Seoul 4

We went to visit a Korean Folk Village this afternoon where the housing, customs, and lifestyles of Koreans who lived during the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910) are set out similar to places like Strawberry Village or Williamsburg. It was very interesting and enlightening especially since some people still live this way. We went on a group tour but, when we asked Park about it, she said that she remembers living in a village like that one near the DMZ when she was a young child.

When you enter, there is an area of totem poles which are to protect the village. There really are number of things that are similar between the American Indian culture and the Korean.
There were three classes - high, middle, and low. You can tell the class of the people by the kind of roofs their houses have. The high class have tile roofs, the middle have thatched roofs. The guide then asked what kind of roofs we though the low class you have. Answer: tile roofs because they were the servants or slaves of the high class - interesting.

We saw a Korean cow. They are not used for milk but, rather, for farming. Their meat is very superior to regular cow, in fact, it costs 3 times as much.

We saw an area where they were growing cabbage for kimchee. They make a huge batch of it at this time of year, keep it in vats below the ground or in special kimchee refrigerators, and eat all year long. It is a staple here. The guide asked how many people in our group liked it. I was one of a few who raised their hands. She said that she divides foreigners into those who like kimchee and those who don't. There are 200 varieties of kimchee. I've tried a couple - one was mild and one was very spicy. Dad does not like it. He ate some of the spicy last night, and it took a while into the meal before he could taste again - that might have been a blessing for him. They have three basic sauces that are necessary in all of their cooking: red pepper paste, soybean sauce and say sauce. The more vats of it that you have outside your home, the richer you are.

We saw their toilet. It was like an outhouse, but they had baskets there to carry the waste out to the fields to use for fertilizer. It was valuable to them. They also hung funeral announcements in the bathroom as they were bad news and didn't want them in the house (I don't know if having Sports Illustrated in the bathroom is the same thing!).

I tried some rice candy which was quite good. We're bringing some back.

They have the most fascinating heating system. I can't remember if I described it in another post, so I may be repeating myself (how unusual). The build the floors of the home up on blocks so that their is space underneath where their are air passages from the cooking fires that bring the heat under the rooms. It really is ingenious. They, of course, remove their shoes before entering a room, but their feet are warm because of the heating system. During the hot months, they don't use they have the air space to help cool the floors.

We saw how they would do their ironing. They would spread the fabric out on a rock and pound it. We also saw a straw rain coat which is, apparently, very effective. I think Dad got a picture.

We saw a performance of a Farmers' Music Band which is made up of drums and gongs. The dancers (all male) wore the most amazing hats with antenna like tops that had streamers attached. They would move their heads so as to make the streamers fly. Dad took some video that we will post when we get home - amazing!

Filial piety - a very important principle for the Koreans. It means serving and respecting parents. It is so important that if someone showed special merit in the area, the government would build a building in the village to commemorate it, and it was a mark of great pride for the people.

The village was very, very interesting. I'm so glad we went.

Last night, we had our farewell dinner at a beautiful restaurant where they served foods that the royal family would eat. I tried most things - everything but some of the meats including raw crab (which Koreans think is quite a delicacy. We arranged for Park to take it home). Dad did pretty well, but alot of the foods were very strange. I, unfortunately, paid the price when we got home. Oh well.

Some interesting items we learned from Park:

Apartments are rented in a very different manner. The renter has to pay the owner 60% of the worth of the house/apartment up front. They keep the money for 2 years and then return it, having made whatever they can on it. You have to be careful that you would be in the front of the line of creditors so that you don't lose your money. They borrow the money to make the payment, but it takes about 10 years for someone to get into the position to rent, so they "sponge off" their parents until that time. If you want to move, you have to find someone to take over your place so you don't lose your money.

I asked how they kept their shoes warm in the winter. They have shoe boxes outside for this purpose. They even have large banks of them in apartment houses.

In the past, women weren't supposed to show their teeth. They would cover their mouths when they smiled. On their wedding day, they weren't supposed to smile as it was sad that they were "uprooting" from their family and transferring to their husband's family.

Women also aren't/weren't supposed to show their barefeet. They had to cover them either with socks, long skirts or pants, or sit on them in such a way that they couldn't been seen.

I have a folk tale that I need to share, but I'm out of time. I'll write it later.