Arirang All Throughout

Arirang is to Korean music here in Korea. Sure, there is the more modern and popular Kpop but when we talk of Korean music, the traditional way, Arirang it is.

That is the theme for the concert we recently watched over the weekend ---Arirang, all throughout the concert. It was played on different instruments and styles.

The main instrument was the flute, accompanied by the piano most of the time. It was also joined in by a cello at one point and a band for the latter part. The cello part was quite short but I think that that piece was one of the most authentic or close to the traditional sound of the popular version of Arirang.

The concert opened with an instrumental medley of different versions of the song from diffeent parts of Korea. Each area has their own take on the song. Some have sad tones while others are downright melancholic when it is sung.

The flute shared the stage with four other younger guys on the latter part of the night. They took care of the drums, lead/rhythm and bass guitars, as well as my personal favorite instrument, piano.They played Arirang in other arrangements like waltz, bossa, pop, jazz and even rock as encore.

The piano guy was my favorite. Why? He has quite a personality from the minute he showed up in a pair of walking shorts and beanie on his head. He played the piano with fun written all over it. I would like to bring home that piano guy with his piano.

Sorry for the flute guy, even though it was a refreshing instrument, I'm a shameless piano fan.

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Uniqlo Haul for the Coming Winter

Uhmm, yes. It's for my winter haul. As early as September. I should have done some winter shopping when we got here and catch the after-winter sale but...I am not a big shopping gurl at all. I just think I need to get some comfortable and warm things to keep me alive this coming winter.

The temperature is getting colder for me so I thought it best to start preparing for it with a Uniqlo shopping trip. It set me back for almost 80 USD.

I got a hooded zip up sweater (slightly discounted), two turtle neck heat tech long sleeves (@ 5 bucks each), a heat tech long-sleeved bra top (regular price at 30 bucks), another kid's heat tech long sleeved undershirt and a pair of socks.

A pair or two of heat tech leggings was on my list but it was pretty thin for my taste that I decided to think about it again. I still a couple of useful ones for the winter as underpants but not much for a decent one that I can wear by itself. I may have to check around some more or maybe just try the regular leggings.

The turtle necks had been pretty comfy to wear at home for now, along with an indoor zipped up sweater. I may have to keep an eye for the bottoms next time. Fleece lined ones won't be bad at all.

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Oncheon-dero

Spotted along Oncheondero near a high school are a couple of quick bites for students.




Still along the same road, but FARTHER along....is the the Home Mart. It is a newly opened supermarket sometime in the summer this year which had a raffle event for three months to kick off things. And this is how the raffle thing went.

I'm not sure how much would the purchase receipt is needed to get a raffle stub which one will fill up with the name and mobile phone number. This is dropped in transparent box outside to be drawn from every month. There were different sets of prizes mostly home appliances from small blenders to big washing machines at that.


The thing that strikes me differently was one should be there when they do the draw. If the name got picked but the person was not there at that time, the prize is forfeited and they will keep on drawing for another paper until they have the same person in attendance. That is quite new for me.  I now wonder how raffle draws go in other countries. :D

Under the Onyang-yok Sijang

Chestnut season starts before Chuseok as I spied this ajussi selling fresh and big chestnut at 600/kilo with the options of peeled or unpeeled. Awesome.

They were the same couple (I'm not sure if husband and wife or father and daughter team though) that sold well dried dates a few weeks ago. They're one seller to keep an eye for next time. :D

The market day under the Onyang Station happens on dates that ends in 4 and 9. That means 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, 29th of the month.

Giant Clams? (I'm not sure but I don't eat these)

Library Bins -- Post-Chuseok State

The local library was closed for four consecutive days for the Chuseok Holiday last week. It started on the Sunday to Wednesday. They usually close on Mondays during regular days.

We had a set of books due last weekend but we only managed to drop it off last Wednesday. And this is what I saw! Overflowing!





I am quite happy that the libraries here are well-used and readers managed to fill these bins. The more readers, the merrier. ^^

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Post Chuseok Affairs

Post Chuseok Affairs

Title is inspired from Sherlock Holmes' titles. However, this should have been better titled as Post-Chuseok Effects for Foreign Wives in Korea which sounds more apt for an academic paper.

IT isn't unheard of that divorce rate for Koreans goes up after a big national holiday such as Chuseok and New Year. The usual cause or maybe catalyst would be the humongous preparations that the wives have to do during these occasions. Traditionally speaking, women do all the chores and men do almost nothing in preparing all of the food and whatnots that are needed for the traditional observance. This is a common issue for Korean women nowadays.

I pretty much know about this part but what I learned this time is there are other aspect in these traditional holidays that can also cause some disagreements, or possibly divorce if it can go worse. This is the bowing part. I have not been pressed to do that since the first time I refused because of religious reasons. I never realized that some Korean families are very strict about that to a point that they might actually raise the issue of a possible divorce case. 

Some foreign wives do feel a little uncomfortable in not doing so, specially the CHristian foreign wives. Yet, it is more uncomfortable if they do suddenly change and follow the local norms. I, myself, am a bit on the same boat even if I was fortunate enough to have a more understanding and open-minded extended Korean family. I've just realized how blessed I am that I didn't hear any negative repercussions about it. Or if there ever was, I am just so oblivious and numb. 

Neighborhood Festival-- Korean style

I am sitting in the middle of a Korean event for Chuseok in the neighborhood apartment complex. It started at 2 and still running until 9 at night.

There was a dumpling-making event where mostly old people joined in. They were making the seompyeon pretty fast and I cannot almost keep up with them in filling their well-shaped rice dough. I totally gave up making my own  shapes since they weren't as pretty and quickly-formed as most of the old ladies'. I resigned myself to the job of spooning in the sesame+sugar filling for them instead.

There was this grandmother who made a bit bigger seompyeon and I had to spoon out the filling twice the amount more than what the others made.

I also notice that some made theirs quite differently only to find out that they came from another province. That is quite interesting coz one can probably guess where they're from through the style of shaping their seompyeon.



A few younger kids also joined in after school let out later in the afternoon. They tried to make some but they are obviously inexperienced compared to the grandmothers.

It seems like the tedious job of making these Chuseok rice cake can be a fun event if shared with other people. The grandmothers even sang and dance along with some live entertainment while they were making the seompyeons. I even got bumped a few times while a grandmother was dancing but of course, all I can do is try to avoid her. :D She sure had fun, eh?

They all got some rest after and sat down to watch the show. There were guitar acts, duets and mid-age girl group, young and adult traditional drummers, a choir, and even jump ropers.

There was also a singing contest open to all---that means-- for all ages with a limit of two minutes for each of the almost two dozens of candidates. The youngest was a 4th-grader girl who sang an English song, and oldest would probably be the grandmother who had a bit of hard time scaling up the stair without any hand bar but she sang pretty well. The singing range varied from not-so-good to quite good ones.

A few that stood out from my memory, aside from the one I already mentioned, was a gentleman who did look like a man (he even came with his son on stage) but sounded like a woman's voice the minute he started singing. He quite good, if not the best, though. He sang his a little upbeat song like a pro and everybody seemed to have a good time. If it wasn't a contest with a time limit, we would have enjoyed another song from him.  





It is pretty interesting how they had the stage set up from a big truck that comes with stage light, and a screen projector. This basically served as the stage wall, with the stage itself enough to hold more than a dozen people.

It wasn't such a bad traditional event after all. The crowd was just enough. But the Kpop style sound was a bit too much for me at the end. I actually prefer the well-choreographed choir of the city singing songs form my all-time-favorite movie, the Sound of Music. It was quite long and tiring but fun for a first-timer like me nonetheless. 

 

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