Our 1 year anniversary

One year ago,on April 13th, I married my best friend. We truly compliment one another in every way; I have never felt so at ease with anyone else but him... he is my better half. Today we spent our first anniversary together enjoying a wonderful dinner at the N Seoul Tower. The N Seoul Tower is the highest point in the city. There is a cable car that goes to the top; however, it was closed due to the high winds yesterday. We resorted to taking a taxi to the top. The tower is home to the Teddy Bear Museum, lock wall, souvenir shops and two restaurants. Many Koreans and tourists who visit the tower commemorate their love/visit by attaching a personalized lock to the lock wall; we took part in this as well. We will add another lock once the peanut is born. One of the restaurants is Korean style and the other is Western style; we dined at the Western style revolving restaurant called the N. Grill on the fifth floor. We enjoyed a wonderful five course meal with our lovely view of the Seoul lights below. Below is a slideshow of our night!

While in Insa-dong we learned about the Korean Wedding Ducks and knew we had to get them for our first anniversary. It is believed that Mandarin ducks mate for life; thus, they become a symbol of the partnership between two people. By accepting the ducks, the couple expresses their faithfulness for one another. If one mate should die before the other, they vow to not remarry.

The pair of ducks are hand-carved infusing the carvers spirit into the wood while he works. Traditionally, the grooms father seeks out the carver, someone who is fortunate and possesses the five fortunes (1. he must be rich, 2. he must be healthy, 3. among his family (including relatives) there must be no divorces, 4. he has a "good wife" and 5. he has many sons). Carvers can only make one pair of ducks in their lifetime. When the wedding day arrives, the ducks are wrapped in different colors of cloth up to the neck and carried to the ceremony; they are placed on the table when the bride arrives. After the ceremony, similar to the tossing of the bouquet in the United States, the groom's mother trows a duck to the apron of the bride, if she catches it she will have a boy as their first child; if she misses, she will have a girl.

The ducks are placed in a prominent area within the home. When pointing towards each other in a loving manner, they become a symbol for the couple, reminding them to be patient with one another and love each other. If you walk into a home and the ducks are facing away from each other, it signifies the couple is having a quarrel.