Tea and Dress-up

We spent the morning on another tour, this time to an area of the city that has a cluster of reconstructed traditional houses. Many of them are artisan shops. We had no idea that the tea ceremony we were attending was in someone's house! After the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945 these houses were rebuilt. There was a small living room, maybe 10' x 10', and a kitchen and bathroom downstairs, then two similar sized bedrooms upstairs. It was quite the experience. This lovely Korean lady ushered us in and fitted me out in a hanbok. Two other ladies from Japan were there as well. I must admit that I felt quite self-conscious squeezed into the beautiful dress. The tea ceremony was quite complicated and ritualized, every movement and position meaning something.

Tea ceremony over, we all made kimchi! They explained that families would make a huge batch maybe twice a year. Every house has a special kimchi fridge to store it. We were given large stainless bowls with cabbage (a long sort of Savoy cabbage rather than the round ones we're used to), radish strands and spring onion to which we added red pepper spice, sesame seeds, fish oil, garlic, ginger and liquid rice starch. We squeezed the ingredients together then applied them to each leaf of the cabbage. Now it's supposed to ferment for 10 days or so. We're not sure if we'll attempt to bring in home!