Second New Years

So it's three and a half weeks later and time for the lunar new year. We head out on the 7:15am train Saturday morning from Daegu. It is still dark as we leave and snow greets us an hour into our journey. We take the third class train because it is much cheaper, we save about $40 one way. We also have a good opportunity to see the countryside along the way, but really Korea looks pretty much the same the whole way up to Seoul. It is nice to be out of the city and see some open spaces. Thomas, Reid, and I arrive in Suwon, a southern suburb of Seoul at 10:40am and are greeted by our eager, friendly Korean friends - Hyunsoo and Kitae. Reid and I met both of them in the NCC last year as they took part as international volunteers. We are staying with Hyunsoo's family in Suwon in a new apartment on the ninth floor of an apartment building on the outskirts of town. Kitae, our other friend, is from Busan, but is attending college in Seoul as so many young Koreans wish to do. School does not start until March - which is, contrary to the Western custom, the beginning of the school year.

The family has been hit with a series of minor auto accidents. The week before, a taxi rear-ended Hyunsoo in his mother's car, sending three to the hospital with minor injuries. After loading his father's van and stopping at his workplace at the YMCA, we are struck by a white car sliding slowly out of contol. Welcome to Suwon. There is quite a lot of snow in Suwon and the city's drivers are not used to it. Fortunately, everyone has gone home for the weekend as is the custom for the "old" new year's holiday. Though the bumper is cracked, Hyunsoo's father is very generous and lets the uninsured college student have a free pass. Both of Hyunsoo's parents would prove to be the most generous hosts imaginable. Hyunsoo has just acquired a new car and we will get bumped from behind and on another occassion we will run into the curb pretty hard during our stay in Suwon.

We finally arrive at Hyunsoo's house and are greeted by a big meal in the Korean style. Bulgogi (beef) is cooked in front of us on the table, as is the Korean style. This is accompanied by lots of rice, kimchi, breaded-fried vegetables, squid and some other side dishes. This is a pretty standard Korean meal, but it is prepared by one of the best cooks in Korea. Hyunsoo's mother learned her talents from her mother who was a cook for the Korean president, though she passed away recently. She is from Daegu, so the family is familiar with our "home"town and we discuss the city. It turns out that Hyunsoo's dad began working at the same YMCA where we are studying Korean and Hyunsoo attended Kindergarten there. The building is old and hasn't changed much since then.

Saturday night, we plan to meet up with two of our other friends from the NCC. Hyunsoo and Kitae have not met them. It seems to happen a lot here that we are introducing our Korean friends to other Koreans. It is a bit of a trip into Seoul from Suwon. We take the bus and then transfer to the subway, which is the most complicated subway system I have ever seen, though it is not as long as NYC's. Seoul's subway has the fourth largest ridership in the world, behind Moscow, Tokyo and Mexico City. During normal operation, it is supposedly crowded like times square at new years. Fortunately, here, everyone goes home for the new years holiday.


The complicated Seoul subway.

We go to Itaewon, which is the foreigners area of Seoul. We are looking for big shoes and clothing for Thomas, as it is quite difficult to find these things anywhere outside of Itaewon. We also see lots of good knock off purses, hats, socks, jerseys, etc. The knock off baseball hats are $10 and negotiable but we do not see any that we want to rep. After that we meet up with our friends and catch up over a dinner of Chicken Ginseng Soup. This is the first Seoul NCC reunion - there are six of us alumni in attendance. Hyunsoo's cousin meets up with us and we go to Cheong-gae-cheon, the restored stream in center city Seoul. A few years ago, the current president of South Korea (then mayor) had a highway demolished and buildings moved to recreate the pre-civilization flow of a small stream in downtown Seoul. The project cost some $360 million dollars, but the ouctome is quite phenomenal I think. There are several nice bridges and waterfalls, sculptures and lights. The stream runs for a good distance (maybe a few km). In the summer, lots of people bathe and float in it, which reminded us a lot of the Truckee River in Reno, though a bit smaller and tamer. After that we found a fun bar to go to, ate some chicken intestines and chicken feet and watched some drunk Koreans make fools of themselves. We returned to Suwon and stayed out late so that we wouldn't have to go to church the next morning. Hyunsoo's idea. He was called a bad son in the morning by his mom for this, but we were secretly grateful.

At the restored river Cheong-gae-cheon in Seoul.


First Seoul NCC Reunion.

The next day, we went to the public spa in the morning to sweat and wash out the toxins. We went to a public spa a little closer to Daegu a few weeks ago, which I never mentioned. The spa is extremely relaxing and very common in Korean culture. You are exhausted afterward for at least a day. So, you get naked with all the Korean guys and jump in the sauna or the steam bath, then its off to dunk in the cold bath which is quite jarring but good for stamina they say. You can then relax in the hot bath or green tea bath which is quite soothing. Stand under the waterfall to release the tension and stagnant Qi in your neck. It costs about $7 for the entire thing and you really feel about $20 better when you leave. We see a movie which several of us sleep though, and then spend the evening at home getting to know the family and learning about the Korean television shows.

The next day is Monday and the Lunar New Years Day. We are told to get up at 9am sharp to prepare for the New Years ceremony. Like real American youth, we sleep in until 9:30 and don't get a shower in. Fortunately, it is alright. We wake up to an enormous breakfast (as we do everyday here in Suwon). It is difficult because we are not used to eating so much for breakfast normally, but here it is a normal sized meal and it's huge at Hyunsoo's. This is a special meal because it is offered in remembrance of our ancestors. The cousin, Anna, makes a prayer before the meal and then we feast. After breakfast we have the filial ceremony. Hyunsoo's parents are dressed up in the traditional Korean clothing, called Hanbok. They sit on one end of the room and are approached first by their next of kin, Hyunsoo. He bows before them and offers his best wishes for the new year and their health and happiness. Then he sits and waits and receives his parents wishes for him along with some advice and instructions for the new year. Included in this is "drive safely", study hard", etc. He then waits patiently as mom and dad take out their purse and wallet, respectively, and hand over some money. This is why the kids love this holiday. The rest of the family follows then from the oldest to the youngest. In this case, there are only the two of Hyunsoo's cousins, so they go next, followed by us and another of the family friends, a French volunteer at the YMCA. Hyunsoo's parents tell us that they are grateful for the fond memories we treated Hyunsoo too in Seattle and Reno. It was very kind of them to include us in the family ceremony and then even more so to give us money! I have felt on every occasion here that Koreans are exceptional and generous hosts. Later that day we go to a traditional Korean folk village and play some traditional games, make some crafts and foods and see the traditional drum show.





On Monday night, we go snowboarding on a small mountain nearby. This is my second snowboarding adventure in Korea, I have just been snowboarding last weekend at a decent resort down near Daegu. This resort is pretty cool but the hills are not too big. There are two snowboard parks and a mogul run with some gnarly bumps. Hyunsoo spends a lot of the time teaching the cousins on their first time snowboarding and Reid and Thomas carve some turns on the bunny slopes.

On Tuesday, we visit the Suwon castle which was built by the King a long time ago (I don't get into the specifics). I find the most interest in the old customs here and at the Korean folk village: there is a straw head dress that the kids who pee their beds have to wear around the village - using shame to potty train the young ones, also there is a bucket contraption that farmers use to collect urine and transport it to the fields as fertilizer. We are also intrigued by the traditional Korean game which involves soccer-juggling a small pom-pom looking toy, much like hackey-sack. We pack up the van and depart on the 3:55pm train for Daegu.

We are back in Daegu now, and it's business as usual. I am getting ready to move from teaching Twister to the Pet Shop in school. Twister is being changed into the Hair Salon, so the girls are going to take that over. Saturday night basketball games have been set up by Thomas with some of his Korean friends in Jisan, so we look forward to many of them. Also, there should be another raging trip to Busan up ahead, as another NCC American has just moved there to teach English. It is pretty cold here right now. I don't use the heater so it's 57 degrees in my apartment all day. It's also quite cold at work (maybe even colder), so I am sitting next to the gas heater while I write this.

Hope you all are well. I am thinking of writing more, smaller entries in the future, so we'll see about that.


At Suwon Castle.


With the family on Lunar New Years Day.