Monday...

Seollal... Korean Lunar New Year. It's generally the day same as Chinese New Year except with different traditions. It sounds alot like American Thanksgiving with people traveling to their home town, lots of food, TV watching and afternoon naps. I've been told that most people living in Daejeon are from other places. So, Sunday 2/3 of the church was out of town. They held only one worship time instead of the usual three. There are several customs associated with this three day holiday. I'll allow Wikipedia to explain. You can even check out the various links included:

Many Koreans dress up in colorful hanbok. (떡국) (soup with rice cakes) is commonly served. Many Koreans greet the New Year (both Western and lunar) by visiting East coast locations such as Gangneung and Donghae in Gangwon province, where they are most likely to see the first rays of the New Year's sun.

Sebae is a traditional practice of paying respect to one's elders on Korean New Year. Children wish their parents a happy new year by performing a deep traditional bow and the words saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요) which translates to may you receive many blessings in the new year. Parents typically reward this gesture by giving their children new year's money (usually in the form of crisp paper money) and offering words of wisdom. Historically, parents gave out ddeok and fruits instead.

Many traditional games are associated with the Korean New Year. The traditional family board game Yutnori (윷노리), similar to Parcheesi, is still a popular pastime. Traditionally men and boys would fly kites and play jaegi chagi (제기차기), a game where a light object is wrapped in paper or cloth, and then kicked in a Hackey sack manner. Korean women and girls would play nultwigi (널뛰기), a game of jumping on a seesaw (시소), while children spun tops (팽이).

As for me...I was up until 2:30 talking to the other side of the world, so I slept in. After lunch I ventured out into the country trying to find an old fortress shown on my map. I'm sure I had it surrounded, but never found the exact location. However, I did see some interesting things along the way and had fun trying to navigate with my bus map and Korean road signs. Whenever I think I'm lost, I just remind myself, "Don't worry, you're still in Korea." I also received an education about what some people do when there is no restroom around. I think I have whiplash from looking the other way to fast...

Monday night, I picked up Jamie, and we went to Mr. Pizza and then to his place for a movie. Mr. Pizza has a pasta dish I like, but their advertizing campaign is a bit unusual. I've been there several times, but it hasn't done me any good...