Sintanjin Cherry Blossom Festival (totally absent)

I was dreaming of rows of trees in full bloom- white cherry blossoms spread over a wide field- or  a forest if I was lucky. I mean, seriously, I was kind of fantasizing about this coming day; a trip to the outskirts of Daejeon with... someone... (at that point, I didn't know who I'd actually go with), on a great sunny day, in a nice spring-y dress, my "fashion" sunglasses, taking awesome photos...  I had built this image in my head all last week: an overload of sunshine, greenGREEN grass, blooming trees, and a giant mad happy crowd. 


I was completely delusional. 

Friday was promising; it was warm, sunny, a little breezy. The trees by the river had bloomed, and they turned out to be a more impressive show than what was at the actual festival. Come Saturday, it was a little on the cool side, dangerously cloudy, and the trees were looking mighty bare. I was most definitely in jeans and a hoodie, forgot my sunglasses (which was okay in the end because the sky was threatening rain most of the day), and rocked out my chucks to make a good example of the college emo/wannabe hipster look, or Korean middle school fashion statement. The festival was far from crowded- a good thing ultimately, but also it made the festival feel a bit underwhelming. There were some tents with traditional Korean games, some crafts, samples of tea, free bottles of water (heck yes!)... but the bare trees! (insert sad megan here) 


It was a good day- no, I mean it was a great day! Even without the sun, it was warm for most of the day, about 20 people I knew showed up, and I got to sit on grass for the first time in 7 months+... albeit brown, dead, and leaveawetstainonyourjeans grass, but GRASS! We played some carnival-esque games: BB gun target- the prize was a bottle of plum wine which I found someone to give it away to later, air guns- a friend knocked down and won 2 yo-yos. We were robbed 6,000w at a pig roast. 2 little plates of meat, 11 people, 6,000w a person. That broad made 66,000w and only lost 2 tiny plates of pig. Unfrigginbelievable. Next year, if I'm still here, I'm definitely just going to walk by the river to see the cherry blossom trees. They're far more impressive right now and closer to get to. Sintanjin, if I left from my apartment, would take 2 hours to get to. No thanks. It was cool to see though, the area looked older than the middle of Daejeon- older style buildings I mean. There weren't as many new buildings like the mixture you see in my neighborhood. Sintanjin didn't look or feel like Daejeon, so it was like a day out of town!


see the rest of the cherry blossom festival pictures