Culture Cookies: Chuseok

In less than 30 days the Korean lunar holiday of Chuseok will be upon us. For me that means my birthday but also a five day weekend! Korean people will likely be heading to their family grave site or doing something with close relatives. It's a time when Seoul empties out and the highways of Korea become clogged. Today I'll present some bloggers who have had their own experience of Chuseok or just something to say.

1. London to Seoul: A nice post about her experience of having Chuseok traditions at work. Students wore their lovely hanboks and it made for great pictures.

2.The Harrington Times: For foreigners one of the best things about Chuseok is getting a Fall mini-vacation. People take the opportunity to stretch their legs and travel. These guys did just that and went on a mini-vacation.

3. On Becoming a Good (Feminist) Korean Wife: If you really want to know what the experience is like of visiting family and doing the rituals, then read this post to catch up.

4. Buhay sa Korea: Chuseok is a major gift giving holiday and the stores will be abundant with large gift sets. This is great for if you want to stock up on lots of cans of spam. However, if you plan on visiting Korean relatives or in-laws it is a good idea to think about how much you would spend.

Chuseok also signals the start of Fall and the Winter to come. I hope everyone has a lovely Chuseok this year!

Culture Cookies: Fan Death and other Korean Myths

As the typhoon blows itself over Seoul I thought I would update here. Today's post will be a "culture cookie" one where I explore some culture from Korea. This one is going to be about Korean myths that we hear about through our time here. Whether it is the infamous Fan Death or other such things they can make life out here more interesting.

1. Kiss My Kimchi: A fun and whimsical post about many Korean Myths and whether they are real or not. I didn't know about the whistling at night one....oh boy!

2. F5 Waeg: Sometimes we create myths amongst our expat selves, here in Korea. Here is one about how those with an F5 visa earn more money than those on an E3.

3. The Marmot's Hole: I discovered he posted about a video someone made on the subject of Fan Death. A bit funny and silly as well!

4. Whatawaygook: General myths people might have about Korea discussed and debunked. For example, I guess some people think you can't get foreign food in Korea or you can't buy fluoride toothpaste. 

5. GwangjuNews: Who would have thought that eating apples at night are considered bad. Well here is a Korean myth discussed with science in mind. 

"It’s believed in Korea that eating an apple at night is actually unhealthy, causing indigestion and making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. The origins of this idea are unknown, but the belief seems to be well known in Korea. There are many Koreans who say they’ve heard about this from an elder at some point in their life. A few of them believe it and refrain from eating sahgwah (Hangeul: 사과) at night."

Well I think it is safe to say you can learn a few new things from all those posts. What kind of myths come from my home country that people would find absurd? 

Abundance Yum!: Local Specialities

In this adventure we look into Kbloggers talking about local food. If you have done some traveling around this peninsula you likely have had some "local speciality". Maybe it was a local makkoli or just a different version of a jiggae. Let's see what other folks have found in their time in Korea.

1. Lee' Korea Blog: In some place called Beomnaegol there is a cave bar, an artificial tunnel you can go to and enjoy some local drinks. A very local experience, indeed. Also included was some only-in-Busan kind of food. Check it out.

2. A Search for Happiness: Although Bulgolgi can be found anywhere, what if the cows that you eat were fed local grass? hmm

3. Zen Kimchi: Here you can get the ultimate line up of local food along with a side-by-side comparison. Suwon Galbi vs. Jeonju Bibimbop is up for thrashing around.

4. Seoul Eats: He gets out of Seoul and gives a local tour of Sokcho and what they have to offer, plenty of pajeon here!

Even though our summer vacations should be rolling to a stop, I hope wherever you travelled you enjoyed the local food and community.