Korea is a beautiful beautiful country. I am really enjoying where we live because it is quieter and not in the middle of the hubbub you find in a busy city. It also doesn't take long to get to amazing locations like this one. 

       We went hiking to Jiksopokpo (Jikso Waterfall) during the Chuseok Holiday weekend. Chuseok is one of Korea's biggest national holidays and often considered the most important holiday.  During this time, families gather together to celebrate the year's harvest and to honor their family members and ancestors that have passed away. I was able to get a better glimpse of this special holiday through the descriptions from the adults I have been teaching. One of the girls said she would be spending all day Saturday, from 8am until 9pm cooking food for the celebration. Then, at midnight they would set up the memorial table and celebrate and eat all of the traditional foods that were made. On Sunday, they would hike to the burial places of their loved ones to pay their respects. Since her family is in town she didn't travel. Another student was going to be driving up to Seoul to spend time with family there. Most families end up traveling and because of that, bus and train tickets sell out early and the roadways are packed with travelers. 

       Since we stayed close to where we live, we missed out on the traffic, but there were a number of people out hiking the same day as us. On our way to the waterfall we passed by two temples. The first one was closed, but the second one was open and had music playing. There were slabs outside the temple that people were using chalk to write on. Silsangsa was the name of one of the temples. 

       As we continued our walk we passed by colorful flowers, rice fields, a lake and some trees that started to change colors. Unfortunately, it hadn't rained for a little and the waterfall was dry. We will have to go back another time, maybe once the leaves have changed some more, to see if the waterfall is flowing.

We walked by on the way to the falls, but investigated some more on our way back.

No water in the waterfall. 

Praying Mantis

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