William Billiards Academy

Our friend William, who used to work as a manager at the school, has opened a billiards acadamy, which is basically a pool and billiards hall where you can also take lessons. It's called William Billiards Academy (no, that's not a typo, that's Korean English). Sunday morning we went to a ceremony that's supposed to help make a new business prosperous.

William Billiards Academy.

The ceremony itself is quite simple. The owner sets up a bunch of food and a pig's head on a table. You circle a cup of rice wine over incense three times, and then you bow three times for luck. Then you put money in the pig. Someone empties the cup into a pitcher and pours a new cup for the next person.

Here you can see some apples, pears, tomatoes, a dried fish, the pig's head, and a giant rice cake. (Not sure what the stuff next to the tomatoes is.)

Yes, that's an actual pig's head! It looks like it's made out of wax, but it's the real thing.

After everyone bowed, we ate some pork, kimchi, squid salad, and dok candy (chewy rice candy) and drank the rice wine. Then Isabel and I played pool--well, we tried anyway. William taught Joel carom, a billiards game. In Korea, pool is called pocket ball and doesn't seem to be as popular as billiards.

Joel and William. The carom tables are heated!

You can always tell when a business is new because they have these giant floral displays with neon bows.

I've always been terrible at pool, so I'm looking forward to getting some practice and tips at William's. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I don't embarrass myself when I have to play--that's all I ask!