Happy Chuseok! Chuseok is Thanksgiving in Korea and it is where they thank their ancestors for all the blessings they've had in the year. Everyone gives gifts at Chuseok and the gifts are usually very practical things. Originally it was things like flour or eggs to help with all the Chuseok cooking but now the most common gifts are tuna, oil, and SPAM. My principal gave me a giant gift box with about 15 cans of tuna and five cans of spam. It is a very weird gift but when in Rome, I guess.
We haven't done too many exciting things this week. My school had a really rough week because we had two parent's days. The theme was 'Airport' so the kids rotated through six different rooms with their parents. I was in the Country Briefing Room so I had to show a Powerpoint about their destination country, teach them to say hello in a bunch of different countries, let them try on traditional clothes from around the world and teach them a traditional 'folk dance' which I had to make up on the spot. They seemed to have a lot of fun but it's always stressful around ECC when parents come. Then, on Friday, all the kids had a big Chuseok party where they all wore their hanboks (traditional Korean outfits) and got to cook seopyong (these gross little rice cakes with sesame seeds that everyone eats at Chuseok), make origami cushions, and play by the river. It was really hot out so the kids were all sweating to death in their hanboks but they still had fun.
Friday night my manager Reggie's parents were visiting so all the foreign and Korean teachers went out with them for bulgogi (a kind of boiled meat in a sauce) and it was lots of fun because Jesse and I were sitting with my Korean teachers and I don't get to hang out with them too much outside of work. They all have English names so they thought it was only fair to give Jesse and I Korean names. I am Gil Ha Eun and and Jesse is Ha Tae Won. All Korean names have three syllables.
After bulgogi, Jesse and I took my two new colleagues for a tour of downtown Uijeongbu. The two new teachers are from Michigan and Northern Ireland and they've had a busy first few weeks. Unfortunately, on our tour of downtown on a Friday night, all the American military was out and they were being so obnoxious and annoying. The whole downtown swarms with them and they even have their own military police that stand outside all the clubs in full military garb, to get involved whenever they get too out of hand.
After that, we met the Korean teachers for a drink and had fun talking with them outside of school, although I felt bad that they all had to speak English all night.
On Saturday, I went in to Seoul to meet another friend's parents. My friend Jenn from Busan had her mom and aunt visiting so my friend Marijke and I met them for dinner by Seoul Tower and toured around Seoul with them for awhile.
Anyway, tomorrow (Monday) I'm on holiday but Jesse is working and then, on Tuesday, we're headed to Jeju Island, which should be great. We'll let you know how that all goes.
Love,
Ali and Jesse
I'll leave you with some photos and videos of my kindi kids on their Chuseok party:
The kids walking down to the river.
This video is of my Newton class saying hello to Canada and just playing around.
