"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.

"The Best Deceptions"

The word of the day is [Sorry!] "meean-hamneeda! (meeen-ham-need-ah)

It's been a fairly boring weekend. I suppose that is to be expected when you don't really know anyone yet. It's kind of depressing, but I think that will change once I get to know more people and such.

On a higher note (if you want to call it that), I made a couple more trips to E-Mart. One about an hour ago, and a second one about a sentence ago when I realized I was going to tell you that I bought a rack for hanging my clothes then though "wait, did I just forget to bring that back with me?" I put it down when I opened my backpack to stuff it full of E-Mart goodies (hand towel, sponge, laundry detergent, a single dish (I'm lame) a cooking pot and some more food). I ran back to E-Mart and lo-and-behold, it was still there! If this were Wal-Mart and I left something I purchased outside of the checkout - someone would have either taken it home with them, or an employee would eventually put it back. The score is now E-Mart - 5, Nick - 1. (unless you count how many times I've gotten lost in that place in which I wish there were a mercy rule in this sport of shopping.

I also thought I would get more stares being a big white dude, but I don't feel like I'm being stared at. I think Koreans are just more polite about it, but I have felt them looking after I walk by, and noticed a few glances.

I figure now is a good time to maybe write about some things I might take for granted that I already know about this new culture and you may not:

1. Koreans are not the stereotypical small people we think of. I think that they are definitely slimmer than us Americans (especially compared to me) but they are not exactly small in a 'short' way. Many men are just as tall or taller than I - and some women are actually average by US standards. This might be due to the influx of Western foods and growth hormones that are fed to our animals. (and probably theirs as well).

2. They bow a lot. When entering any store, and greeted by a fairly loud 'Annaseyoooo!', they will usually bow, usually if you about the same age or older than them (they guess). For the older population (who are short, compared to the teenagers) they get a bigger bow. It makes me feel kind of special in a non-deserving way.

3. The elevators are fast. Maybe it's because they have perfected these machines since they are found everywhere because all the stores are built in 10 story buildings. But I love them. My apartment is 17 floors and 5 basements (parking garages) and it flies through the building like a superhero (and you don't even notice it). Plus they have TV's in them throwing ads at you.

4. Koreans strive for perfection. This is a culture that could someday take over the world. The need to be perfect can be found everywhere. The students are told by their parents that they need to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer - and they basically have no choice. They study for hours, and go to school for hours more. Across my street is a hagwon (private language institue). Upon trying to get over my jet-lag I was looking out the window at about 1:30am and saw that there were kids (about 4th-5th grade) finishing up a class. (Seriously, that's crazy). The strive for perfection can also be found in the push to be beautiful looking as well. There are beauty botiques on every corner for make-up, hair, etc. And as I'm told, Koreans are huge into plastic surgery (mainly for eye-lids), but so I'm told, just about every Korean actor/actress has had plastic surgery. Either way, my point is that these people work hard, but also can be seen having fun on the streets and hanging out with friends constantly. Something we don't see as much back home since we're so separated from each other.

5. They shop -- alot. I think this is due to the fact that since everything is on a smaller scale, and less people really need or have cars, that they don't need the space to carry boxes full of wholesale store items, and they can shop more often for smaller things that they carry home. You don't really see cases of soda, large sets of cookware, or people buying anything in bulk. There is just no room for it. They consume what they need when they need it (eating out is common, as it is just as cheap - if not cheaper - than going to the grocery store). It's actually kind of nice because it forces me to get out of the apartment. Although, in my case I need to constantly shop because I have NOTHING, and if I want a drink of water I have to buy a liter of it versus turning on the tap.

I also started trying to watch some Korean TV, and have a few channels I seem to be drawn to. I think mainly because I can follow along a little. They have a show called StarKing which is basically Star Search and is hosted by a very animated host. Here's a clip:



Ok, that's enough for today.

Oh, and if anyone knows a good way to listen/watch the Red Sox games let me know. MLB has a monopoly over everything and I can't find a radio station or live video anywhere. I'm probably not going to luck out on that without purchasing a subscription to mlb.tv, but I'll usually sleeping or starting the work day when they are on anyways. Just to see a game, even if it's not live, would be nice. (Big Pappi hit another HR today -- about time!) I'm going to try and see a Doosan Bears game which is about 45 min and 1 transfer away. The tickets are about $7 for really good seats. (I think I'll splurge)