The weekend before leaving for Japan I went to a colleague's wedding in Chinatown in Incheon on a Saturday afternoon/evening. My friend (and boss) Ben and I rode our bikes down there with a change of clothes in our backpacks so we could spruce up once we arrived. The wedding took place at an outdoor venue up on a hillside looking to the west. It was a lovely evening and a nice ceremony followed by a fantastic buffet and open bar with a little dancing (which is not typical for Korean weddings, as I understand it, though I've only been to two now personally). The short ceremony performed by friend(s) or people who are otherwise important to the couple (as opposed to a religious official) featuring the parents of the bride and groom and the exchange of vows is typical of the modern Korean ceremony, as is the buffet reception. Just the extended reception with dancing was the western part (the bride is Korean and the groom is American).
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| Riding through Incheon. Chinatown (and the wedding location) are on the far side of the hill you can see in the distance. |
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| Ben at the wedding. |
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| Me at the wedding. |
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| The bride and groom (behind the pole, unfortunately) and their parents (mothers wearing traditional hanboks) |
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| Looking west from the wedding venue toward the port of Incheon. |
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| Looking south you can see all the way to Songdo (tall buildings on the horizon on the right. Tall buildings near horizon on left are still part of Incheon). |
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| It was a lovely evening! |
And then in school the following week my 8th graders did experiments to find the coefficient of friction for various pairs of materials. Below are photos of two of the groups at work.
Next I will have to tackle my trip to Japan -- a somewhat daunting task -- so stay tuned!
