- Shelby, Lindsay, and I (and an EPIK teacher from Andong, named Cassie) were invited to a wedding in a small mountain village, because of the connection between Shelby's mentor teacher and the village leader. But the ulterior motive of our invitation to the wedding was to advertise that the village had beautiful female foreign visitors, so we were posed and photographed all day. Shelby's mentor teacher (who also accompanied us) was urging us to give him gifts at a later time as repayment for hooking us up with such a unique opportunity. It was very frustrating at times and we ended up not staying the night as we had originally planned, because it was so uncomfortable :/
- The traditional wedding ceremony that we witnessed was a really cool experience. I wish I understood what was happening (or that someone had translated for us) but it was still neat. I loved how bright the colors were, as opposed to the normal white/black/one other color. Also, Lindsay and I kind of came to the conclusion that this was not their primary ceremony – at one point, there were kids running around/talking and chickens flying off tables and the bride didn’t bat an eye...we figured this was only possible if she knew she had another ceremony as well haha :)
- The views around the village were really fantastic.
- We were asked to read poetry later in the evening. I’m not a huge poetry fan, so this wasn’t that great. BUT there was a guitarist there and, after the poetry reading, he played some folk songs that everyone (well, the Koreans) knew and it reminded me of Firebowl :)
- After the poetry “slam” and dinner, we had a chance to speak with an old man, who used to be a professor. We were impressed when he read a poem in French (with a great accent) earlier, and even more amazed when he spoke to us about English language and history (he taught us the etymology of “beef”, “pork” and “mutton”...even though he is Korean!). Plus, he called us his angels and said that I had mystery in my smile. (Honestly, if her were about 50 years younger, I would TOTALLY be attracted to him.) He was adorable and definitely made the night worthwhile.
- Then, of course, there was Mr. Park (Shelby’s mentor teacher) on the drive home. It’s difficult to describe Mr. Park, other than to say that speaking to him is like speaking to a rather oblivious 10-year-old. You could even compare him to a less adorable/lovable Luna Lovegood. Memorable moments on the way home:
- He told us to please be careful...even though he was driving.
- He told us to watch out for falling rocks...and then locked the doors.
- He told us he lost his road and couldn’t find it again.
- He decided that my question "Is that the Andong dam?" was too difficult and asked us different questions to explain to us what easy questions were. To Lindsay, he asked, "What is your favorite season and why?" To me, he asked, "Which American political party do you affliliate yourself with and why?" To Shelby, he asked, "What are the two qualities you like most in your boyfriend?" Yeah, those aren't difficult at all.
- He ran a red light and stopped at a green.
- When Shelby and I got back to her apartment, we watched HP7.2 and polished off a bottle of wine and a bowl of guacamole, to melt away our very strange day. I also successfully kept her awake after we climbed into bed and turned the lights out - she always falls asleep right away, but we just couldn't stop laughing!
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