Korean Job Discussion Forums

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

have your favourite grocers begun stocking boxes of tuna? have you noticed the special fruits piling up? the buzz in the air? korean christmas is just around the corner! get ready for clogged highways, the trips to grandma's house! chuseok is here!

crap

VanIslander · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:37 am Post subject:

That's why there's suddenly a huge pile of mandarin oranges at the corner store!

jaganath69 · Joined: 17 Jul 2003

At least the trappings don't start appearing in the stores 6 months prior, like Xmas shite does back home.

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

I knew Chuseok was just around the corner when the SPAM gift sets appeared in my local supermarket.

ilovebdt

heydelores · Joined: 24 Apr 2006

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Milwaukiedave · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Location: Goseong

bobbyhanlon · Joined: 09 Nov 2003 Location: 서울

i'm surprised nobody mentioned the delightful spam gift sets yet!

over here in yeouido, most financial companies are giving all staff somewhere between 300,000 and 1,000,000 won for chuseok; one company is even giving an extra month's salary. what am i getting? a box of fruit!! my joy knows no bounds...

kimchi_pizza · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject:

Hey! Don't knock SPAM! It's the world's multi-purpose food. Japan gave the world instant noodles and if the U.S. did anything trully "good" for the world it's SPAM! Breakfast, sandwiches, salads, even that Korean ramien and SPAM dish (지개) which I can't think of what it's called but really good.

Ok, nuff of that. Now back to my movie.....

alinkorea · Joined: 02 May 2005

What is it with those box sets? I've never seen a good one. And they are way over priced. Yesterday I saw a box of dried fruit, about the size of a small cereal box. Nothing special in it, dried banana... all the usual suspects. 75.000 Won. Same sized box of mushrooms 110.000.

Milwaukiedave · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Location: Goseong

But those are MAGIC mushrooms!

just kidding...

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Love chuseok - because we can get real, fresh fruits and other vegetables again!!!!!

Now I just have to write my chuseok gift list....

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

are any of you going to the countryside to partake in a real korean chuseok with your korean boy/girlffriend, husband or wife? this year's my first time... i've met some of the family but not all. i hear the men sit around and drink while the women do all the cooking. that means i'll be stuck with all the dudes (who are nice enough) while my lady hangs with the others in the kitchen.

i guess my real question is: SPAM or tuna?

anae · Joined: 13 May 2003 Location: cowtown

I have had a number of Chuseok experiences in the countryside with my husband's family. Lets just say I didn't look forward to it. The day before Chuseok is cooking, cooking, cooking. Several hours of chopping followed by several more hours of frying topped off by two to three hours of song pyeon making. The actual day was spent setting up the ancestral table, serving meals to family members and guests then washing up before setting the table again for anju which is followed by another meal and so on and so on late into the night. Later in the day, the sons usually go to their wives' house to visit with that side of the family, but I was a foreigner so I just got more of the same. Son-in-laws are the kings of the castle. I have three. Nice guys, but they are not exactly helping out.

The men have cute little jobs like picking and preparing chestnuts, performing the ancestral ceremony and visiting of the grave sites. They eat, drink, visit other friends and family, and play cards. It is tough life. I don't know how they manage. My husband tries to help out with the cooking etc., but father usually has him away on some errand or another. Hmmm, I wonder if that is a coincidence?

I feel tired just thinking about it. We made the trip back last year, but it will be the last until my kids can at least appreciate my sacrifice for their ancestors and familly harmony.

You are a man, so enjoy the food and the pampering.

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

actually, i'm a boy in man-skin.

how were the language barriers for you? i'm kinda worried hanging with the guys and getting loaded without having much to say... my basic korean will get me through 5 minutes of conversation. i wonder if i should bring a guitar and "bard" my way through the holiday...

as for the pampering, after eating and drinking, eating and drinking, do the ladies open the men's top button of their trousers to let free the excess weight? Wink