Another Wedding
This past weekend was quite a busy one. Friday night, immediately after work, I took a taxi with the other two foreign teachers at my school to our friend Annie's house (the Korean teacher who got married a few weeks ago) for an official housewarming party. As is the tradition in Korea, we each brought a housewarming gift, which usually consists of things like toilet paper...of course, the Martha Stewart in me saw it more fitting to bring a potted tulip.
Annie and her husband cooked a fine dinner of pork and other Korean what-nots. It was just us Swaton teachers and a couple husbands sitting on the floor around a table, and we had a fabulous time. I even left the place with my very own Korean name: Seyeong.
Saturday morning I awoke to a dreary, rainy day...perfect wedding weather! That's right...I attended my second wedding in Korea. This time, however, the bride was Korean and the groom was a Canadian on my soccer team. Although I have only met him once, not to mention the fact that I have only been to two practices thus far, I was invited, and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to meet all the players on my team. Since I did not want to go all by myself, I invited my friend Amanda to be my date.
This time, the wedding was in a church, providing a much more intimate and quiet affair than the wedding hall vows. Of course, most of the service was strictly in Korean, so it was all I could do not to fall asleep. After the wedding, we had a scrumptious Korean lunch in an adjoining social hall. After we had chowed down on noodles, jellyfish, and kimchee, we soccer players set out into the rain for Bar Rockssin in Anyang. This is the same place that hosts the bi-weekly open mic night, and it is also the "Team Bar." For Saturday evening, it was serving as the proper, "get down and boogie" reception room. It was the perfect environment for spending some time getting to know my new teammates, and I was pleased to find that they are all a great bunch of guys.
Sunday I really needed a day to myself, so I ventured into Seoul for some shopping in the Myeongdong district. I spent all day here, milling about the tight streets with thousands upon thousands of other Koreans. One word in Korea that does not coincide with the word shopping: relaxing. It is such a high-stress pasttime, especially on Sundays, as this is the only day that Koreans have off from work, so the people cram into the shops. I somehow managed to purchase a couple things, but had to give up on finding a pair of jeans that fits. A major problem with Korean shopping is that there are no fitting rooms...even when I would see a fitting room and ask to use it, the salespeople would always say, "No try!" Now, what girl in her right mind would ever buy a pair of jeans without trying them on first? It did not take long before I finally had to surrender and head home.
Annie and her husband cooked a fine dinner of pork and other Korean what-nots. It was just us Swaton teachers and a couple husbands sitting on the floor around a table, and we had a fabulous time. I even left the place with my very own Korean name: Seyeong.
Saturday morning I awoke to a dreary, rainy day...perfect wedding weather! That's right...I attended my second wedding in Korea. This time, however, the bride was Korean and the groom was a Canadian on my soccer team. Although I have only met him once, not to mention the fact that I have only been to two practices thus far, I was invited, and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to meet all the players on my team. Since I did not want to go all by myself, I invited my friend Amanda to be my date.
This time, the wedding was in a church, providing a much more intimate and quiet affair than the wedding hall vows. Of course, most of the service was strictly in Korean, so it was all I could do not to fall asleep. After the wedding, we had a scrumptious Korean lunch in an adjoining social hall. After we had chowed down on noodles, jellyfish, and kimchee, we soccer players set out into the rain for Bar Rockssin in Anyang. This is the same place that hosts the bi-weekly open mic night, and it is also the "Team Bar." For Saturday evening, it was serving as the proper, "get down and boogie" reception room. It was the perfect environment for spending some time getting to know my new teammates, and I was pleased to find that they are all a great bunch of guys.
Sunday I really needed a day to myself, so I ventured into Seoul for some shopping in the Myeongdong district. I spent all day here, milling about the tight streets with thousands upon thousands of other Koreans. One word in Korea that does not coincide with the word shopping: relaxing. It is such a high-stress pasttime, especially on Sundays, as this is the only day that Koreans have off from work, so the people cram into the shops. I somehow managed to purchase a couple things, but had to give up on finding a pair of jeans that fits. A major problem with Korean shopping is that there are no fitting rooms...even when I would see a fitting room and ask to use it, the salespeople would always say, "No try!" Now, what girl in her right mind would ever buy a pair of jeans without trying them on first? It did not take long before I finally had to surrender and head home.
posted by Tiffany Joiner @ 8:17 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home