As soon as we arrived in Cheongdo we caught a shuttle bus that took us to the annual bullfighting festival on the outskirts of town. The entire area was bustling with people and vendors and decorations that made this seemingly sleepy little village come to life. Surrounding the stadium there were dozens of carnival-type rides, open-air restaurants selling noodles and tteokbokki, local farmers offering samples of their dried persimmons, and performers singing and dancing on stages. As we navigated through the crowd to find our seats it was obvious that we weren't in Seoul anymore...we could feel the stares coming from every direction. I'm not sure Cheongdo natives had ever seen such a large group of foreigners in their town!
the whole group...minus josh who was behind the camera.
Having never been to a bullfighting festival, I didn't quite know what to expect. All throughout the day new bulls were brought into the ring, unleashed, and then expected to push their heads together until one of them got tired and gave up. It's still a weird concept to me, but I definitely had fun cheering for the biggest bull and pretending to understand the point of this strange sport. I'm also convinced that anything can be fun if you are with the right group of people! My friend Paul and I were able to take a few photos of the bullfights right next to the ring. Luckily, I brought my telephoto lens with me and was able to get some close up shots of the action.
At the end of the day we found a galbi restaurant and ate tons of pork wraps, soup, noodles, rice, etc. before heading to our hotel. The staff kindly offered us one of their suites at no extra charge and we took full advantage of the room. The place was spacious and was decorated in a renaissance meets red-light district style...always a classy combination. A large circular bed, complete with an ornate mirrored headboard, was against the back wall and dim red lights surrounded the top of the room. We used these "props" to our advantage and played a game of charades that lasted for hours. The bed became our stage and you were expected to stand on it while acting to your teammates who sat on the floor below. Some of the most fun moments of the night came when Kenna acted out Madonna's "Like a Virgin," and Meagan began screaming at her team for not being able to guess her movie with only a single action. I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Somehow the night began with only 8 people in the hotel room, and by about 10:30 pm there were almost 15 of us. Friends of friends kept showing up (probably because they heard us from the other floors) and soon it became one big party in room 301. Such a fun night!
mike's rendition of "mona lisa smile."
paul trying to act out an 80's song that no one had ever heard.
party in the love hotel.
Sunday morning we woke up fairly early and went back to the bullfighting festival. My friends, Josh and Bethany, had attended the bullfight last year and were asked to return and help with the annual rodeo demonstration. When we arrived at the stadium we met with an American cowboy from Nebraska who was running the show (seeing a guy with a big ole' belt buckle and a cowboy hat made me miss Texas!). He has been helping with the festival for years and was eager to find jobs for all of us. Most of the morning was spent hanging out and talking with the bull riders (a fun group of guys serving in the Air Force), taking pictures, and preparing for the show. At around 1 o'clock in the afternoon the rodeo began with all of us running around the inside of the ring trying to get the spectators excited. With thousands of Koreans watching, Bethany was the announcer, Eva the translator, Kenna, Julie, and Sharon the cheerleaders, and I was the gate girl. I stood inside of the ring and whenever the rider was bucked off it was my job to open the gate and usher the bull out. I only got scared once when a bull got confused about which side of the gate to exit on and headed straight towards me. I quickly ran away and abandoned my position...oops! Luckily I was just laughed at and someone else was there to take over. Everyone did such a great job and it was so fun being a part of the action. Look for us on Korean TV!
julie, sharon, kenna, and i pretending to be bulls while wearing the coolest visors you've ever seen.
Life can be so unexpected when you're living in a foreign country!
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