Wanderlust: Korean Folk Village

Man. I think the past few days had the potential to be some of the best in Korea thus far, if not for my having misplaced my voice sometime Thursday evening while out with the photography club. Today makes three days total that I haven’t been able to speak above a whisper. It kind of really sucks, but I made do and had a great time anyway.

My weekends start Thursday night since I don’t have class on Fridays, so I went to a SAPA study meeting (I arrived late and didn’t learn anything), and afterwards went with them to eat delicious chicken from a skillet. If you haven’t caught on by now, Korean eating is a very communal experience. It’s very awkward to eat alone, and many restaurants offer portions for multiple people that are cooked directly on the table. Everyone eats from the same dish, though smaller bowls are sometimes offered for you to spoon your food into.

After midnight, it was one guy’s birthday, so some of his friends purchased a cake which we all shared, after the birthday song (sengil chuka hamnida) and some routine hazing (everyone added an ingredient to a bowl which the birthday boy had to drink). This was pretty much the last time I could talk all weekend.

The birthday boy on the left. Seongjin helped him out with the dreaded concoction.

Friday, I went with Eomji to try to get my cell phone working. That was lots of drama and a lack of communication on all fronts. Long story short, I still don’t have a working phone, though I do finally have a working SIM chip.

Eomji is a manager of the football club, so we met up with them and ate dinner. The SKKU foreign students then went for a foreigner’s night out. I met the other exchange students that had been in Suwon for a semester already. I had fun, but it would have been better if I had been able to speak… Meh.

Saturday was the HI-Day tour, organized by the HI-Club. We went to a Korean folk village in Yong-in City, about a thirty minute bus ride away from Suwon. The Seoul exchange students were there as well, and I saw a few people that I had met before. The first planned event was pottery making. We got to make pottery using the traditional Korean method, using two slabs of clay, one for the walls of the vessel and one for the bottom. They are going to fire our pieces and deliver them to us. I really enjoyed the ability to exercise my creative juices, and hopefully my pitcher will make it to Suwon in one piece.

Entrance plaza

This guy explained how to make the pottery

All the exchange students and HI-Club buddies

Part of the Suwon group with their masterpieces

Small boy sweeping dirt...

This guy was selling sweet rice candy.
I bought some later from another vendor

Flowers!!!

Dried corn and herbs hanging from the rafters

This guy was making straw baskets

More flowers!!!

Spinning silk

These are silkworm larvae.
A filament of silk from each goes into the main thread

Finished skeins of silk

A loom

Chestnut roasting ajumma

This is a traditional Korean game. You try to throw the spears into the pot

Jumping rope. A worldwide past time

I caught the tail end of a vocal performance: girls in heels playing traditional Korean instruments (plus electric violin) and singing the arirang. Arirang is a traditional Korean song with many different versions. This one was sung using the Korean style of singing, which takes a while to get used to. Have a listen.

The courtyard of the provincial government office contained several torture devices.

Whatever did the poor girl do to deserve this?

Chair of doom

This is how it works.
Apply pressure and your thigh muscles are squeezed into oblivion.

In the jail

There was an equestrian performance, though my friend said it was Mongolian style, not Korean.

Performers and their horses

The only female

Pyramid!

Next was the farmers' music and dance performance. The noise was horrendous, and most of the performers were wearing hats with long ribbons on them that they would spin around by bobbing their heads. You'll have to see it to get the full effect.

This fine lady was the announcer for all the events

The creator of the annoying wailing noise

More performers

The last performance we got to watch was a tightrope walking old man. He was quite the comedian as well if the audience reactions were any indication. Too bad I couldn't understand him.

Climbing up

He made it look so easy.

Taking a rest

We also got to see part of a reenactment of a traditional wedding.

Here comes the bride

And the groom

At the market...

The spoon making process

The smith hard at work

There was a nice little waterfall

Water wheel

Korean dog, not for food I think

The easy way across the river

This lady took the much narrower path

Making acorn jelly

The sweet rice taffee was rather tasty

That was pretty much the end of the tour. Most everyone went to Seoul for the afterparty, but I decided to take it easy to give my voice a chance to recover. Back in Suwon, I tried the traditional Korean food for sick people, juk, or porridge. Two of my friends went with me to help me order since I couldn't speak.