And we're off!

All of our things are packed, and the apartment is now completely empty. Sound bounced off the walls, and it felt colder than normal when I left. All the life was kind of sucked out of the room, and when I removed our backpacks all that was left was cold air and dust settling in the corners of the room. It was almost like we were never there.

We're leaving for Mongolia tomorrow afternoon, and I have to admit that it feels a little surreal. We have two backpacks filled with clothes, a few books, and necessary toiletries. We are going to be in Asia and Europe for three months without a permanent home, and then in the US running around visiting our parents. We won't know if we're coming back to Korea for another few weeks, and if we do, we won't have a permanent home for nearly six months. It's alright though, because we're young, we have each other, and we're ready to go.

Fall is Here

The temperatures have finally dipped, and fall is coming in full swing. It was a brisk 55 degrees F this morning. It peaked out around 70 earlier today. Fall and winter are my two favorite seasons, and without an air conditioner, I am glad to see the sweltering heat of summer depart. Besides, the closest good beach is 3 to 4 hours from here.

Trans-Mongolian tickets

We found a travel agent to buy all of our train tickets. The trip is fully coming together now, and we're getting all the most expensive parts out of the way first. I can't wait to get confirmation on the tickets!

Seoul Grand Hyatt

Seoul is one of the only cities I know of that actually closes down for a major national holiday. Chuseok is perhaps the most important holiday in Korea. An entire city of 10 million people seems to empty out for one 3 day period a year. Buses run, but they're mostly empty. The roads that are usually choked with traffic are eerily quiet. Even internet banking is suspended, and for some people, their bank cards won't work during the holiday. That happened to Emily during our first year in Korea.

For this reason, we decided to spend Chuseok in the Grand Hyatt. It one of the two or three luxury hotels sitting on the side of Namsan (a mountain in the middle of Seoul). If offers beautiful views of the mountain and of the Han River. We were lucky enough to get a river view, which was beautiful at night. The hotel was built in the late 70s, and it shows. The lobby has wonderful vaulted ceilings and a distinct 70s feel to it. They even allow smoking in the lobby, which seems like a very 70s thing.

The room layout was that of a very traditional luxury hotel. It's far different from the modern architecture of newer hotels like the Park Hyatt next to Coex, which have things like rain showers and giant marble bathtubs. Instead, it's much more relaxed, with a very comfortable, but firm, couch, a TV, a more traditional tub, and, of course, one of the ultra-soft king sized beds that hotels like this are known for. We chose to purchase the Amour Package, which gave us a bottle of muscato d'asti, a chocolate cake, access to the sauna, and a free buffet breakfast.

The restaurants available at the hotel range from the buffet option to high end European, Chinese, and Japanese. We opted to eat lunch in the lobby, which gave us a good view of the river, get room service, and of course take our free buffet breakfast in the morning. Because we actually live in Seoul, we know where we can get any of the things available in the restaurants at a much more reasonable price. We were already splurging by staying in the hotel, we didn't need to break the bank on a $300+ meal we could get elsewhere for half the price. The only option that did intrigue us was the special summer poolside BBQ, but no reservations were available.

The bars left something to be desired. JJ Mahoney's is a faux-tiki lounge with live music, but they charge a whopping 23.5% consumption fee on top of a 10% service charge. I'm sure that's for the live music, but I don't love live entertainment that much. The Paris Bar was very nice if you wanted to drink a glass or bottle of wine. The rest of their selection was fairly limited. The lobby bar actually had the best variety of drinks to offer. The hotel's signature cocktails were only available in the lobby, and they had most of the wines and mixed drinks on hand that were available at the other bars.

It's not like that's really even something to complain about. We had a great time taking advantage of the hotel amenities, and had a great Chuseok.

Happy Chuseok!

Monday is Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving. Luckily it's a three day national holiday, so Emily has no school until Wednesday (Sunday and Tuesday are holiday days)!!!

Korean people will travel to their hometown to see their parents and family. There they will perform various ceremonies honoring the dead. Chuseok is similar to many other harvest festivals. It is a time to remember family, and stems from an older, shamanistic tradition. After the ceremonies are over, they will eat a huge meal, which is the part most kids look forward to. The best part is song-pyeon, rice cakes filled with honey!

Hanbok Day

Today was Hanbok Day at Appletree.


All the children dressed in their best hanbok, a traditional Korean outfit. They come in a wide range of colors and usually have some sort of embroidery on them.





After the kids learned about Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving, they had a chance to practice the Mask Dance.









Even the other foreign English teachers wore hanbok!

A Very Korean Wedding

Two of our good friends, Insung and Soyeong, got married exactly one week after we did. Their wedding was a normal,
modern Korean wedding.













If you can't tell, Soyeon used to be a model.

We took pictures with Insung and his grandma. She didn't really know what was going on at the time.








Weddings here are generally held in wedding halls. They have a full support staff making sure the pictures come out great. I managed to snap a picture without that staff in the picture. It's a kind of cold, impersonal event. People are chit chatting, and the ceremony is really happening just for the photo op. It's an entirely different animal from US weddings. All weddings are really there for photographs, but we're a little less obvious about it.


In the end, Soyeon thwarted Insung's attempt to kiss her. We all had a pretty good laugh about that.

The Story Behind the Ducks

Two wooden ducks are a traditional wedding present in Korea. They were made by a friend of the groom's family. The man had to have the 5 fortunes:
1. He must be rich
2. He must of perfect health
3. Among his family (including his relatives) there must have been no divorces
4. He has to have a "good wife"
5. He must have many sons.

He could also only carve one set in his lifetime.

Ducks were chosen mainly because they mate for life. They also indicated the status of a couple's relationship. If they face toward each other, like ours do now, they indicate that the husband and wife are getting along well. If they face away from each other, it means that they are having marriage troubles, or they are just in a fight at the moment. That's a very basic description, but you can get the general idea.

Yonsei GSIS

All of my materials for my Yonsei GSIS application have been submitted online or sent via mail. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. I wasn't even like this when I applied to undergraduate programs. I think it's because this could be a huge step in terms of my future career. Anyone reading this, please wish me luck. I have 4-6 weeks to be nervous over the result.

No more pencils, no more books...

My contract finished yesterday at 4:30 PM. It feels really good to be unemployed. I am now to be a house-husband, figure out what we can throw away, and relax. I have plenty of time to hit the gym, so I should at least maintain my current level of fitness before we run off. My graduate school applications should be finished and sent by tomorrow. Hopefully, those will bring good news in about a month.