Another good night’s sleep! This time however, I had some help. So I was finally able to convince my grandmother that I really only need about half the amount of food that she’s been giving me. So last night I got a half bowl of rice. A bit after I finished eating my grandmother broke out two two-liter bottles of wine, one grape and one blackberry. She told me that I must have only had a half bowl of rice because I was saving room for wine! About three liters later, I knew I was in for a good night’s sleep. Fast forward to today. We did a bit more sight seeing today, we went to the home of a great ancient korean “guy” He is credited as being one of the wisest men to have ever lived in korea, he’s also on the 5,000 won. Then we went to the beach. Korea’s second largest beach has hundreds of thousands of visitors during the spring and summer months.
If you’ve noticed, my digital camera ran out of juice yesterday and so I’ve been trying to keep up using the ol iPhone camera. As I’m typing this I haven’t had a chance to see the pictures but I’m hoping they’ll come out okay. To give you an idea of how many people travel during Chuseok, my uncle drove from Gangnun to Seoul yesterday and the normally two and a half hour trip, took just over seven hours! My older aunt, who lives in Suwon, was on the road for almost 8 hours! (a trip that normally take just under three). We’re hoping that when we leave here in about an hour or so, it’ll only take us 5 hours or so because the traffic should be quite a bit lighter. By the way, the average speed on the freeway yesterday, 20kph! (14MPH!!!!).

On a side note, it’s been a full two and half days since I’ve been on the internet and had sort of contact with the “foreigners.” I am starting to confirm my original thoughts on homesickness. When talking to my friends and relatives, I’ve expressed very little homesickness and basically explained that oddly enough I haven’t really missed much. As I mentioned before, of course I miss things and people, but the type of depression that normally sets in when people suddenly change environments hasn’t even started to creep up on me. This week has helped to confirm that although much of the lack of culture shock may be from the extensive moving I did while growing up, much of it must still be attributed to technology. Being able to chat on the phone, IM, and video chat/skype with people makes the world seem like a much smaller place.

Well, if all goes well, tonight I’ll be able to start uploading this enormous 5 part blog and get the pictures up for you dedicated readers. Until then, I’m going to take a quick nap, drive for five hours, take the subway for about an hour, take a shower and get online!

Wow, what a difference a bed makes! It took me a bit to fall asleep because of the “tootsie-roll” style pillow I used, so I put on a bit of Ravi’s lecture at the Harvard Veritas Forum and after about 30 mins I was out like a light.

This morning started with breakfast (too much), and then we did the chusok thing. We met up with my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s family at the grave of my mom’s mom’s mom and dad. There was a traffic jam at this particular cemetery and we ended up sitting in traffic for about 30 mins on the way up. There were literally thousands of people there doing the same thing. The grandmother’s brought food from their gardens along with some dishes they had made. We then served the ancestors as a way to remember and thank them for what they’ve given us, and partook of the food. On a side note, I found out that the term “one for the homies” might actually have originated in Korea! As you can see in the picture, yup, that’s my small grandpa pouring out a glass of soju for his dad. (and you thought it was a gangsta thing!) Well we’re back home, don’t know what’s on the agenda for today (my aunt and uncle still want to go hiking, although my grandpa keeps asking why they’d invite me here to hang out with the family to make me walk up a freak’n mountain.) We’ll see.

Well, it’s almost dinner time and we just got back from the ocean. It seems that Gangnun beach if you want to call it that is the third most popular place to come during the summer. We also visited “Unification Park” Hmmm there was a plane, three tanks, a boat, and a submarine. The museum wasn’t quite what my uncle and I were expecting, we literally spent three mins in it. (that’s all there was).
The ocean was nice though, and it was interesting to see gun turrets along the shore that are still manned! I met my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s oldest daughter’s family today. They have two daughters, one in junior high and one in high school. The one in junior high is currently #1 on her class while the older one is in a three way tie for first in her class. They both want to study Chinese/Eastern medicine when they graduate from college. They said they’d like to visit the states after graduation also. It’s interesting to note that although the older sister, my cousin, has been learning english for about eight years, you’d think she was a first year student. Oh yea, how can I forget, so my small uncle (my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s son) is a web developer, specializing in online academic solutions. He was quite familiar with my iPhone and said that he remembers hearing that you could purchase an iPhone to work with a Korean carrier! He asked me if i had spoken with anyone at SK telecom about it. I mentioned that I need to take someone and also told him that if he heard how to give me a call. (so there might be hope yet! assuming that I can get my iPhone unlocked again, I’ve been having one heck of a time!) Not much else going on tonight, my grandma wants me to eat again but my aunt and I both convinced her that eating two hours ago, we were still full. So it’s about nap time. I think I’ll siesta for a bit and then rejoin the family for another meal. On the bright side I suppose, my gym membership starts on Monday so I’ll be able to start losing the 2kilos I’ve gained over the weekend. Until tomorrow...

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!

Well, day two of Chusok and it was an early start. My uncle came in and woke me up at 6:30 this morning so that we could go for a hike. He took me all around the Singori, up through the mountains and to all the different growing fields. He mentioned to me that he hadn’t walked this particular trail in almost twenty years. We hiked for about an hour or so before coming back home to eat breakfast. My uncle and his brother wanted to take me and family to a famous mountain called Ma-ee San. (translated: Horse’s Ears). The fascinating thing about this particular pair of mountain is that they’re actually just two extremely large rocks. Each “ear”
or mountain (one’s a boy and the other’s a girl, of course) is simply a large stone. We went up to the mountain, which my aunt tells me is the mystic capital of Korea (I figure it’s probably like Sedona, AZ). There’s a house / temple dedicated to this supposed flying man who nobody knows whether or not ever died. (hmmm, I’ll side with the fact that he doesn’t fly and is long dead). A interteresting thing though, is an oak tree that resides next to his shrine, the icecicle that form on the tree during the winter actually form upward?! (hmmmm).
After about a two hour hike to the vertical base, we found out that the rock climbing trail was under renovation until 2013, we’ll try back in a few years. On the way down we stopped by one of several restaurants and had pork ribs and some traditional Korean dishes, specifically, rice and side dishes served in a very hot stone bowl. Note, the port ribs are that of piglets, I don’t know the significance, but I’m told it tastes better? I also experienced “makorie?” it’s a type of korean liquor that has fine grains of rice still in it. Tastes like bland soju to me, but my aunt says it’s good for you.




On that note, it seems that everything that tastes foul in Korea, is “good for you.” While we were walking up, this lady offered us a free sample of some drink. I can best describe it as tasting like fermented bean juice. (It tastes just like it sounds). Of course I had to finish it because “it’s good for me.” Ginseng flavored candy? Yup, it’s good for you too! Hmmmm... Well we made it home okay, I met my uncle’s oldest sister, her husband, and her son and daughter. My uncle tells me that his sister’s daughter (my cousin) studies close to Yonsei and that she’s learning German and is also interested in learning English. He asked if I would be interested in meeting up with her every other week or so to chat with her so I can teach her English and she can teach me Korean? Sounds like a deal... Well until next time!

So I’m experiencing the real “country” here in Korea. I went with my aunt and her husband to his family’s house in the backwoods of Korea. We arrived last night around 1AM. I ended up sleeping on the floor in my cousin’s room. I suppose this is sort of the thing you’d think of when you think of Korean “hillbillies.” They’re good people, work hard, prioritize family, and enjoy life. They appreciate the simple things like a cup of coffee and a good Korean drama on tv. This morning my aunt’s mother-in-law started making kimchee (a type of fermented cabbage). She’s making enough for her three sons and three daughters to take home with them after Chuseok.
I suppose I should take a second to explain Chuseok. It’s the Korean version of Thanksgiving, except it lasts a few days. Tomorrow morning the entire family will visit the graves of their ancestors and offer thanks and respect. In the mean time, we hang out and listen to my aunt’s father-in-law tell us stories of how he spent time in the military working with American back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. There’s a friend of the family here that works for an international trade company, so he’s able to make conversation a little easier between all of us. The women of the house are making what seems like a hundred pounds of kimchee while the men of the house (myself included, because I’m old) sit and talk while eating a type of boiled beef, some of the freshly made kimchee, and drinking a couple bottles of soju (korean rise whiskey). I’ve had intermittent access to internet while I’ve been here, actually that’s kind of a stretch, I got on for about 30 seconds earlier today. I’m going to work with my cousin Ingie (eengee) to get online at some point. Ingie really enjoys watching CSI, 24 and Prison Break.

Until next time...


*interesting cultural point: so every relative basically has a different title. So my aunt’s husband isn’t my uncle he’s actually my aunt’s husband. For my little cousin Ho-gwon, his dad’s older brother isn’t is uncle, it’s actually his “older dad.” This is differentiated from his dad’s younger brother who is referred to as his “younger dad.” So my aunt’s husband’s dad is referred to as ahbujee, or father, while my aunt’s husband’s dad’s older brother, is referred to as kun ahbujee, or “older father.” The End.