Korean New Year Weekend

Saturday, February 17th,

At noon, I met my father at the Lotte World complex. Dr. Kim accompanied me because my father invited him to translate for us. We ate a nice Chinese restaurant and had "Shanghainese" food since it was all sweet. My father told Dr. Kim about the situation when I was young. Dr. Kim did find out that my grandmother passed away from cancer. He also told me that my grandmother was the "May Queen" of Ewha University, so one of or the brightest student at the time. My father said that he told his wife that I was in Seoul. Due to the situation he would not be able to have me stay with him. In November, when his son finishes his military service, my father will tell his son/my half brother.

After lunch, we went to a coffee shop in the mall. We talked some more and after we finished, Dr. Kim said that he would go home and my father will spend some time with me. My father can speak some English, so we did ok. He told me that I would meet a friend of my grandmother. He has a Daewoo Leganza, which is a nice 4-door car. He drove us to the friend's apartment/condo.

She lives on the 8th floor of a building with her daughter. She is 80 years old and my grandmother was the same age as her. She can speak some English. Her daughter can speak very well, probably near fluent. Her daughter said that her English is good because she attended an international school as a young child while the family was in Egypt. The daughter's sister and brother live in California. Also, she works for Nike. They both would have seen me as a small baby. The mother was surprised that I had grown so much because she remembers me being smaller than my twin brother. It was interesting to hear the daughter say that my father was quite a shy man. He was a little emotional and didn't talk too much.

After visiting, my father drove around Seoul a little bit and then we went to Namsan Tower. Namsan is a small mountain in the middle of the city. On top, there is a TV tower skyscraper. It stands 350+ meters above sea level. Seoul is only 40 miles from the sea. Thankfully, we took the easy way up the mountain. They have a cable car ride. On the observation tower, you can see most of Seoul and more. Korea is very mountainous, so parts of the city have grown around the small mountains in the area. After viewing the city and getting a better idea where each of part of the city is, we walked down the mountain. There are many steps, so I was glad that we didn't walk up the mountain.

We drove around and looked at the different city gates. He wanted to take me to a good restaurant, but it was closed due to Seollal (Korean New Year). We went to a noodle place, but they served a cold noodle soup. It was light and supposed to be good for a healthy diet. Afterwards, we went back to Lotte, so he could buy Dr. Kim a gift. I didn't know that until he had me carry it asked if I wanted a ride back home or take the subway. I took the subway since I knew that my father probably had a fair distance to travel in the other direction to get home. It wasn't exactly convenient since the fruit was heavy and I didn't realize how expensive. My father spent about $100 on the fruit box, but the fruit is very large.

At night, I went to Sinchon to socialize with some of the teachers. We went to a few different bars, but I wasn't really in the mood. I felt I needed to go since they invited me and that I will be heading to Kangnam to teach in 10 days. They all thought it was disappointing that I will be switching so soon. All of the teachers were foreign at this event. Some times, I have a hard time determining which group I fall into at Pagoda. I am a foreign teacher, but I am Korean. Many of the teachers (foreign or Korean) expect me to speak Korean, so it makes for some embarrassing and uncomfortable situations. I feel I fit in better with the Korean teachers, but they are sometimes shy since not all of them have great English proficiency. As for the foreign teachers, I don't always associate with their situation. Some are in Korea to teach and make/save a lot of money. I am not in Korea for that reason alone. Also, they teach the main PIP course, so I am not teaching classes like them. I have more freedom and different schedule. I guess I have the luxury of being in the middle and have the best of both groups of teachers.


Sunday, February 18th, Seollal (Korean New Year)

In the morning, I was woken up by Dr. Kim to tell me that they will be doing the New Year's Day tradition. They preform a "Saebae" to their parents since they are the eldest. The grandfather was dressed in traditional Korean clothing, which is a short silk jacket and loose pants that are also tied at the ankles. The grandparents sat on the couch and everyone took a turn bowing. The boys bowed and the grandmother handed them a envelope with money.

Afterwards, we ate breakfast. It is tradition to have "ddeok-guk." It is a soup with glutinous rice cakes that are sliced. It is always eaten on the first day of the year. We all ate in the living room on the floor. This was the first time that I have eaten with everyone at one time. All seven of us ate together.

For dinner, Dr. Kim's sister (Mrs. Kim), brother-in-law (Mr. Kim), and niece (Eunhye) visited. I had met Mrs. Kim and Eunhye before, but not Mr. Kim. He was a older gentleman, maybe closer to 60. Eunhye informed me that she found a job as a middle school math teacher that starts the beginning of March. She is excited because it is difficult for young Koreans to find jobs anywhere. Unfortunately, she will have a very long commute to and from work. If her mother doesn't drive her, she will walk/ride the bus for three hours each way. By car, it only takes one hour. In a few years, she would like to buy a car, but cannot right now.

For dinner, everyone ate except Dr. Kim's oldest son. We had more ddeok-guk and many other side dishes. The only thing that I didn't eat were the oysters. I have tried them before, but I don't like them too much. The food was delicious. They stayed for awhile and we talked about Eunhye's job and my changing locations. Most of the conversation was in Korean, but I understood what they were talking about a few times since Korean uses some English words.


Monday, February 19th,

I was informed that many people would be visiting today because it is Seollal and Dr. Kim's mother's birthday. Around 11 AM, Dr. Kim's father's brother visited with his wife and two sons. The sons are Dr. Kim's cousins and one of them spoke English. Dr. Kim said that he will go to Qatar to work for his Korean construction company. Everyone visited and had coffee. They left around noon.

At the same time, Dr. Kim's mother's brothers arrived since today is her birthday. Dr. Kim's mother is the oldest and she has three brothers. The oldest brother has passed away, but his wife came to visit. The two younger brothers and their wives visited. The youngest brother could speak a little English. He told me that he was a captain of a large fishing boat. He has traveled around the world to many locations such as Hawai'i, Los Angeles, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and Indian Ocean. One of the brothers also brought his son, who works for a marketing company and is only 33 years old. Dr. Kim's cousin is 22 years younger than him.

After everyone arrived, they did the Korean tradition, "Saebae." First, the oldest generation, which would be Dr. Kim's mother's brothers bowed. Next, the wives bowed. After, the oldest generation sat in front of Dr. Kim's parents and the younger generations took turns bowing. I bowed with Dr. Kim's sons. After bowing, the sons received envelopes from their great uncles. One of the great uncles even gave me a "man won", which is about ten dollars.

Lunch was almost ready. Once again, we ate in the living room. At my small table, I was with Dr. Kim's sons and cousin. We were definitely the youngest with me being only older than Dr. Kim's sons. It was another feast as usual with many side dishes, soup, and rice. It was an interesting day with all of the guests. Dr. Kim's mother doesn't have the greatest of physical health. She has some problems walking and isn't too active. For what I have seen, she only moves from her bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. She is still able to eat sitting on the floor, which is more than I can say. My back and hip joints definitely hurt after sitting on the floor for too long. My flexibility is a lot less than in the past.