Chusok Weekend

Chusok is Korea's Thanksgiving, but more traditional. Because of it everyone got a three day weekend. So my coworker invited me to his cabin in the mountains (near Jinju mountain) and, having no plans, I decided to give it a go.

It was a so-so weekend in a nutshell. The scenery was of course beautiful, lots and lots of green mountains, rice fields, rivers, temples...you can see it all in the pictures I uploaded. We stayed in my coworker's cabin next to the river. Pretty nice place, but extremely uncomfortable as there wasn't any bed. For the past three nights I've been sleeping on a hardwood floor with only some blankets and pillows. If it wasn't for the fact that my coworker likes to drink (and therefore I drink) I'd probably be even more sleep deprived.

I say the weekend was alright because, well, firstly, the sleep issue just put a damper on everything we did. I was tired the whole time because I could never get a full night's rest. That, and my coworker and his wife speak very little English, so half the time was spent trying to figure out what they were saying to me. It got frustrating after a while.

It was a nice gesture inviting me though. I got to see many historic and traditional things. I saw a really old village, apparently one of the oldest in Korea (because the Korean War never really reached so far south it remained intact). I saw some really old traditional schools. And I saw Cheonghak-dong (Azure Crane Village), which contains Samseong-gung (Three Sages Palace), a shrine dedicated to the myth of how Korea was created. This was all in Jirisan National Park.

My coworker is an interesting character; he insisted that I call him "hyung nim," which means "older brother." It's a bit weird, but I guess completely normal for Korea; friends call each other as if they were family. It's still a little off-putting though, because this guy barely knows me. He's taken me out once or twice for drinks, and I mean, it's nice and all, but it's just...weird. I don't know what to say to this guy. All we talk about is either:

a) how rich he is, no problem I'll pay for this, drink this soju, etc.
b) this food is good for your health
c) ___ is very very famous
d) you are very handsome

Dear Korea,

OK I fucking get it, I'm handsome.

I know this comes off as ungrateful, stuckup, or whatever you want to call it, but I hear this, quite literally, at least twice a day, and it's becoming a little annoying. And I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't seem like the sole basis of my relationship with this guy (not to sound gay or nothing). Seriously, this guy wines and dines me because...what? I'm white? American? New? Different? Handsome? He keeps saying I'm handsome.

He's being nice, and I would never say any of this to his face, or to anyone here really, but it irks me sometimes. Will this be the basis of all my relationships with Koreans here, my physical features? I guess now that I think about it, I don't know much Korean, so what other basis could there be?

I know I'm sounding like an asshole complaining about my looks but you get the point. To be honest it's not as big a deal as I'm making it out to be. I guess I just miss hanging out with people who hang out with me cause I'm me, not cause I'm a novelty. Then again I've only been here for a month and a half so maybe I'm just overanalyzing things. Wouldn't be the first time!

Time to sleep in an actual bed. It will be divine.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.