Jeong Hyun turns 4.
Gathered in Julia's living room around the cake
Geum Nim lights the candles
Jeong Hyun blows out the candles while a sleepy Arin looks on (her brother Saylen is in the middle)
Jeong Hyun cuts the cake
Julia's ready for chocolate frosting!!Yesterday we had the privilege of attending Jeong Hyun's 4th birthday party. Actually, he's 5 Korean age, but that translates to 4. Julia was hoping for cooperative weather so the party could be held at a nearby park and we could have an outside barbeque, but alas, the rainy season is here to stay. "My rotten luck!" she said. Nevertheless, it was a great little gathering.
We headed over there around 3:00 with some gifts (one for Jeong Hyun, and one for Arin, Norlan's daughter, who just turned 2). There we met the rest of the elite family contingent of Sokcho: Felipe and Geum Nim (and their son Quinoa), Brad and Mi Jin (and their two daughters Julie and Lena), Matthew and Catherine (and Liam), and of course, Julia, her husband, and Jeong Hyun. What's neat about these folks is that most of the couples are mixed, with one spouse Korean and the other Westerner. They have the cutest kids!
This was a very atypical child's birthday party. Instead of the focus being on the children, the focus was on the adults! After a hasty opening of some gifts, Jeong Hyun gathered his loot and headed to his bedroom and the other spare room with the other kids to play with his new toys and stash of candy. Meanwhile, the rest of us got comfortable in the living room while Julia got two burners going with sliced duck and pork heating up. We ate these wrapped in lettuce leaves with samjang and cucumber kimchi. She had also prepared Latvian bean salad and potato salad--YUM! We also enjoyed 3 loaves of Matthew's homemade bread and a batch of his seven-layer dip with tortilla chips. We adults just chilled and chatted for several hours, occasionally overhearing smaller voices coming from the back of the apartment. Overall, the kids were eerily quiet, probably due to the ingestion of sugar. They barely even came out to join us for dinner.
After dinner, it was time for cake. Norlan, resident baker extroadinaire, had created another masterpiece. He had previously made a ladybug cake for his daugher Arin, and he had fondant leftover. So, he made a three-tiered yellow cake covered with sinfully rich chocolate ganache, decorated with bright pink and green polka dots. The thing looked like a dessert straight out of Dr. Seuss--very whimsical. Looks aside, it was very very yummy, and there were soon kids bopping around the apartment with brown beards.
After cake, Julia started up several party games, mostly riddles and word games. Everyone really got into it! She also had a round of trivia questions on Soviet history (didn't do too well there!), which Paul did surprisingly well on. We took home several prizes (candy, a gift certificate, a towel, 2 photo albums, and cleaning sponges) from this part.
We didn't end up leaving until 9:00!! Brad and Mi Jin and their girls stayed the latest with us, and we just sat around the living room talking about all sorts of things. We'd never met them before, so it was interesting to hear about how they met and about Brad's 12 years living and teaching in Korea. Their girls, Julie and Lena, spoke pretty much entirely in English, and were really adorable.
Julia threw a very thoughtful party and even handed out goodie bags at the end!! Ours had a postcard of a castle in Latvia (her hometown is Riga), a heart cookie, and amber--I got a pendant on a silver chain and Paul got a keychain. Her mother had mailed all the goodie bag gifts from Latvia! Such a generous woman. It was a great time.
We headed over there around 3:00 with some gifts (one for Jeong Hyun, and one for Arin, Norlan's daughter, who just turned 2). There we met the rest of the elite family contingent of Sokcho: Felipe and Geum Nim (and their son Quinoa), Brad and Mi Jin (and their two daughters Julie and Lena), Matthew and Catherine (and Liam), and of course, Julia, her husband, and Jeong Hyun. What's neat about these folks is that most of the couples are mixed, with one spouse Korean and the other Westerner. They have the cutest kids!
This was a very atypical child's birthday party. Instead of the focus being on the children, the focus was on the adults! After a hasty opening of some gifts, Jeong Hyun gathered his loot and headed to his bedroom and the other spare room with the other kids to play with his new toys and stash of candy. Meanwhile, the rest of us got comfortable in the living room while Julia got two burners going with sliced duck and pork heating up. We ate these wrapped in lettuce leaves with samjang and cucumber kimchi. She had also prepared Latvian bean salad and potato salad--YUM! We also enjoyed 3 loaves of Matthew's homemade bread and a batch of his seven-layer dip with tortilla chips. We adults just chilled and chatted for several hours, occasionally overhearing smaller voices coming from the back of the apartment. Overall, the kids were eerily quiet, probably due to the ingestion of sugar. They barely even came out to join us for dinner.
After dinner, it was time for cake. Norlan, resident baker extroadinaire, had created another masterpiece. He had previously made a ladybug cake for his daugher Arin, and he had fondant leftover. So, he made a three-tiered yellow cake covered with sinfully rich chocolate ganache, decorated with bright pink and green polka dots. The thing looked like a dessert straight out of Dr. Seuss--very whimsical. Looks aside, it was very very yummy, and there were soon kids bopping around the apartment with brown beards.
After cake, Julia started up several party games, mostly riddles and word games. Everyone really got into it! She also had a round of trivia questions on Soviet history (didn't do too well there!), which Paul did surprisingly well on. We took home several prizes (candy, a gift certificate, a towel, 2 photo albums, and cleaning sponges) from this part.
We didn't end up leaving until 9:00!! Brad and Mi Jin and their girls stayed the latest with us, and we just sat around the living room talking about all sorts of things. We'd never met them before, so it was interesting to hear about how they met and about Brad's 12 years living and teaching in Korea. Their girls, Julie and Lena, spoke pretty much entirely in English, and were really adorable.
Julia threw a very thoughtful party and even handed out goodie bags at the end!! Ours had a postcard of a castle in Latvia (her hometown is Riga), a heart cookie, and amber--I got a pendant on a silver chain and Paul got a keychain. Her mother had mailed all the goodie bag gifts from Latvia! Such a generous woman. It was a great time.
posted by streetwise at 1:55 AM
1 Comments:
That's a very cool looking cake. Glad you had a great time.
1:44 PM
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