Beginning Chuseok

Today (Wednesday) marked the beginning of Chuseok in Korea. Chuseok is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. It's three days long (plus the weekend this year equals five). They call it "Korean Thanksgiving" in English, but I don't know how good a translation that is. The main purpose of the holiday is to get together with your family. Koreans go to the house of the oldest son in their family (or something like that) and pay respects to their living grandfathers, etc. They also go to the graves of their ancestors and offer them food and alcohol, etc. I'll try and be culturally sensitive and not call it strange. It does seem a little odd however, that in a country where Christianity is the dominant religion that everyone worships their dead ancestors. But to each his own.

Now while Christmas is a huge holiday in the west, Chuseok is pretty huge here. Almost everyone is supposed to go to their hometown (or where their family resides). Now, like Canada, lots of Koreans do not live in their hometown (I think there are only 10 people oringinally from Calgary). So that means a lot of people need to get home. Now despite an excellent intranational transportation system, a lot of Koreans still need to drive home. Today I heard on the news that there will be 20 million cars on the highways. Man, you thought long weekends in western Canada were bad.

And how have I spent my Chuseok thus far? Well, I sat by the phone all night watching TV and waiting for a call (that didn't come). Why? Well, more to come later...