Dahin gets her crane on at the entrance to Asan's Oeam Village. Not simply a prop village so tourists can experience how people lived in Korea 'once upon a time,' the village is real. By that, I mean people actually live there and the villagers have sustained their community by opening the village to tourists and by selling products made in the village. We loved it, and wished we could have spent more time there (we were there for about 3 hours) since there was so much to see. The kids got to experience a bit of the country, play some folk games, and meet a 100+ year-old grandmother.
Above, Oliver poses in front of his favorite flower: the cosmos (or, in Korean 'koseumoseu'). Whenever he sees this fall flower on the side of the road as we drive in the car, he yells, "Koseumoseu! Koseumoseu!" I blame his teachers for instilling an obsession with flowers, because he certainly didn't get it from me. I had no idea what a cosmos was until Oliver taught me. Below, Jack hands me a freshly peeled persimmon he bought from the women selling fruit, veggies, and tofu at the village entrance while watching a halmoni get comfortable. She is over 100 years old and quite spritely, I must say. I thought her hanbok and cane were beautiful, but was too shy to ask for a good photo.
A jangseung or village guardian is a Korean totem pole usually made of wood. Jangseungs were traditionally placed at the edges of villages to mark village boundaries and frighten away demons. They were also worshipped as village tutelary deities. These were two of the nicest, wel-kept jangseung I've seen. These guardians greeted us at the end of the bridge at the official opening of the village.
Jack discovered one of the niceties of village life--the resting spot--and the kids found the swing to be a lot of fun. They liked how, once you got going, you basically were swinging out over the field. The view from the swing was lovely.
I'm not sure what the structure above is for--I'm thinking for storing food since it was located near the large pots used for storing sauces, etc. Someone help me out here--if you know, leave a message! In addition to the actual residences, there was a secction of homes that was used for displaying artifacts (like bedding, furniture, etc) and teaching people a bit about life during the Joseon era. It was very well done. Perhaps the best teaching tool for your kids (and yourself). Below, the kids try out some folk games and enjoy the scenery. Jultagi, or tightrope walking, is a popular activity as is the game yutnori. For some reason, the yutnori game set out including these giant logs and the kids struggled to throw the pieces (normally, the game pieces are about the size of a cigar). My guess is that the size of the pieces is meant to keep all the pieces in place outside.
Right outside of the folk games area people were pounding rice flour into cakes and making beverages from rice. It felt perfect to share some homemade rice cakes and a beverage after wandering around the village. Injeolmi is a variety of tteok, or Korean rice cake, made by steaming and pounding glutinous rice flour, which is shaped into small pieces and usually covered with steamed powdered dried beans. Sikhye is a traditional sweet Korean rice beverage, usually served as a dessert. Sikhye also contains grains of cooked rice, and in some cases pine nuts.
A fall must: Ronan sits on a pumpkin. This tradition started when he was barely old enough to walk and we went to pumpkin patches. Here, he just had to climb on these people's porch and sit on their pumpkin. It has been blessed. Below, Dahin shines amidst the fall flowers.
As you exit the village (which is also the entrance) there is a community information board that includes details on the many products and services offered by the village community. These include traditional weddings, minbak (kind of a bed and breakfast, but usually without breakfast), koch'ujang (red pepper paste) and various other kinds of pastes and sauces, rice cake making workshops, tofu making workshops, syrup, and a farm education experience for children. The sign also includes some guidelines for villagers in dealing with tourists (e.g. greet the tourists in a friendly manner) as well as guidelines for visitors (e.g. don't just throw your trash anywhere). As you exit the village to go to the parking lot, there is a small restaurant selling some great-smelling food. We'd already eaten, so did not partake, but the place was hopping.
No comments:
Post a Comment