The next morning at 5am Om-ma burst into the room! No, no fire, but we were leaving to get to her grandparents house. We had no problem beating the traffic and arrived before 7am in some of the most beautiful surroundings I had ever seen - see Photos. Beautiful mountains and misty scenes in the distance gave me probably the best memories of Korea.
Her grandparent's house was in the true traditional style and was built on a platform where you take off your shoes before you climb. And the doors are very low because it is more respectful that you enter a room slowly. There were 3 buildings. One main where the living room come master bedroom was, a kitchen next to and a store room on the other side. The other buildings also were storerooms but more in a way they had huge elaborate decorative solid wardrobes in. How they got them through the tiny door is anyones guess.
Behind the main house was a large plot of land on a hill where many different crops grew. Mainly cabbage for Kimchi, Bean sprout, apples and beans of some sort. There were also more vegetables growing in pots at the front of the house.
Being away from the city was such an amazing change after being amidst the concrete city for a month! Anyone that has been to a large Asian country will understand what I mean when I talk about "the smell".
Throughout the day i was presented to different cousins and aunts and I dutifully nodded and bowed politely. I was begginning to feel sorry for Chan-mi as she was designated translator. I didn't mind not being able to understand what people said. I could pick up odd phrases and words by this point, but Korean, unlike Chinese is a really softly spoken language. As in when somebody speaks to you, you don't feel as though your getting a stern telling off!! So i didnt mind listening to the interesting sounds they could make with their mouths!
Thanksgiving seemed to consist of the women making tons of food, serving it for the elders, men and children, and then them selves sitting in the kitchen catching up. Most of the family seemed to live far apart and this being the biggest festival in Korea was perfect to catch up.
A big part of the festival is visiting ancestral tomb's and from what I understand we were lucky that they were only a short walk away, slightly up the mountain. Many families spent the festival trawling the country for the graves. These are not graveyards however. Koreans believe in keeping the mountains sacred and when the graves were moved here they were made to blend in. By erecting a mound on top of carved stone platforms, the graves were a symbol of the natural surroundings. On most mountains in Korea, you will find the totally untouched due to this belief of keeping them natural.
At the graves a small offering was laid at each of the four tombs and after bowing at each we could move to the next one. A short but important affair.
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