Voorpret

Kwangbae Hyung Prepares For Her Wedding

Yujin's POV:

It's been a year and a couple of months since the weekend we've spent with the Jangs. Since then a lot has changed for us and a lot of it all thanks to our parents who became friends. Now, Kwangbae Hyung have enlisted my help moving into the new house she had built for her and her fiancé Minjoo Unnie. She secretly moved in all her stuff from her house at Yangsan. A box full of pens, notes from Minjoo Unnie, some jackets and sweaters that she's kept over the years and some I remembered accompanying Minjoo Unnie shopping for the said item. It's either a Christmas or a Birthday gift for Kwangbae Hyung. She also put together some of the furniture inside the house. The house was as prominent as Kku Eomma and Chaen Appa's house but slightly bigger and more elegant than the house beside it, just cause she can. The whole second floor of the house were made of glass and included a glass bridge which leads to the wide balcony facing the Han River its floor plan was open and up another floor was the twelve guest rooms and the first floor had two rooms for house helpers, the second floor again also had the Master's bed room and five other rooms for family. The kitchen and living room was spacious in the second floor of the house. The balcony was a detached detail of the second floor hence the bridge. Also the wide strip of counters and other kitchen fixtures looked pristine in white and light coral colors. Majority of the house looked like a European castle. One that both of them could live in comfortably. We worked moving her stuff in from Yangsan. While Minjoo Unnie was busy filming for a movie. She orchestrated this move behind Minjoo Unnie's back. It's a surprise for Minjoo Unnie, one she will find out on the day of the wedding itself. Which is set for early next year. She also got some of Minjoo Unnie's stuff moved in, she says she needed to complete the move before their wedding so here we are together with Wonyoung, Ori Unnie, Chaen Appa and Kku Eomma. Moving in stuff, putting the furniture in its place, Kku Eomma was setting up electronics in the living room and making sure everything was working fine. The blinds are already installed on the second floor so we had the blinds down as we worked moving their stuff in and decorating the entire place. Second floor was the only floor wrapped in glass. So it's hard not to get caught by Minjoo Unnie if she ever comes home early. Most days she films it takes her 24 hours to finish every scene. We were happy for the both of them. I used to envy the two with their closeness and dynamics. They often took me to restaurants around Mapo-gu, some Filipino restaurants and some other asian restaurants available around Mapo-gu and WM. My favorite was the Filipino restaurant we eat at for their warm and hospitable staff majority of whom are Filipinos.

The warm welcoming vibe reminded me of our yearly visit to Haneul Harabeoji's Province, where her cousins always welcomed us and picked us up from the Subic Airport. Complete with Welcome home banners for IZ*ONME. We spent two weeks, often having to go back to Korea before year end cause we were supposed to attend a year-end award show. The 26th we go back or sometimes after all the award shows we go to the Philippines. Some shows are pre-recorded so those we film and fly to the Philippines right after. We are mostly well traveled and during Spring we explored different parts of the Philippines and go places like the mountains and beaches in the Philippines. It's a beautiful country with lots of History, Arts and Good Culture. The Filipino People loves to sing and dance, every Province we've been to an indigenous group of people would often be singing and dancing a tribal dance and singing some songs native to them. One such song I heard was Dandansoy a Visayan parting song, sang softly by Father's or Husbands when leaving for the city to provide a much better life or some Kundiman songs at the Luzon Provinces, the Kundiman was a serenade song traditionally sang with a guitar or band in front of the house of a woman in which the guy who was trying to woo her would be singing the said song and right after a long and extensive courtship would follow the serenade, the guy would have to help out with the chores, heavy lifting of things such as wood for stove cooking, water basins filled with gallons of water and other things typically done by the Father in the family. Heavy duty stuff that every Filipino family would need done was done by the suitor. In modern times these were traditions long forgotten, a suitor nowadays would just date like the rest of Westernized Asia. Going out and forming bonds and a common love of a thing.