On Monday September 12th, I celebrated Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) with Stella’s family. Beforehand, on that Saturday, Stella and I went to her grandfather’s house to prepare Songpyun, a Korean rice cake filled with red bean (not exactly Turkey and Gravy, but hey I’ll take what I can get).
On Sunday we visited Shinsigee Department store (Busanites claim it’s the biggest department store in the world), and bought some gifts. I bought a big bouquet of flowers and a few wine sets.
On Monday (Chuseok), we went to Stella’s eldest uncle’s house for “Jae-sah.” It’s Korean tradition when they pay their respects to ancestors by setting up an alter, offering them food and alcohol, bowing, etc. I also joined in on the bowing (I’m sure Stella’s ancestors were surprised to see a white guy). Then we ate/drank the food/alcohol.
Afterward we headed to Gwangan with Stella’s cousin and fiance (who just met about three months ago and already engaged) to Gwanghali Beach and had a few drinks before heading over to Stella’s Grandfather’s apartment. Once we got to Stella’s Halahbuhji’s (Grandfather’s) it was nonstop drinking (mostly straight whiskey and soju), which helped ease the Korean-English language barrier. After a few drinks we were all like old friends, singing, dancing, and cutting jokes on each other (I can’t count how many times they told me I had gained weight and “why do I have hair on your face?).
In typical Korean fashion, we ended our night with some singing at the “noraebang” (karaoke). I sang some American classics including NSYNC, Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson and CCR (MJ & CCR are two Korean favorites).
