Chuseok. Happy Thanksgiving!

This weekend is the most celebrated holiday in Korea, Chuseok. It's bigger than Christmas, New Years and their Independence Day. Everyone goes home to visit their families. They eat together, look fancy, and visit the tombs of their ancestors. This holiday also means that we all get a 5 day break, so no school next Monday through Wednesday. Awesome!

I'm spending the next four days in Seoul. This will be my first time in the big city - the center of all Korean culture and fast-moving life. It will definitely be a change from the small mountain town that I've been living in, but I won't deny my excitement for some palace visiting, shopping, large coffee drinks and the possibility of seeing a movie. I'm meeting my friend Katie from Luther, which is kind of surreal, finding someone you know who lives in Korea. We're going to explore until Monday, when she has to head back to Gunsan, but I think I am going to stay in Seoul one more night for some extra fun. Many, if not most, foreign teachers are in Seoul this weekend, so there will be plenty of people to meet up with. Apparently there are foreigners everywhere in Seoul, even on regular weekends, when there isn't a major holiday.

In thinking about this trip to Seoul, it's funny to me that when we travel to experience new cultures, people, and places, we are ultimately drawn to the familiar. We seek out what we know and what we are comfortable with. We want to find people from similar backgrounds that we can relate to and whom we can share our experiences with. This makes me think of the immigrant communities in the Twin Cities and how much comfort someone from another country can find in the discovery of an entire community of people who understand where they are coming from and why they are here. Living in Korea, I understand the relief of finding familiarity in the midst of things I don't understand. The challenge however, is making sure that that familiar community doesn't form a bubble around me, preventing me from learning and growing with the new people I meet and the new cultural experiences I encounter.

So, here's to a weekend of trying new things, catching up with old friends, and not getting lost on the subway!

Happy weekend everyone!

A picture from the train to Seoul....




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Location:Seoul, Korea