There are really two main holidays in Korea. Chusoek, which is similar to our Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year. For both of these holidays Koreans travel back to their hometowns to celebrate with family. Food is of course a huge part of these celebrations along with giving thanks to dead ancestors. Koreans doesn't usually seem to slow down but during these two holidays much of the city seems to shut down.
We have been talking for the past couple of weeks about traveling to the coast. When we mentioned this to our Korean friends, they urged us to wait for another weekend. The traffic would be awful as the majority of Seoul would be heading out of the area--the best place for us to go to avoid the chaos would be Seoul. I was disappointed. I want to see the ocean. We've been here 6 months and have only seen Seoul and Bundang. We took the advice of our friends and decided to wait for another time to visit the sea. I couldn't imagine a 2 hour bus ride taking 6 or more hours--none of us would have the energy or patience for that.
Most of the shops in our building were closed this weekend. I was actually happy to find that people were taking a break. My friend, Young Sim, usually works 12+ hours a day at her restaurant. I'm always worried about her because she works extremely hard. But the past three days, her little restaurant has been closed and she took her family skiing. This made my heart glad.
For most of the day Saturday I was trying to convince Todd and the kids to go out. See some sites or participate in one of the Lunar New Year festivities in Seoul. I couldn't get them to budge. They all preferred to stay home. So we did. We rested, watched a movie and enjoyed being home together. Later in the afternoon, friends were going into Seoul and I decided to tag along. We enjoyed the afternoon in Insadong and then made our way to a Canadian Pub to watch a re-broadcast of the Opening Ceremonies of the winter Olympics. It was a great day.
Two friends that we've met here, Sarah Jane and Ruben, called us late Saturday to say that they had reserved a few rooms at the Ramada Seoul because they were offering a great deal for the Lunar New Year. The Ramada Seoul is a very nice hotel, rooms typically cost $300/night. But for Lunar New Year, only $50. We didn't even hesitate, yes! We need a night away, we'll take it. So, our sweet friends, Mindy, Whit, Charissa and Anna asked if they could hang out with our kids while just Todd and I went. Yes! And so late Sunday afternoon, Todd and I hopped on the Subway and headed into Seoul, rolling our suitcase and excited for 24 hours of uninterrupted time together.
Off to Seoul. Our subway ride was so strange. There were hardly any people riding the subway and the streets were deserted. When we walking to our exit gate we saw no one. We heard no one. We felt like we had entered some kind of twilight zone. I can't tell you how strange it was. Usually, it's just a mass of people, all moving together, pushing, rushing and did I say, pushing.
Today. Silence. It was true. Seoul had left for the countryside.
Sunday evening Todd and I shared a meal at this little Italian Restaurant (the food was actually really good), saw a movie, bought a bottle of wine at 7-Eleven and enjoyed our night away. When I woke up this morning, I felt for a moment that I wasn't even in Korea. It was strange and wonderful.
Now we are home. Our three day weekend has come to an end. The streets are filled with traffic and the noise has returned.
Happy Lunar New Year from Seoul!
**new pictures are on flicr.
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