a peek into a Filipino-Korean household in Seoul

My son is 25 months old. I talk to him in English (and sometimes Korean) while his father speaks to him in pure Korean. We had a lot of opposition when we decided to teach our son two languages. The women in my husband’s family were afraid that he might not learn enough Korean since I spend more time with him than my husband. They were worried that by the time he goes to school, he might not be that fluent in the language and he might end up a “wang-ta” or an outsider. The men in the family thinks he’ll eventually learn the language later.

I did a lot of reading on raising a bilingual child. All are in agreement that the best time to teach a child a language is when he’s still a baby. I don’t remember my son’s first word now but he can speak more Korean than English although he understands instructions in both languages. He isn’t as verbal yet as the other kids his age. I’m not worried though. He’s only 2 years old after all.

A great resource for parents who are teaching their kids two languages or more is Multilingual Children’s Association.

When I first had my child, I noticed that some parents are intentionally or unintentionally always competing. It’s like their children are the affirmation of their being. I would think it’s specially true in Korea where competition is so stiff. Parents expect a lot from their kids, pushing them to study hard, get into a really nice university and land a job at one of the big conglomerates in the country. (In the hope that they’d be taken care of nicely when they grow old?)

My husband and I often talk about how we’re going to raise our son differently, he isn’t an average kid here after all. His parents are from two different countries with different native languages. We often talk about our son’s future and what we’d like him to be when he grows up. When we see him dancing to Baby Bop Hop’s song (of Barney’s fame), we thought “ah he’s gonna be a dancer like Bi (Rain).” When we catch him disassembling his toy car, we’d say “maybe he’ll be an engineer someday.” And when we saw him imitating the news anchor on TV, we conclude that at his early age of two he’ll be a TV personality.

What do we really want our child to be when he grows up? It’s his life so it’s his choice. We’ll just gladly guide him and proudly cheer for him whatever he decides to be just like what our own parents did with us. Whether he decides to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, social worker, engineer or a traveler, we’ll be there for him as long as he’s happy and he’s not hurting anyone.

Posted for the 5th Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival

Pasensiya na po kung medyo mahaba na naman ang aking lahok ngayong linggo. Medyo nahirapan ako sa tema ng “Tatak Pinoy” dahil masyadong malawak. Pero dahil kami ng mga kaibigan ko ay nagkita-kita noong Sabado, naisip ko na ipakita kung paano naipapakita ang “Tatak Pinoy” dito sa Korea.

Kami man ay nakatira sa ibayong dagat, dala-dala pa rin namin ang pagiging Pinoy lalo na sa mga kita-kits, EB o handaan. Gaya na lang ng handaan at pagtitipon sa mga litrato sa ibaba.

Please forgive me if my entry for this week is a little long. I had a hard time deciding on the theme on “Filipino trademark” because of its wide scope. However since I met my friends last Saturday, I decided to show how we Filipinos in Korea celebrate our trademark.

Even if we live overseas, we still carry with us our Filipino identity through our meetings, EB or parties. Just like the ones below.

Handaang Pinoy. Bagamat ang iba dito ay hindi talaga lutong Pinoy, karaniwan na inihahanda ang spaghetti (o pansit), lumpia, fruit salad, pritong manok, menudo, chopsuey at kanin. Syempre lahat ay angkop sa panlasang Pinoy.

Anim na K ng handaan o pagtitipon na may Tatak Pinoy:

Kodakan ^

“Kol”dilocks ^

Tribiya: Ang isa sa aking mga kaibigan (yung nakapula sa huling litrato) ay nakikita sa TV dito sa Korea sa isang palabas sa KBS, pambansang istasyon, tuwing Martes ng gabi. Lumabas din siya sa isang patalastas para sa isang sikat na organisasyon. Psst! Wala po silang kamalay-malay na na-extra na NAMAN sila sa blog ko.

I bought sweet potatoes (고구마 go-gu-ma) last week as I was craving for fresh lumpia. I have the other ingredients inside our fridge. I was shocked to know how expensive it is now. I never had to buy them for the past two years, since my 아가씨 (a-ga-shi - my husband’s younger sister) has been supplying us with boxes for the past two autumns. I have tried different recipes for them. I had made sweet potato pies, steamed sweet potatoes, brown sugar coated and pan fried sweet potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes… and the list goes on. Redundant but I’d rather eat those tubers than let them go to waste.

Going back to my purchase last week. 100 grams of sweet potato at the supermarket I frequent cost 530 won (US$0.50 or 22.78 PP) so the total for three pieces I picked, all 340 grams, is 1,820 won (US$1.73 or 78.20 PHP). Expensive, isn’t it?

SAHM is an acronym for “stay-at-home-mom” while WAHM means “work-at-home-mom”. I’ve been a SAHM for more than two years and sometimes that makes me feel guilty for not being able to contribute to our household finances. However, I’m pretty sure that working outside would also make me feel guilty for not being there for my toddler whenever he needs me. Good thing it’s now possible for me and other mothers out there to earn some bucks and take care of their little ones all at the same time. Guilt-free!

Surfing through other websites showed me the way to SocialSpark. How can I and other mothers earn through them? Stay-at-home, do the laundry, cook meals, take care of the little ones and BLOG! For me, blogging is not just a way to unwind or release stress. It is now also a way for me to earn something and not feel guilty about getting that leather bag I’ve been dying to have for so long. I could also earn and save money to buy gifts for my husband on his birthday or on our anniversaries without having to spend HIS money.

Not only is SocialSpark a money-making site for moms, it’s also a great way to meet other mommy bloggers. I’ve met former SAHM and now WAHM through the site and we’re all proud to be part of this great network.

To sum up, SocialSpark is for moms who want to earn money and not feel guilty about it. It’s a place where advertisers and bloggers meet. It’s a social network for WAHMs too!

The Little Prince o Ang Munting Prinsipe ay isa sa pinakapaborito kong libro. Hindi lahat ng pag-aaral ay nagaganap sa apat na sulok ng silid-paaralan. Bagkus, ang pinaka-importanteng kaalaman ay natutunan sa pakikipag-kapwa at sa karanasan sa buhay. At dahil dito, ang pag-aaral ay isang napakahabang proseso na nagsisimula sa pagkabata hanggang sa pagtanda.

I didn’t know how to cook when I got married. As they say, I could only boil water and that’s it. We had a restaurant in the Philippines and with cooks in the family, I wasn’t expected to do anything.

My husband knew that I was an amateur when it comes to household chores. For the first weeks of our marriage life, he did everything until my conscience bugged me. He was bringing home the bacon and yet he had to mop the floors and cook at home too! I never expected to marry a foreigner and live in a foreign country. I always thought that I’d get a helper when I get married. Some things in life are totally unpredictable.

Like I said, my husband cooked during the early days of our marriage. We would often go out to eat too. I thought that time that we were spending unnecessarily and it would be more cost efficient to eat at home.

Learning how to prepare meals meant calling almost everyday to the Philippines. I frequently bugged my second sister, who’s a great cook, on how to do things. Then my mother sent me a few cookbooks, among them Nora Daza’s Galing-galing. The internet was helpful too. I’d browse through the recipes of Pinoycook and try them. I would do exactly as what’s written on the book and the internet. If they say 1 teaspoon, I’d really use just 1 teaspoon.

It took me a while to develop my cooking skills. When we spent a week’s vacation at my parents-in-law’s home in the province, my mother-in-law taught me several Korean dishes. She recalled the last time we met how I served them noodles for breakfast! She said she’s amazed at how I learned to cook Korean food properly. In fact, she would often request me to prepare dwenjang jjige (soybean stew) whenever they visit us.

This website - Apt 1014 - is all about a Filipino-Korean household. I thought it would be nice to share some of the recipes I’d learned through the years.

Our rice cooker at home is five years old. It’s a simple rice cooker that has an attached cover. I prefer the one we have in the Philippines that has a separate cover. My mother-in-law has a newish Korean rice cooker. It’s actually a rice cooker/pressure cooker/slow cooker in one. It doesn’t take a long time to cook rice here unlike with ordinary machines.

Rice cooker is called “밥솥” (bap sot) in Korean and some of the most famous brands are Cuckoo, Lihom, Kuchen and Bubang. I never expected that rice cooker could be fancy and “high-tech” as some of them are here in Korea. The prices are fancy too!

Ang larawang nasa itaas ay ang simpleng puntod ng aking ama na namatay noong 1993, apat na araw bago ang kanyang kaarawan. Nag-aayos kami ng sorpresang pagdiriwang para sa kanya ngunit hindi na umabot ang sorpresang iyon. Namatay siya noong umaga ng Disyembre 17. Nang gabi ring iyon ay nagsilang ng isang sanggol na lalaki ang aking pangalawang ate.

Pictured above is the simple gravestone of my father who died in 1993, four days before his birthday. We were planning a surprise party for him but he left early. He died on the morning of December 17. That night, my second sister gave birth to a boy.

Ang aking ama ay isang sundalo na nagsilbi sa bayan mula 1952 hanggang 1973. Siya ay nagbitiw sa serbisyo ilang buwan pagkatapos ideklara ang Batas Militar. Siya ang nasa dulong kanan sa litrato sa ibaba.

My father was a soldier who served our country from 1952 to 1973. He retired from the service a few months after the declaration of Martial Law. He is the man on the right in the picture below.

Karagdagang impormasyon: Dito sa Korea ay hindi sineselebra ang “Araw ng mga Tatay” na kagaya ng nakasanayan natin sa Pilipinas. Bagkus, merong “Araw ng mga Magulang” na taun-taon na ginugunita tuwing ika-8 ng Mayo. Ang mga anak ay nagbibigay ng bulaklak na “carnation”.

Off-topic: Here in Korea, we don’t celebrate “Father’s Day” the way we do in the Philippines. Instead, we honor both our parents on “Parents’ Day” which is held every year on May 8th. Children offer “carnation” to their parents on this day.

Koreans, like Filipinos, eat rice everyday! It’s just fortunate that we are not experiencing a rice crisis here. Have you ever had a Korean meal? Having a Korean husband means eating Korean food everyday. It’s a good thing though that my husband eats lunch at work so I could get to eat what I want for lunch. This afternoon, I made chicken adobo with potatoes that I shared with my son.

Preparing Korean meal is tedious. Lots of “banchan” or side dishes and there always has to be a soup for every meal. When my parents-in-law are here (and they sometimes stay long!) I almost run out of meal ideas. They wouldn’t eat anything besides Korean food!