Happy Chuseok!

Here in Korea, Chuseok a very important holiday, similar to Thanksgiving. At school, the kids celebrated the holiday by wearing their traditional Korean dress, playing Korean games and learning the correct way to bow to their elders, which was actually more intense than i thought it would be.

The kids looks sooooo sooo cute in their clothes, and here are some pictures my co-worker took that I stole from her. Really, are these kids not the cutest things? Also, PLEASE notice all the "peace signs", thats what I'm talking about!

We had to get the kids dressed in their clothes, and they were all so wild and excited. Me, not knowing anything about the clothes, got a little girl all dressed, only to find out I put her clothes on backwards, boy did I feel like a dumb American, but luckily, my Korean co-workers just gave a little giggle and helped me out.

So I have three days off from work for this Holiday. Yahoo!

Here's a little bit from Wikipedia to explain the holiday....

In modern South Korea, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns to pay respects to the spirits of one's ancestors. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of their immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors. Harvest crops are attributed to the blessing of ancestors.

One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles. Other foods commonly prepared are japchae, bulgogi and fruits.

On another note, my apartment definitely has some issues. The power went out today during a HUGE storm, and then it decided not to come on. I am back to where I started when I got here. Cold water, no fridge (storing my food in my neighbors fridge), no air conditioning (its so dang hot!), and no outlets that work. Really, its like I made so much progress and I just had to take three steps back. Oh well, I guess it is part of the adventure. 

 PEACE!