Easter in Korea

Easter is another one of those holidays that make me miss family more than ever as well as a holiday that most Koreans don't celebrate. Now I have mentioned before that most Koreans aren't religious, therefore there is no purpose to celebrate Easter. But in the US, where the Christian religion is so ingrained in our foundation, I found myself feeling odd walking into school on Easter Monday. Much the same feeling I had walking into school on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

I had mentioned previously that Easter was coming and that I wanted to do something to celebrate it. I originally wanted to make the family my mom's flapjacks (that never happened) but instead we enjoyed the nice weather. In the US, there might be storm after storm, but in Korea the weather has been beautiful. It has been warm and sunny and nice. I really wasn't expecting them to do all they did that day. Just to reiterate, my host family isn't religious. Especially not christian, so they don't celebrate christian holidays. First, we went on a walk back on some property through fields and up a mountainside that I didn't realize we owned. We even walked past the house that my host mom was born in and she pointed out her mountain and the graves of her mother and grandfather.

After the walk, we all piled into the car (My host parents plus their three kids plus the three cousins plus me) and went to 'flower road.' This was just a paved driveway with cherry blossoms on either side. But it was still beautiful. My host mom got out her camera and took lots of pictures. I didn't know there were going to be pictures or I would have dressed better, but it was a nice experience nonetheless. When we got back, my host dad told me there was going to be a BBQ. I don't know if they did all this for my sake because of the holiday, or they just wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather (it was one of the first really nice weekends) but I appreciated them and what they did for me regardless. It was a nice day and a nice evening.

If only we didn't have so much fun. I had to wake up at 4 am to Skype home and then get up for work the next day. But you know what? I wouldn't trade the whole experience for anything.