Kitai Rhee is my new hero. He is the kite master of Seoul and I was lucky enough to be his pupil for the day. I immediately knew we'd get along as he welcomed me into his workshop with a huge smile. The walls of his little studio are covered with colorful kites and I was excited to make my own.
I've made some pretty awesome paper airplanes in my day, but never have I constructed my very own kite, what a treat! He sat me down crossed legged in front of a small set of materials which included a thin piece of paper and a handful of bamboo sticks.
I always loved arts and crafts time in kindergarten and this reminded me of the good old days. I had scissors, glue and paper and my mission was to turn it all into a beautiful kite.
I must admit that I'm a much better kite maker than a meditator. It was so fun to sit there and put the pieces together while learning about the unique Korean style of kite making. "These kites are only in Korea, not China, not Japan, only Korea!"
He did tell me one thing that was kind of sad. He said that with all the western toys and video games coming to Korea, kids no longer want to fly kites. It's a bummer that our mindless and lazy ways are not only ruining our own kids, but kids across the world too! Total bummer.
After about an hour of gluing sticks and tying strings, my beautiful little kite was finished! I just had one last, very important task before it was ready to fly the friendly skies.
Kitai leaned over to me and said very in a very serious manner, "You must write a wish onto the kite so that it comes true when you fly it."
I really like this whole kite making experience, you get to build a super unique and personalized kite, plus you get to make a wish…find me a video game that can do that!
I wrote down my wish (see video to find out what it is) and headed out the door with kite in hand. Kitai Rhee said that he's a kite master but I'm pretty sure that he could also be a Zen Master. His energy and warm persona are what made the experience so special.
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