Chuseok, Tennis and Birthday Celebrations

Normally, my silence can be taken as a signal that I'm in a mood and not in the form to bother writing what I'm up to and what's going on. In this instance, it's simply because I've had better things to do than update the old blog. It's nearly a week since I sat right here, looking out at an insane thunder and lightning storm and rambled on about whatever I was rambling on about.

Last Wednesday was Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) here. I was honored to be invited round to Ji's grandmothers' house for Chuseok lunch with her and her family. It was a big thing to be invited into someones home on one of the most important family occasions of the year. We brought over a bit of a gift and, in return, I was stuffed with more food than I could comfortably eat. It was a case of not wanting to seem as though I didn't like the food so eating as much as I could BUT constantly having my plate refilled as soon as I started making any kind of impact on it. I can think of worse problems. After lunch, Ji and I took the subway to Ansan to visit her other grandmother in hospital. This woman is 90-years-old but still as bright as a button. It was the first time I had met her and she didn't know Ji was bringing company, so she got a pretty big shock. A lot of people here talk about Korean families having a resistance to foreign partners, but Ji's grandmothers (80 and 90 years old) could not seem to care less. They are both unbelievably friendly to me - the elder grandmother barely let go of my hand the whole time we were there. It seems she's just glad Ji has a boyfriend - she was worried that she was too short to find one! Funny stuff.

It was a bit tough for Ji seeing a change in her grandmother and hospitals are always fairly grim places. The woman in the next bed has Alzheimer's and her wheelchair was actually tied to her bed to keep her there. Looking around and seeing what is probably in store for most of us in the future, well, it's downright depressing in a way. I suppose it's just a reminder that the things that most of us worry about in our everyday lives aren't worth much in a place like that. When you look at someone like her, 90-years-old, a single mother since losing her husband in the early 1950s, living in such a changed society that she wonders how Ji and I even met, bright and at peace at this stage of her life, it's hard not to feel a little strengthened.

We had an unplanned and unexpected late night on Wednesday night so didn't get up to much on Thursday. By pure accident, Thomas stumbled upon the Hansol Korean Open Women's Tennis tournament in Olympic Park, so a few of us went to watch the quarter-final stages on Friday and again for the final on Sunday. Both were beautiful sunny days and, although the players on show weren't the very best in the world, we saw a lot of great tennis. I finally got some sun, too, although that has only led to my students asking me what's wrong with my face today, was I drinking soju, etc., etc...

It's Ji's birthday today so on Saturday we organised a bit of a surprise birthday dinner for her at Los Amigos (Mexican restaurant) in Itaewon. The food was great, the company was great and, most importantly, she had a great time. We had tennis to go to the next day so we headed home fairly early. Somehow, we still managed to get fairly well-on though!

Ok, I feel as though I have gotten up to date on the past week or so. I'm hoping to get back regularly blogging this week. Lot's to talk about: the new Labour leader in the UK, renewed threats from Irish nationalists, my two-cents on 'David Copperfield', and of course, all that's new and ongoing with FC Seoul, Derry City FC and the EPL. Hope the start of your week has been as painless as mine (so far...).