Chuseok

Chuseok (or Thanksgiving) is Korea's biggest holiday. Most everyone will have next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off from work and school. People go visit their families and perform rituals at the graves of their ancestors. They also cook special rice cakes and cookies for the holiday.

Our school director decided to cancel classes for the week. Hurray! Tedd, Michael, Michael's parents, and I are going to Seoul for the weekend and then I'm flying to Japan on Monday. I'm spending all 6 nights in Kyoto because I want to relax and have time to leisurely explore the city.

Til the 30th. Sayonara
さようなら

Updates

Our intensive summer session ended on Friday, August 24th and I got sick on Sunday, August 26th. I spent the next week lounging about my apartment in the morning and hoarsely getting through classes in the evening. Luckily I started to feel better in time for the weekend. One of my coworkers, Ben, is leaving today to go back home so most of the weekend was dedicated to having a good time.

I'm going to start training in taekwondo. I had my first class today and will be going regularly with Michael, who started back before intensives began, and maybe Ted, our new teacher. The class is only for foreigners so most of the instruction is in English. The head teacher, Master Yoon, is a 9th Dan (degree black belt)- the highest one can achieve in tkd. I'm excited to start!