Exploring China Town (part 1)

China Town revisited. Incheon's China Town is dubbed to be the only China Town in Korea. But, is it really?

The red and red signboard and Chinese characters were so eye-catching.

It's July, Summer. Blue sky and red neon and broad daylight gave us a glimpse of what it looks like to be called 'China Town'.

Passing one of the souvenirs shops. Well, Chinese dolls occupied most of the window display.

another red-laden building with its intrinsically red lanterns. 

Leading straight to another intersection where we could see the mural depicting Chinese history...

No..not yet a mural..but we just kept on walking...

And my wife took her first pose at the China Town, in Incheon.

One of the famous landmarks is a Chinese restaurant in town.

The sidewalk vendors selling traditional cakes imbued in the red again-and-again...red ornaments all over the place.

Yes..so I learned that Chinese Town is red in color (mostly).

Which is a good thing, though.

Presenting A Gift in Japan, China, and Korea: Cultural Differences

The best part of being in a class from different cultures is the simple fact that everyday I can learn and come to realize trivial cultural traits from other countries. Today, I learned something about what the Japanese do when they give a sum of money to the bride and bridegroom in their wedding.

In Japan
Giving a sum of money sealed in an envelope to a newly married couple is a cultural thing in (I think) most cultures. But, what I learned from my Japanese friends is somewhat unique. It turned out that the amount of money inserted into the envelope should be in the odd number. So, one can give like 1,000 Yen, 3,000 Yen, 30,000 Yen; 5,000 Yen or 50,000 Yen (for instance). They must not give the amount of (say) 2,000 Yen; 40,000 Yen, or something like that. The meaning is simple, the even number of money implies the breakable union so that one should not/must not give an even sum of money to a couple in their wedding.  Hmmm interesting.

How about Korea?
From what I learned from the class, Koreans do not recognize the taboo that Japanese do in relation to the amount of money, be it odd or even would not matter. However, Koreans usually put 30,000 Won; 50,000 Won; or better yet...100,000 Won.
You want to know the meaning? (warning: it is just a 농담 or jokes among friends)
30,000 Won = 더 이상 만날 필요가 없는 관계 ' Since I don't think I'd meet the couple again, I might as well give this amount of money.'
50,000 Won = 이 친국가 괜잖은 친구로서 ...이정도는 괜찮다 'Well, this friend is a nice friend of mine, so I'd might as well give him this much'
100,000 Won = 와....아주 아주 진한 친구다. 제가 이정도를 꼭 줄거지. ' Wow...this is my best friend (ever), he/she deserves it.'

How about in China?
Well, although they do not know the odd and even number kind of stuff, there is one particularly interesting point to note here. One must  / never give a pair of shoes or a wall clock to the couple or to any person. Well it does have a meaning. Giving shoes implies that the giver wants the receiver to go away from his sight. While, giving a wall (mounted) clock means that the giver wish the receiver to die away soon. ^.^. As I asked how the logical explanation of such belief, it has something to do with the Hanca (Chinese characters) pronunciation as well as the symbol for the word 'clock' that resembles the sound of  the word in Chinese that means 'death' :) hmmm..how peculiarly intriguing that is. !!!

A friend's visit

Yes, it was the first and the last time Taekcho visited my house. Taekcho has been my friend since we were in the same class at Korean language classes in HUFS. We met at level 3 last year. We became close friends afterwards. After more than 7 months of being together, he has to go home after finishing the 6-level course on Korean language.

So, that day...I think it was...on May 9, 2012...we had lunch together at dolseotbibimbab place where we used to go together. 

Along with other friends like Ilya and Taekcho's gf, they visited our house to have some snacks and lat least to chat and converse. My kids loved to play with them. In fact, they were spending some time playing cards with rock, scissors, and paper games--esque style.

As a token of a remembrance, we took a picture together.  Taekcho informed me that he was thinking of finishing his degree back in China and then started his higher education either in Korea or in other countries. But, I think what interests him most was that the wants to learn English in English-speaking countries. He's gonna do that. 

Hope you all the best...^^

Bye-bye, friends

from left: Mai (Japan), Seogon, Gaheun, Sangil (Korea), Soso, Yurim
alone at the back: Tanapat^^ (Thailand)
others come from China

So, this was the day when one of our classmate (Sang il ssi) had to leave the class without having to finish it. He got to be in Pohang to start his class at a university there.
So, that was the last day he went to school...and thus...we luckily managed to say goodbye and wished him luck.

Me, Tanapat, Sang  il

Sang il has been living in Pakistan until he finished his high school, or that's what I learned, though.
So, it is his time to start a university-level life right here in his parents' country.
Quite an interesting story, indeed.
Some of our classmates showed up and met him and wished him luck.
Been quite nice to know all of those friends of mine at level 5.

House warming or jibteri

It is a Korean culture to invite friends and relatives to one’s newly built or rented house or homeJ So, we did, too.

We invited some friends to come over and have the food that we prepared and see where we live. Most of them were my friends from other countries who happened to be studying in Korea.  As the pictures show, our friends Laos (Changmi), Ghana (Felix), Uzbekistan (Jobirson), Japan (Chika & Akane), Kazakhtan (Ilya), Cambodia (Borey), China ( Arin & Iwol), Algeria (Maya), Indonesia (Wawan), and our family. Others were also coming afterwards to have dinner with us. 

Add caption

The house did become warm since lots of us came and sat together in one place. I thought that the house was big enough to hold all of our friends...but....then....it felt like so small...but that was the whole point. Being one in a two-room house would make the house warm.

classmate's birthday

Yesterday was the first time ever that within 6 hours I had meals three times. For sure it was not completely me at all. I had a late lunch  after class (2.pm) when my friend asked me to accompany her for her late lunch...at 5pm. Well, since it would be a good time to talk since I had not met her for quite a while....
Just when I had not yet finished having my 2nd lunch....my friend, Taekcho, texted me...informing that it was our friend's--Illiya--birthday. So, he asked me to make a surprise party for him. Since Illiya sits next to me and he's been more like a brother to me...I could not help but agreeing to his plan.
So, we met again at 8pm.
Since it would not be any birthday party without any cakes, we decided to buy some at Paris Baquette near campus. It's a good thing that I had my LG membership card for additional 10% off. ^^ (one of the so many privileges of having this LG Card--not to mention the free movie ticket every month for any movie I want to see in any cineplex) ^^ what a treat.
back to the party...

then we met four other friends and off we went to a Chinese restaurant.
It was the first time ever for me that a restaurant in Korea served lamb satay and fried eggplants just like what I had back home in Indonesia. Hmmm what a treat. So, we did have a goooood time celebrating Illiya's B'day. The dish (though we felt so sorry for not being able to eat them all) was good and the cake was yummy.




Since we were in Korea..and this would not have been any close to Korean culture should we just go back home after party.....we ended up throwing ourselves into another 2-hour session at noraebang or karaoke room. It was a shocking revelation to each of us since most of us sang! we did sing songs that actually kinda portrayed the true and real personalities of who we were individually. It was a good thing that we spent the time together like this since it would eventually work just fine for our friendship.
It was 1 in the morning.
We were strolling back to the dorm.
..........and today...two of us...came late to class.
and what's worse.....we were a weezzzyyyyy sleeeepppyyy...during the class:)
our sonsaengnims were wondering as to why we were kinda tired.......
Oh, swell....

What I learned in the first day of class (part 2)

The best part of being in a class from different cultures is the simple fact that everyday I can learn and come to realize trivial cultural traits from other countries. Today, I learned something about what the Japanese do when they give a sum of money to the bride and bridegroom in their wedding.

In Japan
Giving a sum of money sealed in an envelope to a newly married couple is a cultural thing in (I think) most cultures. But, what I learned from my Japanese friends is somewhat unique. It turned out that the amount of money inserted into the envelope should be in the odd number. So, one can give like 1,000 Yen, 3,000 Yen, 30,000 Yen; 5,000 Yen or 50,000 Yen (for instance). They must not give the amount of (say) 2,000 Yen; 40,000 Yen, or something like that. The meaning is simple, the even number of money implies the breakable union so that one should not/must not give an even sum of money to a couple in their wedding.  Hmmm interesting.

How about Korea?
From what I learned from the class, Koreans do not recognize the taboo that Japanese do in relation to the amount of money, be it odd or even would not matter. However, Koreans usually put 30,000 Won; 50,000 Won; or better yet...100,000 Won.
You want to know the meaning? (warning: it is just a 농담 or jokes among friends)
30,000 Won = 더 이상 만날 필요가 없는 관계 ' Since I don't think I'd meet the couple again, I might as well give this amount of money.'
50,000 Won = 이 친국가 괜잖은 친구로서 ...이정도는 괜찮다 'Well, this friend is a nice friend of mine, so I'd might as well give him this much'
100,000 Won = 와....아주 아주 진한 친구다. 제가 이정도를 꼭 줄거지. ' Wow...this is my best friend (ever), he/she deserves it.'

How about in China?
Well, although they do not know the odd and even number kind of stuff, there is one particularly interesting point to note here. One must  / never give a pair of shoes or a wall clock to the couple or to any person. Well it does have a meaning. Giving shoes implies that the giver wants the receiver to go away from his sight. While, giving a wall (mounted) clock means that the giver wish the receiver to die away soon. ^.^. As I asked how the logical explanation of such belief, it has something to do with the Hanca (Chinese characters) pronunciation as well as the symbol for the word 'clock' that resembles the sound of  the word in Chinese that means 'death' :) hmmm..how peculiarly intriguing that is. !!!