24/09/2007

Happy Chuseok/추석!



I can’t believe that I’m actually staying in Korea during this holiday, I was hoping to visit Thailand but the airfare is pure extortion and I refuse to pay more than double the regular fare! One of the joys of being a public school teacher.

So far I haven’t done too much which is the whole plan as I’ve been way too tired lately. However Young-joo, Nado and myself took off shopping to Costco to stock up on some of the yummy food that is otherwise hard to find. Hhhmm the TV is on at the moment the show from what I gather is about the black market for prescription drugs here in Korea. Anyway where was I??? Yeah I needed things like Special K, kidney beans and some ground beef ~ oh oh soooo exciting!

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while I’m actually busy these days at work ~ yeah I admit that I normally post while at work as all my stuff is done and I have hours of time spare. But these days I’m preparing a few kids for a school play that will perform for a contest that involves all the schools. I also have pressure seeing that my principal expects us to win. GREAT!

Not too much else is going on, I went out last night with the girls and Nado’s friend David from Scotland. We had a couple bottles of red wine while sitting on the rooftop at the bungalow lounge. But dinner was at the Wolfhound Pub a small Irish joint that offers a pretty good menu, but the beef and mushroom pie was not what I expected as it seemed more like a soup with pastry on top. The apple crumble wasn’t bad but not so Irish with all the cinnamon, or maybe I’m wrong.

Tomorrow I guess is the main day for Chuseok/추석 which is Korean thanksgiving. For those who are unfamiliar with this major holiday it’s a time when everybody visits their families especially the eldest male who is the most important figure. So Seoul seems rather empty as everyone is off to their hometowns around Korea.



This is not the time to be traveling, as traffic is absolutely horrific!!!



The family pays their respect to their ancestors early in the morning by bowing and then enjoying a meal with them. It’s a great time to visit Koreans in their homes which I have done in the past when I lived in Daegu as it was a destination for many Seoulites.



It’s also a good time to see many people dressed in hanboks or receive some interesting gifts like a box full of more boxes of toothpaste or a box full of Spam!



This year the holiday falls on a five day weekend, so starting Saturday till Wednesday however I’m lucky that my school has a day off on Thursday but why, why and why again do I have to go on Friday???

And for those that reside in Hong Kong/China ~ Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

01/09/2007

Maui, Calgary, Fort McMurray and back to Seoul!

It’s official my brother is married! Man, what a gorgeous wedding too in Maui, both he and Joanna looked extremely happy which was the main thing.


Receiving a high five from dad!


Self portrait


I miss my brother dearly, even though we fought like cats and dogs when we were young but the best thing and what I miss the most is that we could argue but he's always there for me and I'm always there for him with total respect.


We started of as four and now we are five :)


I love this photo!


Saying goodbye is the part of my vacations that I hate the most and I know I'm not the only one. But I'm glad that I got to stay with my brother for a couple of days in Fort McMurray :)


And the last leg of my trip home was a night in Waikiki I managed to squeeze in some time on the beach however it was about 7am!