Last Saturday, I had the most 추석 I’ve had in a few years. It wasn’t really 추석, but it had a few key elements: Koreans, 송편, and family.
On Saturday, our church celebrated a baptism on the rousingly windy shores of a local lake. Mr. 감미 performed the baptism of a teenager who had been attending our church with her family for the last few months. The family are Korean-American, and I’ll call them the Parks.
I had made a vague resolution a couple of days before the baptism to brush up on some of my Korean so that I could communicate with 할머니 Park. 할머니 is not shy. What English she speaks she speaks well and spreads liberally. She’s good company and seems to appreciate my attempts to speak Korean to her.
Hence my forehead smack when I saw her in the distance and too late remembered my resolution. Ultimately, it wasn’t important, as it was both good to see her and to share the day.
Park relatives came from far (at least as far as Atlanta) and near to celebrate the occasion. Mrs. Park invited some church members back to their home for supper, and our friend Lisa and I were drafted to help prepare food.
I think it was Joel who once said something along the lines of when a Korean invites you to something, you should be prepared to devote your whole day to it. And whatever you thought it was going to be like, it was almost always better (you might not have actually said that, Joel, but that was what I thought when I read it). That’s the kind of day this turned out to be.
Having previously received the Parks’ generous hospitality, I wasn’t surprised by the large quantities of food that we were preparing. While we chopped and sliced, I asked if their family celebrated 추석. Mr. Park said no, not really, but explained that since his mother’s lunar birthday was two days after 추석, there was always a celebration at that time anyhow.
It was then that Lisa and I learned her birthday celebration was the primary reason for the evening festivities, and that family members would soon be arriving from Ohio to celebrate.
The Atlanta relatives had brought 송편 from what is allegedly the best Korean bakery in Atlanta. 송편 and I have not had a good relationship. I’ve always eaten it to be polite, but I wished for a family dog to be hanging around to surreptitiously accept my 송편 offerings.
This 송편 was different. This 송편 was good. This 송편 made me want to eat more 송편, which I did. I can’t tell you why it was different, except that I liked it, and I never expected to like it.
The remaining relatives descended. They were a pleasant, talkative lot. At dinner, I sat across from two friends of 할머니, a Japanese woman and her daughter whom 할머니 had met on the plane a couple of years ago. They were visiting her for a week. We engaged in the kind of conversation one has when one party doesn’t speak the other’s language, and the other party speaks a little of the other. Occasionally the other 할머니 (both of the junior Park’s grandmothers were there) did some translation, but mostly we were on our own with Chie, a 35-year-old event planner from Tokyo.
Later I found myself sitting in the darkness around the backyard fire pit with several of the Korean relatives, the only non-Korean in the group. Sometimes, I just like to listen to the sound of the language, without trying to understand it. I didn’t understand most of it, anyway, usually bits and pieces here and there, although occasionally I made out the whole thread of a conversation.
Such was my 추석. How was yours?
Posted by kangmi on September 28, 2004 at 9:00 AM1 comments
A while back, Antti introduced me to the maps connected to 서울’s new address system. Recently, 인선 showed me a different sort of map site: congnamul.
One chief advantage is that it’s not just 서울...it’s the whole country. So the same zoomy looks I can have around the capital I can have elsewhere.
There are sections for driving directions, medical services, restaurants, and 서울 traffic information. The aerial photo section looks interesting, but I can’t make the encoding work properly, so I can’t read the tags at all.
Some parts of the site seem to require payment. Being that’s it all in Korean, it’s difficult for me to navigate, so I can’t find where I discovered that part.
콩나물: bean sprouts.
콩나물 버스: an overloaded [a jam-packed] bus.
Posted by kangmi on September 27, 2004 at 9:00 AM3 comments
A rundown of some of the things that I’ll be working on fixing and updating over the next couple of months:
• Curiously, Expression Engine did not import all of my TypePad posts. No one at Expression Engine has been able to tell me why, and my attempts at alternatives have so far proved unsuccessful. There are about twenty missing posts, along with their comments.
• Recent comments will be added to the sidebar.
• Category archives aren’t working yet.
• Archives in general aren’t behaving perfectly.
• I plan to add a randomizer to the top of the front page. It will include vocabulary and quotes.
• Online Resources will be changed to Resources. The page will include offline resources that can be helpful in learning Korean. The page will have its own RSS feed, and readers will be able to add comments.
As you may remember, you’re not paying me to do this, and I really am studying Korean, so this will all take some time (and I’m still recovering from my CSS hangover). Thank you for your patience.
Suggestions are welcome.
Posted by kangmi on September 23, 2004 at 3:00 PM0 comments
Two weeks ago I would have been able to explain why I left TypePad and moved over to Expression Engine. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Since then, however, my head (and my dreams) have been filled with templates and images and CSS.
Did I mention CSS?
All I can remember now is that there is no more MIC, and no more unipeak for those of you still experiencing some blog blockage. I dimly remember that Expression Engine has some great features heretofore unavailable to me. I’ll have to let you know what those are later. I can say that if I had to do it all over again, I’d still have made this move.
As there won’t be any new content at kangmi.blogs.com, you should update your bookmarks (if they’re not already www.kangmi.org). If you subscribed to the RSS feed, you’ll want to update your subscription.
There are some people who have been part of this process who deserve both my gratitude and my money:
1. You may remember that blinger graciously offered free hosting to any Korea blogger experiencing the blog blockage. My optimism that it would be over soon was not enough to counteract either the MIC or Korean ISPs who never got around to lifting it. Plus, I had the stubborn notion that I shouldn’t have to move.
However, reality set in, and I finally took him up on his offer. We commenced a merry dance of technical difficulties (which may have actually been all on my side). I’ll never know (because I don’t know enough to know). But I can testify to his extreme patience through what was ultimately a failed process. He’s a swell fellow and deserves accolades.
2. L. Starlight Mundy of random//genius, the person responsible for the pottery images (soon to come), the 도장 image, and other images not yet seen. Check out her portfolio...she has experience with remote clients. If she likes you, she might call you “dahling.”
3. 김인선, graduate student extraordinaire, who regularly (without trying) gives me great ideas for content. May I live up to her expectations.
You’ll see additional changes in the coming months. In the meantime, expect regular blogging about the topic at hand.
Posted by kangmi on September 22, 2004 at 3:02 AM3 comments
You’re still here?
The party (such as it is) is at www.kangmi.org.
Posted by kangmi on September 22, 2004 at 3:01 AM0 comments
Stay tuned...my recent silence is partially due to contemplating a move from TypePad (so the blog blockage may be almost over, but I want to be read in China) to elsewhere. It’s in the works. You’ll still be able to find me at http://www.kangmi.org, but you may have to update your RSS feeds. More later when I know more.
Posted by kangmi on August 31, 2004 at 11:57 PM4 comments
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강미 | learning korean