Choo-seok is here again!

Well, here it is again: 추석/chooseok (Korean Thanksgiving). (Some sites on this big-time holiday here, here and here, some pics of traditional food here, a couple of articles here and here, and Lotte's Chooseok gift site is here.) For Koreans this is one of the 4 times a year when they are to visit their parents/ancestors graves; but most just go on or about Chooseok as hometowns can be quite distant from the city (of Seoul, usually). Some, however, take the time off as a chance to get out of the country completely.

I have a plan (as they say in Konglish) to go to 거제도/Geojay-do (Go-je Island) for the first bit of the time off (we get the Monday to Wednesday, Sept. 27-29th off) with a few friends and meet some buds down there too. Should be fun. Then maybe to 전주/Jeonju (city). I really haven't seen as much of Korea as I'd like to have after having been here for almost 2 years. You may know, this was the place where the lovely and talented Shawn started his sojourn in Korea...and the setting for his hugely popular book, to boot.

Chooseok is a nutty time here, though. Over 30 million people take to the highways (yes, about 3/4 of the population) but that has been changing a bit lately and it mostly happens on the weekday holidays (those are the real Chooseok high times). I'm hoping I won't be trapped in this:


Chooseok traffic....yikes!

One reason I can go down there is that my father-in-law will be in Canada--have a good trip!--so I have virtually no English-speaking relatives in Seoul. As well, my Korean friends either have company over, will be going elsewhere or should be at home to be with their parents/family. And, my family isn't here (boo hoo) and I know that pretty much the whole town shuts down and looks like this:


This was in August--but Chooseok in Seoul is similar.

Since they rollup the sidewalks, I need to stock up on things this week (just in case I come back early or something). I got some food already as well as these lovely razors. Check it out...10 razors for 1,000 won (USD 0.80!). That's 8 CENTS each. They're pretty good, too...I can use them twice before chucking them (how eco-friendly of me). So, cost of shaving per week: about 30 cents. A bud of mine uses them Gillette Sensor Nuclear-Powered razors on his beard...just 2 shaves out of each of them blades too...cost per week: about $5. Unreal how different things are. Bics here are like 600 won (50 cents) each, so if you want the name there's that option; but I figure they'll all from the same factory in China so who cares. I get mine from a hunched-over 할머니/halmeoni (grandmother/old gal) near exit 13 or 14 of 동대문운동장/dongdaemoon-oondongjang (Dongdaemoon Stadium) subway station. Normally they're 2,000 won in the stores, and I might have been able to haggle her down a few won (I sometimes get 40-50 at a time) but I just don't have the heart to do so. Actually, this time a friend of mine got them for me: saying, "Oh, I was sent here by a foreigner to buy razors from you." Wonder what went through the old gal's min when she heard that.


How much for all that steel?

With the father-in-law heading to Canada (and returning) I put in my order to my wife for some products we can't get too easily here: deodorant and decent-sized gel. Oh sure, I could go to Hannam-dong and pay an arm-and-a-leg or get tiny gel tubes for horrendous prices at 7-11....but the mule is on the plane (I'm one for him too) so why not get it from home?


Necessities that you can hardly find in Seoul/Korea.

What have I been up to at work? Well, research mostly. Lots of fun/fund stuff to read. Also some long-eared stuff like this (direct pdf link here). If you can understand this on the first pass you're a better stats student than me.

Tomorrow I got some stories lined up on the Korean economy...I bet you can hardly wait!