Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Are you prepared for the Sky-opening Day festivities? Have you bought your song-pyon (those green/pink/white things stuffed with god-knows-what) ready to hand them out to all the little Korean kiddies who will be coming to your door this weekend?

What presents have you bought your wong-jong-nim? Have you submitted your list to Tan-gun?

After the big festivities I'm taking off Sunday morning with Jong-Hoon and his son San-Ho. We're going up to Hay-in-sa (that place with the Buddhist stuff carved into wooden blocks, as well as some reservoir and a movie filming site (Taegooki). We're taking the back roads (local roads as Jong-Hoon calls them). He can't drive and says he's poor with a map. I can drive and can read a map when they remember to put north at the top, but I read Korean slowly. We may never get back. BTW, San-Ho is a great little kid.

The first time he saw me, he came right up and started babbling at me in baby talk. He couldn't speak Korean yet so he didn't expect me to understand him. Now that he's 4 he doesn't seem to care that I don't understand him. I think he just assumes there are some big people in the world that look odd and don't understand what anyone says. No big deal. He's comfortable riding on my shoulders and doesn't see the big deal that I don't look like everyone else. I'm just Ajasshi Ya-ta Boy to him. His dad is just as cool. He's one of the Koreans who doesn't get up-tight when he can't make a perfect sentence. He just says something creative and says, "That's not exactly. Understand?" And I say yes or no. If 'no', we laugh it off and come back to it later.

BTW, next weekend and for a few more days (don't know exactly) there is a Mask Festival and fire thing in Ansan (the one near Daegu). All I know is that they build a big bonfire and push it off a cliff into a river. It's always sounded cool. I may be going up with one of my way-gook saram friends. It sounds like something worthwhile. And Jinju should be having its festival sometime soon. I've heard good things about it. Changnyeong is having its big to-do in early October. Something about 'reeds'. I haven't figured out what they are talking about or if it's worth my time, but it's something. We country boys grasp at any straw...or reed.

Anyway,...

Happy Sky-Opening Day to all and to all a good night.