How we celebrate Chuseok (추석) (TA Blog)

by Jay Seo

Jay with his grand mother and 7-year-old young brother.

My family has 5 members including me. Since I live with my grandmother fortunately we don’t have to endure the rush hour for going down to my hometown. So honestly my family can’t represent Korean traditional family, but we have our own way to celebrate Chuseok.

Chuseok Holiday

Before the Chuseok holiday, my family bought many presents for relatives. And when the day came, we got up early in the morning, wore our Korean traditional clothes and some wore suits. We held ceremonies to pay respect to our ancestors. After that, we ate a delicious breakfast. During that time, we greeted our relatives and had conversations about their jobs, marriages and, cultural life, etc.

Next, we went to visit our family member’s graves. After that, we shared lot of foods and exchanged gifts and spent time together with our relatives. Chuseok is very important to me. Everyone live a busy life and they live in different places; so it is hard to meet our cousins frequently. There are only two opportunities for us to meet most of our relatives officially in Korea. It is during the Korean national holidays that are Lunar New Year's Day and Chuseok.  Also, students can get pocket money from elders.

To sum up the event, I met close relatives, ate delicious foods, and even got some money during the holidays. These are the reasons that I love this holiday. I think that Chuseok is a great holiday.

by Ko Byeong Hee
GEO Class 2-2
Prof. Stephen

An Unforgettable Memory

Last Thanksgiving holiday, I stayed in my dormitory because I didn’t want to hear my family scolding me. I was so bored because almost all of my friends, including my roommates, had already gone back to their hometowns. So I went to the internet café and played computer games. While I was playing computer games, one of my best friends called and asked to me if I'm open to getting a part-time job. I accepted the offer and spent holidays in the countryside.

When he called me, he said, “if you want to get this job you have to come here right now”. This prompted me to hurriedly meet him in Yeouido. He brought me to KBS. I saw many people there who wanted to get the job. Suddenly someone asked me about my personal information, and he told to me to get on the bus. I didn’t know what was happening, so I asked my friend, and he answered that we will take part in a historical drama, playing an extra part! Unfortunately it was already late to go back to my dormitory, so I had to take that bus.

After a few hours, I got off the bus. We were surrounded by a mountain. I don’t know where it was, but I know it was located in the countryside. Anyway, they gave us some costume to wear, some armor and a spear. After I had put on my costume, we went up the mountain and we were running, running and running in front of the camera. We had to act like we were charging in a battle. It was too hard for me, and I was so thirsty because they didn’t give me enough water. I really wanted to quit that job at that time but I couldn’t because I didn’t know where I was…

After that, my friend and I, together with some other young people, were selected and we took off our upper body clothes and stood in front of camera. I was so embarrassed but I couldn’t do anything.

Finally, at night, my friend and I came back to Seoul. We thought we had wasted our time during the holiday. A few days later, we saw the funny pictures that my friend took. It was then that we realized that it was a wonderful experience. We surely made an unforgettable memory. We even earned extra money and made some good friends! It was a indeed a different way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday!

by Lee Gi Ho ,from Professor Tom Kim's class

Reunited on a Chuseok Holiday

Hello! We’re here to tell you about our Chuseok holidays.

Chuseok is really the biggest event in Korea. During these days, people visit their hometown to see their family and relatives. This year’s Chuseok was from September 21st to 23rd. However, this Chuseok holiday included the weekend. So the holiday was long, approximately nine days.

My name is Jin Youb. Every year, during Chuseok, my family always go to my hometown. But during the last two years, I studied for my college entrance test. This is the reason why I couldn’t go with them. This year, I became a university student,  so I was able to go to my hometown. 

Busan is my hometown. I took the express bus, and it took three hours to get there. When we arrived there, I cut the weeds around the grave. It was really terrible. I never thought that weeding would be difficult and hard. After I finished, I met my relatives. They gave me a joyous welcome, and then I ate many delicious food, watched television, and rested all day. I think Chuseok is a really good holiday for me. 

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Hi, my name is Da Hee.  My house is located in Seoul, but I live in the dormitory now. I went home on the 17th, and our family went to our province in Cheongju. I had classes on Monday (the 20th), but I was absent for the class just so I could go to the province. I am glad to see my relatives after three years. When I was a highschool student, I had my exam period. So, now, I was able to go to the countryside after a long time. During my visit, I took a rest at the house. I also talked with my cousin and watched numerous TV shows. I have a mathematics exam soon, so sometimes I studied math. I also ate so many Chuseok food, like songpyun, sweet rice drink, vegetable pancake, and so on. I enjoyed the holiday to my heart’s content. This holiday is a very good chance to take a rest. I heard that Chuseok is the last holiday for this year. That news makes me feel sad…

by Kim Jin Youb and Jeong Da Hee from Professor Peter Kim's class