Seolnal 설날 2011

This past weekend, our dear friend Jonghan (aka Peter) was kind enough to invite us to spend the Lunar New Year with his family.  We were so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate Seolnal in a traditional Korean setting.  According to the GPS system in Jonghan's car, it would only take us about 3 hours to arrive in his hometown of Gwangju.  

For the two main holidays of the year, Chuseok and Seolnal, everyone returns to their hometown.  Apparently (due to the traffic conditions), people take the drive very seriously.

Jonghan and his girlfriend, MinHee, picked us up around 5:30am and we were off, hoping to beat the holiday traffic.  Lauren and I quickly fell asleep (heated seats, yeah buddy).  When we woke up a few hours later, I thought there must have been some terrible accident or huge flood that had damaged the road.  There had to be a major disaster to explain the horrendous traffic conditions.  No, it was nothing dangerous, just holiday gridlock.  We quickly discovered that this normally 3 and 1/2 hour drive would eventually take us 9 hours and 20 minutes.  This gives you a pretty good idea of just how many people live in Seoul.

After the drive, our trip was incredible and a true blessing.  We went straight to Jonghan's parents' apartment and were greeted by this little fella on the way up to the 13th floor - we knew it was going to be a great trip.

Even he can see we are Waygookin (Foreign)

The rest of the first day was spent playing traditional Korean games and enjoying the culture at a nearby park.  The city of Gwangju hosts the event each Seollal.   It was quite a success, bringing in dozens of kite flyers, hacky-sack players, top spinners, arrow throwers, and hoop pushers.

Hoop pushing

Paengichiki - Players try to knock over one another's spinning top.  Last top spinning wins!

We were really bad but it was a lot of fun, and quite the workout.