Chuseok

Happy Chuseok! This week-end has been Chuseok - Korean Thanksgiving - somewhat akin to our Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. They give thanks and remember their departed ancestors, even visiting their graves. They also give gifts to the kids specifically. Tomorrow I will ask my students to tell me the differences between Chuseok and Canadian Thanksgiving.

The roads around Yeonggwang were quite busy on Friday with everyone in a panic to get food and gifts for Chuseok. Traditionally the women cook (tons of food) and clean to welcome people (relatives) to their home in the case of parents or young families bring food and gifts to parents homes. So there is a lot of traffic on the roads with people travelling to hometowns etc.

I went to Gwangju with Sheilagh to visit with some of her friends for the week-end. We had a delicious dinner of garlic mashed potatoes, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, grilled vegetables, homemade bread and homemade apple crisp. It was great and I didn't have to cook. That's a very good thing.

Tomorrow I do a demonstration lesson at English Town. This is a "mock town" set up with different locations so the students will speak English in an airport location, home, hospital, store, fast food restaurant, etc. Seoul started this idea and it seems every county wants to have their own English Town. I will be teaching there from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. I will teach Grade 6 boys and girls. There will be 20 students. Should be interesting.

My friend Shona (from the Canadian group I came over with) came to visit me yesterday and stayed overnight. Shona is 29 and is a teacher back in Canada. She is teaching in Mokpo here - a city of about 300,000 people about 1 and 1/2 hours from Yeonggwang by bus. She and I struck up a friendship during orientation so I know we will keep in touch while we are here. I want to go to visit her in Mokpo too because there is certainly more to do there than here.

She and I went in to see a couple of Sheilagh's classes today because we were off today (Tuesday) and poor Sheilagh had to teach. It was very interesting to see how Sheilagh teaches and the response she gets from the kids. They were all boys middle school - one grade 7 class and one grade 8 class. Very interesting!!

Well that's it for now. Happy Chuseok and early Happy Thanksgiving.