Chuseok

Aw...a 5-day weekend!  What a glorious feeling to not have to work for the next 5 days.  I won't to soak it up though because between now and my 10 day vacation sometime in January/February I think I will have a total of 3 days off and 2 of them are in October!  Why a 5-day weekend?  Because its Korea's Thanksgiving holiday - Chuseok.

From what I have gathered Chuseok is a time with Korean return to their hometowns, clean the graves of their ancestors, have some sort of ceremony, spend time with their family and eat a lot.  They spend time with their family and eat a lot which sounds very much like American Thanksgiving.  It is why this is often referred to as Korea's Thanksgiving.

Here is a news article about people headed out of the holiday that I found. It sounds a lot like news reports of traveling during Thanksgiving and Christmas at home.

There is also a traditional food that is served - songpyeon.  I had some at school on Monday.  I thought they were really good but I haven't found any to buy.  But I did find this recipe that doesn't sound too hard if you can find all the ingredients :)

This website also has a lot of great information about the holiday.

For me, the next 5 days are filled with a church retreat about Lordship, spending time with friends, and catching up with friends and family back in the States :)  It is going to be a great 5 days!