During the month of May celebrations take place in South Korea in order to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday.

One of them is the Lotus Lantern Festival, which occurred the 16^th & 17^th of May. It was just amazingly beautiful and magic !

During this period, Buddhist temples are decorated with various lanterns, representing prays.

No more talk, I let you admire this with some pictures 

Currently, one of the big South Korean news is that, last Friday, the government allowed the Women’s Peace March across the DMZ.

Let me explain more in details: on Friday 15^th of May 2015, South Korea gave the go-ahead at WomenCrossDMZ organisation to cross the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in order to reach North Korea’s capital Pyongyang. WomenCrossDMZ received the North Korean's permission last month and were waiting until this Friday for South Korean's one. The South Korean Unification Ministry indeed decided to give them the permission, allowing the women to cross the border between the two Koreans on Sunday 24 of May, which is the International Women’s day for Disarmament.

WomenCrossDMZ video presentation

Who composed WomenCrossDMZ?
WomenCrossDMZ is composed by a group of 30 women, essentially by women’s rights activists or feminists. Among the participants, we can mention the two Nobel Peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee.

Members of WomenCrossDMZ

What are the main aims of the walk?
The main aim of their act is a call for peace between the two Koreas and their reunification. Because, technically, North and South Korea are still in war: in fact, after 1953, Korean War end, but there was no peace treaty signed.
Their walk also marks the 70^th anniversary of the Korean peninsula division into South and North Korea. This anniversary makes their act stronger because it marks a new year of division.
Once arrived in Pyongyang and after their return in Seoul, women plan to hold a Peace symposium in order that they can share their experiences and mobilize Koreans for peace. They will create some speaking time between organisation’s members and North and South Koreans citizens in order to learn about their issues.

  
Tweet from WomenCrossDMZ about their motivations

But, because border crossing are uncommon and rare (the last date of 2013 where 5 New Zealanders were allowed to cross it on motorbikes) and also because the DMZ is the most militarised and controlled border in entire world, South Korea fixed some rules. The Unification Ministry said for example, that it will not allow women to pass through Panmunjon and ask WomenCrossDMZ to pass by Gyeongui Road, which is an inter-Korean passage recognized by the two countries. The problem with the Panmunjon’s way is that it is more complicated and requires numerous permission, in particular one from United Nations Command. But, WomenCrossDMZ members do not agree with this decision and insist for passing through Panmunjom, which symbolize for them an important symbol of the Korean’s division. This none agreement between South Korea and WomenCrossDMZ is still break off, but Women seem really determined to cross the city.

Sources :KoreanHerald, KoreanJoongangDaily, CBSnew and WomenCrossDMZ.org

All is in the title, yes actually, I don't especially like spicy food! I like when the food is a bit spicy in order to season the taste, so in France, I have no problem about it, but here … This is another story.
In general, the main Korean meal are so spicy (like most Asian’s countries, they seem to love spicy things) !

Kimchi is one of the most famous and widespread meal in Korea, it’s present at all table at home or in restaurants! If you come here, you can’t miss it. And of course, as a typical Korean food, Kimchi is spicy … It depend of the way of cooking, but it can be really really spicy ! It’s too bad (for me) because without these species it would be great ! Even if, with time I am more and more used to spicy food, so I can eat Kimchi without problems ! 
Just for the info : Kimchi is a fermented dish made of vegetables : nappa cabbage, scallions, ginger, radish, garlic and brine.

One other main dish is the Bibimbap, it’s composed by rice, season’s vegetables, chili pepper paste, soy sauce,and you can also find beef or egg on the top of it. This one is less spicy because of the rice but it’s still a little bit. Hopefully, we can ask to don't have a lot of spicy chili sauce ! And with just a bit of spicy, Bibimbap is delicious !!

Moreover, further that I don't like too much spicy food, I am allergic to seafood! And guess what, seafood are also, mains dishes here in Korea! Yes, at this time of the article you maybe wonder why I came here ? Don’t worry, I love rice, chicken, pork and lots of other meal present in Korea.
So, yes in Korea seafood are mainly present in meals, you can find it everywhere: in soup, noodles, sandwiches, sushi and salads. Yes, because, I don’t really speak Korean, and here almost all menus in restaurants are in Korean, so I have to guess right!

                                                          (Yummy Yummy ..)                 Like Kimchi, Seafoods are everywhere, here noodles 

Thanks to all that, I was able to realize the enormous importance and impact of the packaging in stores. For example, with red packaging, I guess that it risks to be spicy. Here as a foreign people the packaging is really a main element in order to realize choices at the supermarket, because we don’t understand brand (except worldwide one), slogan, ingredients…