Happy Chusok

On the right is a container of Songpyeon I made with the ladies at church. It is rice cake with a sweet filling inside. An acquired taste but actually not too bad.

This lady is the headmistress of the kindergarten at church. She taught me how to make songpyeon and after 3 hours I was pumping them out like a pro ( I like to think so anyway)...

It is a time consuming exercise and the ladies of the house cook all day for Chusok like Christmas Day cooking. The difference is we sat on the floor doing it which I got used to after awhile.

These ladies have been making songpyeon for years and were amazing to watch. I tried to copy them but my ones looked like bananas which caused a lot of laughs throughout the day. We stopped and ate a yummy curry at lunch and I went and saw the kindergarten children in the next rooms. It was a great day preparing the songpyeon.

AAaargh the finished product. All piled up on a bed of pine tree needles and ready to be steamed. I lost count of how many were made. Hundreds. All little crescent shaped cuties except for my banana ones.

Chusok in September and Lunar New Year in February are the 2 biggest holidays in Korea. People travel back to their hometowns which are usually in rural areas to be with family and visit ancestral graves. They thank their ancestors for the good harvest and well being of the family. The roads up and down the country are always chaotic. There are traffic jams and trips take 2-3 times longer than usual. From Saturday until Wednesday are holidays and no school. Tuesday is the day of Chusok when most places are closed. Songpyeon is a traditional food for Chusok along with newly picked fruits.

We were going to go down south to Busan but all the trains and buses were booked out.

We will miss our family this Chusok as it is a time to be thankful for family and life. God bless everyone we miss you:)