Chuseok Gifts

I've come home from the subway the last couple of days with huge bruises on my legs from being clobbered by the assorted gifts boxes people have been carrying home from work. Each Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) companies will buy their employees practical gifts to help celebrate the three day holiday.

You can get fancy gifts boxes of toiletries, cleaning supplies, cooking oils, alcohol, dried seaweed, fruits, meat or it's retarded cousin -and my all time favorite- cases of Spam (I quickly re-gifted this one when I got it.) If you can buy it in the supermarket chances are there is a gift basket made up with the stuff in it. The carbon footprint of these things is horrendously high. This year I got three bottles of grape seed oil all individually wrapped in a second protective layer of plastic that have then been placed in decorative molding that fits into it's own box which comes in a branded paper bag. (As I don't cook, I will be re gifting this too.)

This year Chuseok falls right after the weekend and our school has the Thursday off so I have a six day holiday starting this Friday that I am desperately needing. I'm just sticking around town but have plans for a few nights out with friends which should be nice because Seoul completely empties out during this time. It's eerie when this city is dead but definitely helps you relax.