12 Hours With the In-laws

It started out auspiciously enough (whatever that means): as you know from yesterday, my in-laws planned a gathering in an uncle's place in Suwon. (Oh, when I say uncle and aunt and cousin it's my wife's...but you know what I mean.) I took a cab to my wife's parent's place (FIL-father-in-law, MIL=mother-in-law, too long to type) as my foot is still bothering me; it may be another week before it's ok. When I got there they brought out the apples (you'll see food is a recurring theme here). Then we brought a bunch of stuff to the car and headed to Kangnam to their new officetel: 20-odd 평/pyoung (1 pyoung = 3.3 square metres or 33 square feet...you get used to it). They're moving to Canada for good (leaving me here by my lonesome: waaaaa!) so they've been slimming down everything on this side of the Pacific.

Too bad my phonecam is so brutal for long distance shots, but I think you can see the view is pretty good: ya, a good view of the smog.


View from 16th floor Kangnam Officetel...wonder what it's like on the 22nd floor...

And here's their front yard, the street with the most expensive real estate in the country (and many parts of Asia and the world as well).


Here is the view of Kangnam-daero (Kangnam big avenue) on a Sunday. Usually all the lanes are filled.

Meanwhile, back in the loo, there are creature comforts of every persuasion.


In the new officetel...if you can't get up to get the door there's an intercom station here.

On the way to Suwon I saw this sign. Korean doesn't have an 'F' sound (but, yes, they can say the 'F'-word) so they often use 프/peu as in 호프/ho-peu (hof, bar/pub) or 휘/hwi 화이팅/hwa-ee-ting (fighting, similar to gambatte in Japanese) and 휴래쉬/hyoo-rae-swi (freshie, below). It's just one of those things that makes no sense until you've been here for a while and been indoctrinated in the language.


후래쉬마트/Hoo-rae-swi Ma-teu = Freshie Mart...go figure.

As a contrast I took a pic of the view from the Suwon apartment. This one is on the 4th floor, but even though we were in the 'country' most apartments here had 16-20 stories! Here is a question: why is it that they can keep building these things and people keep buying them/living in them? Think of it...the fertility of Korean women is low, the population is aging, there is net emigration (never really heard of masses of people immigrating here) and yet construction of high-rises continues unabated in the city and the country. Where are all these people coming from? Maybe there are old apartments being torn down, but that can't last forever. Maybe the extended family of the past is being broken down into nuclear families and parents on their own. Maybe unmarried kids moving out has something to do with it. Maybe there are still people on the farms who are moving to the cities. Any ideas?


Slightly different view in Suwon (note field).


And instead of a gigantic road, a park (which looks like a road).

Here comes the food. Good God, there is no way we can finish this...and we didn't.


An incredible amount of food...but that's Korea for you.


Of course you have to pour for the most senior man first.


감배/Gambae! Time to start the feed!


Cognac and soju; what a juxtaposition that is.

Man, that was a lot of food...I really wonder how Koreans keep anything close to a slim figure.


My 장인어른/jang-i-neo-reun (father-in-law)...looks a little sleepy after the meal.


Three 아저씨/ajeosshi (older men) take it easy.

In Korea it seems the ladies love housework. Of course they don't how could they? But...they just keep on smiling and laughing and carrying on as they do it. Hmmmmmm...if I could package this I'd be a millionaire!~


Our hostess getting down with the dishes!


And here she is elbow-deep into the 김치냉장고/kimchi naeng-jang-ko (fridge).

The older ladies (my MIL and her sister) have earned the right to take a rest as the younger gals go at the dishes.


My 장모님/jang-mo-nim (mother-in-law) and her sister (foreground).

Here's one now:


Another 이모/ee-mo (auntie) gets down for the camera.

My 사촌/sa-chon (cousin) goes to a university near Seoul University (1.5 to 2 HOURS away from here, Monday to Friday) now that he's finished his compulsory military (Air Force) training.


My (wife's) cousin 상엽/Sang-Yeop is looking for an English name. Care to suggest one?

Now that the dishes are done the gals sit down with more food.


Here are the girls relaxing after doing the dishes (with a bowl of about 40 oranges).

And the men get served the food by them: plates of 감/gam (persimmon) and 귤/gyool (oranges) as they play Go-Stop (rules and stuff here). I was in a few hands too but my foot only let me stay in for enough to lose about 30,000 won to the old masters.


And the boys playing go-stop for about 3-4 hours.

Usually the oldest guy takes in the most, but this time it wasn't my FIL...although he did get a good chunk of my money.


My father-in-law laying down cards and raking in the dough.

Ok, this in NOT a Korean product...so I have no excuse for the copy on this bag. Would someone please explain to me what they heck those guys at the ad agencies were smoking when they thought of this! (Probably the same guys who came up with *69.)


Take a look at this...Nibble Nobby's Nuts?!?!!

At 6PM I thought we'd be heading home but we had 떡국/ddeok-gook (rice-cake soup) and then headed to the 노래방/no-rae-bang. I was dead-tired as this foot has kept me from a good sleep for the last 4 days, but my FIL said we should go and that it would only be an hour. Prophetically I said: "It's never one hour at a 노래방, it'll be two." It was. It was a slow night so they kept giving us 써비스/sseo-bi-seu (service/free/extra) time. Gee, thanks. It was pretty fun, but by the end of that I was pooped. Slept most of the way home in the car and got home at 10PM, over 12 hours after I left for what I thought would be a 3-4 hour tour.

This is a pic of a sign here in Yeouido. Koreans are resilient if anything; the government doesn't allow room salons/brothels anymore so this "room business" has changed it's tune (get it?) to 노래클럽no-rae-keul-leob (singing club). Same system of selling beer and whiskey and charging a 'tip'...ya, the tip is the cost of the girls. But no...it's not a room salon, that is illegal...it's a singing club, that's all. That there are girls there you can rent by the hour is a mere coincidence. (Count on seeing more of these popping up around town.)



And with that it's time to get to work.