The temperature began to drop down, closer to freezing most days. There would be no more holidays or long weekends to break up the monotony of work until winter break in January.
Not much happened in November. As the weather gets cooler, and daylight is limited, it is hard to feel motivated to do more than go to and from work every day.
I did manage to capture some lovely fall views, and attend one more wedding.
Daegu’s Fall
Korean Wedding
As I try not to post pictures with people’s faces (privacy and all that)… here is a picture that hopefully give you an idea of the current popular style of a Korean wedding.
I know I’ve mentioned Korean weddings before, but I’ll give you another description:
I have attended three weddings now, (I forgot my phone for the first, thus no pictures.. second wedding was a close friend, so all pictures have friends’ faces)…One wedding was small and intimate, a Korean bride and a British groom. The other two weddings were more of the “factory” style that many people seem to call them.
They rent out a very large room in a wedding hall, that is adorned with beautiful flowers, chandeliers, and other decore that will most likely remain for all weddings occuring in that room for the day (yes, multiple weddings in 1 day). Both weddings also had a fancy platform, where the bride, groom, and respective parents were presented.
As you enter the wedding hall, you will generally see multiple tables and signs, showing a wedding name and time. You pick up your money envelope to put your ₩50,000+ cash gift for the bride and groom. This money is essentially paying for your buffet ticket, which is handed to you upon handing over your cash. If you don’t want the buffet, you would simply trade the ticket later for a stock gift (coffee set, bottle of wine, pots and pans, etc). Once you know which room your wedding is taking place in, you can go find the bride or groom. The bride will be displayed in an open room, where you can have your pictures taken together. The groom may be walking around greeting guests.
These wedding hall rooms can hold hundreds of people. There can be nicely decorated tables and chairs, but most people are standing, crowding around the platform. The bride, groom and parents are coached through the entire ceremony, and posed in specific ways to get the best angles for their photographers. The ceremony can last around an hour. Everyone files out, goes to the buffet (or trades for a gift), and the wedding hall prepares for the next wedding. Something I noticed at both of these larger weddings, was how people seemed not to pay attention to the weddings, but rather had conversations with each other. I talked with a fellow teacher during the buffet, and they said it was like this at all the big weddings.
I’ll take a small intimate wedding, please!
December Report
December was busy. The elementary school was beginning full renovations, which required half the school classrooms to be packed up. This was the same time as the English department was meant to be doing the Christmas festival.
Our festival was making stuccyi Santas. Although easy, it was a cute craft that the students seemed to enjoy! However… with the reonvations and classroom packing simultaneously occurring, I had the lovely opportunity to plant nearly 300 stuccyi pots, and prepare everything so we could go classroom to classroom. Needless to say, I don’t want to ever see a stuccyi ever again.
I also threw simple Christmas parties for my middle schoolers. In groups, they were given die to roll in order to build their snowman, which they then drew on the blackboard. After, we played Pin the Nose on the Snowman. They loved it, especially when I would blindfold and spin them! Of course we listened to Christmas music to set the mood!
Here are some of the drawings:
It snowed, lightly, in Daegu, and the kids went crazy (naturally!). My students at the middle school were building baby snowpeople, having snowball fights, and taking tons of selfies before school started. It was lovely seeing them act so carefree!
Some friends and I traveled to Gyeongju for a quick weekend away from our work lives. We enjoyed some nice home made snacks, and I even made hot buttered rum to share with everyone. Apparently no one had even heard of this delicious hot beverage… but they all loved it!
That weekend I found out I would willingly walk 30 minutes round trip to a McDonalds in the frigid (I think the temperature was around 15F), windy weather just for a small breakfast sandwich…..
Christmas
I was invited to spend Christmas with some of my Korean friends and their family. All guests were asked to bring a present with a ₩20,000 limit. I prepared an NC pottery piece (brought back from my visit home last year!) and bought some additional items from Daiso to fill my gift bag. I also made a simple oatmeal chocolate dessert to share.
The party started mid-afternoon, and we enjoyed lamb chops, lobster, chicken, and fresh vegetables and fruit. Of course we drank 소맥 (so-maek: soju+beer) as well.
There were four children under the age of 6, who I instantly connected with. I had met my friends’ children many times, and their oldest son always acts shy for the first five minutes, and then will just pop down on my lap and start playing “rock paper scissors” with me. As I was going to spend the night at their apartment that night, he asked me to sleep with him *be still my heart!*.
Adults and children played some easy board games, and everyone opened their presents, “White Elephant” style. In the evening, we decided to go to the local 노래방 (no-rea bang: singing room “Karaoke”). We sang out hearts out, even the kids! As it was getting late, the children went home with one mom, while the rest of us continued drinking and singing a bit longer.
When we finally returned to the apartment, my little buddy was still awake, and had been patiently waiting for me to get home so we could sleep on the bed he had made on the floor of the living room. *Insert cute, shining, cartoon puppy eyes here*
On Christmas morning, the family slowly woke up, just like any regular morning. We had a calm, quiet breakfast, and the children calmly opened up some last gifts. It was so bizarre, to be around children, on Christmas morning, NOT vying to see what Santa had brought them.
Eventually, we all got up, bundled up, and walked down the street for some beef bone broth soup. On our walk back home, we went down to the frozen stream for the children to play for a while. It was such a peaceful day!
I’ll tell y’all about my New Years and January adventures tomorrow!
A Girl And Her Pez 