Two fantastic cultural experiences today! The first was a Korean wedding! A female teacher at MunHwa's sister math school was getting married and invited everyone to the wedding!
Weddings in Korea are SERIOUS BUSINESS. Imagine America's wedding industry, amplify it by 1000 and then turn it into fast food. There are wedding halls that you can rent that are just conveyor belts of weddings. They have the ceremony hall, the reception hall, a photo room, and attendants all provided. It even comes pre-decorated. The ceremony today lasted about 10 minutes total. My mom wanted to know if it was a religious ceremony, but I honestly cannot say. After the ceremony they walked back down the isle and the hired attendants shot streamers out of trumpet shaped cannons. We left the ceremony hall, went to the reception hall across the lobby way, and when we came out another wedding was being preformed. The bride and groom didn't even make it to their reception, because they had to take photos in their traditional Hanbok. They had already taken official wedding portraits, and those were used to decorate the reception hall. The wedding started at 1150 and we were out of there before 130.
The luncheon was delicious, although Korean weddings don't have cake which is a bummer. I sat with my Korean coworkers, and ended up being asked when my wedding was. It was then suggested that Josh and I have a fake Korean wedding when he comes to visit. Don't worry Mom, I'm ok with waiting awhile.
After the wedding I came back to the apartment, did some laundry, cleaned a little, worked on my project for national novel writing month, nothing exciting. At 5pm I headed back into Sangmu to meet with my friend Do Yeon. We went to a traditional Korean concert. They were singers and a drum player. Their were back up singers and two main "actors." The story had something to do with a swallow with a broken leg. The kind brother helped the swallow and then the swallow rewarded him gourd seeds. The gourds contained good things because the man was so kind. There was also an evil brother and a woman who was maybe singing the part of the evil brother? I dunno, I was a little confused, but it was still very interesting, very fun, and a great experience. Even though I wasn't sure what exactly was going on I was able to understand what emotions the characters were feeling, even if I didn't know why.
The anthropologist in me wants to carry a notepad everywhere to take notes constantly, but I feel like maybe that wouldn't go over well.
My classes are frustrating. I feel like I'm simultaneously getting better and worse at teaching. I feel more confident and my lesson plans are improving, but my classes grades are dropping. I feel responsible for the kids lack of success, but I don't really know what to change. Obviously some kids (like the ones getting zeros because they don't do any homework and turn in blank tests) are themselves to blame for any problems, but I just don't know what to do about the rest of them. I hope this next week goes better.
At least my weekend has been successful!
~Hannah
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