III. Chuseok (Korea's Thanksgiving)

Dear loves,

Much has happened so I'm going to split my blogs up into two. First, I'll tell you about my first vacayyy (woooo!). 

Chuseok  occurred this year on Sunday, September 14th. My friend Grace and I hopped on a bus on Saturday morning to Kimjae, which is where my mom's whole family lives (as I side note I almost missed the bus) (as another side note I bought boiled eggs from a market- it's a traditional road-trip snack- you'll see ladies cracking the eggs on their heads.). I hadn't been there since I was 8 so I told culture shock to bring it on. Definitely brought it. 

So, Grace and I arrived to the apartment on the fifth floor, with no elevator (I feel sorry for the 8th floorers), immediately greeted by my two uncles, their wives, and their kids. Also immediately came the food and strange Korean snacks that I vaguely remembered eating when I was young. Everything was said in Korean so their was a LOT of translating going on. Then, the women and children made traditional rice cakes called songpyeon. Afterwards, we ate dinners and by the way, ALL meals look like this. You always have a main dish, rice, a soup, and a ton of side dishes (and one of them of course has to be kimchi). 

The next day was the actual holiday, the whole family went to my grandparents' graves to pray and pay our respects. Then church and then another feast. My aunt, her husband and kids, and my mom's cousins also joined us. Everyone is loud, funny, and full of life. Too bad I can't understand them.

At night came the best part. The tide had gotten low, so (also traditional) we went out to pick snails, 

among other things. The best part was picking the things out of the ocean knowing someone was going to eat them (not me). You could hear family members yelling at each other, "I caught something!", of course in Korean, throughout the night. 

At night, my mom, Grace and I and my cousin all had a little slumber party in one little room. Precious. My cousin and I were able to bond by showing pictures. Precious. I really need to learn Korean. 

The next day my mom said that I need American food in my system otherwise I would get sick so we went to Lotteria, which is Korea's version of McDonald's (yea yea). Didn't come close. Then we did some shopping (I wanted to buy my cousin a present) and we left. Definitely a great experience. 

Overall, I definitely enjoyed myself and had an amazing time with family. It was crazy to see them and semi-connect with them. Now, does that mean I won't miss turkey on Thanksgiving. Heck NO. But, like I said, I had an amazing time :)