Count Down: 8 days after today (late post)

Sunday, February 10, 2013  - Lunar New Year  /  설날 (pronounced "Seollal")

새해 복 많이 받으세요!  Happy New Year!

Today, most of us foreign teachers went to the principal's house for New Year's lunch!

First, we chowed down on delicious homemade food that his wife and another female family member had been spending hours preparing. We sat on their floor at low tables that they brought into the living/family room (main room you see when you walk in, with a tv, and veranda off the side with healthy plants, and a nice view). 
The feast included "cha-cha" mandu, waldorf-like salad, red bean cake like things called "jim pahng," delicious omelettes (without cheese) with sauteed onions and things inside, served with a squeeze bottle of Korean ketchup (more delicious in my opinion than American ketchup) for us to put on top if we wanted, and of course the obligatory new year's sliced rice-cake soup, which I think is so yummy and soothing! Fresh raw slices of carrot and sweet potato were also served. To drink:  Tropicana sparkling fruit juice of some kind, or traditional rice shitkkaye drink (also in a can). For dessert, Korean traditional snacks were put before us, some made of green pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds, and others of other kinds of seeds (left side of plate), plus some made of rice (right side of plate), and mandarin-looking tangerine-like fruits.

While stuffing myself, I wondered why they - the principal and his family - were not eating with us. Apparently they'd eaten earlier...

When we could eat no more, conversation turned to Korean games. The principal then brought out his "yoot-nori" sticks and taught us how to play. Here he is drawing the board on which we placed 4 white pieces, and 4 black pieces.

We then played, half of us on the "white" team and half on the "black" team. Wow - it was fun to see who got competitive; the principal was very competitive! The first game - our team won. During the second game, I was kind of wondering if we - the team opposite the one on which was the principal- were supposed to let him and his team win. Luckily I didn't have to think much about it because his team won. Therefore, it ended well; each team won once.


It was a delightful way to celebrate the Lunar New Year!