I have officially been living in Gwangyang for one month! During this time, we recently celebrated a Korean holiday called Chuseok (추석). Chuseok is one of the biggest and most important holidays in Korea. Family members from near and far come together to share food and stories and to give thanks to their ancestors for an abundant harvest. In 2014, Chuseok Day falls on September 8, but the holiday is observed for a total of three days (September 7–9).
On the morning of Chuseok Day, foods prepared with the year’s fresh harvest are set out to give thanks to ancestors through Charye (ancestor memorial service). After Charye, families visit their ancestors’ graves and engage in Beolcho, a ritual of clearing the weeds that may have grown up over the burial mound. After dusk, families and friends take walks and gaze at the beauty of the full harvest moon or play folk games such as Ganggangsullae (Korean circle dance).
My host family and I celebrated the holiday by going to my host dad's family's house, where we met with other parts of the family. We went to the cemetery together and cleared the weeds, and shared a family meal. On the morning of Chuseok, my family and I bowed to the ancestors, and then we proceeded to have a large meal filled with fish, bulgogi, rice, vegetables, and more. It was so delicious! Here are some pictures.
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| Our family's lineage |
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| One of our delicious meals |
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| After clearing the weeds around the graves |
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| Setting out the food and bowing to our ancestors |
I feel like I am adjusting to my daily routine and gaining some knowledge about my city and its whereabouts. I have even took some gambles traveling outside of the city... on my own! It has been quite an adventure, but I am easing my way into the navigation of Korea. A week ago, I went to visit some fellow Fulbright friends in Busan, which is about a two hour bus ride northeast of my city. We had a great time together - we shared our highs and lows with teaching so far, went to the spa, took a long nap, and enjoyed some American food together. I ate a huge steak burrito - it was glorious!
One thing that I really love about Korea is their spas, known as 찜질방 (pronounced like gym-jill-bahng). These spas are different than most American spas because you arrive, receive a change of clothes, and then each sex goes their separate ways. You go to a huge locker room and strip down - butt naked. It can be awkward at first, but once you get past the self-conscious phase and realize that no one is really staring at your body 24/7, then it's all good. So, you get naked, then you go to an area that typically has various baths and saunas you can choose from. Hot baths, cold baths, steam baths, ginseng, you name it, there are all kinds! You choose a bath, get in, and relax. The rest is history. At these spas you can also get massages, manicures/pedicures, scrubs, etc. When I was in Seoul, I did both a massage and a full body exfoliation scrub. In Busan, I just enjoyed my time in the baths and saunas. However, I did enjoy the snack bar and had some beer, Korean noodles, and ice cream. These spas have everything! Travelers can also stay overnight and sleep - which is where my friends and I took naps. You can wear clothes for this part... haha! We changed into the outfits they provided for us and went to sleep on a huge heated floor with a wooden block as my pillow - no blanket necessary. It is a lot more comfortable than it sounds, I promise! I didn't take any pictures at the 찜질방 because we were naked most of the time, but I will post some pictures of what the spa we went to looks like from their website.
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| Courtesy of: http://www.hotelnongshim.com |
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| Courtesy of: http://www.hotelnongshim.com |
Aside from having fun in Gwangyang and visiting other cities, life in school has been enjoyable as well. The past couple of weeks I have spent getting to know my students and coworkers after school. My co-teachers recently told me that every year, all of the schools in the Gwangyang area have a faculty volleyball tournament. The top three teams will win a monetary prize! They immediately recruited me to join our women's faculty team and call me the "best hitter" (granted I've barely even played volleyball in my life). I think my experience as the 8th grade volleyball manager may come in handy! Anyway, we have been practicing after school every day for the past two weeks until we have our tournament next weekend. I will be sure to let you all know how we do.
I've also been playing soccer, soccer-volleyball, and basketball with my students during my free periods. This has caused me to be extremely exhausted by 9:00 p.m. every night! But it is totally worth it - spending time with the students in a less formal environment is a great way for me to get to know them more personally. What is soccer-volleyball, Jokgu (족구), you may ask? It is a sport that combines the rules of both soccer and volleyball (go figure!). You play with a soccer ball and a low net. You are on teams (however many people per team), and you can only use your head or feet (no hands, rules of soccer) to hit the ball up to three teams before it must cross over the net to the other team's side (like volleyball). The goal of the game is to earn the most points and beat the other team. It is a really fun game, and although I am not the greatest at it yet, I will practice and get better!
Although I would love to continue writing about my experiences in Korea forever, this post has become quite lengthy. These are just a few highlights of what I have been up to during the past couple of weeks. I am beginning a Korean class starting tonight (Friday), and I am looking forward to being able to communicate better with my coworkers and build stronger relationships with them. It should be a fun class, and a great way to meet some new people in my city. Stay tuned for more updates within the next couple of weeks - have a great weekend!
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