Happy Buddha's Birthday Everyone!

Anyeonghaseyo! And Happy Buddha's Birthday!

Today is Buddha's Birthday. Were he alive today, he would be 2,555 years old. Man, I thought I was getting old!

"In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Lunisolar calendar. This day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "the day of Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) meaning "Welcome Buddha Day". Lotus lanterns cover the entire temple throughout the month which are often flooded down the street. On the day of Buddha's birth, many temples provide free meals and tea to all visitors. The breakfast and lunch provided are often sanchae bibimbap." (Previous paragraph, above Buddha photo, and following 'lantern' photo are courtesy of Wikipedia.)



I have the day off from work and that's pretty cool. It's a little weird because it's Tuesday and that would be almost unheard of in the US. Most holidays, even if during the week, would be 'observed' on Monday or Friday, but usually Monday. I guess in Korea, they celebrate the holiday whenever it happens to fall.

The next Holiday is June 6, which is Memorial Day in South Korea. I will have that day off, too. And then in August, my hogwon gives us a few days off in a row. I'm not sure if its for a school holiday or if it is separate from the day we have off on August 15 for Liberation Day. That holiday celebrates the day South Korea became liberated from Imperial Japan in 1945. On the same day in 1948, the Republic of Korea was established.

We also have September 14, 15, and 16 off, in celebration of Chuseok, which is kind of like Thanksgiving. This holiday celebrates a good harvest, and Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and enjoy a feast of traditional food. The holiday falls on the 15th, but the days before and after are also national days of celebration.

This past Thursday, the country celebrated Children's Day, followed by Parent's Day on Sunday. Wednesday was a pretty big deal - all the kids at my hogwon received presents from us staff, and some were even carrying presents they received at their public school. It reminded me of Christmas, but without the whole meaning of 'Christmas' behind it. And then Thursday was a national holiday to celebrate Children's day. I would say we should get something like that going in the US, but I believe it's sort of rolled in with Christmas. And I really like Christmas, especially with the whole 'holiday season' thing the US has going for it. I'm a little anxious to see how Christmas is here. I have an idea from my friend Amy who was here last year, but I can't wait to see for myself. And Elizabeth (my sister!!!) will be here with my brother-in-law Joseph and we can all celebrate together!!! How awesome is that?!?

I may have forgot to mention that she is also coming to South Korea to teach, but maybe I was also waiting for her to tell everyone herself first. She'll arrive here at the end of June and will be teaching with Joseph up in Daejeon, about 2 hours away by train. (However, it is half way between here and Incheon Airport just West of Seoul, and that trip only took 3.5 hours by bus, so I think it's a lot closer than I am led to believe.) I can't wait for them to get here!!! Can you tell I'm excited??

To wrap things up for this post, there are a few other national holidays in which we get more days off at work, but those are the most notable. Some hogwons end up working all holidays except for the one day at Chuseok and one other holiday, and some observe all of them as well as a few other public school vacations. Mine does the latter. I hope Elizabeth and Joseph work at a hogwon that celebrates all of the holidays like my hogwon does, but if not, there's always weekends!