Seollal

peter and i have successfully returned from seoul again from another glorious weekend of family, fun, food, food, and more food.  we went to seoul to celebrate the korean lunar new year, which is probably the most popular korean holiday.  they celebrate seollal for three days: sunday jan 25, monday 26th and tuesday 27th.  monday is the actual lunar new year day.  peter and i participated in our first ever traditional bowing ceremony to our elders.  

the young members of the family bow to the elders, in our case all of the nieces and nephews bowed to the aunts and uncles.  while you bow you say, "say heh bohk mahnee bahdoo seh yoh."  which translates: "wishing you many blessings this new year."  after the children bow, it is tradition that the elders hand their children an envelope of money full of crisp bills of cash.  it's a pretty rockin' tradition, especially if you're the kid. : )  side note: mom and dad, why have we not celebrated this holiday in the US?  well, i gotta tell you that i've calculated all the years you've missed and let me say you owe me a ton of money : )

the day before seollal, pete and i went out with our cousins: kyung jin (bowling como's daughter), kibohm oppa, so jung unee, and sohee unee (my dad's older brother's kids).  we had a really great time together.  first we went ice skating.  pete and i both surprised ourselves by staying on our feet the entire time.  i guess my dad's hockey ice skating skills have been passed down to me : )  we had so much fun.  it was snowing ever so beautifully and they were playing all of this charming (and repetitive) christmas music--which i must say was a balm to a homesick soul who kind of missed christmas.  pete and i decided that once all of our stuff arrives from the states we'll celebrate christmas for reals, but that may not be until march.  : ) fine with me!  we took tons of pics, laughed, and skated around this crazy crowded rink.  there were lots of cute little kids wearing these animal hats, which are all the craze here in korea.  

also a funny story: there was an older man standing on the side of the rink giving kids a high-5, thumbs up or sometimes a thumbs down while they skated by.  I assumed he worked at the rink because i spotted him helping some kids who had fallen.  well, peter and i skated around the rink and the stationary grandpa was leaning against the rink wall and held his hand out for me to give a high 5.  i slapped it and he left his hand out for peter, but as soon as peter extended his hand, the grandpa snapped it back.  we laughed about it and kept skating.  well, a little while later, after pete had done some solo laps, he came by and said the grandpa was doing some strange things as he skated by like giving a thumbs down, scowling, and even drawling a line across his neck with his finger.  horrified, yet intrigued, we skated past him together and sure enough he was yelling some kind of korean profanity with thumbs down.  pete and i just looked at each other which shocked expressions but we couldnt' help it.  our second time around, we saw the grandpa extend both middle fingers and yell profanities at some young children.. we immediately realized this disgruntled behavior was no longer a personal disdain for peter but this grandpa was, in general, disgruntled, with a little crazy mixed in.  all in all, it was pretty funny.  we knew we'd run into some korean crazies at some point.

after skating we walked around a plaza area where they had an ice sculpture exhibit.  the cousins and i explored, took tons of pictures, even made friends with koreans in costumes.  if you'd like to see the album of photos, let me know, i can send you a link to facebook.  

afterward, we went to the world cup stadium and explored.  the admission fee was only 1000 won, equivalent to $.75 and you were free to explore the whole stadium.  being the holiday weekend, hardly anyone was there, so we practically had the whole stadium to ourselves.  we walked the same halls the soccer players walked, sat in their locker room, relaxed in the coaching room and saw their practice areas.  after our tour, we played virtual soccer games. 

icescapades!

brrr...it's cold

now i know what people were talking about when they said (read with korean accent): "Ooohh. Daegu is very, very cold." Being from the Midwest, I thought I had pretty tough skin for extreme seasons so I thought I would be alright. turns out these people are right! i walked probably 2 or 3 miles today in the city and i thought my whole face might just freeze and shatter. the wind was brutally cold. a warm building never felt so good.

another random side note: i've noticed this trend among korean advertisements to put a photo of the animal a restaurant serves...a picture of a pig for a pork restaurant, cow for beef, etc. well, it makes sense to give an illustration to your clientele, but this is what is especially weird. the animals are often smacking their lips, giving a thumbs up, or even.... feasting in their own meat or feasting on a friend. they all look extremely happy while doing it. they have this expression of "Hey! Come eat me! I am so delicious! That's why i keep licking my lips so I can taste myself." chilling, huh?

inauguration, cinnamon pancakes, and ignorant nodding

we didn't want to miss the inauguration so we tried to stay awake for it (it began at 2:00amish here in korea).  i fell asleep, but peter, being the determined trooper he is, set his alarm, woke up and caught the end of it.  i am watching some recaps on CNN now.  it's just kind of strange to watch your home country from so far away.  we want to stay updated on u.s. politics while away...so thank goodness for cnn in korea.  it's hard to be so far away from home in times like these or when dear friends are pregnant or getting married (you know who you all are : )....i'd love to be there for all of it, but unfortunately won't be able to see all of it.  so, to all of you reading, please don't forget about us!  keep posting your comments and keep in touch with all of your life changes...we want to hear it all.  : )

as an update on my settling into korean culture, i feel like i've changed a lot these last few weeks.  part of me was feeling frustrated with myself because i was having such a hard time transitioning into this new place.  i think part of my difficulty with all of the change was not just moving to another country but also becoming part of the military world.  both korea and the military have their own culture, language, social structure that is very different to the american civilian world.  initially, both the military and korean culture was shocking and intimidating, but now i'm seeing things differently.  

peter and i were walking down the street going to the market where we stopped to buy some street food, cinnamon pancakes (which, by the way, are delicious).  i noticed the cart had a very precise listing of prices typed out: 1 pancake is 1,000 won, 2 pancakes are 1,500 won, etc.  i was struck by the detail because prices are not usually listed so carefully.  most vendors have prices scribbled out on a chunk of used cardboard.  the pancakes smelled good so i asked peter if he wanted one, he said ok, so we stopped.  i waited patiently, watched the women grab balls of sticky dough, rolling each ball between the palms of their hands and spooning in the cinnamon mixture inside each ball and smooshing them on the hot griddle.  the whole procedure looked like a dance.  the women knew exactly how to spread their arms and fingers to manipulate the dough.  i told the women how many pancakes i wanted and proceeded to pull out my money.  side note: koreans are very particular about not handling money and food so many vendors ask customers to deposit $ in a box and collect their own change as to prevent any contamination to the food.  i placed my money in the box and grabbed my change.  the women, looking at peter and i, started to say in korean, "it's very hot, be careful."  but instead of actually saying the words, they mouthed it and touched the top of their hand.  i realized the women were deaf and were trying to sign to us.  i thought, no wonder they didn't give me a funny look when i ordered the pancakes in my mumbled korean. : )  

anyway, we walked away happily with our cinnamon cakes, but the whole experience stayed with me for a while, because in the tiny instant when i realized these women were deaf, i felt this connection to them.  i felt as if i understood them, not in the sense that i know what it's like to be deaf, but the feeling of being disconnected--in terms of communication.  having limited korean, i can't talk with people like i want to, at least not yet.  these women experience that feeling/perhaps frustration everyday.  it was humbling to have this realization and also inspiring to be bold with my korean.  

since then, i have conversed with several daegu-ians (don't know the actual term, but i'm going to keep using that cause it's fun to say).  i don't always know what they're saying to me and, i admit, sometimes i just nod in agreement even though i am clueless : )  i hope this ignorant nodding doesn't get me in trouble...

in fact, one afternoon a woman came by my apartment and came in for coffee (she invited herself in...it's a korean thing).  i didn't learn until midway through our coffee that she was actually a buddhist ancestral worship coach..?  and she was trying to get me to buy something from her or take lessons.  we just sat in our empty apartment, on the floor, talking together, relying on our korean-english dictionary to clarify things with one other.  it was weird but nice at the same time.  i just told her i wasn't interested, we continued our conversation and eventually she left to go home.  

i was happy i was able to converse with someone who knew no english and also proud of myself that i didn't do any agreeable nods and accidentally sign myself up for buddhist ancestral worship school or at least that's what i think she was selling..

A's for all!

peter and i are officially free to drive in korea.  we took the driver's exam this morning and also watched some videos on driving in korea which were probably filmed around 1970 and seemed to induce some form of narcolpesy among its viewers.  The exam was a little tricky, but we both passed with flying colors!  we only missed one question each, but who's counting. : ) 

updates from last week...

sorry to have not posted this past week.  i've been distracted trying to get a job and i'm still getting situated in this new apartment/city.  here are a few updates from last week:

one shipment of household goods arrived (1 of 2).  this shipment had things like our microwave, more clothes, kitchen utensils, mixing bowls, golf clubs, etc.  we were like two kindergarteners on christmas morning unpacking and rediscovering all of our stuff.  i've never been so happy to see a wooden spoon.  our kitchen (until this past week) has been mostly comprised of plastic plates, plastic bowls, and plastic forks/spoons/knives.  luckily, my cousin kyung jin, bought peter two sets of wood chopsticks, which came in very handy when cooking.  it was interesting trying to make a stew with a plastic knife and chopsticks, but we did it somehow.  

i also had the joy of going to seomun market with some girlfriends i met at the chaplain's christmas party.  they were really fun and helpful.  i wanted to get some dishes from the market and jimin and miyeh helped me search.  seomun market is gigantic.  it has three or four levels and it's really spread out.  vendors are everywhere and it looks extremely crammed, but there is a method to all the madness.  jimin and miyeh would just grab my arm and walk determinedly through the crowds of people to find this one particular stand to buy this particular fabric/pillow/etc.  anyway, they helped me haggle the price down with the lady who sold me my dishes (which are just beautiful, by the way) as well as haggle the price down with the pillows i bought for the floor.  these pillows are called bangsuks, which are square pillows you use to sit on the floor since most koreans eat while sitting on the floor.  i found these simple, purple pillows (which turned out to be a kind of strange shade of pink once they delivered them to our apartment...bummer).  

it was all very interesting and helpful to learn from them.  i am not accustomed to haggling and koreans have this whole rigmarole for getting the best price.  just to show you how naive i am, i imagined just going to a vendor, asking them the price, and then saying, "could you give me a discount?"  in my imagination, the vendor would say, "sure!  how about I take off 1,000 won?"  then I would smile happily and say "deal!"  ok.  now that's how i imagined the haggling went but it really goes more like this:  

BUYER: "excuse me, ma'am.  how much is this plate?"  LADY:"oh, it's 10,000 won."  BUYER:  "Oh, that's kind of expensive.  Could you take off 2,000 won?"  LADY: "Are you kidding me?  This is a really expensive material.  I can't take off 2,000 won or i won't make any profit."  BUYER:  "Oh please.  I will buy 5 of them if you reduce the price."  LADY: "If I give you a discount, I won't make any profit.  I can't do it."  BUYER:  "Please, help me out.  Please, please.  Just a little discount."  LADY: "Nope.  Can't do it.  I'm firm on my price."  BUYER:  Please, please, please!  LADY: This is some of the best material out there.  Everywhere else the price is more.  BUYER:  I see here that the dish looks like the paint might chip a little.  It doesn't look that expensive to me.  Please, ma'am.  I will buy 6 plates for a tiny, tiny discount.  What do you say?  LADY: (with an expression of annoyance) Oh my goodness.  Fine, I'll give you a discount, but only 1,000 won."  BUYER: "Oh thank you."

Now, just typing that scenario out was pretty exhausting.  I'm not sure I'm cut out for haggling.  I prefer the former method. : )

Lastly, peter & i went to osan air force base this past weekend.  osan is about 1.5 hours south of seoul.  we went because peter had to attend some ceremonies for a captain who was retiring from the army.  meanwhile, we thought we'd make a weekend out of it and stay in osan at the hotel and go shopping.  osan air force base has the biggest and nicest PX on the peninsula so we had a little shopping list of things to buy.  We went off-post as well and went into various street vendor shops.  it was kind of strange walking through the streets alongside so many other americans.  the whole main street outside of the military post was just covered in shops catered toward the military and their families.  it was a little strange....kind of like going to germany at the epcot center...it looks like germany, but you know you're still on disney world's property.

and now, peter and i are enjoying a couple days off from work and just enjoying some low key time, settling into our apartment, enjoying our newly arrived stuff, including our dishes (did i mention how beautiful they are?)  and of course, each other.  we love you and miss you all!

weh samchoon

so i've met another uncle, this one is my mom's oldest brother.  (he is the last of all uncles/aunts to meet in korea)  he was incredibly sweet and gracious, just like the rest of my family, and generously invited us to eat lunch with him and his wife.  they drove an hour and half from ulsan to daegu just to pick me up.  unfortunately, peter had to work and was unable to leave the post for lunch, so it was just myself, my uncle and his wife.  he drove about 50 minutes to a nice restaurant with a tabletop grill.  he wanted to be sure this restaurant was the best place he could take me.  

once we arrived, we were promptly greeted and invited to sit in a back room and the feast began.  like any good korean uncle, he ordered an exorbitant amount of food fit for kobayashi-sized stomachs.  we had a various assortment of grilled beef, all of which was delicious!  we also enjoyed various "banchan" dishes (which means small side dishes served with every korean meal), and soup.  i was full halfway through the meal, but like a good korean niece, i was obedient to my generous aunt and uncle's insistence to eat more, more, more.  

i vowed to not eat again.  of course, several hours later, i continued to munch on the leftovers he sent me home with. peter was most grateful to have a taste of the feast we enjoyed.  

on another cute note, my uncle, is a costco member and quite proud of that fact.  he and his wife took me to costco in daegu after lunch. (there are several costcos in korea)  it was nice to walk around after such a huge meal.  it was a taste of america.  it looked the same, had many of the same products, they gave out samples of food, and the store even smelled the same.  my uncle wanted to give peter a cake, so he purchased one that said "congratulations!"  : )

we bought our cake and a couple other household necessities and we were on our way home.  

  

just a couple pics of our apartment.

our magical toilet that sprays your tush.  
bathroom that has the magical toilet.  (there is a tub!)
your bedroom when you come stay with us. : )
our living room with our furniture.  : )

a new year has been born

welcome 2009! 

peter & i have been talking about all of the new things we anticipate happening this year and, even farther ahead, what we think life will be like once we leave Korea.  we'll be a few years older, be married a few more years (the obvious), possibly be fluent in Korean, have some good work experience under both of our belts, and maybe have a mini peter crawling around?  i guess we'll see.

on new year's eve and new year's day we walked around Seomun Market, a traditional indoor/outdoor market just 5 minutes from our apartment.  unfortunately, we arrived at the market around the same time people were packing up to close for the evening, but we still saw a lot of cool stuff.   vendors line the street proudly displaying all of their goodies...ranging from dried fish to persimmons, calling out to pedestrians, "Come, taste!  Come, buy something!" (all in Korean, of course!)  which reminds me to note that korean grandmas are tough!  the majority of these vendors were korean women over the age of 60.  they sat patiently next to their stand waiting for customers to come buy 1 or 2 dollars worth of vegetables/food in the freezing weather!  

the market is enormous and one could easily spend an entire day there and not see everything.  we only did eye shopping and we only skimmed the surface.  but we did buy some streetside goodies that were excellent!  it's just crazy how "eating out" can be cheaper than cooking at home.  peter and i are loving the food here.

later we spent our new year's eve at home in our quiet, cozy apartment.  we watched the countdown on local korean television.  they don't do the huge fireworks display like the states, but instead hit a huge bell with a giant log.  it wasn't quite as flashy, but seemed to please the audience nonetheless.  

today we went to peter's commander's home for a traditional new year party.  he had to wear his formal army dress blues.  i was secretly dreading the event because they're usually stiff and awkward, but it was surprisingly laid back.  the commander had set up a wii and a play station for people to play (peter was able to break out his mad wii tennis skills and beat a superior officer 3 times!).  everyone we have met has been very welcoming and kind, which makes this whole change much easier for us.  i met a few other army officer's wives and hope to get to know them better while we're here.

overall, i would say we're adjusting well and settling in pretty quickly.  i'm realizing that i'm actually a big chicken, but fortunately i have a brave husband who encourages me to swim out into the unknown even though i'd rather just stay home where it feels safe!  as a result, we have had some really awesome adventures together and i'm sure we'll have many, many more this new year.