Korean Thanksgiving

The pilgrims never made it over here to Korea and a war made it hard to have an abundance of food come fall to celebrate so these are not what a Korean Thanksgiving is all about. Choosok is a time for honouring ancestors. Some families hold ceremonies at the family grave sites with short legged tables and food set out for them but most simply happen in the family's oldest male's home.

Saejin hates this holiday because he has to wake up super early to bow something like a million times. It's not a simple bow at the waist either, that's just the start. From this position you then get down onto your knees and place your hands up under your chin and continue bowing until your head whacks the floor. Saejin's hatred for this ritual is simple and completely his own. He hates it because his cousins and him go out drinking the night before leaving him tired, grumpy and mainly hungover. One year he mentioned almost puking (I'm not sure what the spirits would think of this).

For me this means time off work and shitty presents. I used to get a gift box of 8 canned spams from my first boss but today got a carry-on box full of dried sea weed. The holiday is usually 3 days long and is based off the solar calendar but this year another holiday (from the lunar calendar) lands two days before so the school's have decided to give us the whole week off. Sweet!

**I may have the solar/lunar thing backwards. My attention span is limited when it comes to these sorts of things, all i hear is holiday.