So I never explained what happened last Thursday night at the Oh's house. I only called it a secret Korean tradition since I had no idea what it was about, and no one else knew either. In fact, Jimmy had described it to me as a ceremony where I would be made Korean. Anyways, the Hahm, as it's called,  was kind of like a reverse dowry of sorts. Instead of the bride's family giving gifts to the groom's family, the opposite happens. In fact, there's a whole interchange that has to occur with the tradition. Since it was freezing rain outside, Jimmy and I just walked in and skipped the entire first part. But after we went in, some of the ladies told us what was supposed to happen (they had just finished researching the Hahm on Wikipedia).

Apparently, the groom and his close friends are supposed to stand outside with this chest of presents (clothes, jewelry, gifts) and "sell" the presents to the bride and her family. There's an interchange of negotiating how much money to buy the presents for and at the end the bride's family ends up with all these presents, and the groom and his friends end up with a lot of cash. The kicker was when the ladies said that the best man's role was not only to carry the gift chest on his back (in our case it was a blue Samsonite rolling suitcase), but he was also supposed to wear a dried squid on his head. I told this to Jane Park and she was like, "whaaa??? This is a Korean tradition?"

Anyways, we walk in and someone starts yelling, "The Hahm is here!" Immediately, the parents and guests surround Jimmy and start greeting him. I'm kinda on the side unbeknownst of anything that is going on. But I'm expecting Jimmy to either be my translator or at least explain to people that "oh by the way, he's not Korean". For the record, Jimmy does neither... and so when these Korean dad's come up to me and start saying stuff in Korean to me, I look at Jimmy for help, and he walks off. So of course, I did the next logical thing... I walked off too. HAHAHA. I must have seemed like the rudest Korean boy to them.

So we all congregate in the living room and they open up the suitcase. All the adults were so excited with all the stuff that was in it. Jimmy however had no idea what his mom had packed in the suitcase so he was as surprised as everyone else. But he played it cool when people were congratulating him for packing such good stuff:)

Then afterwards came the most important part of all. The home-cooked Korean meal. I think this was truly the first home-cooked Korean meal that I had ever had before. After that night, Korean restaurants just do not compare anymore. Those moms have some crazy skills.

Later that evening, Paul calls me up and asks me what I was doing. I told him I was at a "Hahm" and he goes, "a what?" I repeat, "you know, some Korean tradition." Paul pauses for a second and goes, "oh yeah, I know what that is." Then another pause and then, "Oh. Man, what are YOU doing there? That's a very Korean thing. Why are you there?" Hahaha... I had no idea what to tell him at that point. Either way, the evening was fun, and Hyejung's family really made me feel welcome at their house, not just that night but every day that I was there that whole week.