With snowy mornings and dropping temperatures, December brings the Christmas season to Korea!
And with Christmas come the Christmas parties!
So, last weekend, some Filipino and foreigner friends and their families got together at Archie and Joy's home in Seongbuk-dong to share the Christmas spirit before everyone (including me!) flies out of Korea for some warmer weather.
Everyone brought Filipino dishes like kare-kare, adobo, pansit and lumpiang prito to add to roast pork (the closest we had to lechon) and other dishes whose names escape me, but whose delicious tastes do not! Ha-ha-ha!
A few Christmas games, exchanging gifts, videoke and an ambitious attempt to sing the classic 'Twelve Days of Christmas' filled the whole night of Christmas partying.
It has been a year since last year's Christmas party. And this one was just as fun, although we miss a few friends who have since moved to other cities like Cebu, Hong Kong, Rome, Dubai, London, Karachi, Vienna, Washington D.C. and Sydney.
And to you and to all my friends in South Korea and everywhere else in the globe, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a lot of fun, food and fireworks during the holidays!
Maligayang Pasko!
After all these years of living in Korea, I have attended several Korean weddings, which I found different and not as solemn as the Catholic weddings in the Philippines. But that's the way weddings are in Korea: be it held at wedding halls, at hotels or in churches.
But this autumn was a first for me: a wedding between a Filipina, Tessa, and her Korean groom, Gyu-Min!
And it was special.
And to borrow the words from a Filipino variety show, the wedding was 'staged, choreographed and directed', by Tessa's creative and talented (naks!) Filipino friends. Their wedding was solemn, romantic and very intimate, with a pastor officiating the ceremony and their friends leading the serenade of love songs which brought smiles and tears to the bride and some of the guests' eyes.
I'm not sure when I'd be able to attend a Filipino-Korean wedding again, but Tessa and Gyu-Min's wedding is one unique and elegant her well-wishers (and I) won't forget.
And to borrow Karen Carpenter's "You", which was sung during the couple's first dance....
"You are my heart and my soul, my inspiration...just like the old love song goes...You are one of the few things worth remembering...and since it's all true, how could anyone mean more to me than you."
Mabuhay ang bagong kasal!
He is South Korea's most famous naval hero, accorded with the highest military honors, a very tall reminder why his statue stands right in central Seoul.
Admiral Yi Sun-Sin's huge statue in Gwanghwamun has been standing at the main intersection for 42 years now. And all those years, while the Admiral has entertained himself by watching the pedestrian and vehicular traffic, metal fatigue and corrosion have slowly crept into his imposing figure.
So, on November 14, 2010, the Admiral decided to go on vacation to have a make-over. He was brought to Icheon City for some refurbishing and restoration, and perhaps to add some smile to his face.
(The Admiral is 'blue' because of the blue bandage coating him to protect the statue during his transportation.)
The expression on his statue's face has this unfearful and 'do-not-mess-with-this-ajussi' look. So, I think it would be nice if the restorers add some smile to his face, instead of this 'unfriendliness'. After all, there are no more Japanese invaders down south which he successfully fended off in 1592 to 1598. No need for that look anymore.The only Japanese invaders loitering around him are those carrying duty-free shopping bags while busy taking his pictures.
After his restoration, the Admiral will be back on December 22, 2010, in time for Christmas and some celebration of his new shiny look.
Although I will be on vacation myself when he retakes his pedestal, in the new year I will definitely pay him a visit with my camera on hand. And on that day, the Admiral should be ready for his close-up.
Enjoy your vacation, Admiral Yi!
Three months ago, I thought they fell because because it was already autumn.
But I was wrong.
But in October, they finally changed their colors and started to fall, prompting me to remember that nursery rhyme again I learned at grade school: "Autumn leaves are a-falling...red and yellow...and brown...autumn leaves are a-falling...see them fluttering down..."
Yes, I learned that nursery rhyme while I was in grade school in the Philippines, when, at that time, my classmates and I were bewildered why in autumn's name were we learning that rhyme when we obviously knew that no matter what happens, there wasn't going to be autumn in the the tropical country like the Philippines! Ha-ha-ha! Perhaps, it was our teacher's dream to experience one someday. Perhaps.
But luckily for one of her students, he has been able to experience autumn here in Korea. Its falling foliage, its cooler breezes and of course, its colors!
So for the past autumns, I have collected a few photographs which finally made me realize the words in that nursery rhyme.
And I would like to share these photographs with all my classmates who recited with me that day, and of course, to my teacher, whose name I could not recall today. (And I thought I have a very good memory. Ha-ha-ha!) And wherever she may be now, I wish she had experienced a real autumn herself...
....Persimmons! Ha-ha-ha!
That must be the eleventh commandment. But looking at those yummy fruits, would it be really a sin to disobey such commandment even just on one occasion? Or perhaps, one fruit at a time. Ha-ha-ha!
This autumn, as the temperatures started dropping, my neighbor's persimmon tree, which I could see from my window, started to turn its fruits into orange-colored decorations making it look like a leaf-less Christmas tree (without Christmas presents under and blinking lights around it!).
Originally, I thought my neighbor's tree was an orange tree because of the color of the fruits. But a closer look (and a weird question on why would there be an orange tree in Hannam-dong?) made me realize that it's a persimmon tree, which is in most neighborhoods in Seoul!
From my window, the fruits do look delicious...because they are!
Succulent and sweet especially when ripe and when refrigerated, these persimmons are on a different league of its own. No wonder the Greeks called it the 'fruit of the gods'.
But thanks to friends Aimee and Cora, who have bounties of their own persimmons, I was able to enjoy the fruit without having to trespass in my neighbor's yard (a crime!) and pick my neighbor's tree (a forgivable crime?), or covet it from my window (an excusable sin!). Aimee shared her fuyu persimmons with me last winter; this time, Cora has shared her hachiya persimmons. Those two kinds of persimmons are available in Korea.
Now, I will be moving away from the window, and instead, move towards the refrigerator to take out the chilled persimmons to enjoy!
Ciao.
And the leaves finally fell....
As I crossed the pedestrian lane every morning last week en route to my work, the yellow leaves of the Gingko trees along Hannam-dong's main road fell one by one, branch by branch until one morning, the trees were finally reduced to leaf-less twigs.
With winter finally in the peninsula, the strong breezes caressing the trees brought all the yellow leaves down, turning the sidewalks into a yellow carpet of Gingko leaves.
It would have been a pretty scenery had the leaves stayed on the trees in their unique yellow color for weeks, where pedestrians and motorists passing through the main road would enjoy looking at, as I did.
But while they were, the Gingko trees and their colors were a sight to enjoy indeed.
(These the photos from the last fall by the way. The trees did not turn yellow at the same time this year. Global warming has reached Hannam-dong.)
I was quietly sipping my Cafe Mocha from the Starbucks closest to my office when the news broke out. Bang! Bang!
What?! The northern neighbors are at it again?!
Late yesterday afternoon, the hapless people at that northern island of Yeongpyeong, near the border between the two Koreas, were surprised and shocked at the artillery fire from the North that landed on their town, destroying their homes and setting their livelihood on fire. It wasn't only the sleepy island that got awakened, it was the whole news world! And as I expected, it was only minutes till news about the incident would reach home.
And I was right!
And up until the early evening, when I was doing my grocery, text messages were still coming in from friends and family from home asking how I was as they thought there was a real threat of war here in Seoul. They must have thought I was on foot fleeing and frantically running away from the artillery fire!
Not wanting them to worry, I told them I was actually at the supermarket shopping, and was at the aisle between the shelves carrying cereals and infant powdered milk. Ha-ha-ha!
And that sort of appeased their worries, especially for my mom, who, after knowing I was okay and learning I was just shopping, threw in a few more messages about what she wants me to get for her as 'pasalubong' (presents in English).
So, instead of worrying about the escalation of tension, I was rather worried about my pasalubong list, which becomes longer and longer as my flight back home draws near.
And today at lunch break, the day after the exchange of artillery fire at the northern part of South Korea, I hurried off to the duty-free shop in Myeongdong, where I saw Seoulites and tourists get on with their hectic lives (and their shopping), oblivious to the big news of yesterday.
I guess life still goes on in Seoul even with the bad news. The City has been through worst of times before, and that exchange of artillery fire would make the afternoon news, but not change the menu for dinner.
For me? It just changed my 'pasalubong' list.
So, what war? I'm going on a 'pasalubong' shopping!
