When we met Yraola during the Philippines field trip, she received us with remarkable warmth from the very first moment to the last. Perhaps for that reason, upon hearing that she was coming to Korea, we felt a natural desire to return that hospitality. Perhaps what we took away most from the Philippines wasn’t knowledge about the country or its language but the experience of that welcome and warmth.  

Tambay, as Yraola suggested to us, is a time of non-production—of conversation and improvisation. In an era that might well be described as having a productivity addiction, non-production may sound like a luxury. The view that it requires money and leisure is not entirely unfounded. And yet, in a way, tambay isn’t so different from a coffee break with a colleague at work, or a stroll down a random street. All that chatter about what happened over the weekend, what’s going on right now, what’s on tap for next week—tambay lies in all of that.  

The sounds of chatter, water for coffee coming to a boil, footsteps, wind, and laughter all carry the sounds of the future and the present. Groups formed at random begin to open up and talk. Something improbable yet not entirely undreamable is gathered into a paper bag. We are too overwhelmed to sneer at a hollow stretch of time in which nothing gets done. So perhaps the sounds of the future can afford to be a little more empty, like the time spent in a tambayan.  

—Han Munhee (Amo) (DCW 2025)

Photo by Kangsun Lee