korean wedding

My co-worker's wedding was this weekend and THAT was also curious.... I mean interesting as in "what just happened? That was ridiculous..." a euphemism I use frequently here. I showed up, with my boss who was kind enough to help me and another colleague get there, gratis. We were greeted by the groom, Hoon, who was wearing a grey polyester reflective suit, white gloves and white face make-up. My greeting was "Wow, Hoon you look great!" We sat down in a hall to eat together, as we do in Canada, only no chairs or shoes present. The food was all home-made and people were friendly. Time was passing and one of the guests from our school, Se Young, left all of a sudden and the director explained he had another wedding to go to. hmm. I noticed it was almost 2:00pm, game time and suggested we should go. My director calmly said, "It's okay, there is no hurry..." I still had some food on my plate. We eventually made our way to the door at about 5 minutes after and it was difficult for both of us to find our shoes. I started to wonder did someone take my shoes? Mr. Park made his choice but said "I think these are mine, but I am not sure." Comforting words for me as I continued to look for my shoes. With protected feet we walked up the stairs to see the "oldest church in Korea...100 years old". Inside it was, very new looking, perhaps renovated. There were many people in the back of the church standing and talking. The noise was so pronounced that If I closed my eyes, it could have easily been a bar in Seoul. I could just make out the back of the bride getting ready to walk down the isle and could faintly hear the wedding march processional on piano peeking through the roar of the crowd. There were still many people eating downstairs. Many of the people in the back were in Middle school uniform; the bride was also a teacher. The bride reached the altar and the ceremony began, the audible conversation in the back also continued. Banners not unlike those of Emmy awards showing the couple's portrait hung on the wall behind the altar; I'm guessing they were 10" x 20" in size. The live photographer often got the couple to change their position during the wedding and took the liberty of lighting some candles on the altar to improve a shot. Maybe he had a white belt in the priesthood and this was one of his duties. It was maybe 25 after and my Director turns to me and says: "Maybe we should go." I looked surprised and asked, "now... you don't want to stay and say congratulations? Is that normal?" "Yes, that is normal" he replied, “We said hi when we arrived.” Thus, having only seen the back of the bride and not hearing much of the service, we left. It took me 90 minutes to get there and we spent maybe 20 minutes in the ceremony. To my directors credit, after dropping off Vicky he shared, that leaving was not normal and that we would have stayed. His mother was sick and his whole family was at home waiting for him and he needed to be there. I thanked him for telling me and assured him that it was okay. This is testament to how generous a person he is, a truly selfless man! While I was at the wedding, a friend of mine text messaged me and told me that plans to play in a pub as part of a pick-up band had changed, he was hung over. ahh Korea.

This morning I visited one of Ulsan's 12 tourist attractions, a Cave. It wasn't really a cave, more of a tourist site made from an old Amethyst mine. Inside there was an acrobat show from China and hard candy to buy. They had an Egypt, New Guinea, Alien and evolution exhibit. I could not figure out what the theme was. These were all on the paper mache or inexpensive hurriedly made plaster mould level. Hilarious. Despite amusing display, I did learn that some tribes wear long horn shaped hallow cones on their genitals, reason unknown.

Recently I bought a bicycle and rode it all the way from Ulsan City along the high way with no issues. The ride was about an hour and my boss thought I was a little nuts. On the way I noticed that my gear shifter was loose and I stopped at a gas station and using hand gestures to communicate, borrowed a wrench. The rest of the ride was smooth and exciting with large transport trucks politely giving me more space as they passed on the busy high-way.

I hurt my back a little in Tae Kwon Do class and am having a little break but expect to go back. I trade notes with my Master which my director translates, a pretty hilarious form of communication,. Sometimes there is no time to plan in advance when I need to explain important things such as: "No, I am not cool with you popping my blood blister because I am pivoting before each kick. What if there is a virus on the needle you want to shove into my foot. That is not very safe. No I don't think your culture is dirty, it is simply not hygienic...my open wound on this floor is asking for infection..."

My quartet met for the first time for a full hour as a group of four and not three. We actually don't sound too bad. Our first gig is in Busan, an hour south of Ulsan and Korea's 3rd largest city, is going to be a mix of Classical Western music and some Korean folk music arranged for string quartet. It should be... interesting. Following our weekly rehearsal, we enjoyed dinner together near Ulsan University in Muegodong.