Cake-Making: Celebrating My Host Parent's 20th Wedding Anniversary and Reflecting on Their Various Behind-the-Scenes Sacrifices for the Family

WHY DIDN'T I MAINTAIN MY KOREAN LANGUAGE LEARNING???

One of the major drawbacks of still not knowing Korean after one year in the country is finding out there are important events to be celebrated the night before they are to be celebrated.

Case in point: I was eating dinner last night when, reflecting upon the crazy school week ahead, I decided to tell my host mom that I would be working overtime at school at such and such night. She made many humming noises and fluttered to the big family calendar behind where I was eating, and immediately scrawled a bunch of important looking notes to herself in Korean.

Yummy, right? Scroll down below to see how Seo Yeon and I made this together *cough*!

THE KITCHEN CALENDAR: HOW I UNOFFICIALLY KNOW I AM PART OF THE KIM FAMILY

I went over to help her remember all of the particulars, and thought to ask her about the other notes she had scrawled there. 

Ah, this one is Seo Yeon's midterm exams. And those are Ju Hyeon's midterm exams. That day over there is Ju Hyeon's practice midterm exam, and that one is Seo Yeon's mock test. And these are the dates that I will help proctor my daughters' exams. 

Yes...yes, of course. Just...as I suspected.

What a string of depressing dates! But my host mom is not deterred. This calendar is crucial to how she runs her household, from the moment the girls wake up to the time they crawl back into the house from school (for Ju Hyeon) and from academy (for Seo Yeon). The girls work very hard at school and outside of school - yet behind them are Mom and Dad, without whom a single day for them would not be possible.

No joke. 

SUPER HOST MOM & EVERYTHING SHE DOES (NO, NOT EVEN)

Host Mom does everything for the girls - from being their supplemental human alarm clock at the start of their day and spoon-feeding them breakfast as they sit half-asleep on the dining table, to packing their backpacks with all of the day's essentials and combing, heat-protecting, and curling the ends of their hair and bangs as the girls shake themselves into their uniforms; from hurrying them out the door, tucking an umbrella in their backpacks (on rainy days) and pressing the "down" button on the elevator for them, to running back inside the house to quickly locate and deliver a forgotten something, such as a water bottle. 

And these are just the things I am able to observe as I, myself, drift between the bedroom, dining room, and bathroom also hurriedly getting ready for school. 

IT TAKES TENACITY. IT TAKES FAMILY

I am more than impressed by this sacrificial behind-the-scenes work. For me, this is what being family is all about. 

While gazing at the masterpiece of a calendar that was the family calendar, I noticed that the next day was marked by many even more important looking circles, squiggles, stars, and basically everything you could imagine fitting into a calendar day's box. 

DISCOVERING MY HOST PARENTS' WEDDING ANNIVERSARY BY ACCIDENT
Me: [Casually and clueless-ly] Mom, what is this?
Mom: [More humming] Mmm, Mom...mmm...Daddy together!

Me: Yes...Hmmm [I study her face for more context clues]
Mom: [Getting excited] Mom, Daddy, together mmm wedding!
Me: Oh...Oh! Oh wow! Tomorrow is your wedding anniversary?!?! [Feeling ashamed of myself]

Mom: Nae! 

Me: Wow, that's amazing! How long - err, how many years have you been married?

Mom: Mmm...20 years! 

I consulted my co-teacher as to what would be an appropriate gift to give my host parents for this very special day. She said that I was not required to do anything, but it would be nice to buy them a little present. The next day, I found myself wandering around Nampo with Seo Yeon, trying to locate a cake-making store the girls had spotted earlier in the year. 

SEO YEON AND I GO TO NAMPO TO MAKE A CAKE!

After some time, we found the cake store in Nampo!  

I was completely unprepared for what was to come. This is Seo Yeon obviously taking the lead as I resorted to documenting

Celebrating 20 Years of Love! 

Cute things that were super overpriced 

The store, complete with an area where you can sit down and get to decorating your cake with friends or family!

 

The clerk showed us how to make pretty icings for the cake

Not gonna lie, I was unimpressed by this bare-faced cake...

Seo Yeon and I looked at the cake for a good five minutes, imagining all of the different forms it could take, before diving in.

We decided to lace the cake first with pink icing, thinking a mistake at this step would be the least tragic

And then we added three pink roses on top! It was a major commitment that we argued about for quite some time before finally going with this arrangement. This is serious, people.

I'd like to think that Seo Yeon was not afraid that I would ruin the cake if I took over the icing...

Pretzels, our brilliant solution to the letters "LOVE" being too fat and heavy to stand up on their own

Seo Yeon writing our dedication message

She's so adorable! Oh, and, at this point, I am no longer ashamed of our cake :)

Ta-Da! I helped sprinkle those white and pink chocolate bits all over the place. I know, a work of art...

Basically Seo Yeon did everything that required touching any part of the cake, while I contributed by hovering over my host sister as she worked, and making suggestions as to the color scheme and the design the cake should have. When her masterpiece was finished, I took out my card to pay. Seo Yeon resisted this last move, arguing that she should pay for at least half since they were her parents.

She's getting too good at her English...

We went home with me carrying the cake box as if it contained the last tiny sprig of green plant on Wall-E's earth. Making it home with the cake intact was quite a feat, especially considering that Nampo is a circus around the afternoon and early evenings!

Who knew making a cake (even a technically ready-made one) would be so difficult! Just kidding. Like I said it, it was all Seo Yeon. We tried to sneak the cake into the house, but mom found out anyway.

[More pictures to come at a later post]