Happy Lunar New Year

Over the long weekend Korea the Chinese and the Vietnamese will be celebrating Lunar New Year and the year of the Pig.

"Sut dal kum mum" is New Year's eve in Korean and on that night nobody is supposed to sleep. It's the so called "je yah". There was a belief that if someone slept on that night, their eyebrows would turn white. That was the reason why the light was on in every room, the "maru" and even in the kitchen. This was done to receive the brand new year's day with awaken eyes and brightness.

During the New Year's eve day people perform an overall cleaning, brushing off old dust etc. In the evening they heat water and take a bath. They also burn bamboo sticks to cast off every single house demon.

They thought that with the sound of the exploding bamboo's knots, the demons would get scared and run away.

The Koreans focus on the family as they celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Children put on new traditional clothes called hanbok. They kneel and bow to their ancestors and elders.

Family members wish each other prosperity and good fortune. Then they exchange gifts. Children receive lucky money, candy and fruit from the elders. The family spends time together and have rice-cake soup for breakfast. Children often take this day to play special New Year games. Not monopoly or Trivial Pursuits but ganes that include throwing sticks. Games that i feel would have been played by people when there were no such things as Playstations, Plasma Screens and Laptops. War year games!!! ha ha

Luckily for me i get to have Monday and Tuesday off work, All Hagwons and schools are off and this is a major holiday therefore travelling out of seoul is a pain as everyone is doing it.

On Friday lunchtime i took the bus down to Pyongtaek, what is normally a 50minute bus ride took double the time. The traffic was building up then so i am glad i didn't leave it any longer.

A friend of mine also took this trip later on in the day, it took them three and a half hours and they were driving in the bus lane most of the way which is the VIP Bus route. No other traffic allowed. Whilst he was going through the toll gate to come out of seoul onto the Express way he told be that there were major bangs which he thought was someone shooting.. It was in fact a fire work display, in daylight, with a big korean crowd, then because of the wind the smoke just blinded everyone!! made me laugh.

My house mate Rhiannon has traveled to Japan with Hallie. And Lani and Tyler went to China for a few days. What am i doing? writing my blog, listening to James Morrison and half watching Charlies Angels, contemplating what to make for mine and Matt's breakfast... Oh decisions, decisions.

On the topic of James Morrison, who is this Guy, his music is amazing, i got Matt to download some of his songs and they are great. I checked on the Brit awards web page and see he one an award so decided to check him out..

Kimchi: Okay change of direction here but i just wasn't to talk a little about a food i eat ever day at school which is a major institution here in Korea and that is KIMCHI.

I had read about Kimchi before i arrived and didn't actually like it at first as basically it sounds pretty foul but its quite addictive now. Kimchi represents Korea's best known food. Koreans serve kimchi at almost every meal, and few Koreans can last more than a few days before cravings get the better of them.

During the 1988 Summer Olympic Games, thousands of foreigners were introduced to it for the first time. Despite a reputation for being spicy, most people usually develop a taste for it, and many foreigners also find themselves missing it after returning to their home country. I think i will to be honest, even matt loves the stuff.

Kimchi can cure everything, well thats what Korean people think. The reason there are no homosexuals in Korea is due to Kimchi, if you have a cold, Kimchi, if your depressed eat kimchi. Love it or loathe it, once you have eaten it, you will never forget it.

Kimchi is made by fermenting cabbage with red peppers, radishes and a lot of garlic and ginger. Yummy..

Kimchi was reported to have helped to prevent Sars. The claim was never scientifically proven, but according to some Koreans, people in other countries followed their example and started eating kimchi.

Also: South Korea's spicy fermented cabbage dish, kimchi, could help to cure bird flu, according to researchers.

Kimchi is amazing and magical. Although we could not take any to America. We tried to buy it in the Duty Free area at Incheon Airport in Korea but they told us no. So unless you travel to Korea guys you'll never get to try it. Unless i find out the recipe and can make enough to cure all the wrongs in the UK...

Anyway finally i wrote something cultural and will have to go and lie down because my little head hurts!! Happy Korean Lunar New Year everyone.