The Kimchi Life: Chusok

So in my hast to write about the DMZ I completely skipped over Chusok, which was a five day holiday we had in the middle of September. Chusok, is the only real holiday where everyone takes off work. I was just talking to a man the other day who runs his own English school. Chusok is the only time of year he takes a break from his work. And then he'd rather work because it's stressful hosting family. He hasn't taken a vacation ever, by the way--in 20 years of working. That's the Korean work ethic.

Chusok is just like our Thanksgiving. The extended family gets together and has a big meal. Everything closes down. It's the one day of the year that people dress in their hanbok (tradition dress). All the older (30's) unmarried people I've talked to, however, hate the holiday and end up spending it alone or with friends as opposed to family. Since the relatives get together it's also the perfect opportunity to nag on nieces and nephews and

grandchildren as to why they aren't married yet. So these people merely avoid the situation altogether. Ana, a teacher at our school, includes herself among their ranks.

The Friday before we had played tradition Korean games at school for the preschoolers and they all came dressed in their hanbok. Since they are not yet jaded by Korean culture they had a great time and were very cute. We played such games as spinning a top, hackey-sac, and tossing arrows into a bucket. True to kindergartners, they can't sit still for a picture to save their lives, thus the blurry pics.

I took the opportunity to explore parts of Seoul I hadn't yet seen. Stacy and I stayed in Tocheon, which is Tanja's tiny village she lives in. It takes her about an hour and a half by bus

just to get to the nearest subway stop. I was at first skeptical of her calling it a village, especially living in Korea, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. However, once I saw the main drag, I was convinced. It really isn't just a small town, it's a village- surrounded by beautiful mountains and peaceful rice fields where the egrets love to congregate.

The next day of my Chusok vacation was used to go to Seoul Tower, which sits on top of Namsan which is in the middle of the city. We had a gorgeous 360 degree view of the city skyline at night. Here I am enjoying some junk art a little too much!

Chusok Day was spent at a traditional folk village with some friends. It's the same idea as a reconstructed colonial village in Jamestown or Williamsburg- old houses and people dressed in costume. What impressed me most, however was the traditional farmers' dance they did. I've dubbed it the ribbon dance because they had ribbons on their heads which

they swirled around to the beat of the drums with a simple nod of their heads. It was very cool. If I can somehow attach a video of it here, I will, otherwise those of you on Facebook can access it their once I post it.

Extreme seesawing is also apparently a traditional Korean sport. Who knew? Two women jump up and down on a seesaw and fling each other so high into the air they can do acrobatics.

The pic above with the thatch house includes members of the "denim family", whose members numbered over 100 people- all with the same shirts. See, American families aren't the only ones that have gigantic family reunions where they all where the same thing. Their shirts, however, are considerably less tacky. The denim family also makes a cameo in the ribbon dancer picture. And yes, I do know the crazy girl below. That's Hadley.