추석 잘 보네세요!  Happy Chuseok to everyone, especially to gyopo (교포), or overseas Koreans, who cannot come home to Korea for the holiday.  We are having a quiet Chuseok get together with some family friends tonight.  My friend’s wife is from Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Republic), so we’ll actually be having authentic Georgian cuisine tonight.  It sounds delicious!  I’ll let you know what we had for dinner.  Because I have the day off tomorrow, on Monday we may get together with some Korean friends for a post-Chuseok party.  It can be difficult to get together with Koreans on Chuseok if you’re not a Korean, because Chuseok, or the Full Moon festival, is a time for Korean families to reunite and spend time with family, both alive and deceased.  The Chinese also celebrate Chuseok and refer to it as Mid-Autumn Festival.  The Koreans, however, have taken the holiday to a whole new level by celebrating it as a day of remembrance.  The closest American holidays are Thanksgiving, when Americans gather with friends and family to celebrate and say thanks, and Memorial Day, when they honor those who have passed.  These holidays are not quite like Chuseok, though.

 

Here is my understanding of Chuseok based on numerous conversations I’ve had with Korean friends.  Chuseok is a lunar holiday that lasts three days, the duration of the full moon during harvest season.  Three days also allow Koreans enough time to reach their destination, celebrate with family, and return home by car.  Traditionally, Koreans return to their ancestral hometown to thank their ancestors for a bountiful harvest.  Because most Koreans no longer farm, the holiday now serves as time for families to reunite and pay respect to their ancestors.  Typically, the patriarch of the extended family who lives in the family’s hometown hosts a large family gathering at his home.   Families also visit their ancestral graveyard, clean up and decorate family grave sites, and have a picnic lunch near the graves of their ancestors, perhaps a grandparent or great-grandparent.   Americans too return to pay respects to their lost loved ones, although we typically do not gather for food at a cemetary.

 

Times have changed, and contemporary realities have also changed Chuseok.  Traffic congestion is a new, unwelcome Chuseok tradition.  Because most Koreans who live in the greater Seoul area hail from elsewhere, the city empties for a few days as families pile into the car and brave horrendous traffic to drive to their hometowns.  Seoul and cities throughout Korea host public Chuseok celebrations for those who remain in the city over the holiday.  Also, because some families’ ancestral homes lie in North Korea, these families have had to establish new, innovative ways to celebrate the holiday.  In addition, for some Koreans, Chuseok is merely an inconvenience.  Frankly, holiday travel isn’t much fun, and some Koreans prefer to not to sit in traffic for hours on end.  In addition, many cemeteries and grave sites in Korea are now tended by professional services.  This is not much different in America, where most cemeteries are manicured.  I would love to head home to the U.S. for Christmas, but because my brother will not be home, and for a few other reasons, we decided not to travel home this Christmas.  We will wait until next summer when the weather is better and traveling is more convenient.

 

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by World Adventurers.  Thank you for posting great comments.  I’ll try to visit your blogs too.  Here are a few responses to some of the questions I received:

 

Note to timeless_traveller:   It’s hard to say exactly why MSN Spaces chose to feature my blog this week, but I am glad they did.  The magic of blogs comes from the freedom it brings in allowing people to express themselves in any way they see fit, whether it be in documenting a travelogue or writing about nothing.  For me, this is a chronicle of our lives overseas as well as a way for me to share some ideas I have.  I think it’s a lot more interesting to rotate topics daily than to focus solely on cataloguing life overseas.

 

Note to AmyKristen:  I worked for Boeing for several years before I quit to pursue my MBA at the University of Washington in Seattle.  I graduated in 2003 and left Seattle in 2004.  I miss it very much!  I wouldn’t trade this life for the world, though.  I’m living out my dream.  Keep the light on in Seattle!  I’ll probably be back after I retire.

 

Note to Love-is-a-Verb-2:  How did I set up the language translation?  If you visit http://www.google.com/language_tools, then input your blog’s URL (e.g. http://spaces.msn.com/members/worldadventurers/ and select the language you want it translated into, Google will return a translated version, albeit a rough translation (I hear that the Asian translations are especially bad).  Then paste the resulting link into a list with a title, and the title will appear.  When clicked, the page will be automatically translated by Google. 

 

Note to JenineElisa:  Congratulations on your marriage, your husband’s job offer with SkyWest, happy birthday, and congratulations on 1,000 hits!  I lived in the Seattle area before I started my new job and traveled abroad.  I used to work down in Auburn not far from Federal Way and have spent quality time at Weyerhaeuser in Federal Way.  I really miss Seattle.  I still think it’s the best place in which to live on that side of the Pacific.  I have a question–how did you add a page counter and graphics to your blog header?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week was shortened by the Labor Day holiday.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, I went back to work and closed out some important action items.  I was so busy at work that I had to write an article for a local English-language newspaper on Monday night when I got home from our trip to Seoraksan National Park.  On Thursday, I went with a colleague to Daejon and Cheongnam and visited some Americans there.  I also met a very nice Korean man who spoke to me in Korean.  He said my Korean wasn’t too bad, although I think he was being a bit generous with his compliments.  We feasted on spicy fish soup, a dish that my colleague maintains exemplifies the epitome of Korean cuisine.  Frankly, I didn’t think it was anything special, because I had to pick through a landmine of fish bones to enjoy the soup.  I suppose that I am a pampered American who expects to either eat boneless fish or to be able to easily extricate fish bones.  I never got the hang of chewing fish bones, separating them in mouth, and disgorging them.  My colleague and I talked about how to experience all that Korea has to offer.  I mentioned that I had not yet tried bosingtang (보싱탕), better known as dog soup.  They told me they would take me sometime for bosingtang.  While dog soup does not sound particularly appetizing, I’m the type of person who wants to experience the fullness of the culture, even delicacies.  I hear that it tastes pretty good when prepared properly.

I took a day off on Friday and had a much needed rest.  I didn’t really do much yesterday other than resting and finishing up some miscellaneous tasks at home.  We had planned to travel to Odaesan National Park and Yongpyong Ski Resort this weekend, but I needed to stay in Seoul so that I could emcee a community event today.  Today was much livelier than Friday.  In the morning, my family and I went to Gyeongbok Palace so my sister-in-law and nephew could tour the former Korean royal palace.  While they went on a Chinese-language tour of the palace, my wife and I took my son to nearby Kyobo Bookstore, the largest bookstore in Korea.  Even though most of the children’s books are in Korean, my son loves looking at book in Kyobo’s huge children’s book section (since he doesn’t read and looks at the pictures, it doesn’t matter).  On the way to the Kyobo Building, we walked past a large demonstration happening just south of Gyeongbok Palace.  I did not know the target of the demonstration, but judging by the heavy security, I ascertained that it was an anti-American demonstration.  Policemen far outnumbered protesters.  Just outside the Kyobo Building, we saw a sidwalk photo exhibit with very graphic photos depicting scenes of violence and victimizations allegedly perpetrated by U.S. Forces Korea, the U.S. miliitary presence in Korea.  The photos were very disturbing, especially if true as alleged.  Still, they also made me think of the 33,651 Americans who gave their lives during the Korean War.  I thought that the exhibit would be more appropriate put in the context of the sacrifices U.S. Forces Korea made in the past 60 years on behalf of the Republic of Korea.  Not once during the protests did I feel that my family was at risk while we walked near the demonstrations.  They were very peaceful.

Tonight I served as emcee at our community association’s all-members’ meeting.  The theme was a crab and beach fest, complete with festive decorations such as artificial crabs and fishing nets.  The board chair was absent, so I agreed to host the event.  Although we ran out of catered food early, it was still a success.  Several members of the community volunteered many hours to prepare the food and decorations, and the results were fabulous.   I’m not a natural public speaker, but people said that I did well.  I kept the meeting under half an hour, including time for a prize giveaway.  I spent a bit of time preparing for the event yesterday.  I also drank a delicious margarita to help soothe lingering nervousness.  I enjoyed the experience, but I’m glad it’s over.  I will probably run for board chair later this month.  Tonight’s event was a great prelude to taking on more responsibility for managing the community association.