Winter Camp

***Interjection from Winter Camp!***

Since I got back from France, we have been volunteering as a family at English Winter Camp here in town. We've been going over in the afternoons and playing all sorts of American games with them for 3-4 hours. From "Fruit Basket Upset," "Who, sir? I, sir?" and treasure/scavenger hunts to Dutch Blitz, Killer Uno, and Settler's of Catan. Settler's won hand's-down with the guys! This afternoon, as Settler's was coming to a close to a winner, John captured them on a short video so you could hear a bit of Korean. They were having a blast. At the moment of the video, one had rolled a 7 and needed to place the robber on someone. The others were trying to convince him where to (or where not to!) put it. I think you'll enjoy watching it...maybe you can imagine yourself at the table with them and looking as lost as we do many times! :) However, as we've learned, if you pay attention, you can watch their facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice to get an idea of what's being said and meant. You realize how true it is when they say that actual words count only for a small percentage of communication......unless of course, you're in dire need of information or just want to talk with a friend!

Today was our last day going to the camp since it finishes on Saturday. This weekend is the Korean New Year's celebration...the biggest celebration of the year. It's based on the lunar new year instead of the calendar/solar new year. We're familiar with it since VietNam also celebrates it, although they called it the Chinese New Year. In VietNam, they celebrated with the dragon dance. We've not seen much of decorations or anything like that here, but we've heard a little bit of how it's celebrated...

From what we understand, they usually gather in relative's homes or visit relatives during the holiday. They used to wear the traditional dress in the past, but that is starting to fade out somewhat. However, it is still considered very respectful to the older ones to dress traditionally when visiting them on the holiday. When they visit, they bow to the older ones and receive a gift of money (similiar to Christmas gifts). Then they may give some fruit and a traditional rice snack to friends. The New Year food they eat is a type rice cake made into a soup. It is very good - we had it at school last month.