Today I met Matt's new boss and his family. He invited Matt and I over for dinner. I had a wonderful time being a part of a family again, even though it was not mine. I met Matt's boss, his wife, his mother and his two kids: Janyce, 12 and Brandon, 9 (these are their American names of course). We went to a restaurant serving traditional country side dishes - one of the last of its kind. Then we went to Bukak Skyway (bukak = big rock in north), a road on the slopes of Mt. Bukak. The drive was very similar to the hilly, winding roads of the Shenandoahs; never expected to be on such a road in Seoul! We stopped at an observation point and took photos, where permissible (the point oversees the Blue House, where the president resides and therefore photography was prohibited in that direction). Then we went to Insadong, an artsy, urban-ish, modern area. And it was snowing tonight! My first snow in Korea!
It was endearing to see their family drama unfold ... their son, a second-grader, didn't come home from school right away like he usually does. For 4.5 hours today they did not know where he was. They drove around and called around and they did not find him. I am surprised that they still welcomed us into their home rather than cancel and reschedule our plans. So we waited with them, had small talk and stayed glued to the phone; we were there when the son eventually came home; we were there when mom cried and held him, begging him not to do that to her again; we were there when grandmother did the same; we were there to see him hang his head low in silence; we were there to see that he didn't want to show us his face, feeling upset that he could not greet us properly because of the situation that he was in; we were there to know that grandma, now happy that her grandson was home, was now unhappy that she did not have a meal prepared for the guests; we were there as they phoned everyone back to let them know that the son was home. Relief. Then off we went to do fun things.
Family life. Universally understood.
1 comment:
its great to see how families' cope with life's situations. although different cultures have their own systems of signification and communication, there's a fundamentally common human element in emotions. fear, anger, frustration, happiness, and shame seem to be virtually universal; something we can all relate to and understand.
great blog entry.
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