The New Year Restarted... Wednesday, February 2

Today marked the start of the three day Lunar New Year here in Korea. I use to love this holiday, back when I was single that is. I use to have the freedom to travel where ever on this holiday and it all kicked off with people giving me gifts and making me food.

Now that I'm married it's all different... so different.

Now traveling consists of visiting in-laws and is an obligation, a must.
Now it's me handing out the gifts and gifts here include money if kids are involved.
Now it's me they look to to help out with making of the food.

The plan was to head off to Grandma Kim's house out in the middle of no where, Buyeo. I quite like Grandma Kim but it breaks my heart to see her continually struggle now that Grandpa Kim has passed on. There's moments when you can see in her eyes that she's lost, lost in thoughts about him. I can't imagine what I would do if I ever lost Snickers; I'd be crushed.

Plans to head out to Grandma Kim's house were postponed when I was suddenly told that in exactly two minutes K-Gere would be showing up at Ggum Guum. I like K-Gere, he's my father-in-law who is one cool dude and who I often question if he really is Korean born and raised. The problem however was that we'd be attending a big family meal. I haven't seen Snickers family for about three months now cause of all that went down (or didn't go down I should say) when Snickers was in Japan. I anticipated them wanting to talk about it and drown me with their excuses, so I bit my upper lip and expected the dinner to be very uncomfortable. I should too here that Snickers parents are divorced and their relationship definitely didn't end on good terms, so it always freaks me out when all the family is in attendence for social events.

K-Gere showed up my house and I walked down the stairs to greet him. He stood there smiling and then suddenly he started to sing "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over again while doing the silliest of silly dances.

"If I say I forgive you will you stop dancing?" I asked him.

K-Gere's move down to the Busan area has definitely done him good, wow. He's now very successful with a new business and he looks happier and healthier than ever... and so handsome!!! He showed up in a sharp grey suit that flattered his salt and pepper hair. Over his suit he wore a grey tailored jacket that had a deep purple lining. He looked so sharp. Eat your heart out Mama Kim!!!

We all piled into my sister-in-law's van; there were six of us in total. Off to Daechon Beach we headed with plans of picking out some live fish and chowing down on sushi and stew.

Unexpectantly K-Gere and his skill that has now turned into a little side business of his is thriving. He's now somewhat of a celebrity on the Internet, Daum Cafe, where floods of people have been ranting and raving about a skill of his that apparently is the first to thrive in this country. I don't know the details of his job but know that he's a hypnotist who costs $300 an hour to visit him. He's been healing numerous people of their skin problems via hypnotising them. Like I said, I don't know the details of it but must say I personally am skeptical about it.

Snickers says I'm a skeptic because I watch too much of the Discovery Channel... hahaha, maybe. I don't believe that it's the hypnotising that cures people but instead that it's the power of the mind. If you want to believe in something and are convinced that it is true than it can in fact become true. The mind is a very powerful thing and believing means creating. So I'm skeptical about his hypnotising curing people. People are cured because they honestly believe in their heart and want it to be true so even the slightest little thing could be seen as some kind of proof... did I lose you in my rambling?!

Anyways, now that K-Gere is this thriving business man, dinner tonight was his treat and he insisted we eat the best. And the best meant eating this massive fish that weighed in at 4kgs and at $40 a kg, it cost him $160.

K-Gere ended up picking out another fish to alongside the massive fish so we definitely feasted tonight. We headed up to the restaurant above the fish market and chowed down on sushi and fish stew.

I'm not a fan of fish stew, or any kind of cooked fish for that matter. I prefer my fish raw. Come to think of it, I also prefer my beef raw too. There's a restaurant close to Ggum Guum that serves "yeuk hwa bibimbap", a mix of raw vegetables with a load of seasoned raw beef mixed in... delish!!!

By the time dinner had finished it was coming up to 8pm but we still had an hour drive back to Cheonan from the beach and then an hour drive out to Buyeo. Not all of the family headed out to Grandma Kim's house in Buyeo, just Snickers, K-Gere, one of my sister-in-laws, and me. Holidays here in Korea have their own set of customs and norms, so being a married woman means heading off to your husband's family and not your own. I don't have any family in Korea besides Snickers' family but one of my sister-in-laws is married so she headed off in another direction. Mama Kim (my mother-in-law) is no longer married to K-Gere so she usually heads off to Icheon where her family lives. Snickers other sister is talking about wanting to get married so it won't be long until she has a new direction to travel in.

Sitting around the restaurant table with Snickers family, I couldn't help but think about my own family and the separate directions our lives have taken us. This past summer was the first time in God knows when, many years, that we've all been able to come together for a meal as a family. My oldest brother lives in the boonies of Ontario, Canada with his own little family of soon-to-be five, I'm out here in Korea with my husband Snickers, and my other brother is living in New York with his fiance.

We're all internationally scattered.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When will I see you again?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
-- Trey Parker and Matt Stone