Happy New Year! / some notes

Koreans celebrate the Chinese New Year.  It is a very serious holiday compared to the amateur hour of the American NYE.  Folks set a decadent table of fruits, rice cakes and savory dishes.  There's octopus, fish, and traditional rice cake soup (dok guk).  We hang the names of the deceased and bow to them...pouring cups of wine and pouring it back out  (eg. "one for my homies"), designating one cup for each deceased relative going back several generations.  We then burn the names of the deceased.  It's solemn stuff and I'm lucky to have witnessed and taken part in such a tradition.  This is followed by visiting with relatives and wishing them a happy and prosperous new year.

The spread:

The bowing:

The octopus:

Now some more notes:

- My Korean age is 30.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.

- I am average height here.

- Everyone looks like my mom and I'm having a hard time picking her out in a crowd.  This is not difficult back home.

- The European shoulder bag for men is totally in.

- I saw lots of dogs today...unlike the other day.

-  If you think Asian drivers are bad imagine a whole country full of them.

-  Translating the difference between informal (between friends) and formal (to elders) speak is incredibly difficult.

- My mom and aunt have the exact same voice so I have Mama Lee in surround sound. Jesus save me.

-  If you order an American food item in English and properly pronounce it, no one understands you.  I will have to, from now on, imitate my mom to get food.  What a country!

My cousin Hak Seung and I in Insadong.