Visitors for Chuseok

We are so excited that our dads arrived here last night to visit us for a week!  They are staying at a hotel very close to our apartment and we have the next five days off to spend with them.  Even though we had to work all day today, we made sure their first dinner in Korea was BBQ tonight after work!  Tomorrow the real sightseeing around Seoul with them will begin.

Saturday is the first day of the three day Korean holiday called Chuseok.  It is basically the Korean form of Thanksgiving and their harvest time.  It is a VERY big deal in Korea.  Everyone in the family must go to the man's parents' home (which for many people in Seoul is a good ways away from the city in the countryside).  While they are staying with the parents and grandparents they pay their respects to their ancestors that have passed away by offering rituals and blessings.  They also wear the traditional Korean clothing, hanbok.  Another big thing with Chuseok is to take a gift to the home that you spend the three day holiday at.  For the last few weeks the stores have been filled with gift boxes of Spam.  Yes, taking a gift box of Spam is a very big part of Korean Thanksgiving!  Today at work we had a Chuseok party with the kindergartners and they all wore their hanbok.  Here are a few pictures with many more to come soon (I also have a picture of the Spam gift boxes I will post soon).