Strangely wonderful.

A couple weeks ago, I had an interesting adventure.  Carla, the then-newest teacher, and I volunteered to have our pictures taken on a Saturday.  One of the Korean teachers knew someone who was a photographer and wanted a couple foreigners for a day trip photo shoot, so we woke up bright and early to get in a car with strangers for a couple hours.  :c)  The lady who arranged it turned out to be the grandmother of one of my students, the lovely and adorable Lilly.  (Incidentally, Lilly's grandmother escaped from North Korea at the beginning of the Korean War, when she was four years old.  Crazy!)  There were about six people, including the teacher, whose day job involves intelligence with the Seoul police force.  (How cool!)  They took us down to Daejeon, and we visited a military (and police and firefighter) cemetary; it's similar to Arlington Cemetary in the States.

Most of the pictures involved Carla and I standing solemnly in front of graves with or without the teacher, in his dress police uniform, pointing out various things on the graves.  After a couple hours of that, we went to a grassy area and set up a little picnic with milk and cookies, then another one with vitamin C-and-ginseng energy drinks.  We smiled and laughed gaily while the Koreans took pictures.  It was....strange.  We found out halfway through the energy drink picnic that the pictures were for two photo contests; the milk company and energy drink companies were looking for pictures for a new ad campaign, and the prize is a lifetime supply of that product.  (Sweet!)  So Carla and I just might be appearing in an ad...haha.  Unlikely, but who knows!

All the photographers were between the ages of 50ish and 75ish, which provided Carla and I with an interesting and informative experience.  I've been reading a lot about traditional Korean values and ways of thinking, but since all the Koreans we know are either kids or twentysomething teachers who've spent time abroad, I hadn't interacted heavily with anyone who carries the old-school Korean mindset.  This group of photographers, though, finally gave me some exposure to that.  For instance, Carla and I were treated like royalty.  We were honored guests, and the whole day they treated us with deference and respect.  It was a really long day; we woke up at 7:30 and didn't get home until about 8pm, and it was quite exhausting and strange to have our pictures taken and be so formal for that long.  But despite that, it was really edifying to have the opportunity to interact with an older generation of Koreans in such a meaningful way.  They were extremely gracious hosts, and I came away feeling like they considered us to be dear friends.  In fact, Lilly's grandmother called me today and invited us to her house for lunch next Saturday.

The experience was really...well, strange.  Nothing quite compares to being asked to drink things and emote exuberantly while several people clamber around snapping pictures.  It was also quite a mental exercise to stay alert for cues about how to conduct myself with propriety.  But being brought into these people's world with such candidness made the experience really special.  That day was bizarre, fulfilling, taxing, and edifying; in short, it was exactly what I came to Korea to experience.