Dear Family and Friends,

And there's more! Click on this link. On the top of the screen, click play and several Chuseok-related pictures will appear. You will see:

*Song Pyun Rice cakes: the outside is some-sort of rice dough and the inside is some-sort of bean paste. Although the American palate rarely gets excited about these two tastes - let alone combining them - these cakes are yummy.

*Chestnuts: are very popular here. Chuseok chestnuts are peeled and served raw although generally chestnuts here are roasted by street vendors and sold for 3,000 Won - almost making a cuppa of Starbucks seem reasonable. I can give or take roasted chestnuts but I seem susceptible to the combination of chestnuts + cajoling. My first purchase of roasted chestnuts was from a street vendor whose "do you want to buy some roasted chestnuts?" was very good; however, I soon discovered that this phrase was the only English he knew! But his smile toothless smile was adorable and the chestnuts were not bad either...

*Green Onion Pancakes - Pajon: Koreans batter and fry vegetables into pancakes. The most popular of these cakes is the green onion "pajon." My first taste of "pajon" included sliced octopus, which escalated the cakes’ mouth-watering properties. Similar cakes can be made with zucchini or white fish. I know that pajon sound too weird to be good - but they are absolutely delicious.

*A traditionally dressed Korean lady: she is dressed in "hanbok," which for ladies is a silk bolero-style jacket and long flowing skirt. The male hanbok is comprised of trousers, a vest, and an outer coat. Every day use of the hanbok has disappeared; however, hanboks are still worn for special occasions such as weddings or Chuseok.

*A HUGE full moon: Chuseok is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and the full moon on this day appears in the sky as the largest full moon of the entire year. I was skeptical of this fact until I clapped eyes on October 6th’s full moon. It was huge and beautiful. My camera could not do it justice. The moon reminded me of reminded me of the movie “Moonstruck” and I said aloud “che bella luna” – which sounds even crazier in Korea than it does in Seattle or New York! And it was bella, bella, bella!

*Apples: Korean’s peel grapes and pears and apples too. I've determined, but not yet confirmed, that that this behavior must be cultural. And I’ve decided that the climate surrounding Daegu is comparable to Yakima, Washington. [dryly] Oh, I know! Goody, goody! Apparently it gets really cold and really hot here. Besides alleviating seasonal boredom, the only positive side that I can see to extreme temperatures is that the fields yield sweet mandarin oranges, globular grapes (if you don’t mind peeling them), and delicious apples. It seems natural to include apples during a harvest festival, no?


Now scroll down on that same page and examine the picture of the Chuseok ceremony table. More on that later...

Anyway, are you beginning to get an inkling why Chuseok is going to be hard for me to explain? And yet, Chuseok is a big deal in Korea; which, in my opinion, made it doubly surprising that North Korea started making nuclear threats during the Chuseok holiday. As those poor nuclear program workers likely missed out on pajon and raw chestnuts and rice cakes, I hope that the North Korean government was kind enough to at least pay time and a half! (yeah, fat chance!)

Anyway, Google put on hanbok on for Chuseok – and briefly, so did I. Pictures to come...

Love,

Laura