Nonsan Strawberry Festival (논산 딸기 축제)

On Saturday April 14 Kristen and I traveled to Nonsan, which is about 1 hr and 30 mins south from our university in Sin Chang, for the annual Strawberry Festival.

I wanted to go to this festival because I love strawberries. I wasn't expecting much to happen at the festival, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.

We were very lucky to have beautiful weather! Since it's spring time the weather has been kind of moody. I think mother nature hasn't decided if Korea should full be in Spring time, so time to time she'll throw in a cold day. However, during the festival she decided to throw in weather that was encroaching on summer time...

I didn't quite know how to get to the festival therefore when we got to Nonsan I got to test out my Korean skills and ask the guy working at the nearby Mini Stop. Not going to lie he left an impression on me, he had the brightest smile! Kristen even agreed and we wanted to go back and take a picture with him, but it seemed he had the early shift so by the time we got back to the Mini Stop there was already another part time worker there. Too bad, he really had the nicest smile.
When we got there we started roaming around at the tents. Just as we passed the main stage Bon Jovi - It's My Life came on. I was curious as to what was happening on stage. To my surprise a body builders contest was happening. After Bon Jovi, Adele's - Rolling In the Deep came on for the next contestant. I seriously wasn't expecting to see this at any Korean festival. It was definitely something.

Next we want into a group of older Korean gentlemen playing traditional Korean drums. It was so neat to see because they were so into the music. I was also fascinated because I learned how to play these drums last semester in my salmunori class.

Lastly we also came across a performance from an Ecuadorian Pan flute group. They were fantastic as well. The music was really soothing and totally captivated me and many little Korean children. Hehe.

I was really impressed with all the diverse cultural performances that was displayed throughout the festival. Right before leaving we were also able to see the local kindergarteners put on a performance to a very cute Kpop song.

For lunch Kristen and I ate hand made noodles. She had jjambong, which is noodles with seafood in a spicy soup, and I had jajjangmyun, which is black bean noodles. Technically it was black day, and on this day singles usual will eat jajjangmyun because they are single...haha.

Before heading out Kristen tried the fresh strawberry juice and strawberry toast, which also had cucumbers in it, to finish off our strawberry adventures.

I made a cake, which my suite mates eventually devoured in about 15 minutes. It was super delicious.

I highly enjoyed the strawberry festival. If you happen to be in town go check it out. The strawberries were super delicious. Kristen took about 3kgs of strawberries back and I went home with 2kgs. They are cheaper at the festival than the local super market! This is a super kid friendly festival as well, many opportunities for them to make masks and other souveniers to bring home. Overall, I had a really great experience! FYI, don't forget to wear sunscreen that was my biggest mistake =(.