Some of the boys practicing the proper way to bow- before all sixty children bowed down to me and the other foreign teachers.
Often called Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year is also shared by a number of other Asian cultures including my new neighbors the Koreans. The Chinese receive the credit for this holiday probably because of their elaborate parades and alternative views on dragons. Korea's celebration is far less ornamental. It involves bowing to one's ancestors, eating rice cake soup, washing the old year off with some soap, and a couple of good games of Yoot. Yes, Yoot here is more than just a wonderful My Cousin Vinny joke. It's a great board game involving sticks used as die, and rocks for place markers (we used pompoms at school for their aesthetic value). The game is quite fun, and often played by the Korean youth (with an emphasis on the "th") as part of the Korean Lunar New Year celebration.
With no ancestors on this side of the world to bow to, friends and I decided to go north on a snow adventure. We went to Hyundai Sungwoo Ski Resort. There I saw my first real snow of the year, and successfully navigated the many turns and hills of the intermediate level slopes (not bad for my 2nd time on skis). We also explored a winter wonderland, complete with ice sculptures of Egypt (Korea really does have almost everything- well, except the REAL sphinx), and an almost-bobsled run. And the best part of the new year- it started out with a four day weekend. :-)
Gretchen Outside King Tut's Tomb
1 comment:
The ice sculpture is so cool! And the My Cousin Vinny reference is hilarious. For some reason, that word stood out to me when I looked at the page and thought of the movie before reading anything.
Post a Comment