Sunday, September 24, 2006
Market Day
Sam and I have recently gone to two of the many markets in Seoul. We love going and seeing all the cool things that people are selling. Some of the most interesting things we've seen: 1) big buckets of little fish just swimming and squirming all over each other (definitely not enough water for each fish to feel comfortably at home!), 2) those same buckets of fish but with no squirming or swimming - I guess the fish had expired, 3) pig's feet that are cooked up and for sale, 4) big pots of bug larvae that students especially love to snack on, 5) huge varieties of sea food (sting rays, squids, shrimps, massive amounts of fish - pretty much anything that lives in the water and is remotely edible), and tons more! Here are some pictures from our marketing days.
A lot of the market alleys are covered by tin roofs or tarps, giving a cool "underground" feeling.
Here's Sam checking out this stand of dried fish. There are lots of shops like this with TONS of different varieties of dried sea food, just piled up in bins, waiting for a hungry buyer.
We found this cool gate when we were wandering through Namdaemun Market this weekend. It was the south gate of the Seoul fortress. No more fortress, but the gate's still standing.
Here's one of the many local butchers in the markets. Those are pigs that he's cutting up. A lot of you know how I feel about raw meat, so seeing this sight and hearing the knife scratching across the bones was a growing experience! I don't think they have the same "food safety" laws here because there are lots of stands and shops that have raw meat just sitting out in the open waiting to be taken home. Very different.
This is a little food stand in the market. There are tons of these...pretty much a grill on a cart with a couple of stools around it. The food smells so good...the women who run these little stands definitely know how to cook!
A lot of the market alleys are covered by tin roofs or tarps, giving a cool "underground" feeling.
Here's Sam checking out this stand of dried fish. There are lots of shops like this with TONS of different varieties of dried sea food, just piled up in bins, waiting for a hungry buyer.
We found this cool gate when we were wandering through Namdaemun Market this weekend. It was the south gate of the Seoul fortress. No more fortress, but the gate's still standing.
Here's one of the many local butchers in the markets. Those are pigs that he's cutting up. A lot of you know how I feel about raw meat, so seeing this sight and hearing the knife scratching across the bones was a growing experience! I don't think they have the same "food safety" laws here because there are lots of stands and shops that have raw meat just sitting out in the open waiting to be taken home. Very different.
This is a little food stand in the market. There are tons of these...pretty much a grill on a cart with a couple of stools around it. The food smells so good...the women who run these little stands definitely know how to cook!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Teaching English - Psychology Degree Required
After graduating from University, I often wondered if my Psychology degree would ever come in handy...would my knowledge of the human mind ever be useful? Today I found out just what could be accomplished by a person with a major in "the study of the mind".
I have recently introduced the idea of a "Spelling Test" to my youngest class. Their spelling is absolutely atrocious, and I thought it would be beneficial to work on it.
Today I let the kids know that I would be giving them their second list of ten words, and that they needed to study the words for a test tomorrow. That did NOT go over well!! The whining and the "teacher, teacher - no study" started almost immediately. The negative response from the kids would have made any by-passer think that I was the most hated teacher in the world! Then the bartering began: "Teacher, 5 word", "Teacher only 1 word", "Ten word, no", and on and on it went in broken English.
So, I pulled back into my reservoir of "people skills", put on my best smile, and said, "I will let you choose. We can do 100 words, OR we can do 10". A few blank stares, a few looks of "what is she talking about?". I said, "Ok, who would rather have 100 words?"...to which one kid slowly raised his hand. Then I said, "Who would rather have 10 words?"...one other kid raised his hand to that. "I guess 100 words is what we'll do...since it's a tie", I said. "On second thought, lets raise our hands one more time". "Who would rather have 100 words?"...no hands raised. "Who would like to have 10 words?"...every hand raised.
I made a big show of humming and hawwing, and thinking, and then announced - "We will have only 10 words tomorrow". The cheering in the class was incredibly loud! The kids were all leaning forward, looking at me as if I was the best teacher they had ever had. I wrote the words on the board, and they happily copied them into their notebooks.
Thank goodness they're too young to know that they had just cheered for the exact same thing they had whined about 2 minutes earlier - how good is that?
I have recently introduced the idea of a "Spelling Test" to my youngest class. Their spelling is absolutely atrocious, and I thought it would be beneficial to work on it.
Today I let the kids know that I would be giving them their second list of ten words, and that they needed to study the words for a test tomorrow. That did NOT go over well!! The whining and the "teacher, teacher - no study" started almost immediately. The negative response from the kids would have made any by-passer think that I was the most hated teacher in the world! Then the bartering began: "Teacher, 5 word", "Teacher only 1 word", "Ten word, no", and on and on it went in broken English.
So, I pulled back into my reservoir of "people skills", put on my best smile, and said, "I will let you choose. We can do 100 words, OR we can do 10". A few blank stares, a few looks of "what is she talking about?". I said, "Ok, who would rather have 100 words?"...to which one kid slowly raised his hand. Then I said, "Who would rather have 10 words?"...one other kid raised his hand to that. "I guess 100 words is what we'll do...since it's a tie", I said. "On second thought, lets raise our hands one more time". "Who would rather have 100 words?"...no hands raised. "Who would like to have 10 words?"...every hand raised.
I made a big show of humming and hawwing, and thinking, and then announced - "We will have only 10 words tomorrow". The cheering in the class was incredibly loud! The kids were all leaning forward, looking at me as if I was the best teacher they had ever had. I wrote the words on the board, and they happily copied them into their notebooks.
Thank goodness they're too young to know that they had just cheered for the exact same thing they had whined about 2 minutes earlier - how good is that?
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Hike Day in Osan
Sam and I declared this past Saturday, "Hike Day in Osan". Our little city is surrounded by hills, and we decided it was time to explore them a bit. So we left our building, and headed to the right. The walk to the hills took us through some more rural-ish areas of town, which were neat to see. We also learned something about fishing in Korea. People here fish in STYLE!! We passed a pond on our way, which was surrounded by little platforms that had been built all along the water's edge. On each platform was a car seat...literally a seat that had been taken from an old car and placed around the pond...some were even in the recline position. I guess when you feel like fishing here, you can head to the pond, rent a car seat, and fish in comfort!
Our path was relatively easy to find, and at the trailhead, Sam had the great idea to take a picture of the map (even though we didn't understand the words on it), so that we could at least have an idea of the layout of the mountain if we were to get lost. What a smart guy! There were 6 "peaks" that our trail went to, with other smaller paths veering off from the main path every now and then. We decided to stay on the main path, and we managed to visit each of the six peaks.
Peak three was a real highlight for us. As we were approaching the top of the peak, we could see a Korean man through the trees, standing on a wooden bench, doing a little dance. We even managed to get a short video of it! When we reached the top, we better understood what the "happy dance" was all about, for lo-and-behold this peak was furnished with a fabulous hula-hoop that hung in the trees, waiting for hikers who wished to hula. Of course we both gave it a try!
Other highlights: we were able to get a view of all of Osan from peak two...very pretty to see our city in another perspective! Also, at the end of the trail, after we had come out of the mountains, we found a great outdoor gym...complete with highbars, bench press, and reclining benches for ab work.
When we were walking back through the rural area to get to Osan, we passed by three adorable Korean girls who were playing with a bike that one girl had. When we walked by, one little girl must have decided that we were much more interesting then the game they were playing, and she started to follow us. Every time I'd glance back, I'd see her skipping, closer and closer. Then the little bike rolled up with the other two girls, and they all got bolder. They start asking things to us in Korean, to which we responded..."What's your name?", "Do you like to bike?"...but the communication barrier was hard to breech. After about 1/2 a kilometre, the English teachers in us broke out, and we started counting with the girls - Them: "one, two, three", Us: "very good, four, five, six". Sam had some fun reciting the ABC's with them...I think they made it to "D". After about a kilometre, we started to wonder why it was that the girl's parents hadn't come looking for them. They were pretty far from home for such a young age. That's when we noticed that one girl had a cellphone hanging around her neck. It cracked me up because I could picture her Mom putting it on her in the morning and saying, "Honey, you can go anywhere you want today...you can follow people you don't know, and talk to strangers...just always keep this cellphone around your neck for safety, ok!" Extremely strange! We began to think those girls would have followed us all the way back home, so we turned around, started waving and said, "bye-bye". It took about 3 minutes of waving, and 50 "bye-byes" before they finally realized that they should probably stop following the weird blonde people and go back home.
All in all, a great day outside...the hills of Osan are beautiful, and we managed to see some things we hadn't seen before. I'm sure there will be many more "Hike Days" to come.
These are the little munchins that followed us back from the hike...so cute, eh!
Our path was relatively easy to find, and at the trailhead, Sam had the great idea to take a picture of the map (even though we didn't understand the words on it), so that we could at least have an idea of the layout of the mountain if we were to get lost. What a smart guy! There were 6 "peaks" that our trail went to, with other smaller paths veering off from the main path every now and then. We decided to stay on the main path, and we managed to visit each of the six peaks.
Peak three was a real highlight for us. As we were approaching the top of the peak, we could see a Korean man through the trees, standing on a wooden bench, doing a little dance. We even managed to get a short video of it! When we reached the top, we better understood what the "happy dance" was all about, for lo-and-behold this peak was furnished with a fabulous hula-hoop that hung in the trees, waiting for hikers who wished to hula. Of course we both gave it a try!
Other highlights: we were able to get a view of all of Osan from peak two...very pretty to see our city in another perspective! Also, at the end of the trail, after we had come out of the mountains, we found a great outdoor gym...complete with highbars, bench press, and reclining benches for ab work.
When we were walking back through the rural area to get to Osan, we passed by three adorable Korean girls who were playing with a bike that one girl had. When we walked by, one little girl must have decided that we were much more interesting then the game they were playing, and she started to follow us. Every time I'd glance back, I'd see her skipping, closer and closer. Then the little bike rolled up with the other two girls, and they all got bolder. They start asking things to us in Korean, to which we responded..."What's your name?", "Do you like to bike?"...but the communication barrier was hard to breech. After about 1/2 a kilometre, the English teachers in us broke out, and we started counting with the girls - Them: "one, two, three", Us: "very good, four, five, six". Sam had some fun reciting the ABC's with them...I think they made it to "D". After about a kilometre, we started to wonder why it was that the girl's parents hadn't come looking for them. They were pretty far from home for such a young age. That's when we noticed that one girl had a cellphone hanging around her neck. It cracked me up because I could picture her Mom putting it on her in the morning and saying, "Honey, you can go anywhere you want today...you can follow people you don't know, and talk to strangers...just always keep this cellphone around your neck for safety, ok!" Extremely strange! We began to think those girls would have followed us all the way back home, so we turned around, started waving and said, "bye-bye". It took about 3 minutes of waving, and 50 "bye-byes" before they finally realized that they should probably stop following the weird blonde people and go back home.
All in all, a great day outside...the hills of Osan are beautiful, and we managed to see some things we hadn't seen before. I'm sure there will be many more "Hike Days" to come.
These are the little munchins that followed us back from the hike...so cute, eh!
Here's Sam at the local fishing hole. These seats went all the way around the pond.
Here's the trail map. The picture we took came in really handy...we had to refer to it six or seven times over the course of the hike.
One of our rest breaks on the trail.
Here's the view of Osan through the hills...isn't our city pretty? We live in the big buildings right in the middle of the picture.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Our Anniversary
As many of you know, Sam and I celebrated our first anniversary on Sept. 3. We had a great day! Like most people our age, we figured the best way to celebrate one year of marriage was by going to an amusement park and defying death on the crazy rides! We were told that Lotte World is the Korean version of Disneyland...only much smaller. Having never been to Disneyland, I can't tell you if it's exactly the same, but Sam said that it had a similar "feel" to it.
Like always, our adventures began at the subway station...only this time we didn't get lost or miss a train. We arrived at the appropriate station, at the right time, and proceeded to the turn-stiles to exit the station. Here's how the subway system works in Korea: 1) buy a ticket, 2) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you get on the subway, 3) collect your ticket on the other side of the turn-stile, 4) ride the subway, 5) get off, 6) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you got off, and calculates if you paid enough for the ride. It's genius, really. Much to our surprise, when we put our tickets into the turn-stile at the Lotte World station, the machine made a loud "unhhh" sound, and wouldn't let us through. We attempted the same thing a number of times, thinking maybe there was some mistake - but each time we were denied. So, we just stood there...not sure what to do. We looked around for anyone who looked semi-official, but the station just had other passengers hurrying on their way. Suddenly, from the other side of the turn-stiles we hear, "can I help you with something?". Again, right when we need an English speaker, God provided one! We told the man that we couldn't get through and showed him our tickets. He told us that we had only paid 1500 won when we should have paid 1600 won (all this trouble over ten cents??). The ticket purchasing machine was on his side of the turn-stile so he took some of our money and bought another ticket for us to try. Unfortunately, since the ticket hadn't been stamped on entrance, it wouldn't let us out the exit. Back to square one. Suddenly, the Korean man leaned over the turn-stile and whispered, "Don't tell anyone I told you, but lots of Koreans just go under the turn-stile". My immediate thought was, "Who would I tell? I don't speak Korean, I don't know your name, and I probably couldn't pick you out in a line-up"...but, we were grateful for the tip. Since we had already purchased another ticket that more then covered our 20 cent short-comings, we looked around, slid under the bars, and walked away! We noticed that a security camera had captured our every move, so we won't be surprised to find a "Wanted" poster of us if we ever return to that station!
The picture above is the entrance to Lotte World...just wanted to show you that we were indeed there on our actual anniversary date! This place was really cool - half of the amusement park is inside, and half of it is outside on an island in the middle of a small lake. They had tons of rides - the viking ship, a carousel, different theme rides (ie. Pharoah's fury - where you travel in a "jeep" and explore the pyramids - on one part of the ride you go through a room with tons of fake spiders on the wall...at that moment they blow air on your legs that feels like spiders crawling on you - I screamed bloody murder! Sam had long pants on, though, so he didn't feel anything and couldn't understand why I was freaking out!!), two roller coasters, rides that drop you, rides that spin you...you get the idea!
One of the big differences between Lotte World and DisneyLand was the snack foods that you could buy. As you can see in this picture, "Peanut Buttered Roast Sqid (ie. Squid)" was a big hit - this little snack stand could be found all over the park! (The way that English words are spelled here sometimes really cracks me up - one day we were walking and saw a sign that informed us that we were entering a "school zoon"...keeps us laughing, that's for sure!). Other different snacks...they had octopus cakes, where they cut a piece of octopus into each little dough ball, and roast corn - which seems far too healthy for an amusement park!
Like always, our adventures began at the subway station...only this time we didn't get lost or miss a train. We arrived at the appropriate station, at the right time, and proceeded to the turn-stiles to exit the station. Here's how the subway system works in Korea: 1) buy a ticket, 2) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you get on the subway, 3) collect your ticket on the other side of the turn-stile, 4) ride the subway, 5) get off, 6) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you got off, and calculates if you paid enough for the ride. It's genius, really. Much to our surprise, when we put our tickets into the turn-stile at the Lotte World station, the machine made a loud "unhhh" sound, and wouldn't let us through. We attempted the same thing a number of times, thinking maybe there was some mistake - but each time we were denied. So, we just stood there...not sure what to do. We looked around for anyone who looked semi-official, but the station just had other passengers hurrying on their way. Suddenly, from the other side of the turn-stiles we hear, "can I help you with something?". Again, right when we need an English speaker, God provided one! We told the man that we couldn't get through and showed him our tickets. He told us that we had only paid 1500 won when we should have paid 1600 won (all this trouble over ten cents??). The ticket purchasing machine was on his side of the turn-stile so he took some of our money and bought another ticket for us to try. Unfortunately, since the ticket hadn't been stamped on entrance, it wouldn't let us out the exit. Back to square one. Suddenly, the Korean man leaned over the turn-stile and whispered, "Don't tell anyone I told you, but lots of Koreans just go under the turn-stile". My immediate thought was, "Who would I tell? I don't speak Korean, I don't know your name, and I probably couldn't pick you out in a line-up"...but, we were grateful for the tip. Since we had already purchased another ticket that more then covered our 20 cent short-comings, we looked around, slid under the bars, and walked away! We noticed that a security camera had captured our every move, so we won't be surprised to find a "Wanted" poster of us if we ever return to that station!
The picture above is the entrance to Lotte World...just wanted to show you that we were indeed there on our actual anniversary date! This place was really cool - half of the amusement park is inside, and half of it is outside on an island in the middle of a small lake. They had tons of rides - the viking ship, a carousel, different theme rides (ie. Pharoah's fury - where you travel in a "jeep" and explore the pyramids - on one part of the ride you go through a room with tons of fake spiders on the wall...at that moment they blow air on your legs that feels like spiders crawling on you - I screamed bloody murder! Sam had long pants on, though, so he didn't feel anything and couldn't understand why I was freaking out!!), two roller coasters, rides that drop you, rides that spin you...you get the idea!
One of the big differences between Lotte World and DisneyLand was the snack foods that you could buy. As you can see in this picture, "Peanut Buttered Roast Sqid (ie. Squid)" was a big hit - this little snack stand could be found all over the park! (The way that English words are spelled here sometimes really cracks me up - one day we were walking and saw a sign that informed us that we were entering a "school zoon"...keeps us laughing, that's for sure!). Other different snacks...they had octopus cakes, where they cut a piece of octopus into each little dough ball, and roast corn - which seems far too healthy for an amusement park!
Here we are waiting for the "World Carnival Parade" to begin...you can see the excitement on our faces! The parade was amazing...beautiful costumes for different countries of the world - Korea, China, Spain, Jamaica, Egypt (to name a few). I have to say, when the parade started it was so beautiful, and I was so excited, that I got a little teary eyed...that's the magic of Lotte World!
After lunch, the subway police finally caught up with us, and threw Sam in the stocks! This is where the bad foreigners go!! Just kiddin'...a perfect photo-op at Lotte World!
And here I am in front of the Lotte World castle. This was on the walkway to "Magic Island"...the outdoor part of the park. Sam's favourite ride was out here. It's called the "Gyro Drop", and it takes you 70 metres up, and then drops you in a free fall back to earth. Freaky!! I was trying to be a cool wife, so I said, "Hey, we should try the Gyro Drop", inside I was thinking "No, no, no, no!!"...but Sam was all for it, so we got in line. During our 15 minute wait, I timed everything out perfectly so I would know what to expect. The ride spins as it take you up, and when you stop going up, it spins for two more seconds, stops, and then waits 3 seconds before dropping you for 3 seconds. The three seconds wait at the top was the worst! Here's what was going on in my mind: "Oh no, we just stopped spinning. Oh no...only 3 seconds. Oh gosh, only 2 seconds! No, only one more second!!! AHhhhhhhhh!". The drop definitely felt like more then 3 seconds. I think it played on Sam's mind too...his first words after the ride (a direct quote): "That fall felt like forever! I was like 'ahhhhh' and then 'ahhhhhh' again". Cracked me up...so profound!
Anyways, as you can tell, the rides were a blast! When we got home, we watched our wedding video and re-read our vows, which was really special! Then, we toasted each other with a precious bottle of Jones' Soda...left over from our reception one year ago!
One year down...many more to come :0)
Monday, September 04, 2006
A Korean Wedding
On Saturday, Sam and I had the opportunity to go to a Korean wedding. Xuan (pronounced "Schwen"), the Korean teacher at our school, was getting married. The wedding was VERY different from any wedding we've ever been to before, so we thought we'd fill you in on what we saw! (Disclaimer: sorry that the pictures aren't in order...still haven't figured that out!)
The wedding took place in Seoul at one of the wedding chapels there. When we arrived, everyone was milling around outside of the hall entrance. I figured that people just wanted to talk before being seated, but when I looked through the hall doors, I realized that another wedding was going on. Here's the weird part...people outside the hall waiting for the next wedding weren't being quiet...they were talking and laughing, and there weren't doors to close on the other ceremony. I felt kinda bad for the first couple!!
We realized two things about weddings here: First, in Korea it's all about speed...in and out, in and out! In a country with such a large population in relation to land space, you don't have the luxury of having a wedding chapel to yourself for your special day...you just take the time slot that's available to you, and make it work! After a while, the service before Xuan's ended, and the couple was having pictures taken at the front. Here's the weird part...their wedding guests weren't even completely out of the room yet, and the couple was still at the front taking pictures when Xuan's guests started filing in. It seemed so crazy to me, like we were invading their special moment! Second, because Koreans put such an emphasis on appearances, the wedding felt more like a show, where they were trying to create a perfect video, even if it meant sacrificing the sacredness of the ceremony itself.
When Xuan's ceremony began, the lights went down, and a spotlight followed the two Moms down the aisle to the front where...they were met by wedding chapel employees with nametags on who led them to the candles they had to light (I was thinking...who are those people and where did they come from?). The Moms were dressed in traditional handboks...the bride's mother wearing pink, and the groom's mother wearing blue. The gowns were beautiful! They bowed to each other, and then bowed to the guests, welcoming us to the ceremony. Next, the spotlight went back to the groom who was standing in front of the bride at the back...the music changed and he did a quick march to the front of the hall. He bowed to the man who was doing the ceremony, bowed to the bride's parents, bowed to his parents, and then bowed to the guests. Finally, the spotlight went back to Xuan, and she came down the aisle with her dad. Her hubby-to-be, met them near the front, and the two were guided by wedding hall employees to the front.
Here's where the "dress lady" came in. I guess in Korea you hire a lady who is responsible for your dress. Every 1 or 2 minutes she would go up to Xuan and fiddle with her dress until she was satisfied that it was sitting properly. At first I was thinking, "Kinda distracting, but ok"...THEN she stepped over the line. Xuan had to turn around for one part of the ceremony and the dress lady walked up to Xuan, grabbed the bust area of her dress and jiggled it around trying to pull it up a little...in front of everyone! I had to blink, and ask Sam if he had seen what I had just seen, cause I couldn't believe it. It's not like she was trying to be inconspicuous! Before the ceremony was over she had done the "bust shuffle" FIVE more times! Talk about ruining a moment...I wanted to go and stand in front of Xuan to protect her from the dress lady so she could enjoy her moment!
During the ceremony, the couple didn't exchanged any vows or speak to each other at all. They both stood with solemn expressions, Xuan with her eyes kept down the whole time, in front of the man who was leading the ceremony. The man spoke for about 20 minutes, but since it was in Korean, we didn't understand what he was saying. I asked afterwards, and found out that he was telling Xuan's family background, and then her husband's family background. He then wished the couple health and happiness. After he was done speaking, the couple turned to Xuan's parents and bowed to them (the husband actually got down and prostrated himself in front of them). They then did the same thing for his parents. Then a friend came and sang them a song, and the wedding hall provided "mood smoke" during the song...so the couple was standing in swirling smoke while they were being serenaded...another great video shot! After the song, Xuan's new husband had to do a "feat of strength" where he picked up his new wife and did a squat while holding her. She then had to yell out a phrase a number of times, which we found out was saying how good of a husband he was. Then, they walked back down the aisle...and after the video captured the moment, turned right back around and walked up to the front for pictures. The moment they were back at the front, and before the guests had even had a chance to think, "What a nice wedding", the wedding hall employees were removing the white aisle runner, and moving all the flowers and candles away. It was crazy!
The brides in Korea don't wear just one dress...they wear FOUR different outfits (Dad, aren't you glad you only had to pay for one???). There's one dress for the ceremony, which is the typical white, Western dress. Then, she changes into a second outfit for the cutting of the cake and to greet the guests while they eat a meal. After about 20 minutes in this second outfit, she runs off and changes into a very traditional outfit for the "bowing ceremony", where the bride and groom again bow to their parents. Finally, she changes into one more dress (kind of like a prom dress) as a "going away" outfit. Lots of changing!
The meal we were served was delicious! It was all traditional Korean food...and I loved all of it except the jellyfish! I tried it, so I could say I had tried it, but the "jelly" texture really turned my stomach! In a way, it was kind of a healing moment (I got stung by a jellyfish when I was living in Venezuela, which hurt like a mother...so I kept thinking, "who's laughing now Jelly?"), but I don't think I'll ever eat it again! Sam had two mouthfuls, so I think he enjoyed it more then I did! The couple didn't get to eat. They came in, cut the wedding cake with a sword and the help of the two mothers, greeted their guests, and then left. As for the cake...it left too...and nobody got a piece (a great disappointment for me). I guess the majority of the cake was fake, and the top part isn't served anyways, it's just for cutting!
We left shortly after the meal. People kind of come and go as they please. After the food is served, the couple is largely ignored as they go about their different outfit changes and ceremonies while people eat and then leave the wedding hall. Very different! Some parts very strange, but very cool to see!
Here's Xuan in her first dress...that's her new hubby by her side.
This is the cake cutting ceremony...you can't really see a good shot of the sword, but it's there. This was Xuan and her husband's second outfit.
This is the third outfit, for the bowing ceremony. We didn't get to see the actual ceremony, since the room was pretty small, and we figured that family should get first priority!
This is a picture of both families with the bride and groom. You can see some of the beautiful hanboks (traditional Korean dresses) on the women in the front...they were beautiful!
And here's a closer shot of Xuan and her hubby's second outfit...this is when they were going around and greeting each table as we ate.
