AKA: 5 days off work!
Seollal is usually referred to the most important holiday in Korea which isn't surprising considering everyone in the country turns a year older. Age is a seriously confusing topic in Korea, a level of confusion that is only matched by it's importance. The older you are, the more important you are. I'm pretty sure I turned Korean age 25 (American age 23), because all you have to do is pop out of your mother's womb and VOILA! YOU'RE ONE. Adding extra years seems a bit rotten, but then again, it must have taken a lot of work growing, thriving and sleeping in such an enclosed environment. Perhaps we deserve that year. (please sense my sarcasm)
Seollal celebrates the beginning of the Lunar calendar and sparks a mass migration throughout the nation. Everyone travels to the countryside to see the eldest members of their family, eat food and participate in a traditional ceremony to honor thy ancestors.
As a Korean told me on Friday, "Don't move. Don't leave Gwangju. Movies... okay! No bus. No train."
On my last day of work before the holiday I was teaching my highest level students about American Thanksgiving. Their book properly explained that American's stuff their faces with turkey, turn on football and then inevitably fall asleep on the couch in a calorie induced coma.
I thought many times about my plans for the long weekend and I decided all I really wanted to do was RELAX.
And while there was no turkey and no football, I certainly fell asleep in the middle of the day a good percentage of my days off. Because that's how we celebrate where I come from. We take naps!
The only activity that competed with my laziness is my new fantastically exciting addiction: climbing.
I'd expect more on this topic.
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