I went to a concert last night by the group "Yen." They have a concert series now called "Art Yen the City," and they use their performances to introduce people to traditional music, but also to encourage them to think of it differently--not as something old and boring, but as something vibrant, fun, and beautiful. I had a blast. There were kids, grownups, all ages there and the audience and performers were so enthusiastic.
Souvenir shop in Insa-doing
Nichole and Wendy. Wendy is Jack's cousin's wife; anyway, she's family. We met up yesterday afternoon to shop and snack in the antiques district of Seoul, Insa-dong. Nichole is Wendy's niece from Toronto who's visiting for the summer.
Patbingsu. We had this at a great yogurt shop. Pat is the red bean you sometimes find inside of Chinese and Korean breads. Patbingsu is basically shaved ice, condensed sweetened milk, pat, and fruit. At the yogurt store, they added a big serving of yogurt on top.
Wendy eats a snack at a road-side stand.
Taegum player in Insa-dong. I sat there and listened to him for a while, then he asked me to sit next to him and handed me a flute. I told him I have zero luck making sounds in these things, but he explained to me playing technique as well as ideas about how playing the taegum can improve your health (since good health is related to good breathing). He was incredibly nice. We exchanged business cards, so I'm going to send him some of the photos I took.
I bought some jewelry for my sister (yes--you Paige) from this jewelry maker in Insa-dong.
I met Roger Janelli (my dissertation advisor and mentor) and his wife, Professor Yim Dawnhee of Dongguk University in Seoul, for lunch at a vegetarian Buddhist restaurant near Dongguk University in Yaksu-dong.
Lunch was followed by some complicated tea. First complication was communicating. Although Professor Yim had said she thought the Buddhist temple and tea shop was Taiwanese run, we found that we had to communicate with the server in English because she could not speak Korean. After we settled the communication gap, we were introduced to a highly step-heavy way of preparing and drinking tea. First, boiling the water, then rinsing off the tea leaves and discarding the water in a bowl on the table, then pouring more hot water on the leaves, waiting 3 minutes and then pouring it back and forth into these little cups before finally putting it in the tea cup. As you can see from my "uh, duh" expression above, I was impressed but mystified as to how to do it. Professor Yim and I just decided to pour the tea as is and skip the cup transferring steps. It was so good, and I loved spending the time with Professor Janelli and his wife.
Hard-earned tea.
P'ansori at Ch'angdeokgung Palace, Seoul. This singer was celebrating his 60th year (a huge deal in Korea).
Ch'angdeokgung Palace Gate
Subway shots
I went to a concert last night by the group "Yen." They have a concert series now called "Art Yen the City," and they use their performances to introduce people to traditional music, but also to encourage them to think of it differently--not as something old and boring, but as something vibrant, fun, and beautiful. I had a blast. There were kids, grownups, all ages there and the audience and performers were so enthusiastic.
Souvenir shop in Insa-doing
Nichole and Wendy. Wendy is Jack's cousin's wife; anyway, she's family. We met up yesterday afternoon to shop and snack in the antiques district of Seoul, Insa-dong. Nichole is Wendy's niece from Toronto who's visiting for the summer.
Patbingsu. We had this at a great yogurt shop. Pat is the red bean you sometimes find inside of Chinese and Korean breads. Patbingsu is basically shaved ice, condensed sweetened milk, pat, and fruit. At the yogurt store, they added a big serving of yogurt on top.
Wendy eats a snack at a road-side stand.
Taegum player in Insa-dong. I sat there and listened to him for a while, then he asked me to sit next to him and handed me a flute. I told him I have zero luck making sounds in these things, but he explained to me playing technique as well as ideas about how playing the taegum can improve your health (since good health is related to good breathing). He was incredibly nice. We exchanged business cards, so I'm going to send him some of the photos I took.
I bought some jewelry for my sister (yes--you Paige) from this jewelry maker in Insa-dong.
I met Roger Janelli (my dissertation advisor and mentor) and his wife, Professor Yim Dawnhee of Dongguk University in Seoul, for lunch at a vegetarian Buddhist restaurant near Dongguk University in Yaksu-dong.
Lunch was followed by some complicated tea. First complication was communicating. Although Professor Yim had said she thought the Buddhist temple and tea shop was Taiwanese run, we found that we had to communicate with the server in English because she could not speak Korean. After we settled the communication gap, we were introduced to a highly step-heavy way of preparing and drinking tea. First, boiling the water, then rinsing off the tea leaves and discarding the water in a bowl on the table, then pouring more hot water on the leaves, waiting 3 minutes and then pouring it back and forth into these little cups before finally putting it in the tea cup. As you can see from my "uh, duh" expression above, I was impressed but mystified as to how to do it. Professor Yim and I just decided to pour the tea as is and skip the cup transferring steps. It was so good, and I loved spending the time with Professor Janelli and his wife.
Hard-earned tea.
P'ansori at Ch'angdeokgung Palace, Seoul. This singer was celebrating his 60th year (a huge deal in Korea).
Ch'angdeokgung Palace Gate
Subway shots
I'm staying with my sister-in-law, Eun-young, and her two daughters Mi-eun and Jeong-eun. Their dad works outside of Seoul, so is only home on the weekends. I love Eun-young onni. She is so warm and funny. There's never a boring moment as she shares Jack's love of talking! She's such a trip. We're getting together this evening to eat galbi and I'll get to see my other niece He-ni and Jack's mom.
25-string kayageum in Yi Ji-young's office at Seoul National University, July 9
When I was on the subway on Thursday, I heard Latin music and thought I was crazy. I was not--there was a group of musicians there. I believe they were Mexican because the trumpet player had a Mexican flag on his trumpet. But, they played all kinds of Latin music, including Afro-Cuban. These harabeoji's (grandfathers) were dancing and having such a great time. It was so spontaneous and beautiful.
1 comment:
I'm kind of in disbelief over the Latin musicians. Korea has certainly changed! I think I can count the number of Latin people I saw during four years in Korea on one hand.
Beautiful pictures, makes me very Korea-sick. :-)
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