Buddah's bday.

The dentist and face painting. I never thought they really went together, but I guess I was wrong.

They use cartoons drawings for everything.

These men are a little lost.

He was using the shell as a horn.

I like the simplicity of the white lanterns, but there were millions of colorful lanterns everywhere, too.

Silly Buddah, he is climbing a tree.

See what I mean. Cartoons are everywhere.

There was the VIP room I was looking for.

Women weeding .

People dressed up for a mock coronation at the Jongmyo Shrine.

I am starting to wear no socks and the Koreans are noticing my tattoo.

This area is known as the Cheonggyecheon Stream. There are over twenty little bridges along the walk.

Floats that were used in the parade.

That monk is rocking Nikes.

I turned down the most action I was offered in months. (The sign says free hugs if you can't read it.) I love his fake dreads.

Cars covered in lanterns at the start of the parade.

The parade starts with the Buddah's float.

At the start of this parade I positioned my self in front so I could easily take pictures. Then a group of older Korean women came up and started pushing me out of their way. I mean literally bush and shove. What you would get punched in the face for anywhere in the USA is completely acceptable here. At one point a man noticed me snapping pictures and he tried to get me to move to this space in the front. I motioned I was fine and then all of a sudden he grabbed my arm and jerked me into the space. Then moments later he came up with a chair behind me (the city put plastic lawn chairs on the streets for people to sit and watch). He tried to pull me, so I could stand on the chair. I kept saying, "Ani! Ani!", which means no.  I know he was just trying to be helpful, but Koreans are not aware of bubble space at all.

These dragons made sounds, moved, breathed fire and blew smoke. 

Buddah got a red Mercedes for his birthday. The symbol in this photo is blurry, but it  was a Mercedes. 

Dancers.

This past weekend I didn't speak to anyone besides to order food. Well, I did have two small conversations with older Korean men. The first one stopped me and asked if I was a teacher. Then he asked what the difference was between consecutive and susecitive, as well as, clothes and clothing. Then after that asked me where I was going and if I had a boyfriend. The second small comversation took place on the subway on the way home from the festival. A man mumbled something in English and I couldn't understand. Finally, I was able to figure out that he was inquiring about my nationality. He then repeated over and over agian how pretty I was. Then to impress me more he changed his vocabulary word to how attractive I was.