"Chuseok is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food." - Wikipedia
5 Things to Expect During Chuseok:
1. Traffic: If you are planning on traveling during Chuseok - don't! It's super busy and you are bound to be stuck in traffic jams between the major cities as everyone is going to their families homes - just like in the U.S.
2. High Costs: Transportation books up really quickly, and if you are planning on flying, flights will be ridiculously expensive as many people travel internationally during the free time as well. Also, the major stores seems to increase their prices - specifically food. I have seen all food prices jump over the past week due to the holiday.
Thanks to Simon and Martina over at eatyourkimchi.com you can view their latest video about going to the local supermarket.
Please take the time to read their post as well about what to expect.
Here are some highlights:
Yelling Men: Yep. Men yelling loudly. Not at each other. Not argumentatively. They’re all yelling for your attention. COME OVER HERE! THIS THING HERE IS ON SALE AND IT’S DELICIOUS AND CHEAP! Forget about store signs to tell you their sales. With these guys, you’ll know about the sale before you even enter the place.
Big Crowds: Don’t go to a Korean Supermarket on the weekend unless you’re desperate. The crowds can get huge. You’ll wait in line just to be able to put something in your cart, then wait in a bigger line to pay for it.
Women with Cool Outfits: Sure, each Supermarket has its own uniform, but there are a bunch of women not wearing that uniform. Some of the women who give samples have something that can only be described as baggy socks that start at your shoes and tie up under the knee. Can’t describe it any other way. And that goes with their miniskirts. Other women, especially during the holidays, wear hanboks next to the gift sets the store is selling. Awesome.
Spam as a Gift Set: No joke here. During the holidays, you’ll find lots of food gift sets in the stores. They can be full of apples, or seaweed, or beef, or even Spam.
Yes - it's true.
3. Closed Shops: On Chuseok, many stores - (and especially smaller restaurants) will be closed or have different hours. If this is your first Chuseok in Korea you should plan on stocking up your pantry for a few days - although you should be fine, and able to find something if you live in a downtown area.
4. More Vacation!: Depending on your school, you may be entitled to more vacation based on the good will of your principal and/or the education department of your city. (I can only speak for public schools). This year, due to the holiday following on a Tues-Thurs, our school gave us Monday and Friday off as well - meaning, thanks to weekends - 10 days vacation! I wish I had known much earlier as I could have made some major traveling plans in advance and gotten some good deals.
5. Awesome Festivals: I recommend getting out of your apartment and attending some of the local events - specifically in Seoul. Namsan Hanok Folk Village was pretty cool, walking around Insadong has it's perks too. I recommend looking at iTourSeoul and looking at some events.
If you want to see how I spent Chuseok last year - check out the post here.
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