Annyanghekaesayo Hanguk....

Final hours of my Korea adventure, still not certain as to the likelihood of a chapter two but as I now have an amazing someone in my life that will be here I am fighting to return for him (and for who I am with him), for the marvelous adventures in this small peninsular nation, for the foods and continuation of my slimmer-trimmer asian food fed body.

Last night went the final meetings with those friends who shared laughs and travel stories, and Julio the Mexican chef was so nice as to join me on my longest footed wandering across Seoul of two hours. (He is quite a fun walking partner, Tuesday's trek was a 10 mile round trip jaunt through three bottles of varietal rice wines along the river Han.. and amazingly no hangover the following day.) Finally walked across one of the bridges here, Hanamdaegyo, and stopped to peer over the side and stir up my fear of heights.

The morning was eventful, Seoul is covered in wedding halls and my boss's brother was the victim to be and thus I garnered an invite and smiled and bowed to everyone who I thought that I should smile and bow to. The groom danced from foot to foot anxiously confessing his jitters and wishing they could start already. (Wedding halls here are scheduled back to back and many guests for the following wedding will sit in on the prior ceremony so as to guarantee seats when their loved ones arrive.) I explained to him the English addage of "butterflies in the stomach" and although he nodded and smiled I'm not all together certain he caught the meaning. I was able to sneak up to see the family photos of the mamas with the bride (looking dazzling in their pastel hambok traditional dresses and little embroidered shoes with the upturned toes), the first being the western style wedding the bride's white dress designed to cover her 5 month round belly from preganancy, luckily she and her mate are well matched and love was also a major factor in the ceremony.

I was sat next to a few relatives that wished to practice English, and found them friendly and did my best to pretend that I didn't stand out like a sore thumb all six feet of me, foreign and with a bright orange thai silk scarf about my shoulders. The loudspeakers blared one form of music while a small instrument ensemble played classical, then came the many bubbles and the bride and groom, who are not given away by the bride's father as in western style but they rather walk together, which was good as she kept stepping on the front of her dress and he was able to hold up the front just enough to aide in the graceful procession of the two under two long plastic swords held up as a bridge for the two to walk under. A preacher delivered a Korean script as a paparazzi of photographers and cameramen circled the couple. Some singing, a few bows, and then the giant party poppers as they made their way back down the aisle. Then I was asked into a photo of the friends and thought to stand on the groom's side and avoided the backrow so as not to be taller than all of the men there. Herded next into lunch area and ate quickly and I added a few of the yummy wedding snacks to my purse at my boss's urging.

First wedding over, mostly for business collegues and neighbors, they ran off to change into the bold basic color hamboks of Korean weddings and I was able to join them for the smaller family ceremony. Red prevelent in representing the woman and blue for males, much of the coloring was a joining of these two, and in fact on the Korean flag the yin-yang symbol in blue and red is symbolic of the sexes. They fed each other many little snacks then the mother of the groom tosses chestnuts to wish them good luck in bearing children. Then my boyfriend called and I excused myself to the alleyway to chat for a few moments and remind each other how much we are missing each other and looking forward to meeting in San Francisco tomorrow. The ceremony finished, the business of the wedding needed to be taken care of and payments were made to the wedding hall, countless little envelopes of money were counted, instead of gifts here they give money (in odd denominations for luck) the names and amounts are recorded and then when asked to attend one of their weddings you should expect to donate no less than the recorded amount that they donated, and with so many weddings here I imagine that gets expensive.

Made my way back to my apartment for a rest, and looked up to watch a guy dangling on a rope line cleaning windows. I waved hello and he waved back. He had cleaned the other side of the building earlier in the morning and I had been awaken to the sound of a squeegie against the glass and a spiderman outside of my bedroom window, quite a surprise after little sleep from the night before and having an abode of the ninth floor.

Onto my evening, my Korean family treated me to a lovely duck dinner and traditional dishes about an hour outside of the city in a little valley, I drank dondongju rice wine (which I love and know I shall not find outside of Korea) and said what may be final farewells to some of the family. The mother and her two kids will come to meet me in Seattle in two weeks along with three other kids for a two month summer program I arranged for an English Immersion tour. And afterwards I am uncertain where the wind will whisk me off to, hopefully it'll back into the arms of Chris/Dongkyu (my Korean-American partner in crime) through the fall months and then both of us someplace warmer before I freeze myself through another Siberian-type winter.

So the final packing begins, and the realization that I am not only going on a trip this time but moving from what I now feel to be home sets in. I wonder if there will be a sensory overload as I return to signs that I fully comprehend, conversations that I understand, and a sea not of Asians but Americans. I am so looking forward to the next of life's adventures... whatever or wherever that may be... meanwhile I'll continue folding origami cranes on my flight home and might make 300 by arrival (going for the 1,000 in which the laborer should have any wish granted, and I hope to know what wish I should make by the time I have completed the many tiny birds.)