In Korea, a lot weddings seem to be held in buildings specially designed to carry out multiple marriages at once. They're multiple stories tall, and each floor has a wedding hall that will see more than one wedding in an hour.
I'm mostly basing this off of what I've seen in dramas, but I'm reasonably sure that the scene below is normal:
A banner with the couple's names on it and two (the other one is out of this picture frame) gigantic screens with live video footage taken by an on-stage film crew of the couple during their ceremony. I was impressed! There were also at least five or six photographers running around snapping pictures of pretty much everything. Also the bride seemed to have some sort of personal assistant who was always adjusting the bride's dress, and even touching up her make up.
The ceremony was very, very fast. Less than half an hour, I think. It started out with the priest giving a speech, and then a woman with a very lovely voice sang a solo, and then this group came up on stage and did a gospel-y number which got everyone clapping:
I was not expecting that, so it was pretty fun. Then an older gentleman went up and did one more song, and then the vows were exchanged. After that the priest gave the parents their children's thanks and the kids did some bowing, which actually I almost cried during because it made me think about how I'm going to have to say goodbye to my parents and move on to the next stage of my life like that someday. The bride did cry. She had to have her mascara fixed. I was just like, I feel you!
Even though the ceremony was over so quickly and was so much less formal than what I'm used to, you could still feel the joy palpable throughout the room. The groom looked so happy. He couldn't stop smiling. You could see love written all over his face. It's making me smile just to think about, it was really touching. :)
After the ceremony everybody moved upstairs where there was food!
JB and I ate with some more of his childhood friends, and they were all very nice and curious to know what I thought of Korea and that sort of thing. It was also funny to see JB in "bro mode."
After eating we briefly relocated to a cafe to get some drinks, but I had to leave then to go meet Jin-ah elsewhere to see a play with her. This meant riding the subway by myself again, which I think stresses JB out a little but honestly isn't really that big of a deal. There are maps all over the place, and I have ridden subways by myself before. You may also recall the "unparalleled mental capabilities" I referred to in my last post. So really, JB and mom and dad, no need to worry. ;)
The play Jin-ah and I saw, called "Minam Contest," was in Korean, which greatly limited what I could understand, but even despite that there were still parts where I was crying because I was laughing so hard. I think that's when you know you've succeeded as a comedian, when you can reduce someone who doesn't speak your language to tears.
One of the funniest parts was before the play even officially started. We walked into the theater (which was pretty much the size of my dorm room, oh my gosh it was so small) and there was a screen on stage that had the audience projected onto it from a video camera that was set up. Then a stage crew guy (who we would only later realize was actually one of the actors) picked the camera up and started harassing people with it! It was so funny!!
I had no idea what to think. I was just like, "Wow, this guy must really hate his job." He did a thousand things that were completely ridiculous and he had a totally straight face the entire time. I had to wonder if that was easy for him or if it required Herculean effort, because for me it would have been the latter.
The funniest thing that happened was he started walking up the rows sticking the camera in people's faces, but then suddenly he pointed it down at someone's phone where she was about to take a picture of herself. It took her a second to realize what was happening. It was hilarious. Also he zoomed in on my face, which, mehhhhhhhhhh but it was over pretty quickly so it wasn't too bad.
Jin-ah filled me in on the basic premise of the plot: four guys are in a contest to see which one of them is the best. I'm not sure what they were trying to be the best at, I think it might have been like Best Character or Best Personality or something. The guy I wanted to win got second. :( It was so, so much fun though. They had the audience participate a lot and all the actors were doing such silly things. Also at one point there was some sort of underwear modeling segment, where the guys came out one by one and basically ripped their own clothes off until they were only in their drawers, which of course was shocking but nothing to complain about.
:)
After that fun we headed home for dinner. I would like to apologize to anyone who is made uncomfortable by this or who disapproves of it, but I ate dog.
It looked like this:
It tasted good, actually, it was kind of smokey and tender, but it felt really, really strange and a little uncomfortable to be eating dog. It was like my tastebuds approved but my mind was revolted.
This kind of thing is eaten by many people in Korea and China, and is one of JB's favorites. The dogs are raised specifically to be eaten, just like we do for pigs and cows. The type of dog raised is never kept as a pet. JB said it's been an international issue because many foreigners are disgusted by it, but I think this is kind of ridiculous because it's not like Hindus go around telling other people off for eating cows, even though for many of them that is sacrilege.
Anyway, bottom line is that it was yummy (I feel so weird saying that!) but I'm not scrambling to eat it again.
And that was my fifth day.
On Sunday I went to JB's church and met more of his friends. One of them has been going to college in Queensland for the past three years, so he speaks English with an Australian accent and it really cracks me up. They were all so nice and playful. While we were hanging out it was basically a game of, "What else can we make fun of JB for?" I kind of feel bad about it now, haha. But during that situation, it's kind of like driving on the highway: if you go too slowly and too carefully it's more dangerous than just speeding along with everyone else. Also I'm pretty sure JB is used to it. Everyone seemed like they were behaving normally.
After church, the youth group made food:
The plate in the middle is my favorite thing to eat. It's called puchimgae. It's that thing that JB's mom made the first morning I was here, with seaweed stuff in it. It is so gosh darn yummy.
As you can see from the picture, no one has an individual plate. We all just eat off of the main platters together. I really enjoy this aspect of Korean culture because it feels so communal. The only plate I ever have entirely to myself at meals is my rice bowl; everything else is shared.
We spent the day just chilling in coffee shops and the Korean equivalent of McDonald's, the name of which escapes me at the moment, and also playing in batting cages!!! <--these things are so cool!!!! They're sprinkled throughout the city and basically you pay 500 won (essentially 50 cents) to have 15 baseballs shot at you from a shooting machine thingy.
We put up a bet that the two people who hit the least number of balls had to buy drinks for everyone, and I was not one of those people, bwahahahaha.
After hanging out over drinks for some time JB and I headed home for some dinner and drama-watching with the famfam. Also I tried out the hula hoop they have:
"Wow," you may exclaim, "That kind of looks like a torture device." And let me tell you, I am not entirely sure you would be wrong. That thing hurts!!! Those demonic little pokey things make it feel like you're breaking your own ribs!
Anyway. JB and Jin-ah taught me a few Korean words. I really have to commend them because they are so unbelievably calm with me. No matter how many times I ask them to repeat the words or how many times I forget and they have to remind me, they always do so slowly and patiently. I'm really, really grateful. :)
And that was my sixth day.
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