“Everyday is a Holiday at Everland”

Let's just say my first full day in Korea was pretty awesome, considering I spent it at Everland theme park the 2^nd happiest place on Earth (next to Disneyland of course :) ). Everland is the largest privately owned amusement park in Korea. It's full of rides, themed villages, a small zoo, parades, musical entertainment, restaurants, a beautiful four-season garden, and the world's tallest vertical drop wooden roller coaster (definitely did not go on that...my stomach dropped out of my butt just from looking at it!). Even though everything in the park is a Korean version of Disneyland, it's still a beautiful park because it's nestled in the hillside of there's trees and flowers everywhere.

Probably the only downside to our day was the ridiculous 3 hour bus ride we took to get to Everland. All weekend and through Tuesday were a national Holiday called Chuseok (see full description below) which causes the worst traffic jams I've ever seen in my life. All the Koreans visit their ancestors' grave sites and therefore traffic does not move in or around those areas. So, obviously, the bus we needed to take to get to Everland had a stop at a cemetery. For the better part of 2 hours we were stuck in completely stopped traffic and managed to go about a half a mile. The best part being we had to stand that entire time, because the buses were so packed. I tried to take it with a grain of salt and realize this is probably the worst bus ride I will have in Korea, so anything after this will be a huge improvement!

We finally arrived at Everland, with about every other ethnicity in the world, except Koreans (they were all celebrating Chuseok). Everland offered a foreigner discount for the park that day, so 1) it was extremely full and 2) there were so many different nationalities, it was crazy, but really cool to see that much diversity.

We rode many rides, saw a few shows, admired all the Asians wearing crazy bunny or animal ears on their heads and the matching couples outfits (this is a big thing in Asia I guess, couples will wear matching outfits...I'm assuming it's mostly the girls' idea).  I remember sitting on one of the rides and just feeling so awesome thinking that I'm on the other side of the world with people I met less than 24 hours ago and how wonderfully freeing it felt.

After many hours walking around we decided to go back home and pass out.  It had been a long long day.  When we got back from the bus we had to take a taxi back to our apartment and it was soooo incredibily cheap.  It was only about $2.80 which would have been about $10 in America.  Pretty awesome!

Welcome to Everland

It was all decorated for Halloween already.

This was the buzzer we received when we got food at the park.  We will page you...IF the food is ready.

Kelly and Andy - two foreign teachers from my school.  They have been so friendly and helpful with everything!!

The character on the right is Pororo the little blue penguin.  Apparently he was created in North Korea, but kids in South Korea love him.  I'm not entirely sure on the dynamic behind that.

Don't they look super thrilled to be working!!  All the employees (cast members) walk around waving both of their hands like spirit fingers, but their expressions are dead.

What you can't see is that we are sweating from head to toe.  It was so humid we were so sticky and sweaty and my hair was getting bigger by the minute.

The flower gardens. 

Holland Village - aka Europe land

Beer - called maek-ju in Korean. Beer here is not good at all, but at this point we didn't care so much. We just wanted a cold cheap drink.

Ridiculous!

Tallest vertical drop wooden roller coaster in the world.  Needless to say I did not ride this!

Korea's version of Mickey and Minnie Mouse....on drugs..

Every girl and guy (forced by their girlfriends) were wearing animal ears.

Don't worry...you can ride a camel in Korea..no big deal.

-Chuseok is celebrated on the 15^th day of the 8^th lunar month (whatever that means), but it's Korea's most important traditional holiday. This holiday is basically the equivalent of Thanksgiving Day in America. It's a celebration of the harvest and thanks for the bounty of the earth. It's also a day for family members to visit their ancestors' grave sites which affirms the importance of bloodline and kinship. The belief in Korea is that the spirits of your ancestors still affect what goes on in the world which is why it's so important to give thanks and provide offerings to them.-