Monkeying around

Today is a very special holiday in Korea. Seollal or Lunar New Year is when most Koreans return to their hometowns to spend time with their families. Most businesses are closed, and roads are clogged with travelers. My kids are off from school and even the U.S. military observes a day off (which works out beautifully since it often falls right around the Super Bowl, and Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S. is our Monday morning here. What better way to make sure soldiers can catch the game at 6 in the morning?).

Small fry’s school had a Lunar New Year observance before the break, and I was glad that she had one last chance to really wear her hanbok before we leave this summer (the only other major “hanbok holiday” is Chuseok, which we celebrated last fall). Part of the Lunar New Year tradition is bowing to your elders:

There is apparently a very specific way to do so, and this is rewarded by a gift of money if you do it correctly (ha, bribery the universal language).

The tradition of giving monetary gifts was one of the disconcerting things for us here. A very kind older Korean gentleman we know often gives my girls envelopes with won when we see him during a U.S. holiday (like Christmas). It’s usually 1000 won per year of age (about a dollar). We always marvel at how crisp and perfect the money is. We have also had elderly people give a small amount of money to Small Fry in public (much to the Big Girl’s dismay, she doesn’t get the attention her younger sister does although teens often ask to take their picture with her).

This marks Small Fry’s official turning of Korean age 5 (at Lunar New Year, you turn a year older no matter when your actual birthday is, and Korean children are considered 1 at birth. This always throws me off). I was supposed to move her to a new school at this age, as our particular daycare only cares for children under 5…but the head of the daycare agreed to keep her on for the few more months I will be working. We will dearly miss this about Korea; the culture here is very child friendly with affordable quality daycare the norm.

Many changes are afoot for us this year, so it seems particularly appropriate that the zodiac animal for this year is the monkey.  It’s going to be an interesting year!