Culture around the edges
As always, I find ways to sneak in culture around the edges of my business meetings. This trip, I met a new sales rep we just hired in Seoul. She seems easy to talk to and has very good English, so we've been chatting. First I learned how she chose her laptop: She didn't want to offend either LG or Samsung (the two major clients she will be dealing with) by purchasing a computer from the other. So she got a Sony Vaio. It's a cool widescreen one, by the way.
Over coffee, she told me about various holidays they've been having. Valentine's Day has been exported to Asia, but in Korea, that is the day when women give chocolates to men. The next month, on March 14, it is White Day, when men give women candies. (She says women are eternally disappointed because they really want chocolates, but somehow the tradition has become for them to get other candies). And then companies started realizing that they could create holidays in order to make more money-- I guess we've exported our marketing techniques too-- and so on April 14, it is Black Day. People who didn't get or give anything for Valentine's Day or White Day are supposed to eat black Chinese noodles together on Black Day.
We had a little extra time after lunch, so we strolled up the street to a palace called Deoksugung. It had gorgeous painted woodwork around the eaves and on the ceiling indoors. According to the little blurb on the back of the ticket, it was originally built as a residence for Prince Wolsandaegun sometime before the 16th century. At various times during the Korean Empire, it was the main palace used by the King, and at other times it was a secondary residence.
One item that intrigued me was a model of an early weapon used to defend the palace. I can't recall the name of it, but it was a projectile weapon by which metal-tipped arrows were fired out of a matrix of slots using a small gunpowder explosion at the end of each. It wasn't a hand weapon; the matrix was mounted on a pole about 6 feet long, and connected to a cart with wheels. So it was more like a cannon. I had bought into the Western myth that gunpowder was invented in China but never used for weapons, only fireworks, until the Europeans created guns. But this weapon was used in the 15th century! Now, the arquebus was invented around 1475, but it wasn't anything like this weapon, so I suspect this one was home-grown. So much for the myth? Hmm.
Just as we were leaving the palace, we ran into a ceremony! It was about 30 men dressed in traditional Korean garb, marching like an army (some with flags, some with traditional instruments). They came to the palace and enacted some kind of ritual where their leader had to have a password to enter the grounds. There was an announcer explaining what was happening in both Korean and English, but we didn't end up understanding! The Korean was very traditional language, and my co-worker claimed she actually couldn't understand it. I hadn't realized that older forms of language could still be spoken, as if we were to use Chaucerian English to narrate a ceremony. And the English the announcer used was too sparse to piece together what was happening (she said things like, "Now the leader will start the ceremony with the password"). Um, why? How? When would this have happened?
I was gaping at them, fascinated, when my colleague said, "You aren't thinking this is real, are you?"
I have discovered, by the way, that I like bibim bap. It's a bunch of sliced vegetables, possibly with a raw egg yolk on top, sitting on rice. Plus some red chili sauce, of course. I kind of liked having the ingredients all neatly arranged, but I was told that the proper way to eat it is by mixing it all up with your chopsticks until it's a big mush.
I have also learned the name for the sushi-like roll that contains crabmeat, veggies, rice, and sometimes mayonnaise inside of seaweed: kim bap. (It's probably an abomination to call it sushi-like. The Japanese would be offended by the inclusion of something rich like mayo, while the Koreans would be offended to have their dish likened to a Japanese one). Kim bap can also be really good.
But I'm still not a kimchee fan. Maybe it grows on you.
Over coffee, she told me about various holidays they've been having. Valentine's Day has been exported to Asia, but in Korea, that is the day when women give chocolates to men. The next month, on March 14, it is White Day, when men give women candies. (She says women are eternally disappointed because they really want chocolates, but somehow the tradition has become for them to get other candies). And then companies started realizing that they could create holidays in order to make more money-- I guess we've exported our marketing techniques too-- and so on April 14, it is Black Day. People who didn't get or give anything for Valentine's Day or White Day are supposed to eat black Chinese noodles together on Black Day.
We had a little extra time after lunch, so we strolled up the street to a palace called Deoksugung. It had gorgeous painted woodwork around the eaves and on the ceiling indoors. According to the little blurb on the back of the ticket, it was originally built as a residence for Prince Wolsandaegun sometime before the 16th century. At various times during the Korean Empire, it was the main palace used by the King, and at other times it was a secondary residence.
One item that intrigued me was a model of an early weapon used to defend the palace. I can't recall the name of it, but it was a projectile weapon by which metal-tipped arrows were fired out of a matrix of slots using a small gunpowder explosion at the end of each. It wasn't a hand weapon; the matrix was mounted on a pole about 6 feet long, and connected to a cart with wheels. So it was more like a cannon. I had bought into the Western myth that gunpowder was invented in China but never used for weapons, only fireworks, until the Europeans created guns. But this weapon was used in the 15th century! Now, the arquebus was invented around 1475, but it wasn't anything like this weapon, so I suspect this one was home-grown. So much for the myth? Hmm.
Just as we were leaving the palace, we ran into a ceremony! It was about 30 men dressed in traditional Korean garb, marching like an army (some with flags, some with traditional instruments). They came to the palace and enacted some kind of ritual where their leader had to have a password to enter the grounds. There was an announcer explaining what was happening in both Korean and English, but we didn't end up understanding! The Korean was very traditional language, and my co-worker claimed she actually couldn't understand it. I hadn't realized that older forms of language could still be spoken, as if we were to use Chaucerian English to narrate a ceremony. And the English the announcer used was too sparse to piece together what was happening (she said things like, "Now the leader will start the ceremony with the password"). Um, why? How? When would this have happened?
I was gaping at them, fascinated, when my colleague said, "You aren't thinking this is real, are you?"
I have discovered, by the way, that I like bibim bap. It's a bunch of sliced vegetables, possibly with a raw egg yolk on top, sitting on rice. Plus some red chili sauce, of course. I kind of liked having the ingredients all neatly arranged, but I was told that the proper way to eat it is by mixing it all up with your chopsticks until it's a big mush.
I have also learned the name for the sushi-like roll that contains crabmeat, veggies, rice, and sometimes mayonnaise inside of seaweed: kim bap. (It's probably an abomination to call it sushi-like. The Japanese would be offended by the inclusion of something rich like mayo, while the Koreans would be offended to have their dish likened to a Japanese one). Kim bap can also be really good.
But I'm still not a kimchee fan. Maybe it grows on you.
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