Chuseok Weekend

This past weekend was Chuseok. It's pronounced as "chew-sock" for anyone wondering. This holiday is where families travel back to their home towns to be with family and to pay their respects to their ancestors. It's basically their Thanksgiving. Well, thanks to this holiday I had a  full 5 days of play. So to celebrate I decided do some sightseeing.

My school celebrated Chuseok on Thursday with traditional festivities. Each student wore a Hanbok, or a traditonal Korean garment. They were all so cute! Also, each class made Songpyeons. Songpyeons are a traditional Korean food that are half-moon-shaped rice cakes stuffed with either beans or a sweet filling, then steamed. They are actually very good! My co-teacher, Rafaela Teacher, explained to me a myth that if you're pregnant while making the songpyeons you will have a healthy girl on the way.

Songpyeons

That same night I attended a teachers dinner at a Korean BBQ near my work. All the Korean and Native teachers attended as a farewell party to one of my co-workers and my welcoming. It was really great to be out with my Korean co-teachers and learn a little more about Korean culture.

For the Chuseok weekend Everland, an amusement park, and Caribbean Bay, a water park, had half-off ticket prices for foreign residents. Yippee! I jumped on the chance to go to at least one park. So on Sunday, I went to Caribbean Bay. It was a pretty decent sized water park and considering the holiday, it was pretty dead. Making lines non-existent and our visit even more enjoyable.

On Monday I met up with a group of friends and went to the Korean Folk Village. It's a living museum with replicas of traditional houses of the different social classes. It was such an experience. It's rather big so if anyone ever goes to visit, be sure to allot a whole day. We spent almost seven hours there. They had traditional Korean food, along with traditional Korean folk dancing and music.

One of my favorite attractions was the wishing tree which is were one can write a wish on a piece of paper and tie them to a tree that would later be burned.

Another attraction I liked was the totem pols. People would place these totem pols at the entry of their village or a building. They were used a tutelary gods to defend their town from disease or disaster.

For weeks I have been craving Western style breakfast but have hard a time getting my hands on any since most of the breakfast places are located closer to Seoul. On Tuesday I went to Butterfinger Pancakes in Jeongja to surprise one my co-workers for her Birthday. I cannot begin to tell you how blissful my meal was. They had any kind of breakfast food imaginable along with some amazing mac & cheese. 

Afterwards, we headed to see the LG Twins vs Doosan Bears game. These are generally big games since both teams share the same home stadium.

Overall this past weekend was one of the best weekends I have had so far in Korea. I spent it with good company and got to see a lot more of what I came here to Korea to see. Last night was by far one of the most exciting things I have encountered. While in the taxi on the way home from the bar, the taxi driver had me sing along to "Like a Virgin" with him. Madonna is such a legend no matter what country you're in.

I unfortunately have to head back to work tomorrow. I'm actually kind of excited to get back and see my little babies. I kind of miss them :(