Wedding day

7:30 am. The hotel room was hot last night, and not as comfortable as the SeaCloud hotel.  Wonder of wonders, Jesse called before mom and I were ready.  So I took a long-ish shower in hot water.

Breakfast was McDonalds.  I had the pancakes, while mom and Jesse ate McSomethings.  Not very memorable.

Afterwards we walked to the Hyundai cultural center on the hill, where Inhae was getting ready for the big day.  Jesse, too, had to put on his tux and makeup.

11:30 am.  Mom and I are getting ready for the wedding, ironing our clothes.  The gold suit has a stain--or three--and mom is annoyed.  $10 would have bought much more attention to detail in Korea.

12:15 pm.  I go downstairs and find the party in full swing; After watching the three photographers pose Inhae in a small salon with a couch, I go to fetch mom.

Mihee, Inhae's mom, is wearing a traditional Korean dress, and it turns out that mom could have also worn one, if we had known.  When  I get married in Korea, I'll be sure and ask questions about traditions and dress.

Mr. Shim is greeting people, much like a reception in the US, and I think that both parents are expected to be there, but they are too polite to mention anything.  I stand by him for a while, and he introduces me to several people that come by, but not others--I assume that they are work colleagues.

By the entrance to the banquet hall is an interesting dispay with a couple of pictures of Jesse and Inhae.  In one, they stand side by side hugging teddy bears.  How cute!

1:00 pm.  People are getting seated.  There is a spot reserved for the groom's family, but the seats are empty.  There's a korean emcee as well as an american emcee, who direct the crowds--or mom and I.

I sit in front, in what would be dad's seat, if he were here, and wait while the procession begins.  First, the mothers arrive, light candles, and bow to each other.  The room laughs as mom nearly forgets to bow to the audience.

The crowd claps as each person enters.

The Groom--that's Jesse--then enters, walking down the aisle.  He bows to various people, then stands and waits.

Inhae's father escorts her down the isle.  When they arrive where Jesse waits, they bow to each other, and Jesse then escorts Inhae to the front in a cloud, with bubbles raining down upon them.  The bubbles that landed near the CO2 sat on the green ballroom carpet until the mist began to die away, when they would slowly pop.

After this the officiator begins saying a lot of things that Mom and I cannot understand.  It doesn't go on very long.

There is more bowing, to both families this time, and then Jesse is told to pick up the bride, address her, "Inhae", sit, then stand and say "I love you.".  He does it, but the Emcee tells him to say it louder.  The third try he finally uses a voice that projects to the audience.

And that was the ceremony.  No kissing, and very polite and formal.

After that, photos.

2:00 pm.  We have a small, more intimate ceremony with both Inhae and Jesse in traditional dress--Jesse in blue, which seems to represent the groom's family, and Inhae in red.

First up is Mom.  Mom sits behind a low table, with nuts and sweets arranged on it.  Jesse pours a traditional alcohol into a cup which Inhae holds and hands it to her (also adding in sotto voce that it's alcohol, and not to drink), where, with some prodding, she mimics drinking the cup. 

She gets to take a handful of dried plums? and chestnuts, and tosses them onto a kerchief that the bride and groom hold between them.  4 sons, 5 daughters.

Then she is told to give the newlyweds some advice.  And she mentions to always think of the other person, and to avoid criticizing.

Next I'm up, and before we I mimic the driking routine, we bow, head to the floor, as a sign of respect.  I don't get to add any more children to the mix, but do get to eat the candy.  Unfortunately I didn't get my chance to give advice, or I probably would have said to never go to bed angry at one another.

Inhae's parents are next, and by now Jesse has moderated the amount of alcohol he pours.  They both eat a sweet and give some advice.  Treat others with respect.

Finally comes Mr. Shim's cousin, who is a bit older than he is, and I couldn't understand his advice; It must have been something about always listening to Inhae because she's the boss...

And this is where the kissing comes in, as the newlyweds share a dried fruit, with Jesse holding it in his mouth to start with...

2:40 pm.  Lunch in the same buffet restaurant as last night.  I ate more sushi, mostly, and noodles.  Also a small salad and some bread pudding for desert.

3:05 pm.  Mr Shim takes mom and I on a driving tour of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which includes a shipyard, engine manufacture, large transformers & electrical components, and construction machinery.  The boat yards were amazing--very large sections of the side are built one at a time, and then welded together to form a hull section, like a slice of a watermelon.  Multiple hull sections are then joined together in drydock until the ship is completed up to above the waterline.  After that some of the upper hull and decking can be completed with the boat floating.  This is aided by 1200 ton cranes, movable buildings, and lots of people.  They build about 100 ships per year, at least 1 per week.  

The whole factory was huge, with a lot of ships being built at once.  I counted at least 2 dozen that looked like ships already.  Both mom and I were very impressed.

3:55 pm.  Tour's over, we say good-bye to Mr & Mrs Shim, and arrange a ride to Pusan terminal tomorrow.

5:00 pm.  After changing, Mom, Jesse, and I run errands... I'm looking for chapstick, and Mom is looking for mint Xylitol candy.  I find the chapstick, and Mom does not find the candy.

We then hike up a small hill behind the hotel.  I thought that it was a loop, but it doesn't look like it.  It looks out over a soccer pitch, but didn't offer an unobstructed view of the city.

Inhae calls when we're at the top--she has been off with friends and is now back at the hotel.  We walk back, past the hospital, and then decide to go downtown.

7:30 pm.  The Lotte department store has a huge ferris wheel on top of the 7 story building, and so we rode it.  Inhae is a little bit afraid of heights and on the sides you look down over the edge of the building.

9:05 pm.  Dinner time at pizza hut.  PizzaHut in Korea is a nice, sit down restaurant, and the pizza is expensive.  In additon to the pizza, we ate the salad bar, which had an interesting sweet potato salad, like a potato salad, and both apple and watermelon Jello.  The pizza was a bulgogi and bbq, and around the edges were interesting rolls of bread around cheese and sweet potato filling, that you dipped into the fondue cheese filling.

10:30 pm. At home.  Uploading photos.  Calling the US.  Writing up notes.  Getting ready to leave at 7 am for Japan.