Well, today was the restful thanksgiving that I’ve been looking forward to. My day started around 7:15AM when I woke up rested and decided to check some emails. I received an email from Yale stating that they had received my application were waiting to receive the complete package from lsac. As I recall, Yale uses a rolling admissions program so I could hear back with a decision as early as a month, then again, it could be as late as next April or May. Met some more cousins today, actually Ingie’s cousins. I had a chance to video chat with rockstar and talk to ML on the phone. It was pretty funny, Ingie asked to see pictures of ML so I found a couple on facebook. When he saw her, he smiled at me and said, “Britney Spears?” I laughed and told him that not all blondes in America were “Britney.” It was good to talk to rockstar today, when my uncle saw him, he said in his broken english, “you cute.” rockstar proceeded to lift up his shirt and give everyone a nice flash!


It’s around 12:30PM right now, and I’ve already had my first few shots of soju. The ladies of the house have been cooking every variation of fried food you could imagine. From calimari, to beef patties, grape leaves, tofu, scallions, imitation crab, pork strips, and that’s just the beginning. Of course the guys sample the foods while taking shots :D. I’m told that tonight we leave for Gang-nun, where my mom and grandmother grew up, it should be pretty fun. While I’m grateful to my uncles entire family as they have been nothing but accommodating and gracious hosts, I imagine that visiting relatives who’ve seen me as a little child and are “blood” will be quite different.

On a side note, a nice part about the Korean rural culture is the fact that everyone’s down for a mid-afternoon nap! I mention that because I see my uncles feet in the other room as he’s laying down for a little siesta. I’m sure there’ll be more to talk about for today, so I’ll leave this along for now.. and finish up tonight.

Chusok Part 3b


So we arrived in gangneung after about a four and a half hour car ride. I was greeted by my grandmother, actually my mother’s mother’s younger brother’s wife. She was pretty thrilled to see me after about 21 years. She couldn’t believe how tall I was and of course her first thought was, “You must be hungry.” Why does everyone always thing the big kid’s hungry? Maybe I’m full? Maybe I’ve got enough “on reserve” to sustain me for a couple of days? But nope, everyone thinks Timmy’s hungry all the time... Oh well. So I was right about the environment here, a bit different. As a matter of fact, my grandma couldn’t get over how bit I was and kept rubbing my leg. My aunt finally replied that all she (my grandma) was accomplishing was rubbing off my leg hair. Hmmmm... So we had quite a dinner, and of course, they gave the big kid the extra portion. (Sorry rockstar, the situation still applies, little guy gets the little portion... ) And of course I have to taste everything that’s at the dinner table. Tonight’s meal consisted of a variation of Alaskan fish. From a fish cake, to fried fish, to boiled fish.. to fish gills (which I managed to avoid, because it looked like.. yup, fish gills). Finally there was this concoction that looked like sushi covered in hot sauce. I asked what it was and my aunt replied, it’s fish. So I tasted it. It had a texture similar to sushi but a bit softer. After a bit more discussion I found out that it was actually fish ovaries. Hmmm.. Needless to say, I didn’t eat any more of that. (although it didn’t taste bad). My uncle.. or my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s youngest son arrived; he mentioned that he works about 2 kilometers from my school and said that we should hang out some time. He looks like your typical hip thirty something korean guy. You know with the expensive watch, addidas board shorts, designer glasses and levis t-shirt. He brought a variety of alcoholic beverages including a fifth of hennesy as gifts from friends of his. He also brought some homemade wine, it’s made from fermented black and raspberries. Tastes pretty good. And of course grandma wanted everyone to keep drinking and even brought out another 2 platefuls of food! Well, It’s time to shower, I hear that tomorrow might start with another hike (seeing as i’ve gained about 4 pounds and my uncle 10 pounds since chuseok began!). Until tomorrow!