Holidays!!

Annyeong haseyo!! For those who do not know what means, It is hello in Korean!! Welcome to my third blog. This week is the Chuseok holidays. I had the whole week off for any adventures I wanted to take on and try more delicious food I have never had before.

The actual Chuseok day is September 21 which was on a Tuesday this year. The public holiday dates are September 20-22. During this holiday, most places are closed but most tourist attractions are open. Chuseok is another word for autumn evening. It’s the biggest holiday Koreans celebrate year long. It is a major harvest festival where people travel home, visit ancestral graves, have big feasts of Korean traditional food, and enjoy rice wines.

On the first day, my five housemates and I ordered from a local lady who offered to cook us traditional meals. She made us japchae, bibimpap, and songpyeon. Japchae is a dish that consists of glass noodles, different meats, and various vegetables. You might know what bibimpap is but if you don’t, bibimpap is a pretty dish with many different colors. The dish consists of vegetables, one meat, bean sprouts, and an egg. It also has many side dishes and sauces. Songpyeon is a type of a rice cake. The ones we had were full of sweet beans on the inside and was coated with a sugar syrup. We picked up the food and enjoyed it sitting down Korean style while watching a K-pop drama. On the second day, I had an opportunity to enjoy a picnic by the Han river with a Korean friend I had met. We made ramen the authentic style at a convenience store. During our picnic we ate and exchanged languages which was my favorite part. I was taught more Korean words and she helped me perfect the words I had already known. While she was teaching me, I taught her what Americans do during Thanksgiving. Since they are quite two similar holidays.

On the last day, my houstemates and I enjoyed another trip to Lotte World. This time they added a Halloween zombie attraction which reminded me a lot of an actual haunted house from back in the United States. But this one seemed way more realistic with the scenes, costumes, and the scary makeup. Lotte World also added a small clown maze. It was pretty interesting and funny to me, but if your terrified of clowns. I would not recommend it. The attraction was set up with fake corn maze and as you find your way out, clowns would pop up. Good thing that they can’t touch you and get too close to you. Another cool thing was that they had an area where professional painters would paint a mask you would pick. They would design it with scary mouth pieces and also would paint little things on your face to make it all seem so real. Many people were also dressed in actual Halloween costumes. Not to mention Lotte World also was creative in the food they were selling. I remember eating a churro that was decorated as a spaceship and Kimchi fries that looked like bloody zombie fries. Thank you for listening!!