"Full Moon"

Korean Thanksgiving - aka "Chuseok" (추석) is approaching quickly. The holiday starts Tuesday-Thursday this year, and is probably the most popular holiday in the country.

"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.

"Heart and Seoul"

With the Chuseok holiday finally coming to a close, I can look back on the past few days with amazement of how awesome Seoul can really be and how many things there really are to see and do.

On Saturday, Hwayoung brought me to Myeongdong, a popular neighborhood in the city full of shopping. According to her, it was not crowded as it usually is, so it was a good day to go. Seeing as I thought it was very crowded, I would hate to see what it is like when it really is busy!

Later, we headed over to Chungmuro where we visited a Chuseok festival going on near Korea House at Namsan Hanok Village. It was such a beautiful day, and getting to see the traditional events going on while being surrounded by the culture, architecture, music, games, and families brought a huge smile to my face the entire time.

My friend Alan and a couple of his friends met up with us for dinner. Alan has taught in Japan and has been teaching in China for the past 2 years. We used to work together at a summer program stateside and haven't seen each other in years! It was awesome to see him again, and share some laughs and our experiences (which are not all that dissimilar, besides taking into account how strict the Chinese government can be!)

Later that night, we got cheap movie tickets at CGV (thanks to Hwayoung's connections in her business as an event planner). We saw Fame, which was pretty good - but I liked the original better. This one was a lot more child friendly, and not as dark and pessimistic. They did keep the "Out Here On My Own" solo from the original though, but threw in a new "Hot Lunch Jam" that got my toe tapping and wasn't as corny as the original. I recommend you watch both and decide for yourself.

Some clips from the original

On Sunday, Hwayoung wanted to take me out for a picnic at the park near City Hall, however our plans changed quickly, and instead she took me to a traditional market near her house in Sindaebang. She introduced me to a few fruits such as Korean pears which are the size of grapefruits and have an almost honey sweetness to them, as well as Korean plums and apricots, which were pretty yummy!

Those are pears on the right...crazy...

We headed up to City Hall and did some sight seeing nearby, and walked along a popular waterway that cuts down to City Hall. She showed me one of Korea's National Treasures (one of 4 old forts that used to guard the city). We got tickets to see Deoksu Palace, and wandered around checking out the amazing architecture and landscape.

One thing that is so unique to Korea is the blend of new and old world. You can see a one thousand year old palace right next to a skyscraper. For me, seeing that takes a little of the charm and exoticism out of the picture, but you start to get used to it enough not to really notice.

That night, we sat for a free concert on City Hall's park, where we were treated to a acoustic band, followed by traditional Korean folk songs, dancing and story telling for Chuseok - and it was followed up by a underground rap group called SupremeTeam. It was something for everybody, and truly shows that new world and old world being mixed can be found in more than simply the landscape, but in the people as well.

As usual, you can find all my photos here (part 1) and here (part 2).