The Korean Tea
With my position at work, opportunities to support the Good Neighbor program are available to those who dare and the E-family dared.
When I look at the photos labeled as "Tradition Korean Tea" I cringe, let's recap:
Chris, myself and the girls decided to partake in one event that was labeled, "Traditional Tea Festival". It had been explained to us that we were going to learn and demonstrate how to perform a traditional Korean tea. Once we had been taught, we would then go to the exco center and participate with other countries in the "Traditional Tea Festival". When you view the photos, you will see the class that we attended. No one spoke English except our interpreter, who was very casual in explaining the entire event. We were fortunate that one of the Korean women were helpful in capturing this memorable moment on film; pay close attention to all the separate movements involved in the ceremony (we obviously didnt). The kind hostess even provided us with a cd and a tea set, if we chose to practice. We definitely felt the "Good Neighbor Program" as we walked away feeling culturally enlightened.
This is where the gears shift. The day arrives and the E-gang is ready to play tea party with various cultures around the world. We meet our terp (short for interpreter) and off we go. Now, when we were told Exco, think Convention Center. We arrive to the Exco center, as we walk through the doors, we are asked to pin numbers to our lapel for the judges to rate us. This is when the bullets of sweat start to pour, and as luck would have it ... this was a contest! Can you say, blindsided? The program begins and wee are the first set of contestants. This is where I start to rationalize the events to myself and say, "hey, at least we don't have a hard act to follow" or "maybe people will still be taking their seats and wont even notice us" or "if we go first, we can leave first". If you take notice of the pictures near the end of the slide show, you will see a large TV screen behind us, this wasn't for the audience to have a better view but it was the view that was being broadcasted on TV!
Come to find out, the music that was given to us was specific to the tea, lets say it was a choreographed tea party (we found this out after watching teams that followed). Without the obvious needing to be said, we didn't take first place but received the "participant" award. After feeling humbled and resenting our interpreter for the lack of information she provided, the event was over. This was an event that qualified as, "lets not talk about what didn't happen". Well, that would be all too simple now wouldn't it?
Weeks later...
As I walk into a restaurant for lunch, a man walks out and stops me to tell me that he has seen me before, on Korean television doing the traditional Korean tea, stunned and embarrassed, I nod, smile and say "thank you" as I try to become invisible.
This is where I will be making a blanket apologies for poorly representing the US in a traditional Korean Tea competition. For any that feel so inclined to attempt this feat on their own, the precise steps are documented for your study. Godspeed and good luck!
When I look at the photos labeled as "Tradition Korean Tea" I cringe, let's recap:
Chris, myself and the girls decided to partake in one event that was labeled, "Traditional Tea Festival". It had been explained to us that we were going to learn and demonstrate how to perform a traditional Korean tea. Once we had been taught, we would then go to the exco center and participate with other countries in the "Traditional Tea Festival". When you view the photos, you will see the class that we attended. No one spoke English except our interpreter, who was very casual in explaining the entire event. We were fortunate that one of the Korean women were helpful in capturing this memorable moment on film; pay close attention to all the separate movements involved in the ceremony (we obviously didnt). The kind hostess even provided us with a cd and a tea set, if we chose to practice. We definitely felt the "Good Neighbor Program" as we walked away feeling culturally enlightened.
This is where the gears shift. The day arrives and the E-gang is ready to play tea party with various cultures around the world. We meet our terp (short for interpreter) and off we go. Now, when we were told Exco, think Convention Center. We arrive to the Exco center, as we walk through the doors, we are asked to pin numbers to our lapel for the judges to rate us. This is when the bullets of sweat start to pour, and as luck would have it ... this was a contest! Can you say, blindsided? The program begins and wee are the first set of contestants. This is where I start to rationalize the events to myself and say, "hey, at least we don't have a hard act to follow" or "maybe people will still be taking their seats and wont even notice us" or "if we go first, we can leave first". If you take notice of the pictures near the end of the slide show, you will see a large TV screen behind us, this wasn't for the audience to have a better view but it was the view that was being broadcasted on TV!
Come to find out, the music that was given to us was specific to the tea, lets say it was a choreographed tea party (we found this out after watching teams that followed). Without the obvious needing to be said, we didn't take first place but received the "participant" award. After feeling humbled and resenting our interpreter for the lack of information she provided, the event was over. This was an event that qualified as, "lets not talk about what didn't happen". Well, that would be all too simple now wouldn't it?
Weeks later...
As I walk into a restaurant for lunch, a man walks out and stops me to tell me that he has seen me before, on Korean television doing the traditional Korean tea, stunned and embarrassed, I nod, smile and say "thank you" as I try to become invisible.
This is where I will be making a blanket apologies for poorly representing the US in a traditional Korean Tea competition. For any that feel so inclined to attempt this feat on their own, the precise steps are documented for your study. Godspeed and good luck!
posted by the "glue" that holds it together... at 3:44 AM
links to this post
