A Little Moore Perspective AFTER Korea

When we moved in to our apartment, we noticed some funny smells. For one, we could smell all sorts of different foods being cooked throughout the building, and probably the complex. There was some kind of odor coming from under the sink, which we could never find the source to, so we loaded it up with Lysol in an attempt to neutralize it. Then there was this stagnant, fishy smell that just kind of permeated the air. But who knew what it could be. We are, after all, in an foreign land half way around the world with completely new foods and customs, not to mention all the seafood they eat here. It could be anything!

So a few weeks later, I’m jumping around in the living room one evening, playing with Ezekiel, when I notice something on top of the cabinet right next to the front door. It was normally out of eye sight, but I caught a glimpse on my way up to the ceiling. I go over to inspect and to my shock find that we have a sizable, dried up fish friend watching over us. What a lovely gift for the previous tenants to leave us. Boy, was he putting out a rotten stench! After snapping a few shots, I promptly took him out to the trash.

We not-so-lovingly dubbed him “Fish Man.”

Times, they are a-changin.  I can’t believe that we have been here for 2 months already!  And in that time I have seen many changes.  Walking to school, I went from being in sunlight to walking directly INTO the sun.  The days are getting shorter.  I went from being exhausted and feeling-like-I- need-another-shower-sweaty, to being slightly winded and chilly.  The students stopped screaming and cheering when I enter a room and now just greet me with an excited “Hi!”  We can now drive around the city in the back of the taxi and recognize where we are going.  We can see pictures of our city and find it familiar.  And when I walk home, I am incredibly blessed by a view of a mountain with changing trees on one side and a beautiful sunset on the other. 

Our children are changing daily and I am constantly surprised by how big they are getting and the new things they are learning and are capable of.  David and I are changing, too.  We have grown so much closer in this city where we really have few obligations or social commitments other than each other.  I have seen David blossoming in his new role and I can see how much better of a relationship he has with our children now because of it.

But there are more changes to come. 

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Two weeks after I started teaching, we had a day off for a holiday.  Because in many cases Koreans use the Lunar calendar, holidays can change from year to year, and this year, Chu-seock (pronounced “chew-sock”) fell on September 13th, 14th and 15th.  Unfortunately, only one of those days was a weekday, so we only had one day off school. 

Chu-seock is basically Korean Thanksgiving.  It is a time for family and eating.  The actual holiday is the middle day and the other two are given for traveling.  In general, families go to the elder parents’ homes to eat and praise their ancestors.  The original intent was that the ghosts or spirits from the ancestors would come and eat from the food first and then the family could eat.  These days, many people do not really believe this will happen, and participate in this holiday for cultural reasons as opposed to religious, and people of all religions take part.

Because we had only been here 2 weeks, we were not sure what to do, so we made no plans.  On the Friday before the holiday, one student brought me a plate with some Korean treats and a note explaining that the treats were hangwa, a traditional Korean cookie.  I waited to sample one until I got home so David could try one also. 

That night we went out for Dak Galbi.  Usually the students from the schools are still in classes late into the night, but because of the holiday, they were able to leave at 6 o’clock instead.  It just so happened that many of them were arriving downtown at the same time we were. 

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