Korea

Our first tol

Tonight we went to our first tol, a Korean-style first birthday party.  It was quite an extravagant event.  A family we met while we were in Virginia in 2004 invited us for their daughter’s first birthday.  The tol, or first birthday, a big milestone in a child’s life and cause for huge celebration in Korea.  While a first birthday party for an American child often consists of a small gathering of friends and family who celebrate the occasion with a birthday cake and candles, perhaps even at McDonald’s, a Korean tol is much more elaborate.  The mom who invited us to celebrate her daughter’s birthday insisted that this tol was a middling affair, but I was very impressed.  She rented the entire floor at a restaurant that specializes in hosting tol in a building overlooking Toksu Palace in downtown Seoul.  It must have cost hundreds of dollars.  The party featured a full buffet with dessert table and an assortment of drinks.  The spread was delicious.  The centerpiece of the tol is a dais situated above the attendees where the child is seated amidst a bounty of food and gifts.  The tol at tonight’s event was a table, behind which the proud parents stood with their daughter in their arms in front of a big cake, surrounded by colorful pink and lavender balloons. 
 
An emcee hosted the event, offering a play-by-play account of the action.  The birthday girl’s parents placed five different objects in front of their daughter in the hope that she will choose one of them:  1) A microphone; 2) A stethoscope; 3) Pencils; 4) Money; and 5) Yarn.  The five objects represent entertainment, medicine, education, wealth, and longevity.  Whichever object the one-year-old child chooses allegedly determines his or her future.  The emcee announced that the birthday girl had chosen the microphone, a symbol that she will have a very entertaining life.  Afterwards, the emcee hosted a raffle and gave away gifts to members of the audience.  I was given a number, but I’m glad my name didn’t come up because the dialogue was in Korean, not English.  I was told that if I had been chosen, I would have had had to wish the child well with some pithy saying in order to claim my gift.  While I wish the birthday girl well, I was happy to let the Koreans do the public well wishing.
 
Why is a child’s first birthday such a big occasion in South Korea?  Even as recently as the 1970s, child mortality in South Korea was very high (it is still very high in North Korea).  Many child died before their first birthday.  If they reached their first birthday, their chances of long-term survival increased substantially.  The tol is a Korean traditional celebration the optimism that the child will live to at least adulthood.  Nowadays, the event is thankfully more of a formality than an actual affirmation that a Korean child will survive infancy.
 
For the Shutterbugs:  I posted three new photo albums from our trip to Jeju Island.  Enjoy!

A bilingual elephant?

Yahoo! published an interesting news article about an elephant at Everland Theme Park in Yongin, Korea that speaks some Korean.  Apparently elephants have the ability to mimick sounds, including noises and rudimentary speech.  In this elephant’s case, he spent so much time with his caretaker over the years that he learned how to mimick several short Korean words, including "yes," "no," "sit," and "lie down."  Elephants actually communicate through sound and body language.  It’s unclear whether this elephant understands the meaning of the words he’s speaking, but one could argue that he expresses them as a form of communication. 
 
What I actually wondered tonight was whether the elephant could learn multiple languages and become bi- or trilingual.  He already speaks elephantish (referred to as "a-rroo!" in native elephantish), and now he can imitate some Korean words.  If this elephant was shipped from Everland to the San Diego Zoo and stayed there for several years, could he imitate a few English words too?  The possibilities boggle the mind.  As it is, one could make the case that he is the world’s first bilingual elephant.  Given the Korean’s insatiable thirst to learn English as a second language, it’s surprising that the elephant did not gravitate towards learning English instead!

Back from Jeju Island

We returned from our Labor Day weekend trip to Jeju Island earlier tonight.  I wish I could write that a restful time was had by all, but alas, we played much too hard for that.  I’ll write more about it tomorrow and post a grab bag of new photos for you to enjoy. 
 
One thought I will share tonight is that I don’t think Hawai’i is a suitable comparison for Jeju Island.  Jeju, a large, subtropical island about 85 kilometers south of the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, is often compared to Hawai’i for its warm climate and unique culture.  Although Jeju features unique cultural assets I will expand upon in further detail over the coming days, it is still Korean, whereas Hawai’i is largely a mixture of Polynesian and American influences.  Hawai’i is also tropical, isolated, and it features a chain of volcanic islands, the largest of which is still active.  Jeju is a solitary island.  While Mt. Halla (Hallasan) on Jeju Island features a large, convex shape similar to that of Mauna Loa on Hawai’i’s Big Island, it is dormant and much smaller than either Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa, Hawai’i’s two largest peaks.  Jeju is also known to snow in winter.  Hawai’i’s twin mountain giants both get snow, but the lowlands on the Hawai’ian islands never see snow. 
 
So which location do I think most resembles Jeju Island?  Obviously, culturally Jeju Island culture is most akin to Korean culture, albeit Korean culture with a unique twist.  However, geographically Oregon State may actually offer the closest comparison to the climate on Jeju Island.  Jeju’s terrain resembles the Pacific coastal region between central Oregon and northern California.  The Oregon Coast features a wet climate, dramatic terrain, beautiful beaches, dormant volcanos (e.g. Crater Lake), twisty roads, even palm trees.  Oregon is also home to several Pacific Northwest Native American tribes, although they are based further inland and along the Washington State and British Columbian coasts.  The southern Oregon Coast features largely deciduous trees with a smattering of pine and palm trees.  It also snows in Oregon, although infrequently during the winter.  Oregon is a gem many tourists visit each year, but it lacks the glitz and penache offered by Hawai’i.  That is reason enough for Korea to promote Jeju as the Korean version of Hawai’i, rather than a locale to which it more closely resembles.