Happy Harvest Moon!

Last night (or tonight, depending on your time zone) was (is) the night of the harvest moon aka August 15th of the lunar calendar aka Chuseok (추석) aka Korean thanksgiving. Chuseok is a Korean national holiday, during which schools and businesses are closed, so you know what that means... 4-day weekend!

Oh yeah, forgot to say, I have a job now, which is why I even have weekdays and weekends. I'm working as an English teacher at E Bo Young Talking Club, an English-teaching franchise in South Korea. I just finished my first week there, and it was quite interesting. I wasn't even planning on working, really, but my aunt randomly called me last Friday, saying that she had found a hakweon (학원) at which I might be interested in working, and would I be ready to go for an interview that afternoon. Well, I went to said interview and was hired on the spot, which was also a surprise. She told me to come on Monday so that I could observe since I'd had to experience teaching English and that I'd start working after Chuseok. Come Monday, I showed up and she gave a brief--oh so very brief--introduction to everything and then told me to start. Start?! Now?! I asked if I could at least observe just one class, to which she said, we'll see... and then before I knew it, the kids were showing up, and I had to teach. WHAAAAAT. I was coming in midyear as a new teacher and I didn't even know beyond a basic outline what I was supposed to cover, nor did I have an introduction ready, nor was I in the least bit prepared! I guess it turned out fine because she told me to come back the next day. Actually, she'd originally had me down to come 3 times a week, but when I came back the second day, she told me to come Monday through Friday, so she must have liked me, although I can't possibly see how after that first day. The classes are small, three to six kids each, and each class is only 50 minutes long (I teach 3 a day), but that doesn't mean some of the classes aren't a handful, particularly the youngest ones. I think the biggest challenge is remembering to keep my English as simple as possible. The older classes understand more English and pay better attention, so the day gets easier as it goes on. There is one high school class at the end of the day but I only got to teach that one once because it's normally taught by the other teacher. In total, there are 3 teachers (the director, another teacher, and me) and 35 kids, and I think it's gonna be fun.

And funny story about Talking Club, when I started, the director asked for my English name. When I told her I just go by Yoongi, she was surprised and said that all the kids have English names, so I should come up with one for myself too... But I couldn't think of anything so I had the kids call me Jeena for a day. It was downright bizarre. So the next day I went back and convinced my boss to let them call me by my real name, so everyone's back to calling me Yoongi. Hooray! Anyway, back to Chuseok.

During Chuseok, families gather to honor their ancestors, and there is lots of food involved. Of the food traditionally eaten during Chuseok, songpyeon is probably the most well-known--songpyeon is a small rice cake with various sweet fillings, such as sesame seeds with honey, chestnut paste, or red bean paste. And it's delicious. Aside from songpyeon, my diet yesterday consisted of: rice, beef, pork, tempura mushrooms, onion pancakes, fish, seaweed soup, gosari, soybean sprouts, calamari, various kinds of kimchi, various kinds of rice cake, ice cream, apples, grapes, and tangerines. It's an understatement to say I was full at the end of the day.

The day started with some intense cleaning on account of the family coming over. Since I live with my grandma, and on Chuseok you come to honor your ancestors, it makes the most sense for the family to come here. After cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, and wiping down the floor, it was time for some cooking. My mom taught me how to make super yummy seaweed soup:

Ingredients: seaweed, water, garlic, sesame oil, sea urchin (optional)

Directions:

First, if you're using dry seaweed, you have to rewet it.

• Soak it in water until it opens up to its normal underwater state.
• Strain all the water, then add a couple handfuls of salt. Rock salt works best.
• Rub the seaweed as if you were handwashing it and the salt were soap.
• Once the seaweed feels smooth and soft, wash and then drain and squeeze the water out.

Next take your peeled garlic cloves and crush them.

Then, get your pot that you will use for the soup, as well as your sesame oil, garlic, and seaweed. 

Pour a few tbsp of sesame oil into the pot and turn to medium-low heat--your pot is temporarily a frying pan.

Add the garlic, and once the garlic looks golden, add the seaweed and sautée for a couple minutes.

Then add however much water you want in your soup, put the lid on, and turn to high heat.

When the water starts to boil, turn down the heat and add your sea urchin.

Let it simmer until the sea urchin is done (solid instead of goop), and voila! Soup.

Okay, it doesn't look like much but it's delicious.

After we were done cooking, it was time to pray. My grandma is the teacher/caretaker of a temple belonging to an old Jeju religion with a female deity, who is the mother of heaven and earth. This temple is part of the house where my mom, grandma, and I are living. My grandma wakes up incredibly early every morning to pray at 5am. On the 5th, 15th, and 25th of every month, other practicers of the religion, mainly elderly Korean ladies, come to the temple to pray at noon. Since Chuseok falls on the 15th, it coincides with a worship day. At my grandma's urging, I've started participating in the praying ritual, which consists of singing from a prayer book that I can read but wish I understood, and drinking water given by the mother of heaven and earth to her children. I'm slowly learning more about my grandma's religion and its teachings, and am hoping to eventually be able to translate the prayer book and the symbols in the temple.

In the early afternoon, family started arriving, which meant everyone started eating, and by 4pm, there was food piled on every square inch of two dining tables. We all indulged in an early dinner, and then the adults talked for a few hours while me and my 5 cousins played on our respective smartphones. Oh, technology. The boy cousins all disappeared for a while, and when they came back I was disappointed to learn they'd been playing soccer. Not having grown up with my cousins, I'm not very close to them, and there's still a language barrier--which I'm working on, really!--aaaand they probably assumed I didn't want to play. Doesn't make me any less disappointed, though. Oh well, next time.

Then it was evening and time to say good night, because it takes everyone an hour to get home from my grandma's place way out on this side of the island. Soon it was night, and the harvest moon was huge and beautiful, and I wish I could have taken a nice picture, but my phone camera couldn't capture it. Instead, here's a picture of a super cute piglet.

TL;DR: Yesterday was Chuseok and I ate a lot. I have a job teaching English. I'm learning about my grandma's religion. There's a recipe for seaweed soup somewhere above.