Jeongok Paleolithic Festival

Let me tell you about the cool Paleolithic festival that I went to during my Children’s Day weekend up in Seoul.  It was up in Jeongok which was about an hour and a half drive north of Seoul.  We knew we were getting close when we drove under this really cool archway. It had cavemen, a woolly mammoth, and a saber tooth tiger on it.

Once we got to the festival the first place we went to was the Paleolithic museum. When we finally found it I was surprised how futuristic it looked. It was all silver, shiny and curvy. Even on the inside it everything had curves to it and looked like it was a museum from the future. I thought this was strange since it was a museum that was about evolution, the history of humans, and had a lot of really old things in it. My dad called it ironic.

That cool looking silver thing is the museum.

This was the center lobby area. It looked like a lounge from a spaceship.

This was the main exhibition area.

The museum was really interesting. I learned that there were many human like creatures that walked on their feet like us that lived for a long time before humans like us evolved. They were kind of ugly. One of the cool features of the museum was that when you got there you got a card that you can use to set up a photo of yourself on a computer. Then when you went around the museum you could scan your card and then morph your picture to see what you would look like as different species of our human ancestors, such as Australopithecus (Lucy), Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Neanderthal. It was really funny to see what my mommy, daddy, and I would look like as these different species. I also learned about evolution, archeology, cave paintings, Stone Age tool making, ancient musical instruments, and saw a really cool replica of a mammoth bone hut.

The first pic is me, then me as a Australopithecus, then me as a Homo erectus,
next is me as a Neanderthal, and finally me as a primitive Homo sapiens.

This was the really cool mammoth bone hut. It would have been
so cool to live in one of these.

After we were done with the museum we headed back out to the festival grounds. I got to try out a bunch of old traditional Korean farm tools that were used to get rice off the shaft, grind it, pound it, and then carry the loads of hay. Then I got to play some old games. And then I got to play with some big grubs. They were freaky looking, but I was tough and pick a couple up and played with them.

This was really heavy but I make it look easy :)

Yummy Grubs!!!

Then we found an area that had a bunch of cool sculptures, and another area that was full of pretty purple flowers. So of course we took a bunch of pictures.

After the sun went down we stayed and watched the closing ceremony concert. There was a bunch of performances. There was modern pop, an older style Korean pop, hip hop, and rock. There were TV cameras everywhere because it was being recorded for TV. After all the music was done there was a really cool but short firework show.

Not sure who these guys were, but the crowd got really excited when they came on.
My dad's students told him that they were really popular.

Yay Fireworks!!!

It is pretty north and close to the DMZ, but if you get the chance to go to Jeongok I highly recommend going to the Paleolithic museum there. And if you can make it up there for next years festival you will have a great time. 

Click me for some info about the museum. 

Click on the slideshow below to see the full album that includes more pictures of the festival.

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

Have you ever gone to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival? I have! There are many sights to see. The city of Jinhea is famous since it is the city with the most blossoming cherry trees in the world. When we got to the Cherry Blossom Festival the first thing I saw was…A BIG RED SHINY TRAIN!!!! We waved to the passengers.

      The train was going really slow and lots of people were trying to get pictures of themselves standing in front of the train as it was coming up behind them.

After the train went by my mommy and I posed on the train tracks.

After that we went to the famous bridge where there are a whole lot of cherry trees. It is really beautiful! The pink peddles were falling and the sun was shinning! It was like warm snow in spring!

This was just the street that we parked on. Lots of the sides streets where lined with cheery trees and really pretty.

This is the famous bridge that everyone gets there picture taken at. It was really
pretty but it was packed with people trying to take pictures.

We decided to take pictures from the side of the bridge since everyone else
were trying to get pictures at the end of the bridge. I liked this view better anyways :)

Then we explored the vendors and found many kids craft tents. I painted a ceramic rabbit car pen holder. Then we spotted a Bow and arrows tent. They are made of bamboo wood. We bought one for 6 bucks. It came with the bow and 5 arrows.

Painting my rabbit car pen holder.

The cool bows.

These were toy swords you could buy. Much cooler than the toy
swords you would fine at a festival in America.

We then climbed up a bunch of stairs on went up this cool lookout. You could see the whole city and the sea from the top of the look out. It was really neat up there.

At the top of the lookout. 

Taking pics of Jinhae

There were 365 steps leading up the mountain to the lookout. It is called the "Year Stairway."

It always seems that I become an attraction to the locals when I go to festivals.
I always have people want to get their picture taken with me :)

After that we were all hungry so we went to a chicken ginseng soup restaurant. The chicken was filled with rice, dates, ginseng and some other stuff. We tried the food and I was not surprised. My mom and dad liked it, but they said it would have been better with wild rice. 

Yummy sam gyeop tang. 

The cherry blossom was really good. I wish we had boughten more.

For dessert we bought some of the famous cherry blossom bread! Then it was time to go. I love the cherry Blossom festival!

Great Video Montage of Korea

I came across this video that I really like. It shows a lot of the things that I really like about Korea. I hope you enjoy it.

Jinhae Naval Academy

The first warship we went on.

My family and I went to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom festival twice. This is about our first trip.  I was so excited to be there. On this trip we spent the day at the Naval Academy.  The Naval Academy is only open to the public during this festival. They have two war ships and one turtle ship the tourists can explore! 

On the first war ship, the sailor told me about a how a helicopter can land on ship.  

This is the area where the helicopter would be parked. But today it was used as a concession area.

Another cool thing this ship has is a HUGE gun thingy. The barrel is as long as three of me. 

My mommy, daddy and I in front of the huge cannon.

On the second ship I saw mini boats. The mini boats are the ones that head to the land and the soldiers jump out with their guns. The back end falls open and is a ramp for the soldiers. 

The next cool thing I saw were the Gunner Pod things. This is where the soldier sits inside a glass ball and gets to shoot his big gun. It looks like it can rotate so the gunner can shoot in all directions.  

One of the many cool looking gunner pods.

Reporting for duty.

The last exciting thing I did on this ship was, I went in the control room. I got to sit in the captain’s chair! The ship was really Big! I liked the warship. 

I hope I don't accidentally shoot a missile off.

Sitting in the captains chair!

The last ship we saw was the turtle ship. In the turtle ship’s parking lot the motorcycle police were demonstrating their different formations. They had to drive by us a handful of times and ask the observers to stand back. Many observers didn’t listen so they started their show late. They did different shapes and I liked the triangle.  When we reached the turtle ship I really liked the way it looked. It’s roof is covered in spikes and it has a cool dragon figurine mounted on the front of it.

We had a great time! I would really recommend that you see the Naval Academy, and remember it is only open to the public during the Cherry Blossom Festival. 

I got my yellow belt!!!

Let me tell you how I got my yellow belt in Kuk Sool Won Hapkido. It was a lot of work. I had to do all of the ki cho hyun; which is 6 formations all together. I had to know how to get out of 10 different wristlocks. I had to know different rolls, falls, and also several different punch and kick combinations, flying kicks, and back hand strikes. I had to prove I’m learning the Tan Jon breathing technique. I had to perform at a 70% to pass. After I took the test it was about a week until we found out our scores and had a belt ceremony. I passed and got a yellow belt!!!! When my instructor put my yellow belt on me, I could not stop smiling for like 20 minutes. I love my yellow belt! 

My Rainbow Song

The Colors of the Rainbow by ZoeJoey

Welcome to my latest accomplishment. The title of this song is "The Colors of the Rainbow." My daddy, mommy and I performed the song. I was inspired by the School House Rock song called "Conjunction Junction." It is my favorite School House Rock song. After listening to this song I wanted to make my own educational song. So I did one about the colors of the rainbow. I had a lot of fun writing and recording it with my family. I hope you like it :)

Here is the song that inspired me.

The World's Largest Department Store

Have you ever gone to the World’s Largest Department Store? I have! It is in Busan, South Korea. It is close to the Bexco building. It was opened in 2009. Macy’s in New York City used to be the biggest, but now this one is. It is over a million square feet bigger than Macy’s! J  

Inside, we saw it had great architecture. It was white and beautiful. The place was super clean which made it shiny. The center of the building kind-of looked like it came from a fancy Dr. Seuss story when you looked up because you could see all the way up for like 7 floors.  The information desk is also in the center on the first floor.  At the information desk, be sure to get your foreigner coupon book so that you can save money and receive a cool World’s Largest Department Store canvas and leather bag J It is actually really nice, I love mine J

Inside that case is a plaque from Guinness saying that it is the largest department store in the world.

There are a lot of fancy stores like Tiffany, Prada, North Face, and Chanel. My mommy thinks those are really expensive but really awesome stores. I don’t know anything about them so I will trust my mommy. J Another cool thing is that there is an ice skating rink with a food court around it.  That is nice because it lets the parents eat as the kids skate. Everyone can rent ice skates. They cost 3, 000 won. The entrance fee for kids is 5,000 won and adults are 7,000. The catch is that you can only skate for two hours for that amount. If you go over that time you will get charged for another 2 hours. L

The food court has many kinds of food. My mommy says it is pricy compared to other department stores.  I got a cheese dog from a place called Steff Hotdog which is a Danish style hotdog. My cheese dog bow-a-wow- chick-a-wow, wow ROCKED!  

My favorite thing to do at the World’s Largest Departments Store was to play on the giant floor piano. I and many others kids took our shoes off and made CRAZY music. We were like a rock and roll band!  Here is my solo performance video.

And this was all just on the first 4 floors! There are still 10 floors to explore, plus a spa, movie theater, art gallery, and a bunch of other things to check out. We definitely will have to go back sometime and spend the whole day exploring the place.