....holiday

The Lunar New Year has arrived. I really didn't know much about the holiday...(probably because we don't celebrate it)....but I thought it would be worth while to learn a bit about it. Above is a picture of what some Korean kids may dress up like when they go to visit families on this special day. They warned us: "The roads will be packed...don't drive." They were correct. I drove to Osan (another Air Force base) this weekend and the lanes heading out of Seoul were an absolute standstill...it looked like a parking lot.
Everybody jumps in their family cars and drives (much like our Thanksgiving or Christmas day). This holiday benefited us as well (we got a 3 day weekend out of it.) I got a chance to go to Osan and do some much needed chilling out as well....I even had enough time to do a quick re-read of some C.S. Lewis books...

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the holiday:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lunar new year is the first new moon of the first lunar month in the year. It is celebrated by many different cultures around the world. The Lunar New Year is followed by the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is normally in February. The Lunar New Year signifies the start of a new lunar year.
The lunar calendar is very ancient, dating back nearly 4700 years, and is used in many Asian countries, including Mainland China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, etc. Consequently, the Lunar New Year is also celebrated simultaneously in many of the Asian countries; due to their historic and diplomatic ties with the ancient Chinese empire, there are many similarities in the way that the Lunar New Year is celebrated in their respective countries.

Weekends are not long enough

It's been busy here. Work work work. I just started the Instructor Pilot Upgrade a few weeks ago, so I'm back in the books and back to getting evaluated again.

Last weekend I picked up my SUV in Seoul....It's surprising that I've had that car with me since pilot training...and now it's been all over the world: Texas, Arizona, Italy, and now Korea. Most of the guys here don't ship their car to Korea. Instead they opt to buy "beaters." Cars that are absolutely falling apart are common here...and it's always an adventure to drive or ride in them. Most guys just give away their car when they leave (usually just happy to get rid of it.)

I spent a night last weekend hanging out in Seoul. It is such a cool city. I ate dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant that had a music and dance performance all done in the traditional garb. Very cool.

This weekend was spent recovering from a somewhat busy week. This morning we all went to the orphanage again and played with the kids. Once again, we got an awesome performance of singing and drumming. They also know several Christian songs in English that were quite good. The sun was out today finally...which is nice because there's usually overcast/cloudy conditions here in the winter.

Next weekend is the Korean holiday of the Lunar New Year. This is a BIG event for them. They usually go out in massive waves to visit their families and birthplaces. I also hear that South Koreans and North Koreans travel near the DMZ if they have relatives "on the other side."