Saeng il chuka habnida

Korean Happy birthday! 

We had another amazing Korean cultural experience last week. Our friend Sup invited us to his nephew's first birthday. They really know how to throw a first birthday celebration here. The party was held at a professional event center which focuses mostly on first birthday parties.

A display of professional pictures and a video which looped again and again was placed just outside the door of each little one year old's assigned party room. In the common area there was an amazing buffet for all the guests. The private party rooms were decorated and set up for some traditional activities. We signed in at a digital screen that took a picture of us as we signed our names. It was basically a digital birthday card/guest book that the parents would receive after the party. The food from the buffet was delicious, beautiful and apparently Korean- or at least nothing we've had at parties at home. We sat at long tables eating our food and waiting for the festivities. An unusually tall and quite boisterous Korean was our emcee. As soon as he grabbed the mike the gathering became very Las Vegas like! There was loud music and flashing lights. He told lots of jokes, well he spoke Korean so I assume he was telling jokes because everyone was laughing.


He also dragged Fred up to the front and challenged him to dance Gangnam Style. Fred is a good sport, but he performed his own version of the sprinkler dance instead. Yep it was pretty funny, but I was too stunned to think to grab the camera. Not only did his dancing talent earn him cheers and applause, but he also won a gift of a birthday mug.


Hyeon (Sup's nephew) made a grand appearance mid cheering, "oos" and" ahhs". He was wearing hanbok and riding in a mini Audi remotely controlled by his proud dad. His parents were also dressed in the traditional Korean celebratory hanbok.

One of the  first birthday traditions is called toljabee.  Here is a definition: "In this event, the child is seated before a table on which various items have been placed for the child to pick from. Traditionally, Koreans think that the first or second item picked by the child foretells his or her future. For instance, if the items picked are a book or pencil, then people think the child will be a successful scholar; if rice or money, the child will be wealthy; if thread, the child will have a long life.

The tradition may be slightly modified. At the party we attended the guests had a chance to predict the item the child would select by placing their ticket in one of several goblets, each with an image of one of the items. The child is shown a tray with the items on it. When he chooses one, a ticket is drawn from the corresponding goblet and the guest whose number is drawn receives a gift. Hyeon's parents were pretty excited when he grabbed a 50,000 won bill ($50.00) and began chewing on it!

We asked Sup about the cost of such an event. He said it cost his brother about $1,000 (American). His brother and sister-in-law had saved for nearly the whole year for this celebration. Why? Why would they spend so much money on an event their child will only remember through pictures? To some of us it may seem extravagant. It may seem like the money could be better spent on necessities. As I learned the history upon which this tradition is based, I understood much more.

Here's a brief explanation:  "Long ago in Korea, childhood diseases were common and the survival rate for children was very low. To protect their children, parents refrained from taking the baby outdoors until the 100th day after his or her birth. It is not until baek-il (100 day)that the baby was introduced to neighbors, friends and relatives. One of the baek-il’s  special events is the parents providing rice cakes, called baekseolgi, to at least 100 people. They believe this event helps to protect the child’s life. They also pray for the child’s continued good health. A child’s first birthday party, or tol, is a big celebration."

What would it have been like to fear taking your children out for the first hundred days? To be so unsure of your child's survival that you would not show them to friends and family. Then to celebrate the 100th day only to hope and pray they would survive the first year. We are so blessed today. We assume our children will live to adulthood. We do not expect to lose them in infancy. We show them off as soon as possible. In the unexpected event that a child dies before the age of one, families mourn and grieve together. But it seldom changes the expectation that future babies will survive.

So I say celebrate! Indulge in some extravagance if you want to. We all need to remember the precious gift of life and never take it for granted.

Twelve down and six to go!

Our FHE group exiting our apartment
 in our elevator. A little like keystone
cops in a phone booth!

June 10th marked one year of our eighteen month mission. In most ways that fact is very hard to believe, but then again some days still seem more like a week than 24 short hours. We continue to enjoy our Korea mission as we share our home, our time and our beliefs with those we meet. We are blessed to participate in  cultural traditions and see historic sites rich with meaning. Other times we are amused by the differences between what we see in Daegu  and our life in Montana!. We have come to say often "That is so Korea".  Before I continue I need to offer a disclaimer. We mean no disrespect by that term. We have grown to love and respect the Korean people. Many of the things that amuse us are the result translations. We just appreciate the Korean's efforts to cater to English speaking foreigners. Finding humor in the differences goes both ways. I am sure they often think "That is so America". So I hope you enjoy some pictures and descriptions of a few things that make us say....

that is Just So Korea!

Our small congregation gathered for a "Memorial Day Extravaganza". It started with a morning hike up Apsan. As you may know from previous posts, this is one of my favorite places in Daegu.   This time we went a little different direction and were able see some Buddhist temple structures. The mountain was
 so beautiful and peaceful.

Here's a little treat I bought for Fred at a walk up snack shop on the narrow street behind our apartment. The drink size cup is filled about half full with Pepsi. Then the smaller cup fits into the top half of the drink cup just above the Pepsi. The smaller cup has a little round hole used to put the straw through. Then sweet & slightly spicy Korean chicken chunks are placed inside the cup. Ingenious and quite delicious all for 1,000 won. McKorea nuggets!


When you make a doctor's appointment here it is almost always at a hospital. Very few doctors have private offices elsewhere, but there are a few exceptions. Fred thought this doctor's office was the perfect combination... skin and stones! With his recurring minor skin cancers and kidney stones it certainly would be convenient. You also see quite a few plastic surgeon offices as you walk through town.



 I don't think Korean people in general are squeamish about much. If so it's not over the same things that make me squirm.  I am amused by the signs designed to draw people  into restaurants. I kind of get those with cartoon animals and  pictures of cooked meats. After all we do the same at home  What I don't get is the pictures of real animals they use to entice you to come in so you can eat them in their butchered form. Not cartoonish or even very appealing in any way. Pictures of mangy, dirty looking animals in living form do not make me hungry for pork, or beef or fish. For that matter it doesn't work for octopus or eel ether. But then again short of starvation, nothing would probably make those appealing to me!

Translation of Korean to English is quite a challenge. The differences in sentence structure, conjugation and general grammar make direct translation sometimes awkward and often humorous. This sign outlining rules of the park is just one of many examples. I find a few of its warnings very entertaining.
--Disorderly acts, such as shouting and singing noisily with drunkenness in the park, act of drinking, playing "flower cards" on the street. etc.
--Act of neglecting to collect the droppings of pet animal accompanied.
--Act of making others feel hatred, such as noise and bad smell. (This one pretty much eliminates all teenagers from hanging out in the part)

These examples are just a small sampling of the sights and experience that delight and entertain us. We love it when we carefully and very slowly sound out the words on a Korean sign only to discover it's "Konglish"- Korean versions of American words such as tomato, computer, or taxi. We smile at the older ladies pushing the baby strollers filled with fuzzy white dogs they are "taking for a walk". We are touched at the random gifts we receive from strangers ... a few small melons, a handful of nasty ginseng candy, a homemade bath scrubber. So check the blog out again in the future, because "much more come will"!

Our Hagwon Experience

As missionaries our first purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. This is an important and meaningful assignment which we attempt to accomplish in a variety of ways. This is an assignment we first accepted upon baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints. We each made a promise to stand as a witness and to strive to follow Him. We have attempted to honor this promise throughout our lives. It is not just a hat we wear, but part of everything we do. It's the way we live. Like many of our Christian brothers and sisters, it is who we are not just something we say. Even though we are often busy with the busy-ness of life, we try to stay centered through study, worship, obedience, and charity. Life during a full time mission is still life in this world. As a senior couple we have more flexibility and less demands than the young missionaries. Our mission life is closer to our "civilian" life than is theirs. Yet it is very much a time of our life which has been "set apart" to focus on serving our Lord by serving others. We invite many people into our home. We share simple messages of inspiration and hope. We try to provide fun and fellowship. We hope they feel His love for them as we show them kindness and concern. We invite them to learn more about our church. Then regardless of their answer we continue to demonstrate our love and concern. It's real and it's sincere. It is not conditional, just as His love is not conditional.

We also try very hard to follow Him, as we promised to do.  I say try because we often fall short, but we just keep trying. We bear his name on our missionary name tags, so we try to represent Him well. We hope to be the good neighbor, the kind stranger, the true friend! We seek opportunities to serve others and those opportunities are not hard to find.


One of our favorite forms of service is our volunteer work at a Korean 학원. 
This is a Hagwon, the name for a private institute, academy or cram school prevalent in South Korea. Here education is of utmost importance. The children have long school days followed by participation in after school educational programs provided through the Hagwon system. They receive help with their required school work and prepare for  participation in many other kinds of lessons.

Once a week we have the privilege of helping in a small library, a reading Hagwon. Our assignment is to help the students learn some conversational English. There are eight students between four and fifteen years of age. The kids are divided into  two classes. We partner with a set of young missionaries. I teach the younger kids and Fred teaches the older. We try to use games, pictures and even primary songs. The kids are smart and so very cute. We hope they will learn something during their time with us. We hope they will have a favorable impression of Americans and missionaries. We hope they feel they are loved and valued, by us and by Him!

December 20, 2014
NOTE: I want to update and clarify this post. During our time volunteering at the library we became close to the director- who uses the name Jennifer when speaking to Americans. She spoke minimal English, but the young missionaries often translated and we were able to learn much about her and the library. So for the sake of accuracy, I would like to correct some information in this post.  This library is not technically a Hagwan. They are private academies run as businesses and are often quite costly for the parents. The Korean government wanted to provide the advantage of additional education to less privileged children so they subsidized these little libraries. Jennifer started hers because she wanted her own children and others to develop a love of reading and to learn English. She did so without the approval of family and friends who thought she should focus on making money. Jennifer was able to attract more students and receive more subsidy because we are native English speakers and also each have a four year college degree. She constantly expressed her gratitude. Knowing those facts made our service more meaningful to us. It's been two months since we taught our last lesson there. I miss those sweet children and am so grateful for this choice opportunity.