Say THANKS (Chuseok style)

It's Fall.
My favorite season. Ever.

The beginning of Fall is especially important in Korea for it is the holiday of 추석 Chuseok.

It's a time when family member gather to share food and give thanks to their ancestors.
Chuseok Day is September 29, but the holiday is observed for 3 days from September 29-October 1 (that means no work from Monday through Wednesday next week).

There's some pretty cool elements involved:

• 차례 Charye- a memorial service held in honor of the family members' ancestors. On Chuseok they present rice as an offering to their ancestors.
• 벌초 Belocho- a month prior to Chuseok family members will go to their ancestral graves to remove weeds that have grown during the summer.
• Chuseok dress- wearing traditional gown, known as hanbok.

Children hanboks sold for $50 at department stores.

• 성묘 Seongmyo- visiting the graves on Chuseok and offering prayers of thanks.
• 송편 Songpyeon- the traditional food of Chuseok. Rice cakes that are shaped into balls filled with sesame seeds, chestnuts and sugar.

And then there is this, "an old Korean anecdote says that the person who makes beautiful songpyeon will meet a good spouse or give birth to a beautiful baby."

In the end, it's all about the babies.

It is also a time for gift giving. 

Home Plus (my local grocery store) and all other stores are prepared for such a holiday.

Gift sets are the popular gift to give.

Here's a look at what you could give if you celebrated Chuseok in Korea:

any of these tuna/ canola oil sets

 this box set of premium Korean beef for $240

 toiletry set

ten Korean pears for $80

dried anchovies

 nine large apples for $80

canola oil and Spam

dried fruit

or Korean rice bars

I gasped out loud how expensive all this was. One smiling saleswoman shook her head and corrected me that it's all very reasonably priced.

Right.

Thankfully I can claim my wagookin-ness and not have to buy presents for this holiday.

I'll keep you posted on what a foreigner does during this momentous family-oriented celebration. 

Until next time, peace.

14 reasons I love Korea

In no particular order,

The food.

What's not to love? With so many choices (and not all include kimchi), Korean food is delicious, healthy and filling. Some of my favorites:

• Bibimbop- means 'mixed rice' in Korean, it includes rice, hearty diced vegetables, and meat (optional) drizzled with gochujang (chili pepper paste). 
• Samgyupsal- thick pork strips grilled (do it yourself) and served with lettuce leaves, onions, garlic, kimchi and gochujang.
• Bibimnamyong- similar to bibimbop, but served cold with noodles
• Mondu- Korean dumpling filled with various options, such as meat, shrimp and kimchi.

The English.

It's good to see that my job is aiding in the effort.

The free samples.

At cosmetic stores (which are everywhere) the sales woman will throw in some samples with your purchase. Within no time, you end up with a cupboard full of awesome creams and moisturisers to try.

The "Genius, Korea" inventions

Korea has some great ideas. From the button on restaurant tables when you need your server to umbrella bags to keep the floors dry when raining, they're genius.

The hiking.

With so many mountains in this country, a girl can feel alive out here.

The Asian peace sign.

Finally I know what to do with my hands while posing for a picture.

The parks.

So many to enjoy and all are clean, spacious and inviting.

No tipping.

 I didn't truly appreciate this until I went back home for a few months and ended up crying at a restaurant after the bill was sorted. Okay, I didn't really cry but a part of my soul did die. America needs to jump on the bandwagon of awesomeness that is the no tipping rule in Korea. With tax included and no tipping, it sure saves you a lot of money.

The bakeries.

I don't think words will do these heavenly sugared baked goods justice. From cakes to croissants, bakeries are a dime and dozen and that's appreciated in a country with no home ovens.

The public transportation.

Amazingly efficient, clean and cheap AND all maps, signs, and announcements are available in Korean, English and Japanese.

Coffee shops.

There's a coffee shop on every corner in Korea. And not just Starbucks. We're talking Tom-N-Toms, Angel-in-us, Holly's, Cafe Bene and Coffee Flower- just to name a few. Just be thankful you didn't have to tip at lunch 'cause an Americano here is extremely overpriced.

Norebangs.

A Korean term for karaoke room, norebangs allow you to listen to your tone-deaf friends sing their hearts out. You will never have more fun. Bold statement, but so true.

Friends.

Living abroad can get tough at times. Thank goodness for the friends that keep you sane and make you smile. I love you, guys!

Part 2: The Philippines

I hope you enjoyed part 1. Thanks for the comments, it's nice to hear you're reading.

Now for part 2.
We found a bus from Banaue to Manila with an ETA of 4am. Our driver was confident we would get into Manila without a fuss, regardless of the reports saying the city was flooded. Ten hours into the ride as we reach the outskirts of Manila, our driver stops and tells us to grab our cargo from the bottom of the bus to prevent water damage. The streets were underwater, but our driver was determined to keep going. 2 feet of water covered the streets and only gaining height with the constant downpour.
We drove for 15 minutes more when the driver pulled into an alley and told us he couldn't go any further. This was it. Time to get out.
It was 4:30am and not a cab to be found. Any cab we did find, refused to take us to the airport. So, as we are standing under our umbrellas amidst a torrential rain, a fellow passenger from the bus invited us onto her rented shuttle van heading to the airport. We graciously accepted. She was the head teacher at a Catholic elementary school, travelling from Banue with her ten students. It was an act of kindness that I will never forget. How many people would do that for a group of foreigners? Would you? It made me realize that not all of humanity is hopeless- that there is joy in the world.
Life Lesson #5: Be kind.

Diego and I waited at the airport for a few hours and then boarded our plane. Our next destination was Boracay Island off the main island, Panay.

During our flight we sat across from the most enthusiastic ten-year old I've ever encountered. She was ecstatic to be flying. My top three favorite statements are as follows:
"I think I see God's house!"
"Is that New York?"
"Everything looks like baby ants."
I was secretly trying to figure out how I could take her home with me.

Once we landed, we took a tricycle to the beach, then a boat to Boracay Island.

We stayed at this amazing place called FRENDZ. It had a great setup to meet people and was one of the best backpacker-friendly resorts I've been to.

To get there from the main rd.,
you had to shimmy you're way across the watering hole.

The resort is a 5-minute walk from the beach, with lawn chairs designated for FRENDZ guests and bars all too close to the chairs.
Life Lesson #6: A tab doesn't mean free, you do have to pay that at the end of your stay.

Boracay is known for its white sand beaches and it did not disappoint.

A restaurant called OBAMA grill. haha

An ocean shrine of Mary

We spent four days in Boracay. It's a touristy place with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. I met a ton of great people (lots of English teachers from Korea), danced my pants off (not literal), ate too much, drank too much, and soaked up as much sun as possible.

Our resort hosted an open mic one night.

This is what a tourist looks like.

You could usually find me here.

My new best friend, Vince from Cali

I also went to a cock fight. At first, I was so excited to go and witness such a thing. But after 10 minutes I couldn't take it and left. I love chicken. I think it's delicious. But I found cock fighting to be really cruel. I will subject you to the pictures only so you won't have to see this in person. Unless you really want to. Then by all means, you should check it out.

a common sight in the Philippines

The chickens are put into a raised, dirt arena located in the center of the building. Seating faces the arena in a circular shape. Two chickens are put at either end of the rink. Both chickens have a sharp blade tied around one foot.

Both owners hold the wings and thrust the chickens toward each other. This makes the chickens agitated  and want to fight. It also shows the audience the intensity of each chicken.


The crowd starts placing bets. They do this by telling a bookie what side they're betting on (right or left). They throw money at the bookie and within a few minutes all bets are final and the fight begins.

At first, the chickens are pretty disinterested in each other.

Still not interested.

Suddenly they begin to fight. They fly at each other, kicking and clucking.

All of that lasted.... 40 seconds.
One chicken is down, so a guy picks up both chickens, sets them down and which ever one remains standing is the winner.

That's it. The winner is taken to live another day and the loser is chicken dinner.

And here's a picture of the beach to get those images out of your head.

Overall, Boracay was a beautiful island and definitely worth checking out. For me, 4 days was the perfect amount of time there. By the end of the fourth day I was in need of a break from the lounging and the booze (such a rough life, I know).

Our next and final destination was El Nido.

We flew from Boracay to Manila. From Manila to Puerto Princesa. 

I read that El Nido was tricky to get to. But I also read that it was worth it. The only way to El Nido (for cheap) is a shuttle van. A 6-hour jolting ride on gravel roads that curved back and forth as it hugged the mountain. And was it worth it? A million times, yes. It was worth it. El Nido was my favorite part of the trip.

Life Lesson #7: Take the bumpy road. You won't regret it. 

El Nido is a hidden gem. It wasn't tainted by tourism. It had a local feel to it; very welcoming, very relaxed, very content. Oh! Also, the new Bourne movie was filmed here- everyone was very proud of that.

We found a place for 500 pesos a night ($15!) And it had a treehouse!

view from the treehouse

We spent the first day walking and discovering the town.

downtown

A Filipino breakfast

The fish was delicious in El Nido

El Nido is popular for island tours. There are three during rainy season (when I was there) and four during the dry season. We went on all three tours. One a day.

The first day was really windy with scattered showers. Not ideal weather, but there's nothing you can do about it, so you might as well just embrace it.

Then the camera lens got foggy from the rain.....

This is one of the settings in the new Bourne movie

We were able to do a lot of snorkeling during the tours.

On tour 2 we didn't bring the camera (which is probably for the best because this post is getting really long).

We saved the best for last on tour #3.

Matinioc Shrine (The Philippines is 80% Catholic)

On each tour, the captain and his crew would prepare an awesome lunch for the passengers.
Today it was fish, pork, salad, rice, melon and bananas.

During the tours, the captain would drop us off at a beach to bask in the sun and explore the island for several hours.

That's it. Our last day we spent travelling, waiting in airports and catching buses.

The Philippines is a great place to vacation. Everyone speaks English, the people are helpful and friendly, and it's a cheap country. I would recommend spending more than a week if you want to travel around. The places I went (besides Manila) were beautiful and I'm so happy I didn't spend my entire 2 weeks on a beach. Travelling is about meeting people, trying new things, having fun and immersing yourself into the culture. I accomplished this with my travels.
I hope you enjoyed my adventure. Now, go have one of your own!