Christine's Wedding

A teacher friend of ours got married this weekend and we were invited to the wedding. Traditional Korean weddings are quite different from western style weddings, however in recent years "wedding halls" have become very popular. At these wedding halls they provide everything you need for your ceremony and reception. And they churn out close to 100 weddings on a good day. Many western traditions have become part of the Korean wedding system. We really enjoyed ourselves although we were a little sad to see how westernized weddings here had become. It seemed like so many traditions had been adopted without the meanings behind those traditions. Most couples still do a tea ceremony, but it is usually done in private, instead of as a part of the overall ceremony. All in all though it was a fun experience to go and see how weddings were done here! Here's a glimpse of the event:


To start off when you arrive at the wedding hall you drop your cards off at a "front desk" of sorts. Some attendants then open your card and count the money that's inside so that the couple has a nice lump sum when they head out for their honeymoon. Then you can go to a small room next to the main room where the bride is sitting and you can have your picture taken with her.

 

Afterwards, you go into the reception/ceremony hall and you are seated at tables that surround a runway. 

Finally the ceremony begins with a candle-lighting by the mothers of the bride and groom. Then the groom struts his stuff down the aisle to a beat-box tune.

Next, the bride walks the aisle with her dad.

Then there's a short ceremony, and while this is going on the guests are chatting and walking around, while remembering to clap at appropriate moments.
At the end of the ceremony, the bride and groom are announced to the guests and they happily stroll back down the aisle.

Then there are professional pictures taken, with family, friends and co-workers.
After that, the happy couple goes to change in the their hanboks (korean traditional clothing), while the guests are served a meal. This meal brought with it an onslaught of Celine Dion songs. :)

 

Next the couple returns in the their hanboks, for the cake cutting, the champagne fountain pouring and to greet all the guests. 

After your table is greeted by the newlyweds the wedding's over and you can go home.

Weezle? Anyone?

 

 This is the latest ice cream that's been selling down at the local store....where do they get these names? and those sentences.....  :)

I'm speechless...

I went to our local Daiso (which is like a step up from the dollar store) and I came across this little treasure. I laughed so hard that I had to share it with you all. I'm not sure that this would really 'girdle' anything :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Yoido Full Gospel

We went to church today at Yoido Full Gospel church. This church was started 53 years ago and it is currently the largest church in the world with 780,000 members.

We were lucky enough to hear Yonggi Cho himself preach, as he is well into his 80's and doesn't preach every service. It was a very traditional service; complete with a huge choir, full orchestra and the most amazing pipe organ I have ever seen!

It was a great service. This is a video of the choir performing....it's from someone else' visit,but you'll get the idea. :)

Busan for Lunar New Year

Korea just celebrated Lunar New Year, the second biggest holiday of the year. We decided to go to Busan with the few days we had off. Busan is a coastal town on the southern end of the Korean peninsula. We went for two nights and had a hotel essentially right on the beach.  It is still very much Winter in Korea, but with temperatures reaching 57F (14C) in Busan, we weren't complaining! :) We explored some of the beach cliffs, saw a few Buddhist temples, and generally enjoyed hanging out on the beach!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Gorgeous Jerry

Today, one of my students was complaining about being too hot. This is a daily occurrence for my students since they come to class wearing sweaters and down coats and then open the window when they're hot instead of taking off their jacket. My student continued to complain that he was too hot. I told him to take off his jacket and he would cool down. A few minutes later my student shouted "Teacher, I'm gorgeous!".....I just looked at him and said "what?" He got a look of panic and turned to his friends and quickly said...."what does gorgeous mean?" They looked bewildered. I couldn't help but laugh. Then I told him what gorgeous meant. He looked sheepish, and then he laughed. He was called "Gorgeous Jerry" the rest of the class.....haha :)