InAe,
InSook, and I all went to Ehwa Girls School to celebrate the 130th
anniversary of its founding by American missionaries. There was a formal ceremony that we skipped,
instead moving right to the by-class gatherings with food provided by class
members from the food vendors at the celebration. (There were also other vendors happy to make
their goods available in this annual event.)
InSook
was in the class of 1961 (graduated from high school one year ahead of me)
while InAe went to join her friends in the 1964 class (even though she’s my
age). In the Korean manner, the food
kept coming in courses as different vendors delivered different food. Since we’d gotten there early, we got stools
instead of having to sit on the ground.
Once we’d eaten, however, we did get up to let others have our seats.
The
flags of Korea, Ehwa School, and Ehwa alumnae flew over the campus.
There
was a break between lunch and the start of the choral performances; most of the
alums used that time to continue socializing.
InSook is not that much of a social person so instead we used that time
to schedule a meeting I’d wanted to have with Dong Won Kim, a great Korean
drummer and friend to Shinparam, my Twin Cities Korean drumming group. He came to a coffee shop near the campus. We talked for an hour while he filled me in a bit on what he’s been doing
musically. He gave me his greetings and copies of his most recent CD to take
back to friends in the Twin Cities.
Returning
to the Ehwa campus we waited for the music to begin. Apparently each class prepares and sings a
number at this celebration. The numbers
who participate vary from class to class, but it’s still a rather amazing
showing. We met two graduates who live
in the U.S. and frequently come to the anniversary celebration. Apparently there are also active Ehwa
graduate groups in operation in parts of the U.S. that have substantial
Korean-born populations.
The
first group to perform was the choir of current students.
Fortunately,
InAe’s group was scheduled sixth so we didn’t have to wait too long for her to
finish. The music was good, but we were
ready to go get dinner.
So
we left the campus passing under this lovely canopy of roses.
After
a wonderful Korean meal we headed for the subway and home arriving about 8 p.m.
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