I hope you’re all doing well. As of the 1st, we will have been in Korea for 3 months – a quarter of the way through.
So, what happened to us this week? School was the same as it usually is.
My mom sent me my rollerblades about a week ago because there is a big river that goes through Uijeongbu and amazing smooth bike paths all along it. Jesse has never been much of a skater or rollerblader but he was a good sport and actually bought some rollerblades so I’ve been teaching him how and we’ve been going rollerblading, which has been a lot of fun.
Friday night was a teacher from the other ECC in Uijeongbu’s last night. Everyone went out for galbi, as usual, but Jesse was feeling sort of galbied-out and I never eat galbi anyway so we just went over to our friends’ apartment and hung out on their roof and played cards while everyone else was at dinner and then we met up with them later. It weird here because you have a group of about 20 people who are all friends but, every month, some people leave and new people arrive so the dynamic of the group is always changing. Jesse and I are already seeming like veterans because a lot of people who have been here longer than us have already gone home. Anyway, Friday night was a fun night out with all the teachers from the three main foreign hogwans in Uijeongbu (the two ECCs and another big hogwan chain called SLP).
Saturday Jesse and I got all dressed up because we’d been invited to one of his colleague’s weddings. We were researching Korean weddings all week trying to figure out what was appropriate as gifts, and dress code and stuff and were all excited because we’d read that a lot of weddings had crazy stuff like smoke machines, bubble machines, laser lights, people in crazy costumes (like Darth Vader) and lots of other awesome stuff. We met with one of Jesse’s colleagues at the subway station (her nick-name is ‘Froggy’ – a questionable choice). Froggy showed us the way to the church. Apparently it’s rare for Korean weddings to happen in churches, and that is maybe why we didn't see any of the awesome wedding features we'd read about. Usually people get married in wedding halls that are designed to look like castles and have the reception in the same place. We arrived late, which I was all stressed out about, but it turned out I was worrying for nothing. All through the ceremony, people were arriving late, answering cell phones, and just generally not paying much attention. It wasn’t a ‘traditonal Korean ceremony’. The bride wore a white ‘western style’ dress and the groom was in a suit. There were performances by a singer and then a group of kids (many of whom Jesse recognized as his students).
The bride and groom and a massive screen showing the ceremony.
Here is a video of some the kids' performance.
Lots of people weren’t dressed up at all. Lots were in jeans, cut off jean shorts, t-shirts, running shoes, etc. Jesse and I were the most over-dressed for sure. After the ceremony, people went to take pictures with the couple and then headed to another floor in the building for lunch. Lunch was buffet style with lots of choices but there weren’t nearly enough seats for all the guests so you were expected to kind of wolf down your food and then give up your chair and go home. The whole thing lasted maybe an hour and then we went home. It was an interesting experience but one I probably wouldn’t repeat unless there were definitely going to be some bubble machines and Darth Vader impersonations.
Today we’re just running errands and getting organized for another week. This week they are having elections on Wednesday so there is no school. Another 4-day week will be fantastic but it the last holiday for awhile.
One final thing that has been big news here is obviously the escalating tensions with North Korea. We know it’s been all over the press lately and I’m sure you know as much about the news as we do. From an on-the-ground perspective, though, I can tell you that no Koreans seem worried at all. They all seem convinced that it’s all being blown totally out of proportion and that we’re all really safe. To be honest, I feel like it is very unlikely that the tension will escalate to conflict but, to be safe, we’ve registered ourselves with the Canadian embassy and, if conflict arises, they are obligated to give us safe passage to the nearest neutral country. Bottom line: no one is scared here, we’re still safe and are confident we’ll continue to be so, and are taking measures to make sure we’ll be fine even if the worst happens.
Anyway, that’s all for this week! Just in case you ever need to reach us urgently and we’re not on the internet, here are our cell numbers (you need to dial 011 +82 + 1 before the number)
Ali: 3145-4958
Jesse: 3981-0890
Miss you all!
Ali and Jesse
