Seeing family in Cheongju, I will admit, stresses me out very much, mainly due to the language barrier. I'm a person who tends to avoid awkward situations like the plague, and so being the awkward hypochondriac that I am, this is generally not a completely pleasant experience.
However to my great surprise, my Korean skills have definitely improved since I last saw my grandparents. In general I can't understand old people when they talk to me, Korean or American for that matter. So one can imagine that when old people talk to me in Korean, my brain simply wants to explode. But this time, my grandparents would say something to me, and instead of mini explosions happening, I could actually understand them and answer them back. This greatly surprised and delighted my grandfather.
I got to see my cousin "Paul" and his older sister on Tuesday night. As we were watching cartoons together, "Paul" and I both decided that we wanted to eat chocolate cake. "Paul" said that he wanted to go for a "케이크 산책," or in English, it would translate to a "cake walk." My grandmother handed over the equivalent of about 8 dollars, and sent us on our way. I don't know my way around the neighborhood so I was at the mercy of "Paul." We went to 2 bakeries before we found the proper cake, and then after finding our $5 dessert, he started to walk away from the apartment. I asked him if he was sure he knew what he was doing, but he was quite confident in his directional skills. I was freezing my butt off, and wasn't te
rribly pleased with this. Then suddenly his eyes lit up when he saw a particular stationary store. He bolted for the store and used the rest of our grandmother's money to buy some popular trading cards. It was then that I realized I had been had. When we got home my grandma wanted her change and so asked "Paul" how much the cake cost, and "Paul" replied with a coy, "모르겠어..." or "I don't know...." My grandma knew exactly what happened and scolded him for abusing my lack of knowledge of the area. Ahhh "Paul," you sneaky devil.Later that night and for several hours the next morning, I helped my family make 만두, or dumplings. Amazed, I watched my one-armed grandma somehow finely dice
scallions as she sat on the floor. (as a note: when Koreans make large batches of food, they usually plunker down on the floor, as counter space is quite limited) My cousins couldn't make them very well, but of course they tried. After cooking them, my aunt and grandma would make fun of the semi-retarded looking dumplings that "Paul" made. Cruel, but amusing nonetheless. Mine looked pretty awful at first too, but I eventually got the hang of it. See the picture below as proof.
On Wednesday I spent most of the day with my mom. She too made dumplings in the morning with me, as we sat around watching terrible daytime Korean television. Then she mysteriously left in the middle of the day (well mysterious for me, b/c I'm sure she told me, I probably just didn't hear or understand her, something I do with my American mom too, sorry moms!) Anyway, she came back in the evening and took me to the downtown area. She was determined to buy me something and this stressed me out to no end. We walked around a department store, where everything was at least 200,000W (so like around $200), and she would ask me if I liked this or that. A lot of dresses in Korea are absolutely hideous in my opinion so I felt the pressure growing after each time I said I didn't like anything on the racks of the various brand booths. Finally I saw something that wasn't hideous, if not mildly pleasing to my tastes and my mom forced me to try it on. I figured it was as good as it was going to get, and so my mom dropped 240,000W on a wool jumper. Then we awkwardly ate dinner together (she is a tight-lipped women, unlike my aunts), and she told me that maybe my sister will study in the USA in the future. I hope she doesn't entrust complete responsibility on me (something that I do worry about), but I do think it would be a good experience for my sister to study abroad.
When we got back home, my mom told me to try the dress on for my grandma (family behavior is so universal), and my grandma smiled as I sauntered out of the bedroom and said she bet that I look just like the manikin. We said goodnight, and my mom left the next morning well before I woke up. My grandma handed me a fist full of cash, told me that my grandfather insisted, gave me a big strong one-armed hug, and then saw me off in a taxi cab.
On Wednesday I spent most of the day with my mom. She too made dumplings in the morning with me, as we sat around watching terrible daytime Korean television. Then she mysteriously left in the middle of the day (well mysterious for me, b/c I'm sure she told me, I probably just didn't hear or understand her, something I do with my American mom too, sorry moms!) Anyway, she came back in the evening and took me to the downtown area. She was determined to buy me something and this stressed me out to no end. We walked around a department store, where everything was at least 200,000W (so like around $200), and she would ask me if I liked this or that. A lot of dresses in Korea are absolutely hideous in my opinion so I felt the pressure growing after each time I said I didn't like anything on the racks of the various brand booths. Finally I saw something that wasn't hideous, if not mildly pleasing to my tastes and my mom forced me to try it on. I figured it was as good as it was going to get, and so my mom dropped 240,000W on a wool jumper. Then we awkwardly ate dinner together (she is a tight-lipped women, unlike my aunts), and she told me that maybe my sister will study in the USA in the future. I hope she doesn't entrust complete responsibility on me (something that I do worry about), but I do think it would be a good experience for my sister to study abroad.
When we got back home, my mom told me to try the dress on for my grandma (family behavior is so universal), and my grandma smiled as I sauntered out of the bedroom and said she bet that I look just like the manikin. We said goodnight, and my mom left the next morning well before I woke up. My grandma handed me a fist full of cash, told me that my grandfather insisted, gave me a big strong one-armed hug, and then saw me off in a taxi cab.
What a coincidence -- I also recently made a big batch of man-doo.Turned out pretty well too (though I made so much, I am still eating of it!) Also, your instincts are right about your sister and your mom's (unstated) desire. If she does end up, say, coming to Boston for college, you'll most certainly be placed in charge of her. One of the most frustrating things about growing up in the US, raised by Korean parents, is that they had a whole slew of expectations that my siblings and I were somehow supposed to know. Had we remained in the cultural context of Korea (and attendant family environs), this information would likely have been transmitted to us somehow. But that wasn't the case, and we had several family blow-ups caused by our failing to meet expectations we didn't even know our parents had. This is a long-winded way of cautioning you that your Korean family may not realize that you too have been cut off from these sources of information. It will certainly seem odd and possily offputting, but you'd do well to have an explicit conversation with them about any possibility involving a responsibility being placed on your shoulders.
ReplyDeleteugh. it's the same with japanese families too....all these unspoken expectations. :P
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