Chuseok 2012
Rabbit moon is in the sky tonight, so my friends on the other side will be preparing for a long holiday weekend thanks to Chuseok, the Korean autumn harvest holiday. Last year a bunch of us got a place on the beach for a weekend of monkeyshines. This year I’m still hoboin’ so it’s not like I need the day off of work (what with not having a job and everything).
I will miss the obligatory Chuseok gifts.
One year I got a year’s supply of hand soap. A ten pack of toothpaste before that. Panicked, a friend of mine tried to unload a portion of the six pounds of bananas they were given. Yes. Six pounds. Bananas. The fruit with the least lasting power.
I wonder what I would have set on my apartment floor this year if I’d stayed, puzzled at where to store it given that Korean one rooms have very limited storage capacity.
The practical gifts (toothpaste, soap) were ideal. Saved ever having to buy it that year. The food stuffs, while a lovely gesture, were difficult, especially the fresh fruits (Got a bushel of apples once. Most of them went bad. Who could eat that many apples on their own??) or the crates of canned processed meats that I wouldn’t eat on principal alone (and I’ll eat pretty much everything).