56. Honeymoon

She came with the wedding invitation Eun Kyung made. She went to see my parents and met my siblings. Everyone was open to the idea of us getting married and congratulated us.

 

We decided to get married in April during the spring break. I gave my IEA class take home final and gave myself two weeks of time. She returned to Korea and started to plan the wedding. She picked Olympic Park Hotel and sent wedding invitations to her relatives and friends. My parents, older sister, Nam Hee, Dong Ho and his girlfriend went to Korea to attend the wedding. 

 

Brian and Katherine were in school, and Scott and Michael were working. Because of the time and money, I did not ask any of them to come. Money was still tight. Since I did not have enough money to cover kids’ trip, I did not take them. Also, I did not want to disrupt their lives and schedules. They might not have looked at it this way, though. I believe they felt being left out. Once Scott said he was not invited to my wedding. If I asked, at least, Scott would have come. I wish I could take it back. It is another regret I would take to the grave. 

 

In the wedding, Ok Soon’s husband, Sang Hyup Lee, was the MC, we exchanged our wedding vows, father made his speech, Eun Kyung read a poem, and Ok Soon sang. Hak Lim, Dong Ho’s friend, took the photos. We put Korean traditional clothing and bowed to the both parents. 

 

At the bowing ceremony, father said to me, “Do not make the same mistake.” He threw a handful of dried Jujubes to her. Jujube meant children. I guess he did not really mean it. We could not have a child. She never had a child and I really wanted her to have one. There are things you can not control and it was one of those. 

 

I found the Koreans were not used to RSVP. The meal was a steak dinner. We ordered few extra meals. In America, the wedding invitation contains return RSVP card. People indicate how many will attend. And you would plan the meal accordingly. 

 

Those who never responded to our invitation showed up and some people brought kids. A lot more people than we expected showed up. She and I did not have lunch that day. My new brother-in-law, his family, and sister-in-law’s family could not have the lunch, either. 

 

Father must have been very happy that day. Later, I saw his bright and smiling faces on the photos we took that day. For his funeral, we went thru lots of photos. We found the photo of him giving a speech at my wedding was the best. It is in his headstone. 

 

We went to JeJuDo for the honeymoon. I rented a taxi for 3 days. Well, JeJuDo then was disappointing. Most of the places were for kids and/or seniors. They were crude and clumsy. I heard since then JeJuDo had changed. Sang Hyup Lee has moved to the island and opened a café there. 

 

The taxi driver took us to a gift shop. The road was not even. A lady invited us to her place. Once we entered it, she closed the door. She took out bottles with white powders and herb pills. The white powder was ground horse bones. She said it would cure all kinds of illnesses. She would not let us leave easily. Nevertheless, we did not buy any of them. 

 

Then, the driver took us to a restaurant. They suggested we ordered hairtail special. It was expensive and too much food for us. We ordered abalone stews instead. 

 

Her friend who had tour business in JeJuDo reserved the hotel and introduced the taxi drive to us. Upon our arrival at the hotel, newly built suite was waiting for us. It had a balcony and the view was great. There was a welcome fruit basket waiting for us. But the door of the bathroom was too narrow for the wheelchair. The frame seemed to be big enough. I asked them if they could remove the door. Since it was newly built, they were not allowed to remove it. There was no handicap room in the new building. So, we had to move to the older building. Her friend heard about it and felt bad. He came to see us next night and bought us famous JeJu pork BBQ. 

 

The day we returned to Seoul, Ok Soon, her husband, and Eun Kyung planned a farewell party for us. My wife got drunk and could not drive. We called designated driver service and went to the hotel. Next day, we were supposed to go to her father’s place. Because of her hangover, we put it off for a day. I went down to the convenient store on the ground level, bought ramen, and cooked it for her. For a short time, I wondered whether I married a heavy drinker. Luckily, it never happened again.