Like most Asian countries Korea celebrates Lunar New Year, or the first day of the Lunar calendar. Today is the official day, (Solnal 설날) however the holiday period is actually three days, so we’ve been granted a nice five-day weekend.
It’s similar to Chuseok in that most people return home to spend the holiday with family, some dressed in hanbok. They often bring gifts of food and drink and the children and grandchildren perform saebae (bowing and paying respect to elders). If they excel, they are rewarded with envelopes of money. It’s also tradition to eat tteok-guk (rice cake soup) for good luck. Children are told that they will not grow any older unless they eat their soup. The soup is made by slicing sausage-shaped tteok (rice cake) into thin slices. The slices are then soaked in water, boiled in beef broth and garnished with chives, seaweed and egg.
Until late last night Lunar New Year was another excuse for a few extra days holiday, we hadn’t made any plans, we weren’t eating anything special, until my phone rang.
Neil: Yoboseyo (Hello, on the phone)
Other person: Yoboyseo, Geri teacher?
Neil: Jamkanmayo (Just a moment)
Usually when we receive phone calls from Koreans they’ve hung up by this point because they realise we have no idea what they’re saying.
Geri: Yoboyseo …
and then the fun starts. Whoever this person is definitely knows me, but not well enough to know that my Korean is VERY limited, especially when I’m speaking on the phone and I can’t see if you’re making any accompanying charade like gestures. Still our conversation continues and I answer with a couple of ne’s (yes) and she hangs up. What I gathered from the conversation was something about Solnal, something about my apartment and something about tteok. Not thinking much more about it we went back to watching our movie when an hour later our doorbell rings. Oh crap!
Our apartment is such a mess that the poor lady (I now recognise as from my school) can hardly take her shoes off in our doorway. She presents us with bags of rice cakes, some mandu (dumplings) and a plastic bottle of liquid (for the soup). Not once does she say anything in English and I gather that she’s gifting us these items of food to celebrate the New Year. The whole awkward exchange lasts maybe five minutes, her speaking in Korean, me trying to understand, often looking at Neil for help, who has almost hidden himself completely behind me in an effort to escape. I try to answer her in my limited Korean and several times she reaches for my hand as if to say “Oh bless girl, you have no idea what I’m saying do you?”
After looking at some of our family photos we say our goodbyes and we’re left with a mountain of food.
Korea sometimes you make me mad, sad and generally unhappy and then something like this happens and you surprise me and I like you again. Happy New Year Korea.
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| L-R: Tteok, soup broth, sliced tteok (for the soup) and mandu |
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