I'm writing this blog while sipping a pomegranate iced tea in a coffee shop near our apartment. Before taking my fifth step into the shop, the barista warmly asked, “Take out?” I politely pointed to a table, and with a surprised, sympathetic gaze that could only be given by a Korean, was handed a menu. You do nothing alone in Korea.
One example of this importance of family, friends, and community is Chuseok. Saturday was the official day of Chuseok. Chuseok is a holiday comparable to Thanksgiving in the US when Koreans celebrate the harvest by preparing special foods and performing ceremonies to honor and offer parts of the harvest to ancestors. Koreans travel back to their homes in order to celebrate this holiday. Aaron and I were fortunate enough to be invited to celebrate with the family I know from Winona. We traveled to Sujin’s parents’ house that is a 50 minutebus ride from Busan. We ate traditional food, reminisced about Winona, exercised, and then ate again. We also visited a traditional Korean house and saw egrets at a nature preserve near their home. It was the perfect way to spend Chuseok, and we were thankful they invited us for the day.
*Above: Sujin, her daughter Subin, and her mother on Chuseok Below: Aaron and I at the top of Geumjong Mountain*
Meanwhile, Aaron and I are keeping ourselves busy with school, hiking, reading, and eating. Both Aaron and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner with our school staff. Aaron’s experiences were particularly beneficial as he’s learned the benefits of eating garlic from his male teachers (“Good for male health...stamina! ”). Also, we’ve both realized how it seems all Koreans understand what herbs, vegetables, roots, and food in general benefit them. They know what is good for their skin, body, sicknesses etc. Instead of turning to prescription medication as we seem to do entirely too much in the states, they look to a root or herb for relief. It’s been fascinating to learn these remedies.
Among other things, Aaron and I managed to land ourselves a modeling job. Super modeling to be exact—well, at least for Aaron. The story begins on a dismal Saturday morning. We’d just finished breakfast and Aaron took the trash to the basement of our apartment building. There’s a man who is in charge of that area as well as the parking garage. Aaron’s told me that they’ve talked before about anything from the US to the importance of effective trash management. But this day, as Aaron is separating plastics from glass, the man came up to Aaron and asked, “Can I ask you a question? You know model? Supermodel? You! Model!” Aaron responded, “Umm…well…I never have.”
Then, while patting Aaron’s beard and broad shoulders, he said, “You put on jacket and I take your picture.” Puzzled but enthusiastic, Aaron responded, “Okay,” thinking he would go in the man’s office, put on a suit coat, and take a picture. But inside the office, the man asked Aaron for his phone number to which Aaron replied, “Oh, I don’t know it yet. I will go get my phone.” The man urgently said, “OH NO! We go upstairs and you meet photographer now.” So they went in the elevator and left the bags of garbage behind.
The man took Aaron to the 3rd floor of our building and proceeded to start pounding on a door while yelling “It’s Mr. Kim! It’s Mr. Kim!” A young man came to the door and Mr. Kim said, “This is the young man you asked for.” The young man introduced himself as Bob and soon Aaron heard the door shut behind him—Mr. Kim was gone.
But Bob warmly welcomed Aaron to his apartment and told Aaron that he would love to take his picture while Aaron wore one of the snowboarding jackets he had designed. Bob took out one of his blaze orange, puffy jackets, put it on Aaron and said (in his New Zealand/Korean English accent), “You look so good, so cool. Can you model tomorrow? I will take your picture and you will model my line of snowboard jackets. ” In the spirit of “Korea is dynamic” catchphrase, Aaron said yes. Bob said that “when I can afford it I will pay you” and offered to bring Aaron snowboarding/skiing whenever he desired. Then, Bob asked, “Do you know any foreigners?” Aaron said, “Well I’m here with my girlfriend.” Bob’s first words were “is she cute?” And, as Aaron told me, he said, “Well, obviously.” Then, Bob asked for his number. Aaron ran up to our apartment to get his phone number for Bob. Meanwhile, I’m thinking all he did was take the garbage out. As he ran into the apartment, all he mentioned was “You’ll never guess what just happened to me!” and ran out the door again to give Bob his phone number.
I said yes to the deal and soon Sunday came. Bob called us earlier than expected because rain was on its way. We got into his car, drove literally 200 meters to a park near our house, and proceed to be “models.” We put on 5 different colored coats and attempted to look as model like as possible. Finally, after 20 minutes, Bob was content with his shots. Then, he asked the common question, “have you eaten?” Soon, we found ourselves having a steak dinner with Bob, his fiancé, and forks, NOT chopsticks. Soon we found out that Bob works for BASF chemical company and does coat design on the side. He mentioned that designing is his passion, and he needed our pictures because he’s hoping to market these coats to Europe and America. He’s going to give us each a coat for sure and take us snowboarding/skiing sometime this winter. Truthfully, we could care less about any compensation—the experience is enough.
For the record, the photo shoot lasted 20 minutes and the steak dinner—an hour and a half. We have a studio photo shoot coming soon and then the pictures (and coats) will be available on his website. Oh, and one other thing…it turns out that Bob had asked Mr. Kim (the garbage manager) to look for Aaron because Bob had seen Aaron around and thought he would be the perfect model. Go figure. :)
-Callie
