Chuseok

It's Monday and that means the work week is starting up again.. but wait, what's this? I only work two days this week!? Assa! It's Chuseok (similar to our Thanksgiving, but yet not the same at all) in Korea and that means three days off. Unlike most other schools, I still have to work on Monday and Friday this week. Thankfully Mondays are my easiest and shortest day.

Most of the women here hate Chuseok because it means a ton of extra work for them. My favorite coworker who still lives with her parents has told me that she dreads Chuseok. See her father is the first born son, which means that all the responsibility falls on his family. And since it's the woman's job to prepare everything, it falls on her and her mother.

I'm not going to try and pretend I know everything (or anything for that matter) about this holiday. I do know that it's rich in tradition and food must be made and presented a certain way in order to pay respects to their ancestors. I think. No one has actually ever told me, and being as I hate googling, I'm inferring a lot here.

This is one of the major holidays in Korea where things actually close down for 1-3 days... typically leaning more towards the 3 days. Most of my friends are leaving the country but I decided to stick around and try and see a few more things in the area.... now let's just hope the weather cooperates.