Happy Chuseok!

This month was a trying one in many ways and September has somewhat exhausted me, luckily this month is ending with a nice, long five day weekend.  Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, is here with gifts of Spam and tuna to boot.

Koreans generally give 'practical' gifts such as toothpaste and soaps.  For the big family holiday, gift sets are given such as the ones above with Spam, tuna, cooking oil and/or sweets.

 

Traditionally the holiday is celebrated with family and lots and lots of food.  People put up with hours of traffic to go back to their hometowns.  As was cited somewhere on the net, apparently 75% of Koreans drive south from Seoul during this holiday and three hour journeys have been quoted to take more than eight or nine.

Chuseok congestion: one side going out of Seoul and the other going into it. 

That's why my colleagues suggested that DH and I stay in Seoul.  Apparantly, this city gets pretty empty (although I think I'll have to see it to believe it). Tomorrow we'll hike another trail at Bukhansan, Sunday attempt to go to Nami Island (third time's a charm) and Monday hit up Everland, with their generous discount for foreigners (tickets only 23,000 compared to the normal 40,000). 

 

For all those celebrating Chuseok this weekend, enjoy a much deserved break.

Some German Love

Behold, sausage rugs!

Bierschinken, Blutwurst, Mortadella and Salami--why wouldn't you want one of these? :)

Created by none-other than eine Deutsche Firma, Das rote Paket. I came across this peculiarly awesome home decor yesterday as I was wasting time on the internet and thought German lovers and lovers of Germany alike would get a kick from it. Want to deck your floors with some Wurst?  Click on the link above to see some more photos.

The Mystery of the Smiling Pig

Riding on the number 6 Tram line, I've often passed by a red and white sign that reads "SAU, SAU, HURRA!" with a big smiling pink pig.  I never cared enough to look into it further, but I thought it was a strange sign for a restaurant. Would a restaurant really only serve pork?  And it didn't look like a Metzegerei/butcher either.  Finally the other day I came across my answer.

While looking for a restaurant online, I stumbled upon this website: 
Freunde des Fränkischen Schäufele n.n.E.v

Its a club for people who love Shäufele!  How funny is that?!  (Shäufele is a pork dish using the meat from the shoulder of a pig.  Its served still on the bone so it has a kind of scoop-shape to it.  I've never actually tried it though.)

If you click on the link, you can see the sign that I was talking about in the upper left hand corner along with a photo of the club members.  If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll even see a massive pig-shaped float that they used in the Fastnachtszug.

I guess that's one way of keeping traditions alive.