Yes Man

In the Jim Carrey movie Yes Man (which we accidentally borrowed shortly after our arrival in Seoul), the lead character is forced to say Yes to every experience that comes his way. This is actually (though we hope not unduly influenced by Mr. Carrey) how we have been orchestrating our introduction to Seoul Life. Yes, I will take your paper-gluing craft class (and 3 more classes besides); Yes, I will go to your all-French coffee mornings (and meet you weekly to listen to you burble about your babies en francais); Yes, I will hire your housekeeper, I will teach English to your Kindergarten class (wait, I won't, but I will work for YOU for three hours a week if I can do it from home); Yes, I will have half the office over for Thanksgiving dinner; Yes, I will come to your house for coffee and yours for lunch, and yours for playtime and meet you at the public baths. Yes I will invite you and you and all of your husbands and children over to my house for a third birthday party; Yes I will host a baby shower for two women I only just met, and a third I know only by reputation. Yes, I will learn your language and eat your food and watch your movies and YES, of course I will bring my babies on a day-long-adventure digging ginseng in the demilitarized zone.

You may not realize this, but Paju-Gaesong ginseng has the power to fight off AH1N1 and to bring about peaceful reunification of North and South Korea. This was primarily demonstrated to us via taekwondo and B-boying, featuring dancers in Kim Jong-il masks, virus costumes, and ginseng suits. It was surprisingly entertaining. (Hopefully the collage above will expand to a large format if you click on it. That's a Finnish person holding Jamie's hand in the top right corner.)

When we (the tour group of foreigners) got to the festival, we were told there would be a parade to entertain us, and shown where to stand. Then, it became apparent that we were actually in the parade. After the performances, there was a slight delay before being bussed to ginseng field, as the musicians had to get there first to pipe us in. (But with traditional Korean instruments, no pipes.)
Believing there was ginseng enough for all, we disembarked leisurely, and were last to the field, which when we got there was a teeming mass of people wielding small garden implements in the rain-softened soil. Everyone had bags and bags of ginseng. I found a couple of broken root-ends, which I think weren't really dug up, but just discarded. But then the tour guide gave us a courtesy sack of ginseng to make us feel better. It's in our fridge (the kimchi fridge) awaiting inspiration.

After stopping off at the festival once more, the day was over and we set off for Seoul. Saturday evening traffic being what it is, what had been a 45-minute outward journey turned into a 2-hour trek back to the drop-off point. Luckily we had ginseng candy to eat on the bus.

Yes Man is especially apropos because in the film, one of the things Jim Carrey acquiesces to is learning Korean. Sadly, he has a great deal more success with the language than we. But at least

we're saying yes.