hanbok, dobu, and cha

On Friday I spent the evening with my co-teacher and two 5th grade homeroom teachers. This was our first outing together so I was pretty nervous I would do something stupid. Korea is all about customs and social practices, especially while eating and drinking together.

For example:
1. You can never pour your own drink so you must constantly watch one another's glasses so they never go empty. You must pay special attention to the glasses of your superiors. (probably explains why koreans get so drunk, it is impossible to refuse)
2. Young people (me) must wait to eat until elders have begun.
3. You must pass and receive everything with two hands (not just at dinner, everywhere) from your elders.
4. You may not blow your nose at the table.
5. Of course shoes are ALWAYS removed when entering someone's home or a restaurant with floor seating. Students and teachers wear slip on shoes or sandals at school.
6. Countless others I have not offended anyone with.

These customs are more than niceties, they are a way of life. In my fifth grade class we were playing a simple "pass the ball" game. When the student catches the ball, they must say an english phrase. When the game ended, a student passed the ball to the teacher with....gasp....ONE HAND. He got a scolding I'll remember for the rest of my life. You would think I would have learned from his mistake, but I went on to hand a Japanese souvenir I'd purchased to the vice principal with ONE HAND. wooops!

Dinner too, is quite the affair. At a traditional Korean restaurant everyone sits on the floor in private coves and they bring out at least 15 small dishes or more depending on how many people are dining - mostly pickled and spiced vegetables, always plain rice, and soup. There is usually a special dish as well, usually a small amount of meat, fish, or in our case, very spicy tofu (dobu). Everyone shares everything. anti-double dippers, BEWARE (dad). Conversation at dinner was a bit strained as the two fifth grade teachers are very shy about speaking English. Luckily one of them brought along her adorable children, aged 2 and 5, so that cut the tension a bit. When the plates were cleared, we brewed our own green tea (cha)- delicious!

After dinner we ventured to Hamji Park in Chilgok where another 5th grade teacher was conducting a middle school orchestra. There were about 10 other middle schools performing, all dressed in the traditional Hanbok costume, the Korean equivalent of the kimono. "Charles" orchestra played several traditional Korean instruments-huge drums or buk, gayageum, a long wooden instrument with 12 strings, and a flute looking thing whose name i forget. the best part were the three women up front made up like dolls who sang in strange but beautiful shrill voices.

All in all I think it was a fairly successful first outing. I'm hoping with time communication with the teachers will get easier- either they won't be so shy about speaking English to me or my Korean classes will start paying off!