I'm still amazed at how many things are different than they are in the good ol' USA. In general, Koreans don't celebrate Valentine's Day (or Hallmark-stock-boost Day) like we do. But there wasn't lack of interesting things going on. This year, the Lunar New Year is the same day as Valentine's Day.
After careful consideration, we decided to gamble and head to Everland for the day. It was a gamble, because as we heard through the grapevine, Soellal traffic rivals what we see on Thanksgiving. Luckily, we have a really nice back way to go that avoids the major interstates, and is just a more peaceful drive. And doubly lucky, there was hardly any traffic that way.
Everland did a very nice job; this was their first attempt to bring in something cultural for Soellal. They had a celebration planned that included traditional Korean dancing, traditional games, and foods. The performers did a Samulnori (or farmers' dance). The dance was beautiful and was really distinctive because of the long, flowing tassels worn atop the dancers' hats which followed the music. Music is produced by 4 instruments: drum (buk), hourglass drum (chang-gu), and two types of gongs (ching and kkoenggwari). We were amazed at how they could play their instruments while whipping the tassels around.
During the show, the mistress of ceremonies asked if there were any "foreigners" in the audience. When scanning, she saw us sitting there and said, yes, there are some right there. Guess we stick out like sore thumbs. Ronnie was invited down to try his hand at beona, or spinning plates on a stick. He did really well. A little while later, there was another opportunity for audience participation and I was invited down to try out the spinning tassel hat. I don't think I've laughed as hard for so long in a while. There is a video, but you'll have to bribe Ronnie if you want to see it.
After visiting some of our regular haunts, we set out to find Tteokguk (pronounced duck gook). Tteokguk is a traditional meal that ages you another year, but also is to bring you good luck in the New Year, while warding off any evil from the previous year. It's made with tteok, or rice cake noodles that are sliced into coins, in a beef broth and is traditionally topped with egg, seaweed and slices of beef.
Lucky for us, we discovered one of the restaurants in the park was serving it. After some pantomiming with the restaurant staff, attempting a really bad pronounciation, and about 5 minutes of prep once they figured out what those crazy Americans wanted, we received our bowl of steaming hot soup. I can't begin to tell you how delicious the soup was. The tteok was chewy, but not gummy; the beef, egg, and seaweed were a nice compliment, but the star of this show for me was the broth itself. To describe it as velvety would not do it justice; so, I will just say that I WILL be adding this to my repertoire of cooking, as it was a family favorite. Holly and Sarah completely forgot about their pork cutlet and curry rice in favor of the "noodle soup" and it was gone before we knew it.
Normally, Everland would have fireworks to end the night, but not during "Winter Story" since they set off the fireworks on the same hill as the sledding. But they did have a light parade, complete with lit characters and booming music.
Saehae bok manhi badeuseyo
Many blessings for the New Year
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