-Can u tell me a little about your background?
·like what do you mean
-like where you grew up, how many siblings you have…
·I grew up in the surburban CA, two older sisters, ten years older, 31 & 32, I’m the youngest, yea, always the baby of the family, because of Paekil, we’re tying that in, we have two new babies in the family
-do you remember when this Paekil took place?
·this Christmas
-who was present?
·actually, because Jimmy, my brother in law has a large family, even with cousin, lots of relatives that live in close vicinity, they wanted to have it at his house, everyone came over, and becuase its at jimmy’s house, we didn’t have extended family come
-so just your immediate family
·some of Jimmy and Betty’s friends came too
-were there any kids there?
·rolling party because it was Christmas, so they had lunch to dinner, waves of people, so I was the first there and ate lunch, rolling so family time and other people can visit, wanted to make it convenient for everyone, Jimmy has a large family so no way that they could coordinate all to come together on Christmas, I don’t think that there were any kids there
-so no kids?
·Jimmy’s friends don’t have any kids yet, Julie’s friends are a different story, the Paekil was for my sister Betty who had a son
-why do you think you celebrated it, do you always celebrate Paekil, was it new for you?
·well, Julie and Betty both had babies within 6 weeks of each other, its new, but it came both at the same time, Julie had a Paekil earlier, but I wasn’t able to go under certain circumstances, Betty was my first Paekil, so I’ve never been to a Paekil, I’m the youngest out of my family and their friends
-what did you guys eat there? What did you do?
·since it’s Christmas, Betty’s mother-in-law made Betty make American food, like turkey and all the side dishes like mashed potatoes, typically cranberry sauce, and Jimmy’s parents cater Korean food, pretty standard Korean buffet food, did you want me to elaborate
-was there anything particular for Paekil?
·it was like a big lunch and the only thing that I felt was different was the dduk cake, the white dduk cake, it has to be white because Paekil means white so has to be, paek means one hundred days, pure white, and so…
-was it good?
·it was really good, the dduk was warm, it was a huge massive dense cake, pretty big cake, more than a foot high
-everyone ate it?
·yea, everyone ate it, everyone was pretty full, but that was the only special, centerpiece of the meal
-were there any other special things other than food?
·party food but nothing special, parents make a big deal about the dduk, it has to be white, and that’s the spongy kind of dduk cake, looks like bread after it’s gotten crumbly…
-I don’t know if I’ve had Paekil dduk before…
*no, it’s the same as the one with the raisins and the nuts
-did anything unusual happen? anything out of the ordinary?
·well, for Jimmy’s family, one of his Uncles, is like a pastor, and so what they do for every family gathering, major holiday, is that they have a sermon, and my family is not religious, so that was what was kind of odd for me, but it was really informal, sat in a big circle and sang a hymn, and then his uncle just said a few words, like we’re so glad that Luke is here, stuff like that,
-that’s really different…
·yea, that’s Jimmy’s family’s tradition, that was different for me, I think we were all bracing ourselves, it ends up that, Jimmy’s Uncle did a second sermon for the second wave of people
-and Christmas day is cool because religious people can celebrate the birth of Jesus
·none of us went to church that day, they do that for every holiday, thanksgiving, Christmas
-how does it compare to other holidays? Have you been to other birthdays, kids birthdays, celebrations…because Luke’s was incorporated with Christmas
·they wanted to do it at Christmas to get it done at one shot, not like have Christmas, just convenient for everyone, it’s different because it was during the day, they had a rolling party, like all day long, but it was all catered food, the only people ko saeng hae (rough time) was my family
-would you like to engage in other Paekils, and go to other Paekil parties in the future, would you do this for your kids and stuff?
·I’d totally do it for my kids, it’s a time of, traditionally, Paekil was celebrated for the fact that your child didn’t die, babies died prematurely because conditions were so volatile, harsh for children’s to survive, that’s why you have a Paekil, time for everyone who hasn’t seen the baby yet to come while the baby is…
-do you think Paekil has changed a lot over the years? Because we’re still young, and I haven’t been to any Paekils, what do you think, what’s your opinion
·I don’t know because, I don’t think my parents have gone to any of their friend’s Paekils, I wouldn’t know what they think, the main center is the dduk cake, gathering people together, I’m sure its changed a little bit in meaning over the years and generations, I don’t know how its different or if people still do that in Korea, ppl in America tend to really hold on to traditional ways, just a normal family gathering
-must have been chill..
·seems like Paekil is more quiet than Tol jan chi, Tol is when you invite everybody, and Paekil is for family, cuz in terms of American tradition, it the year birthday that’s really bid in the states, they’re older, and can engage with them more
-do you have any pictures of your Paekil
·I had a Tol, I don’t know if I had a Paekil, maybe they did with just family
-your parents are willing to go out and celebrate
*do you know who’s been doing all of this, my sisters, not because of my parents
-sister’s are initiating things
·I don’t know about my sister’s in laws, but it seems like my sister’s really want to be traditional
-for their kids?
·probably for me, it was just our family, back then my Uncle’s family wasn’t in the states then, so it was just us
-I think it’s interesting that it’s not the grandparents going, you have to do the Paekil in the traditional way, and the dduk, who tells them, sisters are doing them on their own
·they are excited about it
-I don’t think a lot of Korean parents think about doing it anymore, they do like Tol
·I don’t know about Jimmy’s and Kyle’s parents, if they pressured in any way, but initiative came from my sisters