Korean Traditional Wedding @ Cheonan!!!

 

We came along way down to Cheonan to attend my class-mate's wedding, Sol.

Yes, she married to a man of her dream, someone from Greece she met when she's studying in Europe. 

A traditional wedding in the middle of cold Winter? outdoor? yes..yes..indeed it was. 

First, I thought that the wedding ceremony would've been carried out indoor..but I was wrong. It turned out it was like this. Yes, it's cold, but still..bearable. 

Most of the guests were, of course, still clad in their winter attire during the whole process. 

A rare sight to behold: seeing a live event of this traditional wedding ceremony.  

I used to see, but not the real one in 민속촌 or Korea Folk Village. But this one is real. 

so, upon the completion of the ceremony, my wife didn't think twice about taking a snap of memorable pictures. 

here and there before the whole procession stuffs were removed. 

Hm..full of symbolical meanings I assume. 

Before the banquet began, the couple had some photo session. 

Oh, did I mention that it was carried out at the outdoor section of Cheonan National Museum? 

and..that's how the blue tent looked like. we're there a couple of minutes ago..to witness the ceremonial procession. 

Now..we're about to have a whole photo session. 

The almost empty site...where we just had the ceremonial wedding procession there. 

Eyra and Freya, clad in their winter attire, were excited to be able to attend

 the whole process..I could tell.

One Indonesian Day (Part 1)@ Ansan

Got to go to Ansan where Indonesian Day was held on June 30, 2013. It was held during a hot summer day. I knew it's gonna be hot, yet we decided to go there anyway. Why? Well...since I'd be surely meeting my friends and be able to eat Indonesian specialties.

* Ok, let's go kids. Yes, I went there with my two daughters, while their Mom was busy preparing the booth where she (with her other Indonesian moms) sold some Indonesian cuisines. 

But..first thing first...: after almost 2-hour train ride, we safely arrived in Ansan and went straight to the multicultural street where the atmosphere of foreigners was more than just visible: it was all there. Indonesian restaurants and of course numerous foreign restaurants were just there.

We met Seonhee as we'd planned. 

*Oh, it was also the day Eyra got her first Android.^^

We were then ushered (ourselves) in the blistering of the summer heat...to the bus stop where we got to take no.62 bus that would take us to Ansan Olympic Memorial Stadium--the venue of the event. 

Got a chance to take a zoomed shot of the entrance to the multicultural street in Ansan. 

Zapped...it was not the time when we were about to go to the event, instead..it was around 4.30 pm where we (with other Indonesian students) were waiting for the bus that would take us back to the nearest subway station to go back to Seoul.^^ 

It's like 30 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Gosh..what a day. 

But, the good thing was that..the event was mostly held inside the air conditioned gymnasium. 

With UGM students and Seonhee.

Take a moment to capture the experience and memory.

On What & How We Were Brought Up To..

I thought I had known enough. It all starts with something as widely-known as a shared knowledge about infants/toddlers/children up to age of two’s unquestionable intelligence and capability of picking up and learning their native or mother language.

However, I guess I may have been oblivious to the fact that along with it they also learn about their own ‘culture’. Of course, I have realized that language is a part of culture per se. But, the chapter sorts of re-confirming and re-affirming something that has been part of my personality as an individual. As a Javanese who grew up in bilingual environment, Javanese language and Indonesian, like most Javanese, I have been accustomed to ‘position’ myself as to when/where/how to speak and even how to smile in front of others. In this case, Javanese language has similarities to that of Korean in term of honorific, formal, and informal forms. On the other hand, Indonesian language does not possess, much less acknowledge hierarchical forms.  But, since I live in Korea, my being Indonesian has somewhat overshadowed my being Javanese. At times, I forgot that I am a Javanese, because in Korea I tend to regard myself as an Indonesian who should act/talk/behave /and thus…think like most Indonesian would do, not what a Javanese would do. It is simply different. That is why I said earlier that I “may have been oblivious”.

I also thought that most cultures in this world would surely teach universal values of what considered to be—at least—good and acceptable to most people, but as I read the chapter further,  the examples as elaborated in the chapter perturbed me. One example: how could ‘lying’ be one of the must-learn values in a certain society? But it does exist.

So, I have learned/re-confirmed myself again that humans in diverse cultures around the world have ‘created’ unique pathways through which their children, even as earlier as infants, get exposed to their native language, culture, as well as values and gender roles—which turned out to be inseparable that come along with them. In other words,  different cultures indeed emphasize different ways in ‘conveying’, ‘injecting’, and ‘ingraining’ values to their own people; even starting from infants during child-rearing practise. Through the so-called ‘enculturation’ process, we have learned about how Chinese children learn from their early age about the high value of ‘shaming’; how the Chillibuani children in the highlands of Peru learn about the need to ‘respect’ to humans, deities, and all forms of life; and how the Tzeltal-speaking Mayan children in Mexico learn from early age about the importance of ‘lying’.

The values of shaming, respect to others, and self-reliance are not-that-hard to comprehend, but lying?  But then, I could comprehend the context within which this value is based on in that particular culture. It is because in my culture I learned ‘how to smile’ in many occasions, even during the funeral.  Most Javanese would do that. Even if a wife has to welcome the guests and relatives coming to her deceased husband, she should to some extent show ‘smile’ on her face. It may look so unthinkable to non Javanese. Even to other ethnics in Indonesia, Javanese culture of showing ‘smile’ could be misinterpreted as bizarre. Me, myself, I was brought up to always ‘smile’ in all occasions even when the time is hard and life is hard. That is one of the things of what being ‘Javanese’ is all about: having acquired the culture of mesem ‘smiling’.  But, at the same time, I am an Indonesian who has to face and come into contact with friends and people from other ethnics and nationalities. I guess that was the child-rearing and the personality that I have become. But now that I am in Korea I just cannot smile as much as I used to like when I was still back home. Other wise, people would misjudge me. By realizing this, if I would do a fieldwork in Korea, it would be interestingly challenging for me.

I think I have to agree that one’s body expression that the people in a particular culture have learned—which ‘defines’ that culture—does not necessarily have a universal meaning.  

To give a ‘real story’ that Javanese’s smiling culture almost ruined bilateral ties between Indonesia and Australia, I would like to refer to the following site. This is mainly in Indonesian language, but some English part within the article is enough to give a portrayal of a ‘smile’ perceived differently in bilateral ties.  http://tika-sinaga.blogspot.kr/2012/02/budaya-senyum-dan-senyam-senyum-kita.html  Another article that I would like share is an article from the Hofstede Center. One quote “They will keep smiling and be polite, no matter how angry they are inside.” http://geert-hofstede.com/indonesia.html

The After Show Mayhem....^^

First: before the show. the nice girls taking picture after getting in line for their turn to take a pic with Lotty and Lorry. 

Now comes the after-show mayhem: hmmmm...I mean the mayhem in a positive sense; in the sense that all children seemed to be broke loose and started wandering and running around onto the stage to...well, try the musical instruments... 

Korean cultural performance was just over and as soon as the show was over..the children started to go onto the stage and....well, started to beat the drums..... 

Running into the arrayed drums like the ones above.  

I think it would be a marvelous idea to take one of these back home. * dream on.!! 

They were fascinated by the sounds of the drums as they beat them. And they kept on doing it over and over again.... 

The performing stage at Lotte World is huge enough to accommodate thousands of spectators to the show. Seen from this angle, it looks small, though. 

wait...what is this picture doing here? Freya, where are you doing?

학교에 가죠!!!

to the school, Daddy!!!^-^

LOLLIPOP

White Day had passed us bye without any traces. 

I guess...being in Korea also means that we cannot escape from being soaked or exposed to what Koreans celebrate. On February 14, Valentine's Day set in (the time when girls--are supposed--give chocolate to men)...then... March 14 would be a White Day where men are supposed to give girls candies--but of course anyone could just give away candies or chocolates to anyone else irrespective of whether he or she should start giving. 

The other day, my wife received lollipops from her friend and tucked them into her bag...

 and she almost completely forgot about them until today....(March 17, 2013).

It's a good thing that it is candy not some tofu. (ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ); otherwise...

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. !!!

Hanji Maeul (Hanji Village) part 1

For those who might not have heard the word 'hanji' or 한지, it is natural. Well, Hanji does mean (lieterally) Korean paper. We had a chance to visit this famous Hanji Maeul in Wanju area, Chollabukdo province. 

First thing first: We went there just to experience first-hand on how to make a hanji from natural resources --which is abundant in the area.

The picture above: one of the Hanji village in-charge told us about the initial steps of making hanji.

THe paper derived (to the best that I could grasp) from the Dak tree (닥나무) skin being pulled off after boiling them in the heat.The peeled-off layer of the tree skin was then beaten by a traditional stick as seen above. I am sure that there must be some modern equipment to do this. Anyhow, we managed to experience the traditional way of crushing and pounding the so-called 'dak-tree porridge'^^ 

I thought it was a a weed or some kind of opium ^^ (gosh and gasp!!)^^ But, I was completely wrong.

It turned out to be some kind of plants being used in making the hanji. Not sure what to do with, but it was surely one of the visible characteristics easily found in front of the hanji village.

The wet soon-to-be paper made by using a wooden or bamboo-made sieve seen on the pic above.  The ready to be-dried up paper was then placed on the wet tissue-like cloth so as to make it easy to pull off.

Here is a closer look at how the sieves were being used by dipping them into the daknamu or dak tree porridge. Each of us was busy making our very own hanji. 

It is a heated plate where paper are heated so as to help it dry up faster. I could not imagine what they must have been using in the past. I bet....they just let it dry under the sun for a day or two..but here..it took only 10 minutes or so. 

Now these are what I call 'sieve'. Well, I simply do not know what it is called in Korean let alone English. So, I just might as well call it a 'sieve'

Hurray!!! The first hanji ever! I just could not believe that we did make our own hanji right here on the spot. Well, who would've thought?

It looks not as bright as the office-use paper as we know of. But, it is non-chemical (I guess) and it is made of purely natural stuffs.

Intermezzo: Just when I was about to exit from the paper-making room, I stumbled across this huge-looking wooden equipment...which turned out to be some kind of  ironing machine /tool  for pressing/flattening the paper. Impressive, eh?

Just when I was going out of the room, one more thing worth-doing was....printing a mark on our paper we made. It is a must-have item on our paper so as to give it an authentic look and feel. 

At least ...we got a chance to make it look like factory-made.

With a touch of some knot from another paper-made lace,  I made my paper look more stylish. (at least...it was supposed to be so^^)

The front facade of the whole complex at Hanji Maeul. A tall & giant Korean traditional swing was set up in front of the hanok-shaped factory.

A group picture with some dignitaries who runs the complex. The houses' lights were lit since it was already getting dark and we were just anxious to have dinner. 

And what kind of dinner we had that night? (check out my other entry list about Wanju trip)

연탄재 briquette

So many things just wrapped up into my mind, especially the ever-exploding words, vocabularies, and expressions that I learned, ...have learned, ...am learning during Korean classes. So as to keep them intact in my memories, I am thinking of writing them down as a non-sequential story-line of mind-pouring or jot-it-down-quick kinda stuff.^^. Never mind the grammar^^. Korean grammar has ruined/does ruin/keeps ruining my head^^. It is way more complicated than I had previously thought of^^
Here we go:

연탄재 함부로

발로 차지 마라

너는 그 누구에게 뜨거운

사람이었느냐

This concise poetry was written by 안도현. I hope I spelled the name correctly.

'Don't you dare kick the used briquette'

'Are you yourself a man of better (things as compared to the briquette itself)?'

That's pretty much of what it is, I guess. 

Inside the Korean Tea House

Being soaked into the depth and scent of the Korean tea house was like another journey into the olden day of Korea's heyday when tea houses dotted the landscape of Korean society. It is completely different from today's modern world Korea where coffee has somewhat replaced the facades of most streets in Korea. 

Ok, just look at the wall right there: see the China ware and the bamboo-made ornament being attached there there? it's the first cool impression that I got.

AND NOW....we were so lucky that it was raining that day. What's more? since it was a raining day, so we got 10% discount!!!! Yippey what could be more enticing than this, then?

Another corner of the tea house. Ok, some may think that this is a bit overwhelmingly crowded for a tea house. But, I think that's what it was meant to be. The interior must've been intended to be so.

Some visitors could just look or admire or wonder or maybe just ignore or overlook the intricate details on the walls. If one could look at it a little bit closer, one may find something that could interest him.

let me break it down: a lamp^^, a bunch of dried persimmon, a bulk of dried corns, yarns, and...others that I  need to scrutinize more to find out what they were. The thing was...there could be myriad or endless arrays of things to behold.

A traditional kerosene-lamp was there, too. IT think it was a sight not to be missed in the modern city like Seoul. This is truly a remarkable item intact.

......-....... 

And...that was all about it. Should I recommend it to anyone? sure. Just brave yourself and go into the alleys at Insadong and brash up for an adventure into Korea's past.

A Culture Night at Vivaldi Park

Winter Skiing Trip could not have been better than this. The night after having all of the exhaustive skiing experience, the night's dinner and cultural show highlighted our trip as well. The great performance of an acapella group did steal the show. It was such a relief that not only Trote was being displayed, but another genre of music was also on. Bring it On. Just enjoy the video right here to see what I mean. 

Then, of course,K-Pop Cover Dance was also slurping into the main dish of contemporary Korean culture. Not to mention its catchy phrase during the playback songs, the audience got immediately up to their feet and some of them got it hyped over! An awesome night.

The third video is about my daughter--Freya--who seemed to be so tempted by the upbeat of Korean dance song...that she could not hold herself up....but to let herself go and moved her swing!!

Cultural show

The cultural show kicked off with a parade of colorfully arrayed traditional costumes and culture spread over the 230 ethnics in the archipelago.













The crowds of course cheered the parade since they --at times--too flamboyantly shown by the seemingly too timid or too outrageously lavish: but hey..that's the best part of the show.








We were sitting at the (almost) rear end window just to make sure that we would be able to see the whole lot of show on stage.






Eyra, Freya, her Mom, Seonhee, Pak Maman (from KBS radio)  Ms. Yuliana, Wawan and her wife were all there.

The traditional martial art of Indonesian origin: Pencak Silat was on display. The rebana show and other traditional shows were performed. Songs and dances alike were also highlighting the cultural shows.









And also, interestingly, the Indonesia's Galaxy superstar contestants were introduced to the audience as well. But, too bad...they did not come to sing....they showed up and told the audience as to why they would be having a 6-month long training in Korea. oh, s(well)...