Chuseok

Last Saturday I was kindly invited to spend Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) with my friend and fellow classmate Insun. (pictured left)

So I met her at 7.30am in front of my dorm and we travelled to meet her uncle, who would be waiting to pick us up in his car. Also in the car was Insun's Grandmother and younger cousin. After about 30 minutes we arrived at the place where Insun's mother's descendants are buried. I was told I was the first foreigner to ever be invited to their family gathering, so I was very honored. Insun only speaks a little bit of English (well she speaks more than she thinks, but is very shy!), but she did really well all day and was so kind to me as were all the relatives that I met. At the gathering I met a relative that had lived in Canada for four years, who could speak English unbelievably well. So he explained to me what was going on. Each family, in this case 13, all give food and pray to their deceased descendants. As you can see in the pictures, I also joined in. I was told that years ago, they used to visit every grave and perform this task, but now the family have built a hall to speed things up a bit! After this, we set tables out and ate and drank. This was about 12.30. Insun's uncle, who had been the Master of Ceremonies for the day invited us to sit next to him and proceeded to keep giving me shots of Rice Wine (which is about 14%). We also ate a variety of Korean food. After eating, we walked around some of the graves. Then in the building the family had, they showed me another room that contained all the family history and gave me a towel with all the family names on. Then it was time to leave so I said my goodbyes.

After this, Insun's uncle took us to her Insun's grandmother's house, where we waited until the rest of the family arrived. Insun and her cousin then showed me some Korean games and we watched a bit of TV. A few hours later, all her relatives joined us (aunts, uncles, cousins and Insun's Mum, Dad and brother). Some were very shocked to see a foreigner, but they were all so kind and some plucked up the courage to try and say a few words in English to me. We then ate more food and they gave me loads of Soju. I had to hide my shot glass in the end so they didn't fill it up anymore!

Then I joined Insun, her brother and her cousins in another room, where we played some more games. They all wanted to play the Korean version of What time is it Mr Wolf, but the room was far too small, so we went outside to the park and played there. We also played a game of Tig, but nobody could catch me! hahaha

We went back inside for a bit longer and then we all said our goodbyes before I got a lift home with Insun, her mum and her cousin. They asked me how I rated the day out of 10 and I told them 10, which really pleased them. Insun's mum said she would adopt me so I could have a mum whilst in Korea. When they dropped me off, she gave me a hug and said goodbye son in English. Bless her. They also said that they would like to invite me to their house to eat if I have time whilst here. As I said before I felt so very lucky to be invited to spend this day with them.

Many thanks to Insun and her amazing family.

(photos courtesy of Insun)