Ben's Fusion Birthday Part Two - Korean Style

In Korea, first birthdays are a big deal. We didn't go all out, but we did want to do something uniquely Korean since it will probably be Benjamin's only birthday in the country where he was born. So,he wore a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) which was a gift from our friends Joanne and Tom.

Also, we set a table with fruit, rice, rice cakes and seaweed soup. Seaweed soup... it will forever be a reminder to me of giving birth. At the hospital they served it to me 4 times a day! The iron and iodine are important to mothers who have just delivered, and it is supposed to help milk production. You are supposed to eat seaweed soup every year on your birthday. (Also, my students tell me you shouldn't eat it before a test. The seaweed is so slippery the test answers might slip away from you. I guess you're in trouble if your birthday is the day before a big test!) Munju made the seaweed soup for Benjamin, who enjoyed it for the next week. Our table was not elaborate compared to how it is usually done, but as we were not entertaining hundreds of guests, it sufficed quite nicely!

The last thing we did was to put some items on the table and let Benjamin choose whatever he wanted. Traditionally the items were thread to signify long life, money (wealth) and a pencil or writing brush to signify that the child would be a good student. These days people are updating and getting more creative with the items - a credit card instead of money, or a golf ball - because of several famous Korean golfers!

When it came time for Benjamin to choose something he got a little stage fright. After a couple of false starts (we exclaimed too loudly and scared him into aborting his first grab) he finally picked up the pencil and paintbrush. We cheered and I played a little drum roll on the table. Benjamin enjoyed that so much he cried when I set the pencil and paintbrush down!



The tears were short-lived, though, and Ben spent the rest of the evening modelling new clothes and playing with Jeff's cell phone.