Friday, September 20, 2013

Cheers to all Myeonorideul

Thanks God Chuseok is over! Today is the day when Myeonorideul or daughter-in-laws feel relieved because chuseok has passed after the long long day of Chuseok. On Chuseok day, lots of daughter-in-laws complain about the hard job they do on this special holiday. They have to prepare lots of food while the men in the family drink and make noise. I'm glad that in my hubby's family, nobody likes drinking except my brother in law and his wife so they drink together after hyeongnim does her work. But they don't drink much.

Anyway, we drove for many hours to get to my parents-in-laws house and this is the first time that they didn't do "jesa" or memorial ceremony so we were free from lots of work. We used to get up early in the morning to prepare for "jesa" and everyone must be ready to bow at 7:00a.m. but last Wednesday night, before we went to bed, my father in law said that we sleep as much as we want. And to those who don't want to have breakfast like us (me and my hubby) don't need to get up and help to prepare breakfast. Wow! Amazing!

The next day at around 9:00 a.m., I heard someone doing the dishes but I didn't get up. When everything was done, I woke up and went to the bathroom but my father in law was in the living room watching TV and he said I can sleep more. I didn't see anyone in the living except him, so I guessed everyone was still asleep so I went back to bed again and woke up at five before noon. I was too shy because I saw everyone in the living room and when they saw me, some of them headed to the kitchen and prepared for lunch so I helped them. We had beef barbecue for lunch.

After lunch, we had dessert in the living while watching tv and when the sun started to go down, my father in law invited us to go to Namsan Hanok Village and went home for dinner. Actually, he wanted to dine out but we went to some restaurants and they were closed so we just went home and had beef and rice soup for dinner. While having desserts, my hubby told my father in law that we had to go home because our dog was left alone at home. He's afraid that my dog will make noise and disturb our neighbors. My father in law didn't allow us at first but my hubby insisted him so finally before they went to bed, he allowed us to leave. And now we are now home safe. Thanks God!

As I watch the news, the traffic is bumper to bumper because people are now going home. The traffic is not as heavy as few years ago because the roads were developed a lot but still there's a traffic jam and I'm glad that we never had traffic on Chuseok or any special holiday because we are on the opposite direction.

To all Myeonoris out there, cheers! You guys did a good job! Once again, you made Chuseok very special because of your hard works.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Next Week is Chuseok

Next week is Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving Day. Today, I went to the supermarket and there are lots of people buying some gifts and groceries to prepare for chuseok. On this day, most myeonori or daugher in laws are busy preparing food while men are playing card games or drinking. Children are so lucky on these because it is like the celebration of Christmas to some countries, children eat lots of food and receive presents from oldies.

And because next week is Chuseok, we are going to my in-laws house which takes 4 hours drive. There's always "Jesa" or Memorial Ceremony in my father in law's house during Chuseok and Seollal so we are always busy on that day. My "hyeongnim" or sister in law (hubby's brother's wife) always does most of the work and I just assist her. Of course my mother in law is the food taster.

Sometimes, because of my hubby's work, we can't go there earlier. We are supposed to go there the day before the occasion because it's the time to prepare some "Jeon" or fried dishes and "namul-namul" sprouts dishes and different kinds of side dishes. But my hubby can't drive during the day because he's a night owl so he is asleep during the day. But this time because of long holiday, we are going there on time but I heard that this year, we are not going to prepare for Jesa which is really great specially for my hyeongnim.

My hubby doesn't like this kind of occasions because he doesn't drink so he feels bored so he said we'll just go there and take a walk around my father in law's neighborhood. And that's more exciting, I think!