Happy (belated!) Chuseok!

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Ok so not last week but the week before (really must update this more regularly!) it was Chuseok which is basically the Korean Thanksgiving. What with being British n all that I wasn't exactly sure what Thanksgiving was (ok so being British AND being and idiot) but apparently it's when you give thanks to the harvest for being prosperous. So Koreans get a holiday that lasts about four days depending upon when it falls (I think our equivalent is Harvest Festival- from what I remember this is when 7 year olds in school uniform roam the streets on mass and force tinned goods onto biddies- kind of like what I did last Christmas too...altho I wasn't seven....anyway..) Initially I was pretty worried about Chu-seok as I didn't know what I'd do to fill the time and Suzanna was in Thailand and Will was meant to be going to Mongolia. However I needn't have worried at all- I spent nearly all my time asleep, it was utter bliss! The window in my room looks out directly upon to a wall so really feels a little lika a box with a small ventilation hole in it. Rubbish for when you need to get pout of bed at 6am as there's no natural light, perfect if you want to spend all day in bed. Will didn't go to Mongolia so we drank and hung out a bit.

However I didn't spend all my time acting like a true Brit abroad, one of my Korean co-workers So-Young invited me to her house for a traditional Korean Chu-seok. Koreans visit their ancestors graves at Chu-seok to pay their respects so this normally involves returning to their home town. There follows a heady social whirlwind of visiting all of the extended families houses to say hello whivh I think most Koreans find pretty exhausting especially the women who have to cater for all and sundry. My students came back to class all looking (and complaining!) that they needed another holiday- I know that feeling!

I was really pleased to be invited- it's quite an honour to be invited to someones house in Korea especially at such a special time. Although her family spoke no English they were very welcoming and the food was amaaazing!

After that we went to noraebang- not so much fun sober as the bum notes sound worse but enjoyable nevertheless!

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Photos

So- young and family
So-Young is on the left of the picture- she's such a sweetheart!

Noraebang
This guy sang Queen all night and really rocked it- even though my ears were sober!