We discuss some differences between the Korean countryside and the Australian countryside.
Category: In Korea (Page 17 of 25)
It was like Christmas! Seriously, the last time I got a new bike was a Christmas a very long time ago. I was really reluctant to go downstairs at first because my husband hadn’t told me why. Often when I’m called downstairs it’s because someone in the village wants to meet me. Sometimes it is properly meeting – there was one nice guy who wanted so speak English with me – but sometimes it feels more like they have just come to stare at the white person. Sometimes I’m in a happy mood to deal with that, other times I’m feeling a bit more introverted. I thought it was a situation like that, where someone wants to see me because they have rarely ever seen a white person and I was worried how I looked. My mood changed instantly when I saw the pink bike!
My mother-in-law felt bad for me that I’m working in our room most of the time. I really like long walks but my husband doesn’t and it’s not a good idea for me to wander off alone around here. But now I have a bike to ride around the village! The neighbours joked that I’ll run away now that I’ll have a bike because they saw me racing up and down the road on it.
Hah! It didn’t snow today! The only time it has snowed was the day after we arrived, very early in the morning, so we didn’t see it. The cold hasn’t been as bad as I thought and we are further down south so it’s not as cold as Seoul. Maybe when we go to Seoul next week I’ll be in for a shock?
For Lunar New Year we went up a small mountain to visit my husband’s family’s ancestral graves. It was quite serious and solemn, so it was completely bizarre to see that squirrels have been using one of the burial mounds as a place for their nuts! There was a hole with small pieces of branches around it, which my father-in-law had to fix.
We were in the middle of the woods up a mountain in winter and even though I knew we weren’t far from the town it still felt very isolated. It didn’t help that I started thinking about the Barrow-wights in the Fellowship of the Ring (the book not the movie) when I saw the hole that had been made. I’m great at freaking myself out.
When I got the hanbok the women in the hanbok store told me that I shouldn’t eat while wearing it. I can see why, because they are very expensive!
This may be one of the reasons why he refused to have one made for him, because he would have to be careful and not eat much in it. Lots of people asked on the social media why he wasn’t wearing one, and there are a few reasons. They are expensive and he didn’t want his parents to pay for it. Also, hanboks for men are less flattering and not that many people actually wear them these days. In fact, besides from a few children I was the only one here wearing one. Also, when he wore one at our traditional wedding, his pants kept falling down! So he has embarrassing memories of wearing one.
I still think he should own one though, what do you think?
One problem I had on Lunar New Year was not wanting to eat for fear of dropping something on my hanbok, but then everyone was urging me to eat at the same time. I ate some watermelon and some dripped onto it and I silently was like “Noooooo!” and quickly covered it so no one could see. I didn’t eat again until the dinner when I could take it off.
This is a video about getting my hanbok and Lunar New Year (설날).
I’m really happy and thankful to my parents-in-law for getting me one. It was a really good experience.
Also, I haven’t posted this video on the blog yet, only the social media, but in case you missed it: Here is Mr Gwon caught in the act of singing songs from the new Disney movie Frozen!
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