A fair few things have happened since I last updated our blog- the most important event being "Chuseok" which is Korea's biggest annual celebration and National holiday. As far as I could tell it involved giving people the biggest gift packs of Spam or dried seaweed I have ever seen. In fact, I didn't even realise that Spam existed in gift packs until about two weeks before Chuseok when all the supermarkets started stocking these enormous boxes of the stuff wrapped in ribbons. It was rather like visiting the shops in England before Christmas, except that the Cadbury's variety packs had been replaced with these rather less appetising morsels.
Anyhow, I did some research and found out that there is more to Chuseok than Spam. Legend has it that the festival originates from a huge weaving contest that took place between two princesses about two thousand years ago. It is said that the loser had to prepare a sumptuous and enormous feast and this traditional is still the major theme of Chuseok. Another important part of the celebration is to pay homage to ancestors and people are expected to visit ancestral graves to clean them and give offerings.
Most people wear hanboks which is traditional Korean dress. All the Kindergarten children arrived at our Hagwon dressed up in them which was quite adorable until they dragged their silky sleeves through the soup we had made in our cooking class and proceeded to cry.
Our Chuseok celebration involved having a couple of friends to stay for the weekend which was really good. I went to university with them and they arrived in Korea to teach a couple of weeks before we did. They are living in Jeollonam-do which is further South than us and very rural. They are the only Westerners in their village and they are teaching in public schools so it was interesting to compare notes with them. It seems that their experience of Korea is quite different to ours and I think that living in rural Korea has given them more of an insight into traditional Korea as they have managed to avoid the sleazy, superficial, commercial and 'Americanised' aspect of Korea that frustates Lee and I so much. Talking to them has made me realise that I shouldn't assume that all of Korea has developed into the souless and money-making machines that many of the cities (and the people) have become. I would really like to see some more of the countryside and meet the people that still live hold on to traditional Korean values.
So for the last few weekends we have ventured out on our bicycles into the surrounding rice fields beyond the city and it has been a really uplifting experience. We can leave Gimhae behind after about twenty minutes of cycling and it's really peaceful cycling along the river and watching the people fishing or hearing the hum of a combine harvester trimming the rice. The rice was a brilliant green about six weeks ago but it has gradually turned into blades of beautiful gold and burnt orange which looks really dramatic against a blue sky and the mountains. The people that we have met whilst cycling outside of the city seem to be far more pleasant than those that we have met in Gimhae. We are normally bombarded with teenagers yelling 'Hi!' at us and pointing and laughing at us like we are some kind of circus act. They have no interest in us other than to laugh because we are 'funny' looking. In the countryside people try so hard to talk to us and they often ask us where we are from and if we are teachers. It's a refreshing change.
Here are some photos of this weekend for you to browse. Mum, there is one of my fringe- just for you x
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