Wednesday, September 4, 2002.
Latest movies rented:
Queen of the Damned (I would have chosen to stay
with Aaliyah. F*ck the mortal / moral world.)
Resident Evil (Some very interesting/graphic
ways to die. And fun too.)
Rollerball (Yes, I kind of liked it. Sigh. I
really liked the original with James Caan.)
Listening to: Classical Corean folk music. (And I don't mean Seo Taiji.)
SUN SU'S 100-DAY BIRTHDAY
We celebrated Sun Su's 100-day birthday this past Sunday. Actually, it was really his 107-day birthday, but Amy's father had to work the prior weekend.
The 100-day birthday (or Baek-il) was a very important day in old Corea. Because of the harsh living conditions and poor medical knowledge way back when, infant mortality was incredibly high. I had read it was nearly 50% in some instances. This is partially why large families were encouraged back then (kids would also take care of their aging parents).
If a baby managed to survive to its 100th day of life, then it had excellent chances for survival. Out of such a sad background came a joyous celebration.
Today the 100-Day isn't quite so important, at least not compared to the first year birthday (or Tol - where he will get to wear a hanbok!). But it's still a reason to celebrate cute little Corean babies.
Coreans love children, as evidenced in many a true Corean restaurant. Celebrating for any possible reason is good enough it seems. Kids are constantly running around. Sometimes defiant little girls are even tricycling about. It's a circus and a romper room. It's loud but it's fun.
This is my mom. She's also Sun Su's nanny three days a week. She does a great job. My mom is always saying how much Sun Su reminds her of myself and my brother, Mark. Finally, after 30 years of talking aloud to our baby pictures, she can finally talk to a real baby. I think the nanny job is the happiest my mom has been in a long long time. Plus, she doesn't get on my nerves as much now.
We met Amy's family at the restaurant, New Seoul Garden. We left our shoes outside and sat on the floor. In old-style Corean establishments, the floors are heated from the ground up.
That's Amy on the left, my mom, The Twins (f*ck that Austin Powers Asian twin joke as well), and my niece, The Princess (tiniest one). The nearest twin actually was our guide in Corea the first time we went there in 1999 (for our Honeymoon). They're the only people I know in real life who truly appreciate the same K-pop and Corean movies that I do. When Amy wore her beret and I joked, "She thinks she's JTL (a boy band)," The Twins laughed knowing exactly what I was talking about. Amy (like the rest of you) was like "What?"
The Twins and their other siblings were unofficially "adopted" by Amy's mom. They happened to walk into Amy's mother's restaurant years ago when they were fresh-off-the-plane, and Amy's mom moved them into their house until they got they got their own place. They've been a part of Amy's family ever since.
They think I look like Keanu Reeves too. (And no, they are not 11-years old. They're in their twenties!)
The beautiful picture above shows my two adoreable nieces, the growling Angry Monk (in red) and The Princess (in blue, right). The Princess is in first grade and can already speak in Corean and English as fluent as any first-grader. I'm jealous. I don't see them much, so I think they have forgotten who I am to some extent. Time passes too quickly.
The other two adoreable cousins are a quarter-Corean, quarter-Caucasian, and half-African American. They haven't had the most stable family life, and are pretty much raised by their grandmother (Corean) and grandfather (Caucasian). I actually had a conversation with the little hapa girl in the green shirt, Kelsey (upper right).
KELSEY (pointing to Sun Su): "That baby is small."
ME: "Yeah, but his head is pretty big."
KELSEY: "How old is he?"
ME: "He's three and a half months. How old are you?"
KELSEY: "I'm seven."
ME: "Seven months? Wow."
KELSEY: "NO. I'm seven YEARS."
TWINS: (laughing).
That picture is telling in that in both sister pairs, the younger siblings are the more aggressive and protective ones.
The Twins again, holding Sun Su's first-cousin and pseudo-big brother, Kunsae (English name: Xavier?!?). Like most babies we've met, even though he is twice Sun Su's age, he's got nothing on our boy's massive build and head size. This 100% Corean baby has spikey coarse hair, like a Corean gangster per Amy. Our boy's hair is soft like a feather.
His Corean name, Kunsae, means "authoritative." We used to kid with his mom that we were going to name our baby boy the same exact thing because we liked it too. He's adoreable though, isn't he? Kunsae became very alarmed when he looked up at one point and realized I was carrying him. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that a non-female not-my-daddy person was holding him. But he got used to it.
I think Sun Su got a bit confused and/or jealous seeing me carry around another baby that wasn't him. He gets that side from his daddy.
All in all, it was a fun time. Sun Su was actually crying a lot though, which he rarely does at home. I don't think he liked all the noise nor all the people. Even I got a headache. He gets that from his daddy too.
It's so sad to think that once upon a time, a lot of little babies never made it to their 100-day birthday in Corea. And now it's another great excuse to get everyone together and play with the little babies. Out of great tragedies, comes great happiness sometimes.
The first-year birthday will be much bigger. As will Sun Su, believe you me.
This is what Corean pride is all about to me. It's not about K-pop, or gangs, or K-clubbing, or rice rockets, or Japan-bashing, or chest-beating boastfulness (although that can be quite fun). It's about celebrating the resiliency and positive aspects of your people and culture that has survived the ages. One that will only continue to survive by those that appreciate it and can set forth a good example by it, and expose their own Corean children to it as well (adopted ones included).
This goes for any race, or heritage, or people. Celebrate by being a positive example of whatever you think you represent, even if just yourself.
Think of the children.
Or in the case of Corean customs, think of all the good food too.
("Sun Su" means "player" or "contender" in Corean.)_____________________
[Looking at the pics, I see there is a lack of adult Corean males. I can explain. Amy's father was sitting at the far end of the table and the kids were on the other side. I actually did take a few pics of Amy's brother and another cousin but the lighting pretty much ruined those pics. Amy's sister is paranoid about me writing anything about her so that's all I'll say about her or her husband from now on, unfortunately.
But take my word for it, fine adult Asian males do exist! This isn't Hollywood or anything.]
