Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Korean cuisine includes a variety of vegetarian dishes or dishes which can easily be prepared vegetarian



Mmmmmmm.. not much to say just enjoy and hope you have time to go cook Korean food after watching!!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

My hand in my heart by Joan Rang



The first updated education material on adoption/Korean adoption is finally here! (in Danish) and it even offers perspective on how Korean history influences Korean adoptees today. Perfect for high school and the older pupils of secondary school classes.



This material has been developed in connection with Joan Rang's play "My hand in my heart" which is currently playing at Opus X theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Here's Joan Rang's blog about the play


I look forward to watching the play tonight.

"Trails of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home" by Kim Sunee

Just fell over this review by Chosun digital news of the memoirs of a Korean American adoptee.



I like the fact that this is portrayed as a story with a "happy ending", yet with the real touch of the adoptee's search for love, for a home. But I like that the photo of her shows a happy, strong woman.

P.s. As for this particular Korean adoptee, I'm a 'work in progress' in regards to life.. which keeps challenging and changing my plans :)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Letting go of an illusion


I've had one of those moments, which call for inner reflection - and I have chosen to post these reflections, because ‘we’ as adoptées in some ways are depending on single persons of Korean heritage in various aspects of our journey.

What seemed to me to be a quaint and endearing quality in my Korean ‘aunt’ blew up in my face last week in full-flaming outbursts of the not so elegant kind, supposedly due to the so-called Korean etiquette, but I’m not sure if this is the core of the matter.

So what is "Korean etiquette" ??

Sometimes it is when 50 beautiful pieces of Korean ceramics are to be smashed as an act to show her disregard towards a monk. Sometimes it is when a young Korean Danish girl is talked down to in harsh words by her, because the girl didn’t wear clothes to this person’s liking. The young girl is in the beginning of her 20’ties, wearing very nice and young people’s clothing - and has been reconnected with her Korean family, who apparently hasn’t commented on her clothing.

I've cut this post a little shorter - my point is that I've been able to use this situation as a time for renewal. A chance to continue my personal journey towards understanding and caring for my Korean heritage and a chance to remember that being Korean adopted and being Korean is a relation that is 'same-same, but different'. As in all other relations, it's good to be concious of the generation differences, culture differences, etiquette and personal beliefs.

Obvious!? but to an adoptée like me, I have been reminded that I am vulnarable and eager to please and fit-in with Korean-Korean persons, because I am mirroring and looking to see and understand more about myself. And I don't think I am alone in this :)

I’ll continue to enjoy meeting Korean-Koreans in Denmark and work for bringing Korean culture experiences to Denmark and Europe.


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As I stated in the beginning of this post, I have chosen to post this to bring it out in the open - and as in all personal private blogs, any posts express only my individual opinion.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Happiness is... a hundred balloons flying to the sky



Just "another day at work" - I was attending the opening of Copenhagen Festival for Children which will house hundreds of events and workshops for kids during the upcoming winter holidays. The invited kids were waiting around for 20 minutes for the mayor of culture but then she came and on a count down from 10 - 9 - 8.. 1 - 0 ... the balloons were sent off

Happiness is a funny thing..blue sky, kids, balloons - well, sometimes you don't really need a reason to be happy - do you?

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Heureka !! - Korean Flower Power is now part of this adult adoptée's inner patch-work identity



I found this clip of a song from 1967, the year of my birth. This clip, the music, the singer and how she moves all together tells me that Korea wasn't left untouched by influences from the Western (U.S.) "Swinging 60-ties" and "Flower-Power 70'ties".

To me, these quaint clips (long live YouTube!) convey a somewhat different image of Korea, than my inner "patchwork image" I've been constructing of the country, which I left behind 39 years ago!

My inner patchwork image is carefully stitched together by images I've seen during my years of growing up and mainly consists of constructed images of traditional Korea (tourist or business related) or war images or pictures of political content (documentary, history books etc.) styled for the press.

In the process of my life and the ongoing and ever growing patch work of (re)creating my past, present and future story and identity - these videos are a great reminder to me, that Korea offers so much more to me as an adult adoptée than the 'welcoming home'-package of samulnori (which I luuv!), my first hanbok, kimchi tasting and learning social manners, which date back to the Korean Confucianism.

Anyways - take a moment to enjoy these Korean interpretations of flower-power and pop culture from the late 60'ties and early 70'ties!