설날 (Seolnal or Chinese/Lunar New year) is a big deal in Korea. Most people take this occasion to return to their hometowns and worship their ancestors. People gather with relatives whom they haven’t seen for a while, make a pilgrimage to their ancestor’s grave, followed by a big dinner and lotsa calories. Food is very important on Seolnal.Children love this holiday because they bow to their grandparents and, in return, get some money. The traditional food served for Seolnal is called “Dokguk” – some sort of rice cake soup.
While January 1st is the one and only New Year in Occident, it is barely celebrated over here. Even Christmas doesn’t really matter – we only got a day off for both holidays.
But Lunar New Year on the other hand is heavenly, as it lasts for 3 days. This year, it took place right before the weekend so we were blessed with 5 marvelous days of freedom!
It started on Tuesday night with Bill's birthday dinner at VIPS. Koreans don't usually eat a big fat steak with mashed potatoes... the meat is usually either cooked in a stew, or on a grill and wrapped in salad leaves (cute, I know). But VIPS offers big fat steaks and 12 of us tried it out - it was undercooked, incredibly expensive, but alright.
As most foreigners, I enjoyed a lot of partying in good company – we went out quite a lot, had dinners and of course we did some dancing! We hung out at Led Zepplin and Blue Agave, went out for some Macally, and even played darts at Bull’s. Saturday night was brutal since we all went home at 6am, right after a big egg muffin and endless blabbering at McDicks. That' Alicia and Jun.
But I did I discover some pretty good drinks, “White Russian” and “Don’t go home alone”. I also pretended to punch Brett, Kat was eating my shoe and Misha, the Russian kangaroo boxer (no kidding!) was showing off.
I’ve always said that the bar scene isn’t my thing, yet somehow when I find myself out there with a drink, the entertainment (and entertaining!) starts and it’s a lot of fun until the morning comes. But the next day… oh the next day! Still, when I’m old I’ll look back on those years and think I really had a freakin’ blast! Like that picture I took, where they all look like my gynecologists haha
I also slept like a baby – thanks to my neighbors who suddenly decided to move out (out of the blue eh!) – and I did quite a lot of hiking. Jeju is a volcanic island; Hallasan is the big volcano in the middle, and there are hundreds of “orums” (small mountains) over the island.
In desperate need for some alone time in nature, I bought crampons and hiked hallasan! It was wonderful, with tons of snow and the fresh smell of winter. I didn’t get to be quite alone though, as most Koreans do everything together.
I must have seen over 100 military guys doing their workout hike I guess, and countless families as well as couples. Each one of them would stare at me as I walked by, saying “hiiiii” with a big smile.
It was also a slow walk down because kids and adults were using plastic bags to slide downhill. I even saw a grandmother, soooo excited that she would always try to slide down every chance she got. Her husband was giving her a push with his stick and the daughter was running behind, so completely worried. Funny scene.
I hiked a few times this nice little orum about 15 minutes from our apartment building Doug once took me to. I like going there because it’s so perfect – it has two peaks, a great cliff by the ocean, and at night we can see the stars, the boat lights from the port, and the airplanes flying in and out of the island. It’s very peaceful.
Jeju is quite convenient – the main cities do not really have any snow, but drive 20 minutes towards the countryside and there it is!
I think I must have hibernated, just like a bear, and now I’m waking up and life is pretty nice. I can’t wait to see my students. And I can’t wait to go to Bali next week-end for 2 weeks!
Anyway, our staff is quite small so I told Miss. Lee, Bill and Mr. Lee to help themselves. Miss Lee was quite shocked. She looked at me and said "Actually, this is just for Bill and Mr. Lee. Only men receive chocolate on Valentine's Day!"
In Korea, Christmas is growing. And I mean: it is GROWING! Not so long ago, this was just a religious holiday – as opposed to a commercial rip-off that lasts for 2 weeks in Occident.
