A polygamous marriage in Korea

I had a traditional Korean wedding. It was beautiful. I wish everyone could have been there and we're still accepting gifts.

I crack myself up.

This past Saturday I went to an event held by the Gwangju International center; a cultural experience where we would be able to learn about traditional bowing, traditional clothing (Hanbok), and traditional weddings.

After a quick lunch we walked to Gwangju Hyanggyo, a very old Confucian school with a pretty amazing history in the city. The staff started our cultural experience by teaching us how to properly sit on our cushions. This was just good to know since I go out to eat to plenty of restaurants where we sit on the floor (I always seem to wear a dress or skirt on those days). After we were all properly seated, the staff demonstrated different traditional bows. How you bowed depended on your sex and the age of those you were greeting. I'm sure it also depends on more (situational) but I think we learned the very important bows.

I wont get into all the nitty-gritty details but traditional bowing is really interesting. There's an exact place for every body part- which tend to be different between men and women, differing degrees of bending (45? 90?), how to walk away from those who are older (backwards), certain amount of steps you need to take, etc.

Staff showing us how to bow. One is dressed in a women's Hanbok (L) while the other is dressed in a male's Hanok (R)

It was all really fun to learn but then it was time for the main reason I signed up for the cultural experience- HANBOK.

After a very quick introduction to different types of Hanbok, we were allowed to pick any Hanbok and try it on. I think Hanbok are really gorgeous-although not the most flattering-and everyone was really excited to get a few pictures in our cool new duds. We had the most giggly, happy group photo-shoot outside.

Showing us different styles of Hanbok

All the girls that were at the cultural experience

Posing in my Hanbok.

We already knew that we would be acting out a traditional wedding and had been warned that only one person would be able to dress up in bridal attire (it just takes too long for everyone to do it). One of my friends, Jamie, was roped into being the groom. As soon as they asked who wanted to be the bride Megan and I both raised our hands. To our surprise and excitement the staff said we could both be brides.

Let the polygamous marriage begin!

The staff immediately started doing up our hair, putting on layers of clothes, and making us beautiful brides. Traditional Korean brides wear red stickers on their cheeks and foreheads but for some reason the lady helping me could NOT get the stickers to stick. Next thing I know she had whipped out a glue stick and was applying the stickers to my face with glue. When we were all finished there was a mini photo-shoot for everyone else. I felt like a celebrity...or maybe that's just how brides feel on their wedding days. Us brides were placed on stage behind a barrier and people were assigned to be our helpers/parents (it wasn't clear). The groom walked down the length of the room to the stage with others acting as lantern carriers leading the procession. When the brides were finally called to meet the groom we all had to traditionally bow 3 times to each other and then we bowed to the audience.

Picture of the procession of the groom taking place

Selfie with the wedding party behind the barrier!

Bowing to the groom. He's the process of bowing.

Bowing to our wedding guests

Singing while Jamie's feet are attacked.

Wedding photo with the groom

Looking regal in my wedding attire.

Out of nowhere Jamie was told to lay on his back and lift up his feet. Another person was called to hit his feet with a stick. At the same time, Megan and I were handed a microphone and told to sing any song. I could only thing of Disney's Aladdin so we started singing A Whole New World (and by "we" I mean Megan sang and I nervously giggled the entire time). While we were singing Jamie was just getting his feet smacked with a stick. That was the end of our wedding. We had another photo-shoot and then it was time for the tea ceremony. We were served delicious tea and shown how to properly serve, drink, and nibble on a traditional snack. When the staff told us that it was over and we had to take off our Hanbok, I thought of rebelling. Could I just hang out at the temple all day in Hanbok? No. So we left.

Having a traditional tea ceremony.

It was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone. It was educational but just downright fun.

Peace! 

Morning broadcast and pretending I'm a celebrity

Every morning at my elementary school a hush falls over the students as the morning broadcast begins. It signifies the start to the school day....and it's freaking awesome.

I don't know about your elementary school but we definitely didn't have our own broadcasting room. Even if we did, I can't imagine the school letting the kids run the machinery and be in complete control. It's amazing to watch.

Although the kids run a broadcast every morning, I've never watched it. We just don't have a T.V. in our English office. So how do I even know about this magical activity in the school?

Every Tuesday an English teacher is featured on the morning broadcast reading a book. Once a month I check a designated book out from the library and make my way to the broadcasting room for my small moment of glory and fame.

GLORY AND FAME.

Everyday I start work at 8:30 (but arrive at 8:20) and on broadcasting days I'm down in the broadcasting room at 8:35 with book in hand. The kids are already there and ready to roll. They play a short video with a song (probably about school and being a good person...I'm not sure), read a list of something or other, a student talks about a topic for the day (today was tubas, last time croissants...I don't understand either), and then its my time to shine.

I sit down, I clear my throat, I can feel the tension in the room. What's the book of the day? Will she read it with a silly voice? Why is Ms. Gittleson so cool? All questions I'm sure they're asking themselves before I start.

Then I read. It's magical. It's great. I try not to sniffle because I'm always sick.

When I finish I say thank you to the kids (they seriously do a great job) and get back to my heated office.

Looking so cool in charge of the broadcast system. 

Being a mature, responsible adult as I prepare for my moment to shine.

The star waiting patiently.

Reading an English book to my viewers. They watch the show for me.

Reading with a look of excitement. Look how excited the girl next to me is!

Peace!

Coffee and Fur: A Dog Cafe in Gwangju

One of my favorite things I did this weekend was drink coffee and relax in a dog cafe in Gwangju.

The Flying Dog Cafe is perfect for those who love coffee and dogs (so...the smarter people on this planet). The cafe is 2 stories of tiny dogs running around peeing everywhere and looking adorable. Other than two or three medium sized dogs, all of the dogs were small and perfect for sitting in laps. Since I live in a city and most people live in apartments or smaller homes, big dogs are really rare. I've witnessed a lot of Koreans freak out upon seeing medium-big dog...and it's always hilarious. 

I believe the cafe owns all of the dogs but people can bring their own pets to socialize and run around in the cafe. I liked how there was always a teenager standing around ready to mop the floor or clean up after an over-excited dog. I wish that they had dog toys for customers to use (the cat cafe had a plethora of fun toys) but overall it was a really nice environment. I had the fluffiest, sleepiest dog sit on my lap for almost an hour as I sipped coffee. I'll definitely go back in the future.  

People sitting around enjoying coffee and playing with the dogs. You see some dogs in cages in the background. I think they were smaller puppies.

I had this dog on my lap for over an hour. SO FLUFFY AND CUTE. 

Selfies with the fluffy dog because I can.

Megan with a cute dog dressed in a frog costume.

                                                                      Peace!

11 Koreans, a Jew, and the story of Hanukkah

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I was bogged down at school with work (yay midterms!) and sleeping off a cold.

So for the next 3 weeks I'm teaching the Parent Classes at my English Center. We have class every Wednesday from 1:30-3:00 and I teach pretty much anything I want (within reason). The Parent Classes were divided between the 3 native teachers at my school and I'm the last teacher to teach them. When my co-teachers and I discussed the topics that we would like to teach when we taught the Parent Class, I decided that teaching a cooking class would be fun.

Can I cook? Sort of. I like the idea of cooking. I think I can follow a recipe pretty well (except for the mishap in college when I tried to make Kreplach...turns out that pastry dough and Wonton wrappers aren't the same thing). Let's just say my cooking ability is well beyond my singing abilities.

Anyway, I decided that I would love to teach English through cooking. Yet, what to make? Supposedly someone had taught Bruschetta back in the day. Delicious but didn't sound appealing to me. All of a sudden it hit me- LATKES. I really wanted to make latkes. Seemed easy enough: only a few ingredients, everything could be found in Korea, would taste like home, and I was teaching something from a different culture.

The day arrived for teaching the cooking class and I was pretty nervous. I couldn't remember how long it usually took to make latkes and I wasn't sure how much English I would really be teaching (mainly ingredients). I decided to leave Judaism out of the lesson and only teach some fun facts about Potato Pancakes (notice the name change, found predominantly in Eastern Europe, etc). An hour before my lesson a co-teacher told me that she was excited to learn about Hanukkah and Judaism in my cooking lesson. As you may imagine, there aren't many Jews in Korea and I was the first Jew that all of my teachers had met. Judaism...wait...what? That's when I made a mad dash back to my desk and created a power point telling the story of Hanukkah, Jewish customs, and how latkes fit into it all.

Teaching the cooking part was stressful but fun. Korea has a very similar pancake-like dish called 전 (Jeon) that can be made with beef, vegetables, seafood, kimchi, and much more, so everyone was pretty comfortable with the idea of making a Potato pancake. I gave them a recipe but we didn't have proper measuring cups so they just started doing whatever they wanted. All of a sudden all of the potatoes were chopped, all the onions were sliced, salt was being added here and there, and more eggs and flour kept being added to the bowls. I just gave into the madness. As long as they tasted slightly like potatoes we did a good job.

I ended up taking a total of two bites of the latkes. While the parents enjoyed their meals and listened to Hanukkah music, I delivered plates of fresh latkes to the school administrators, my fellow English teachers, and my principal. By the time I returned to the classroom, the parents had eaten everything. So while I made them feel guilty about not saving me anything I also felt really happy that they seemed to enjoy the food.

All in all it was a good lesson. I never really want to teach English by making latkes ever again but it was a good experience. I taught the story of Hanukkah, we talked about menorahs, and I listened to lots of Hanukkah music. And as an added bonus I got to keep all the extra cooking ingredients so I'll be making my own latkes soon enough.

Making latkes in the English Center kitchen

Giant latkes because the similar Korean pancakes are huge

The lone father in my class. In my opinion he made the best latkes.

I think my co-teacher took some pictures so I'll also ask her for those later.

Shalom!