Korea

Santa Claus comes to town

I took a couple days off from blogging to prepare for the Christmas season.  As usual, there’s too much work involved getting ready for Christmas to consider it enjoyable.  The annual ritual plays out as follows:  Put up Christmas tree and trappings, put together Christmas list, buy Christmas cards and gifts, write Christmas cards, wrap Christmas presents, mail Christmas presents, and prepare for the Christmas meal, and take down Christmas paraphernalia.  Using overseas living as a cover, I’m modifying our Christmas regimen this year.  Most people will receive Christmas wishes by e-mail from us this year.  We’re only going to send out about 20 Christmas cards, mostly to family members, and we’ll e-mail our Christmas letter with some personalized wishes to everyone else.  As our Christmas list grows, I’m glad technology will finally be helpful.  I would prefer to send cards by snail mail, but it’s just too much work.  I think it detracts from the spirit of the holiday to set up a Christmas card factory for the sake of tradition.  Fortunately, this is the very first year since we married in which we will spend Christmas Day at our home.  In the past, we either spent Christmas with my parents or celebrated it on vacation overseas.  I’m relishing the opportunity to be home for the holidays.
 
Today we hosted a party at our home for my wife’s Korean coworkers.  It was exceptional.  Most attendees had never been to an American-style Christmas party with holiday ambiance, western food (no kimchi!), Santa Claus, and a gift exchange.  We prepared a mountain of food for the event, including London broil, roast chicken, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, smoked salmon, deviled eggs, mini quiche, salad, fruit, cookies, and pumpkin and apple pie.  We also offered an assortment of drinks, ranging from soda pop to Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch whiskey, a Korean favorite.  Most attendees drank wine, soju, a Korean liquor, or Coca-Cola.  We held back the egg nog because Koreans do not usually drink milk products.
 
Following dinner, Santa Claus made a special appearance.  OK, it wasn’t really Santa Claus–I absconded a Santa suit and suited up for the occasion.  St. Nicholas is much too busy getting ready for Christmas and visiting shopping malls to come by our little ol’ house for a visit.  We actually have our own Santa suit at work for representational events.  I borrowed the suit for an event on Monday, so I brought it home and gave it a dry run.  Back in the states, my father and his wife have portrayed Santa and Mrs. Claus on numerous occasions, visiting children and the elderly around Christmastime.  I was happy to carry on the legacy.  I am a bit young to play Santa, but I’m stout and can bellow a hearty "Ho ho ho!"  (Someone told me I sound like the announcer from the game show, "The Price is Right.")  I can’t believe how hot it is inside a Santa suit.  I was itching to take it off the minute I put it on!  The hat was heavy and kept slipping off my head, and I repeatedly had to adjust my gray hair piece (note to self–use hairpins).  I now know what all those mall Santas have to go through wearing hot, itchy Santa suits and putting up with distressed children.  Poor guys.  I’m glad I only had to portray Santa for about 20 minutes.  Some of the children at our party were scared of me dressed as Santa.  One little boy who took a liking to me began to cry when his parents tried to put him on my lap.  Fortunately, my son was in on the ruse and helped bring other children over for gifts and photos.  He knew that daddy was playing Santa and called me "Daddy Santa."  I thought it was cute.  Mommy served as Santa’s helper, although she forgot to put on her "Santa’s Helper" ballcap.  After handing out gifts to all the good children and submitting to a photo op, Santa disappeared.  I posted some of the photos from Santa’s appearance in the photos section.
 
Following Santa’s visit, we held a gift exchange.  The "exchange" included the ability to steal a gift if you preferred someone else’s treasure to your own, much like a "white elephant" gift exchange.  I participated in the exchange on behalf of a partner at my wife’s firm who had to leave the party early.  I made sure he got the Jim Bean American bourbon whiskey.  I didn’t think he would enjoy the body care set or the scented candles.  I don’t think that Koreans are familiar with "white elephant-style" gift exchanges, so it was a fun and unique experience for them.  They brought us many wonderful gifts, including Korean and Australian wine and a bowl and dish set.  I have to go so I can start writing thank-you cards.

100-day birthday celebration

We spent the evening at a friend’s place celebrating his son’s 100th day birthday.  My friend is a World Adventurers reader, so I’m sure he’ll read this post.  He’s welcome to post a comment, but I’ll leave it to him to reveal his identity.  He’s always good for a quicky witted, pithy comeback, so I’m sure he’ll take the bait.  Yesterday I told him we planned to bring gifts for the entire family, but he protested, “Please don’t buy any gifts if you haven’t already.  I feel guilty [taking gifts].”  Well now, let’s see.  Although he is American and his wife is Georgian, true to Korean custom they threw a 100-day celebration (Baek-il, or 백일) for their son.  As is Korean custom, guests should come bearing gifts whenever they are invited over to someone’s home.  Therefore, our friends must accept our gifts with glad hearts.  I also bribed them with some cilantro, which they have had difficulty finding in Korea. 
 
I did a little research to understand why the 100-day celebration is such a significant milestone in a child’s life.  The 100-day celebration is also observed in Chinese culture; it is virtually unheard of in western cultures.   Baek-il is the second of three events in a child’s first year of life celebrating his or her continued health.  According to Korean tradition, these events should only be celebrated if the child is healthy.  The first event, the 21-day celebration, celebrates the child’s first 21 days of life.  It is not as well known as Baek-il because at 21 days the child and mother are traditionally confined to the home and are not allowed to see guests.  The child’s family members traditionally observe the day in absentia by praying for the child.  Baek-il is the official coming-out ceremony for most Korean child.  The child’s first birthday, or Tol (돌), is the third and perhaps most important of the three events.  Once the child passes their first birthday happy and healthy, it is very likely that they will live a longer life.  It’s easy to forget in this day and age that many of our cultural celebrations such as birthdays originated out of the need to survive.  Child mortality was very high in Korea until the 1960’s, and these celebrations are testaments to the fact that many Korean children did not live to see their first birthdays.
Now that you’re thoroughly depressed, let me share the happier side of these celebrations.  Baek-il and tol are opportunities for families to come together and meet the newest members of the clan.  It is often the impetus for family reunions, just as Chuseok (추석), a day to remember one’s ancestors, brings together Korean families every year.  These celebrations give families an excuse to share their bounty with family and friends.  They serve foods that are typically served only at special occasions, such as rice cakes, or deok (덕).  Food becomes even more significant on the child’s first birthday, when the child is seated in the midst of a variety of foods.  Korean tradition maintains that a child’s future will be determined by the first food that they touch.  (I wondered whether that led parents to game the system by putting the most desirable food closest to the child.)  Traditionally, the children have received money, gold trinkets, or clothing as gifts, although modern families may give more eloborate gifts such as toys or tech gadgets.  Thus, it is customary for guests to bear gifts to these types of events, just as we did.  If I didn’t, I couldn’t call myself Korean.  Oh wait, I’m not Korean.  That’s OK.  He better accept them anyway.
For more information on Korean birthday celebrations, visit:
 
 
Note to Quemino’s World:  Welcome back to Seattle.  I hear there’s been some snow in the area.  It was great meeting Alex and you for dinner and drinks in Busan.  I hope you had a great trip to Thailand…at least better than your last day in Busan!  Sorry to hear about the bummer ending to your APEC trip.  How did I blog during the APEC Summit?  Well, when you are stuck at a hotel near the airport, as far as you can get from the action, and you get back to your hotel room too late to do much, your family is five hours away, and the cable TV features one English channel but has an Internet connection, you cope by posting blog entries.  I’ll see you in July when we return to Seattle for a visit.

How to plan a Korean-style protest

Last night after work I went to a happy hour in downtown Seoul.  I was surprised to find that my way was blocked by a very large group of protesters, the largest I’ve seen since I arrived in Korea.  The protesters were in full force and protesting the Korean National Assembly’s recent ratification of a deal to increase nearly double the quota of imported rice from 4% of the Korean rice market to 7.96%, phased in over the next nine years.  Imported rice is a topic for economic policy wonks, but on the streets and in the fields of Korea, rice brings out the passions of the Korean people.  7.96% does not seem like a big deal to foreigners, who note that as much as 92.04% of the Korean rice market will remain the hands of Korean domestic rice producers through 2014.  However, rice is an inevitably explosive topic in Korea (perhaps that’s why the Korean word for rice sounds like "pop").  Some Koreans oppose the opening because of market share concerns and the assumption that the price of rice in Korea will go down as the market opens to imports.
 
Anyway, I walked through the police lines and protesters to get to where I needed to go.  Although I was briefly caught in the middle of some marching policemen in riot gear, I made it through without fail.  Tthe protesters rallied in opposition to foreign rice imports, yet as a foreigner I did not feel threatened as I walked through the protesters.  They were not overly aggressive, and I felt safe with all the policemen close by me.  I reckon that about 500 protesters showed up for the protest, most of whom appeared to be in their 20’s and 30’s.  I doubt that most, if any, were Korean rice farmers.  Most were likely students or members of Korean unions.  The sheer number of protesters, policemen, the blocked traffic, the bonfires in the street, and the silhouettes of the rally leaders under the streetlit statue of Yi Sun-Shin cast a surreal pall over the scene.  I wasn’t the only pedestrian passing through the protest, but I felt conspicuously out of place as I walked there.
 
This wasn’t the first rally I’ve seen, but it certainly was the largest I’ve seen here.  Korean protests are quite unique.  They are Asian in nature, emphasizing union and solidarity over individual protestation common in the West.  In order to plan a Korean-style protest, you need to do the following:
  • Wear matching jacket vests and hats.  You need to wear color-coded jacket vests against light colored clothing and matching baseball caps.  The caps and vests should ideally contain some slogan related to the topic of the protest.
  • Wear white arm bands with red or black lettering.  It’s always a good fashion accessory to have a conspicuous arm band on your arm featuring a protest slogan.  If you don’t have a hat, you can substitute it with a protest headband.
  • Hold the rally in an open location as close to the source of the irritation or at a patriotic rallying point.  For example, anti-Japanese demonstrations are typically held near the Japanese Embassy.  Anti-American or anti-U.S. Forces Korea protests are typically held either near the American Embassy or a U.S.-ROK military installation.  You can also protest near the statue of Yi Sun-Shin or the statue of General Douglas MacArthur in Incheon.  This protest was near the Blue House, the Korean White House, following another rice protest near the National Assembly in Yeoido.
  • Make sure that at least five policemen are in attendance for every protester.  There’s nothing better to magnify the effect of a protest than to bring out five additional people for every protester who comes to the rally.
  • Designate at least one man and one woman to work the bull horn.  The bull horn is a very effective way to address a large crowd.  Male and female rallying cries show solidarity and promote diversity and equality.
  • Sing patriotic union and solidarity songs.  Protesters draw from a large repetoire of songs and chants with which to rally to their cause and announce their message.
  • If the rally is large enough, the police will close off the street for you, amplifying your message by impacting the community at large.  There is nothing like getting the attention of everyone driving in a five-kilometer radius who is caught in horrendous traffic and must find alternative driving routes.
  • Serve food, water, and soju for large and lengthy rallies.  A large crowd will be a hungry crowd, so a good way to control and entice the crowd is to offer food, water, and soju.  I thought it ironic that the protesters served ramen noodles made of wheat and bottles of soju, a potato alcohol, at a rice protest.  Of course, ramen and soju are cheap and plentiful but not very symbolic at a rice protest.
  • Build some bonfires in key intersections to keep warm and cook food.  Use whatever you can find, whether it is wood or plastic.  The downside to this strategy is that the police must keep firehoses handy, which they could use to douse protesters as well as fires.