Tomorrow begins five days of Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving. The actual day is Tuesday, September 25, but the official holidays are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will return to school on Thursday.
Chuseok, according to my guidebook, is the year's most important traditional holiday and is equivalent to our Thanksgiving holidays. Family members return to their ancestral homes, or hometowns for various ancestor memorial ceremonies. This is also a time for special foods including rice cakes, filled with a sesame-seed mixture or red bean paste, and steamed on pine needles. Everyone loves them but they are not for the calorie conscious, if you know what I mean. This is also a time of gift-giving. I received a nice set of handmade trays from one of my adult students and a boxed set of Spam and Grape Seed Oil from my employer. Two very nice gestures.
So, I am happily off to Seoul tomorrow morning on the train, will return late on Tuesday, and am so excited to be going away for a little R&R.
After that, things are very quiet in Jeonju. I ran into a lady from Canada today. She lives right by my school, but teaches in another area of the city. She has been here three years. Amazing that we have not bumped into each other before now. I saw her yesterday, but didn't talk until we saw each other today. Fun to meet another native English speaker.
Hope you are all have a great weekend! Will have lots of pictures and tales after my return, I'm sure. Keep those cards and letters coming!
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