Celebrating [United States of] American Thanksgiving in Korea was definitely different but an awesome time of thankfulness, nonetheless. This is my attempt to recount it:
Haejung 이모 and Uncle Simon were out of town for Thanksgiving, so we celebrated with them before they left. For Chuesok [the Korean equivalent to Thanksgiving], in addition to eating great food and spending time with family, it is customary to visit ancestors' graves. So before Thanksgiving dinner, we visited Uncle Simon's grandfather in Daejeon National Cemetery [similar to Arlington]. It seems like visiting loved ones' graves in the United States is a somber time of mourning and remembering, but here it was so joyful! We thanked him for his heroism and took pictures together. Then, we enjoyed a nice dinner together where we ate duck, duck, and...more duck [sorry if you were getting your hopes up for goose]. It was very tasty, and we left feeling very full.
Thanksgiving day was a typical Thursday - I went to Korean class, English conversation group at the library, and 새나루 feeding and children center. Korean class was just another day, but we watched a clip of a Korean comedy show called Gag Concert. The sketch just happened to be about being thankful for...everything. 감사합니다 [kam-sa-ham-ni-da] means thank you!
English reading and conversation group was so pleasant. We are reading an ESL version of Uncle Tom's Cabin [yes, I know, interesting book choice]. Then after reading and discussing a chapter, we talked about Thanksgiving and Chuesok. Hearing about everyone's Chuesok traditions was fun and allowed me to see more into Korean culture. While talking about my Thanksgiving traditions reminded me of all the festivities across the Pacific I was missing, it was very comforting to share part of my culture and life.
At 새나루 I washed dishes as usual, but then instead of teaching English we made kimchi! Kimchi is pretty much the food of Korea. It is comes in many different sizes, shapes, and flavors but the most common is napa cabbage covered with a sauce of red chili flakes, garlic, anchovy juice, and salt, just to name a few possible ingredients. In November, it is customary to have a big kimchi making day where families might make as many as [or even more than] 100 heads of cabbage worth of kimchi for the winter.
Before class on Friday, I was able to Skype into my family's Thanksgiving celebration which was just fantastic! [Yes, I managed to wake up early to do so.] After class, we went to lunch with a few friends, and I Skyped with a some of my closest friends from home. [Skype is definitely something I am thankful for.]
To add to our well-rounded experience of Korean culture and thanks to Mr. Hong [a University Church member]'s generosity, we are taekwondoing this year. On Saturday morning we went to a an exhibition at Kyung Hee University [the #1 taekwondo school in Korea] with people from Mr. Hong's taekwondo 장. It was so TIGHT! We watched an awesome performance by the students, ate lunch, wandered around the campus, and then learned a few new tricks.
Did I mention that I probably only got two hours of sleep Friday night? Before we knew about the taekwondo shindig, we invited our class to come to our house on Saturday to eat American and Chinese food and celebrate Thanksgiving. We were up late cleaning and making sweet potato casserole, salsa, chicken pot pie, and chocolate chip cookies, just to name a few things. Preparing for the Thanksgiving party was slightly stressful, but when everyone got to our house it was just such a joyful time! Most of our classmates and teachers were able to come, and a few even brought their family. We ate American food [including pumpkin pie, compliments of Costco] and Chinese food [compliments of our Chinese classmates], played games, laughed, and really just enjoyed each others' company.
Did I mention that I probably only got two hours of sleep Friday night? Before we knew about the taekwondo shindig, we invited our class to come to our house on Saturday to eat American and Chinese food and celebrate Thanksgiving. We were up late cleaning and making sweet potato casserole, salsa, chicken pot pie, and chocolate chip cookies, just to name a few things. Preparing for the Thanksgiving party was slightly stressful, but when everyone got to our house it was just such a joyful time! Most of our classmates and teachers were able to come, and a few even brought their family. We ate American food [including pumpkin pie, compliments of Costco] and Chinese food [compliments of our Chinese classmates], played games, laughed, and really just enjoyed each others' company.
Our final Thanksgiving celebration was an Italian dinner with Reverend 최 [written Choi, pronounced more like Ché], a Hannam University chaplain. It too was very enjoyable!
Yes, I definitely missed my family and traditions of home, but I am oh so thankful for my time here! I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with quite a few people for whom I am so grateful. I just feel so lucky, blessed, and thankful!
