kimchi corner

SINGING FOR THE U.S. AMBASSADOR

Elizabeth and I joined Seoul Singers, an international choir group. We've enjoyed getting to meet people from Austria, Brazil, and Trinidad as well as Korea and the US. Last night we gave our first concert at the U.S. Ambassador's residence.

After our arrival, we waited in the guest house. The guest house was built in the late 1800's as the Russian Legation House. Because the building was just totally renovated, we had to leave our shoes outside the door.


The Ambassador's residence is also built in the traditional Korean style. The inside has been decorated by the ambassador's wife who is quite artistic. Much of the artwork on display was done by her. She likes textiles and jewelry and tends toward 20th century things. I loved the vaulted ceilings. If you can picture a ski lodge and make it Korean, you would have this house.

The living room was set up with rows of chairs. Our audience was very appreciative. We had lots of Koreans and Americans. For many of the Americans, this was their only taste of American Christmas. One man, who had not been home in four years, was in tears as we sang many familiar Christmas carols and even had a sing-a-long for part of it. Unless you have spent Christmas away from the States in a place where the holiday is not truly celebrated, you have no idea how much you miss it.

After the singing, the risers came down and tables were set up for eating. We were invited to join the 60-70 guests for a buffet. Such lovely food we had! In addition to numerous Korean dishes, some of the other food we enjoyed included crispy curried fish, New Orleans shrimp, smoked salmon, salami pinwheels, mini quiches, and even US beef. (US beef is SOOOOOO wonderful.) Korea has had a ban on it for about three years, so we can't buy it in the stores here. Dessert included chocolate chip brownies and gingerbread cake.

posted by Seoul Man @ 11:52 AM