Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)

Today (Friday) we had the day off since it's the day before Korean Thanksgiving. This is our 4th one in a row, and this is the 1st time that we don't have "big" plans. Three years ago we were living in the south and did a 5-day trip around Korea. Two years ago we went to Taiwan, and last year we checked out the Mask Dance Festival. This year we're laying fairly low; tomorrow our friend from Wonju will come to Seoul and we plan to go hiking on a mountain that's near the president's house. We're also planning on showing our friend some of the palaces and temples around the city, since he's never been.

Chuseok is a holiday of giving so both B and I got gifts from our school. B got a pair of crystal wine glasses. Look below for a photo of my gift....

That's right: the staff at my school were all given boxes of soap. 11 soap-related products. This needs some explaining.... People in Korea are terrified of the Swine Flu. In years past, I would literally have to bring my own soap from home to my middle school as there wasn't always a bar provided. I saw female staff exit the bathroom without washing their hands every day. Washing hands was not important to all Koreans, until the Swine Flu came. So far, 9 Koreans have died from complications related to the flu (they were all elderly and had underlying health conditions) but nonetheless there's still wide-spread fear of it getting much worse. So, now all of sudden there are massive hand-washing demonstrations and hand-sanitizing stations popping up all over. I'm happy to report that even before the onset of the flu, all of the restrooms at my current university did have soap dispensers (although now all of the liquid soap has been upgraded to foam soap for some reason). On a related note, all of the fabulous fall festivals have been cancelled due to fears of the flu spreading...

We hope to take some cool photos tomorrow so we'll get those posted ASAP. To all of our Korean friends, Happy Chuseok!