You'd think it would be exciting being in Asia for lunar (don't say "Chinese," I've had several Koreans correct me) new year, and perhaps it would be in China - fireworks and whatnot. But here, the most exciting thing that happened was getting 4 days off work in a row. There are no big festivals, bright lights, or loud explosions in Korea, just people chilling with their families and eating rice cakes. I guess it's kind of like Christmas in that respect, but at least x-mas-tide comes with exciting things like parades and Black Friday (though you could argue those are both more closely related to Thanksgiving).
So to get a pinch of new year spirit, Andy and I braved the throngs of children and parents at a Korean folk village to watch performances (I particularly enjoyed one with a man doing tricks on a rope, waving a fan that probably didn't do much physically for balance but must be a good mental boost) and people hopping up and down on strange, aggressive versions of see-saws. There were supposed to be free samples of rice cake soup, but all we found were remnants - styrofoam bowls in plastic bags, cold soup drops on tables. We did get to try unfiltered rice wine, which was like drinking the starchy water leftover from boiling rice - fermented. The sky above the folk village was brimming with kites, which was cool, and the ground was filled with children playing with metal hoops (looked like a game from the 1930s). I wore my animal hat to the event, and caught an old man not-so-discreetly taking my picture against a traditional-style Korean house. We ran into him again later, and he grinned and said, "One more!" then made me and Andy pose while he creepily took our picture again.
We followed up our adventures with a huge box of popcorn and 2 hours with Tom Cruise and his eye patch.
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2 comments:
Yay, now I have two blogspot blogs from friends in foreign countries to follow! My friend Amanda just started her 5 months in India, and has her own blog.
I miss you a ton, and hope you're doing well!
Over the non-lunar New Year I was teasing my Korean-American daughter-in-law about not telling me about corn beard tea. Well, she came across a box at a market in Scottsdale and sent it to me. The wryness of the pronunciation of the brand name "TeaZen" did not escape me. Certainly an acquired taste...different... and more like an infusion that tea. She tells me it tastes better with a bit of honey. Who knew? Keep up the observing and writing!
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