South+Korea

South Korea

The Mungunghwa flower is South Koreas national flower. South Korea has the worlds highest national I.Q. rating. The South Korean tea ceremony is a gathering of friends and family that korean families hold often. it consists of a proper serving of the tea and occasionally they consist of dancing and the people engaged in the ceremony drape themselves in traditional clothing. Kimchi is a food that is over a hundred years old and symbolizes Korean food. South Korea has the fourth largest economy in Asia. James A. Redfern

media type="file" key="The Short Trip 2.m4a"

The Short Trip The flight attendant woke me from my light sleep. I was still very tired because it’s hard to go to sleep in a Boeing 747. I held my nose and blew to pressurize my ears. I would be landing in South Korea soon. The company sent me to meet with Mr. Chin, the CEO of our business partner. The flight attendant woke me 40 minutes out from South Korea. I wondered why she woke me up so early from South Korea. I had nothing to do so; I pulled out my book on how to learn Korean. I went over on how I’m supposed to respect the CEO and when the meeting starts I should let him go in first. I also made sure that my documents were in Korean as well in English because that’s what the book said I should do. A few minutes later the flight attendant came over and asked me if I wanted anything before we landed. To which I replied “no thanks I’m good.” A little while later while I was reading over my documents I heard the pilot over the speaker. “Ladies and Gentlemen ,this is your captain speaking, we will be arriving at our destination in about 15 minutes and until then we ask you to shut down all electronic devices and put your tray tables up, thank you for flying Jet Blue and we hope you will chose us for all of your transportation needs.” When we got to the airport the wheels skidded on the ground and when we got to the docking area I was relived to be on the ground. I packed up my papers and documents in my briefcase and waited to be let out of the plane. When the door finally opened I was happy I was in first class. I could get off before the other people. I didn’t have much luggage, just my briefcase. I wasn’t planning to stay overnight. When I left the flight gate, I was amazed by the amount people in the airport and by how much different it was from an American airport. Many of the food stands were much different than the ones back home. I wanted to go to the meeting, but I also wanted a souvenir from my travels. I browsed one store and found one of those little waving cats that supposedly good luck. “Why not?” I thought. I brought the little cat to the cashier and got out my wallet. He said something in Korean which I had no idea what he said. “Excuse me?” I asked. To which he replied. “You are American?” “Yes I am, where did you learn to speak English?” “I learned it in High school.” “Huh.” I said. “So anyway how much is this little cat?” “It is ten thousand Won.” That’s about 15 dollars. I handed him the 15 dollars and left. I was told that someone would be waiting for me. Then I saw a man in a suit holding a sign that said Blacktop. “Hello.” I said. “Are you Mr. Blacktop?” He asked. “I am.” “Okay Mr. Blacktop I will take you to the meeting.” Please do.” I said. He took me to a black car and opened the door for me. “Welcome to Seoul Mr. Blacktop.” He said. We drove to the headquarters and I was lead up to the top floor where I saw Mr. Chin. “Ah, you’re early Mr. Blacktop.” He said. “Nice to meet you Mr. Chin, shall we get started?” I asked. “Strait to the point, I like that Mr. Blacktop.” “After you Mr. Chin.” I say. “Thank you.” He says. We walk into the meeting room where I open my briefcase to get out the documents that I was supposed to give to Mr. Chin. I hand them to him, which he spends a good ten minutes reading. After he was done reading the documents he turned to me and said, “Very good Mr. Blacktop. I am more than happy to do further business with you in the future.” “Thank you Mr. Chin.” We shook hands and then bowed to each other. Mr. Chin then walked me to front of the building where a car was waiting to take me back to the airport. I waved good bye to Mr. Chin and got in the black car. I was dropped off at the airport where I went to the front desk and got my plane ticket. From there I went through the metal detectors and went to gate 44. I got on the plane and took my seat. I hadn’t gotten much sleep so decided to go to sleep. As I closed my eyes I said to myself, “I hope the flight attendant doesn’t wake me up too soon this time.



Nothing Can Beat the Sound By Dominique Ashe media type="file" key="KoreanTrip.m4a" width="180" height="30"

The thrumming of the majestic drums vibrated through the wooden panels hitting my toes and rattling my body. I could hear the synchronized beat of the sword dancers practicing as I walked into my hosts entertainment lounge. My mind racing, thrilled to have come all this way to South Korea to explore the culture first- hand that I'd been studying for so long. My host was a middle-aged man named Min-Gyom who was married with two daughters and a son. As a living him and his wife owned an old-fashioned style tea house and entertainment lounge. During the day they held ceremonial tea hours while in the evening it turned into a lively bar where comedians talked, sword and fan dancers danced and my most favorite, the Janggu players. A janggu is a hourglass looking drum that's laid horizontally onto one's lap and played with two sticks that you thrum rhythmically. Many times as the drummers are playing the janggu women in long robed dresses called ham boks made of flamboyant silks dance, catching every man's eye. Some ham- boks have long flowing sleeves allowing the women to twirl around with a graceful flow while others dance the sword and fan dances. As I followed Min- gyom through the thin panels separating rooms, the smell of freshly made man-do and kim-chi-bo-cum-bab snaked its way around the building seducing the taste buds in my mouth. My belly rumbled, soundlessly at first but began up again every time the strong whiff of the wonderful delicacy crept through the room. Hearing the intermittent noise from my stomach my host promted me to the kitchen where his tubby wife served me a steaming hot plate of freshly cooked man- do, which is a Korean style potsticker and kim- chi -bo -cum- bab and my most favorite, cal bi which is steak marinated in an extremely flavorable and delicious sauce. My mouth soon found its way to the delicious food and soon I was engulfed in it. “Chon chon ay” “Chon chon ay” I heard them saying as they laughed. They were telling me to slow down or I’d get hic-ups. I laughed with them, and as I enjoyed the rest of the meal, we talked. Satisfied, Min-gyom and I left to go see the rest of the building. As I walked through the panel I turned around, “Cam sa hap nida” I said, meaning thank you in Korean. She replied “Cham ma nay oh” meaning your welcome. I smiled to myself enjoying the fact that though I was from a completely different part of the world, I was still able to communicate well with these strangers that were becoming my new family so quickly. We proceeded to a large room where a big stage and long wooden tables were being brought out for the evening shows and I decided to helped out a little to speed things up. The day flew by as I brought in chairs, and set up tables and soon the lounge was bubbling with life. Waiters running back and forth with exotic drinks, and guests laughing at comedians. As the last comedian left the stage the lights darkened and a faint silhouette could be seen of people ascending onto the stage. A spotlight flashed and that loud thrumming of the janggu that I’d heard practicing earlier was brought into play. In the middle of the stage women with their long flowing ham –boks and around them, a group of men and women sat cross legged with janggus laid on their lap. In a heartbeat the drummers began beating their drums furiously and the dancers began twirling around with their fans and swords. I closed my eyes and listens to the beat. This day had been so far the best in my adventure and I couldn't wait to explore the rest.