Folk Village

As part of my 'duties' at Hanguk Univ of Foreign Studies Korean Studies summer program (my time there thankfully short--hey, a girl's gotta publish--due to the fact I am splitting the teaching duties with a colleague) I was asked to think of a fieldtrip idea. I did and, guess who became the one in charge? Yes--I become the 'leader' of the folk village field trip. I was told that threat of rain did not mean a cancelled trip, so we forged ahead. We made it through a traditional wedding and some houses/complexes used as sets for tv dramas and movies before it poured. Ah well; one cannot change the weather. I became a little star struck when I realized that one of my favorite movies, "The King and the Clown," was filmed here (as indicated by the sign). I made Dahin pose in front of it, but I was facing a semi-solo mutiny.

The wedding party (you can see the wedding in the top pic above) paraded out of the central plaza of the home to the accompaniment of the taepyeongso and drums. I was glad my students caught this little bit of musical performance. I had hoped they could see the pungmul ensemble, acrobats, and the tightrope walking. They were supposed to write a paper about a performance and many were counting on the trip to the village to do their observing. But, alas, it was not meant to be. This was the only performance we caught that day (well, if you don't count the people dressed up in hanbok and 'living' in the village).
I dared Dahin to go into the haunted house, but she flat refused. The timing was so perfect on this one: As she was asking me, "Is it scary?" we heard a loud hissing sound and people scream. Answered that question. It was a good thing she was too chicken to do it; they charged a fee to go into the Toggaebijip (goblin house), which I thought was unreasonable considering the price of admission to the village itself (10,000 won--about $10--not that bad, but seriously, why are they charging for something like that?).

We entered this yangban (aristocrat) house for a look around. There was a lot to see and I got my fill of textiles (my current obsession).
I crammed myself into this wedding box (oh, I don't remember what you call it--something you sit in and people carry you around; you know) just to see if I could. Yup, it was tiny and, yup, I look like a giant; reminding me that I need to make some effort in the running arena and drop those 10 pounds or so I've put on since coming to Korea. The photo doesn't lie...Anyway, Dahin (below) wonders how the heck I crammed myself into it. Worst part was, I wore a skirt and had to figure out how to get out of the box without exposing myself as a crowd had gathered to take blackmail shots (my students included in that bunch).
Yes, the yangban house was a blast. The rustic feel of the place was fantastic. And, just in case you didn't see all the signs and indications that a well-known drama was filmed in this very spot, including a 'costume corner' where you could try on the costumes and look like your favorite melodrama star, they had a tv set up so that you could see bits of the drama. Get it? Yeah, it was filmed here. No, really. REAL-LY! Anyway, how's that for authenticity. Ok, now let's move on....We went to the market place where Dahin decided on a painting of her name. The artist did a wonderful job with her name--telling her that he made the first syllable resemble bamboo so that she would grow tall and strong and the second syllable was bright and sunny. She likes it. Then Grace, one of the fellow profs we wondered around with decided, since it was raining, she wanted to drink a little. What the heck, we joined her and headed toward the empty eating area (below). There, we found grumpy French tourists who were not satisfied with their orders, frustrated ajumas who were tired of waiting on grumpy French tourists, and several feral cats.

I ordered a potato pancake to go with the alcohol. Dongdongju is related to makgeolli, a sweet alcoholic beverage, with a slightly fermented flavor, that is made from rice. Makgeolli is usually milky in appearance, but the Gyeonggi region variant, dongdongju, looks more like tea. It tasted slightly medicinal, with a hint of ginseng. Accompanying the mid-afternoon drink under a tent was conversation on the state of Korean studies and current hiring practices. Dahin, you can tell, was thrilled. We stayed there out of the rain for a while, until the student leaders came looking for us (seen behind my colleague Grace) and we headed for the bus early.

The kitty below, obviously in need of some medical attention, was hanging out at the tables, ready to catch bits of food that fell through the slats in the platform.

On the way out of the park, we ran into women spinning silk. We learned that the woman on the right is the woman on the left's mother-in-law, and she is teaching her to spin silk. I've never seen real live silk worms in action before. They're the little white ball-looking thingies in the picture on the bottom. I'd like to take Dahin back there when it is not raining. When I asked her if she'd like to go back she said, "No." But, maybe I'll try again a little later to see if she'd like to see the performances that take place when the weather is better. Dang rainy season.