園 (shibazakura) in 市貝町 (ichikai town).There was a big flower carpet of shibazakura. There were also lots of little vendors and quite the tourist attraction. It was a very nice afternoon with our teachers.

On Tuesday, Michael and I headed to Seoul, South Korea. Seoul was a beautiful place! We spent most of our time around tourist attractions, but did make an effort to find some small restaurants filled with locals for food. It was awesome to have the opportunity to have authentic Korean food! Now it kind of stinks because we can’t get it in Japan. We did bring back loads of kimchi and seaweed. We bought so much kimchi they gave us a free cooler. We made our way around Korea using the train, it’s a pretty easy system. If the train failed to get us to our destination we just hopped in a taxi because it was so cheap. We did lots of shopping, especially in Dongdaemun, because we could bargain for anything and everything. It turned into a fun game for Michael and I. Another favorite was the 63 building, which was more than 250meters (820 feet) high and had a panoramic view of Seoul. We did this at night, so everything was lit up, the buildings, the bridges, and the path along the Han River. It was beautiful. Gyeongbokgung (palace) was also an amazing site. We were there in time to see the changing of the guards! I also had the chance to meet up with a friend, Haeyun. It was so weird because in high school, I would always say how I would go to Korea, blah, blah, blah and it happened! Never in a million years would I imagine to have dinner with a friend from high school in Korea. It was great, caught up on good times. Michael and I really enjoyed Korea!

We came back from Korea with a few more days of holiday. Saturday, Michael and I packed up our grill and all the supplies and had a little grilling picnic next to the Kinugawa (Kinu River). It was very secluded and only 2 other cars had the same spot in mind, but I think they were there to fish instead of BBQ. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon of Korean BBQ and skipping rocks.

Monday, we took our first trip to Mashiko. Mashiko is a small pottery town about 25km away from our apartment. Every year they have a block party like sale during Golden Week and one week in October. Mashiko was the most incredible place to me. I think Michael was secretly trying to keep me away from Mashiko as long as he possibly could because it was dangerous (for his wallet). I thought that since it’s a famous area things would be moderately expensive. I was wrong. There were great finds and we picked up some amazing pieces for a low price. I wanted to buy everything, but of course, Michael was there to keep me in check. One of the most exciting items were bought were two planters. Michael and I have decided to try out gardening. Michael chose to plant snowpeas and I chose green beans. We'll send updates. I heart Mashiko.

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