The 5th of May is a national holiday in Korea. On every Korean calendar the date is highlighted in red. Its
Children's Day. Everyone gets the day off from work to spend the entire day with their children. Here on campus all classes were cancelled, and even the weekly faculty meetings that are ordinarily held every Wednesday were post-poned until next week. Most of the faculty members plan outings with their families at the local park or hikes into the foothills of the surrounding mountains.
A few of my Law & Advocacy Study Group students had learned that May 5 was also my birthday, so they invited Sandy and me to a brunch at Hyoam Restaurant. I wasn't exactly sure what would be on the bunch menu, but I was looking forward to an enjoyable, leisurely morning with some of my brightest students. When we arrived at the Restaurant, though, I was a bit confused to find that none of my students had shown-up. Koreans generally tend to be somewhat late to events, but when students plan a meal for their professor they usually arrive well in advance to make preparations.
The owner of the restaurant must have noticed that I was puzzled, so he suggested that Sandy and I should wait in the special dining room and assured me that my students were "on their way." About ten minutes later -- as we were considering putting out a call to the study group leader -- the doors on both ends of the dining room opened, and my students processed in singing the traditional Korean birthday song to a guitar accompaniment. The song was followed by the presentation of a beautifully decorated cake sporting one, tall and thin, lit candle. As I accepted the cake, the whole group together sang "Happy Birthday to You" in English.
At the end of the song, they all encouraged me to blow-out the single candle. They explained that, while they knew this was not my first birthday (by a long shot, a 50-year long shot), it was the first of my birthday's to be celebrated in Korea. They wished for me to celebrate many more birthdays here at Handong in the future. Some already knew of our decision to return to the States this summer, but they were still attempting to use their influence to persuade me to stay longer.
Next, I was presented with a rice paper scroll from Prof. Chi, the chairman of the School of Law, on which he had hand-painted in Chinese calligraphy the characters
Ko Deok (shown below) which one student translated for me as "high character" or "practicing the highest good". It is the name that Prof. Chi has given to me.
Another of my students then presented me with a gift box (about 8 inches x 8 inches x 5 inches in size) in which I found some 50 small pieces of orange paper all rolled-up in scrolls. I later unrolled each of the orange scrolls to find a special individual birthday wish written by my students. Some expressed their wishes in their language and provided me with a translation, others even drew pictures.
The final gift was presented when we all took our seats around the tables. I had cut the cake for everyone to enjoy, but just before I could take a bite, Ms. Han -- the leader of my student study group -- placed in front of me a bowl of traditional Korean birthday soup that she had prepared herself. It consists of a broth with a healthy amount of seaweed, an excellent source of nutrients, topped with a small portion of beef. Along with the soup, a bowl of rice is also served. The soup is an expression of everyone's wish that the one celebrating his birthday experience a long and healthy life. I ate nearly all of it before moving on to the less-than-health-enhancing (but delicious) cake.
Needless to say, I was quite overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and kindness of my students and fellow colleagues. It will be a birthday celebration that I will long remember -- a true red-letter day!
