Chuseok Weekend

A Lesson in the Age-old Adage of:

This is why we can’t have nice things”

Chuseok, or 추석, is the closest thing South Korea has to Thanksgiving in the United States.

If you have any extended family in South Korea, you are obligated to visit them for a Friday of traditional food that is either beloved or loathed, depending on who you ask.

Since this is considered to be a national holiday, or a “Red Day”, I as a teacher am legally required to get at least one day off for Chuseok. This year, it fell on a Friday. This meant, as I finished up my last class on Thursday, I was looking forward to a decadent three days of free time.

The long weekend started with one of the most satisfying days I have experienced in Seoul.

I got up early on Friday, bought myself a yummy iced Americano, and spent four hours in the Seoul Museum of Art. On top of having free entrance (FREE) and free public lockers (FREE!!!), the museum had world class rotating exhibits that examined a stunning variety of issues in South Korean society, from theatrical art in the 90’s to politically rebellious art from the Min art collections in the 80’s to the problems facing Korea as a quickly-aging society.

Then, after a lovely lunch in a tiny hole-in-the-wall family restaurant, I managed to wander into one of Seoul’s beautiful historic palace complexes. Sprinkled throughout the city are these reconstructed palace complexes, built to mimic the architecture from the city’s time as the capital of a monarchy. The one that went into was called Deoksugung Palace (덕수궁), and it was stunning.

And just as luck would have it, because it was a national holiday weekend, entrance to the palace complex and all (ALL) of the museums inside was free (FREE!!!!!!!!). I spent the rest of my day wandering in and out of the reconstructed buildings and gawking at the art in the National Museum.

This particular weekend, the exhibit in the museum was work by “forgotten” artists of the early to mid-20th century, who, for whatever reason, disappeared from the South Korean art scene by the 1930’s.

The most fascinating part of the exhibit for me were the two artists that defected to NORTH Korea due to the political repression of the late stage monarchy that existed in SOUTH Korea. Reading about their experiences as boundary-breaking artists and the persecution they fled gave me a whole new perspective on the Korean political crisis that I’ve never heard before.

(Side note- this is the FIRST TIME these two artists’ work has been displayed in South Korea since they defected. There used to be an actual gag rule about displaying any art by North Korean citizens in South Korea until fairly recently. It makes me think about all of the art we missed out on, and what still could be missing.)

To close out this lovely day, Rae and I met up for a casual dinner of this delicious sweet chicken dish (a must have if you ever come visit) and a nice evening of gossiping over celebratory wine.

After we finished our drinks, Rae came to pick up something from my apartment. I tried punching in my code.

It didn’t work.

I tried again.

My automatic lock just beeped cheerily at me.

20 minutes later, and I was sitting on the floor in front of my door, desperately pressing an 8-volt battery to my lockbox while Rae tried in vain to get in contact with my landlady. By midnight, two things became clear.

1. My lock was not going to open.
2. No one was going to come open my door because, obviously, it was a national holiday.

I had no choice to run to the train and catch the last subway to Dangsan (당산), another part of Seoul that is at least an hour away, to crash at my lovely, lovely friend Aly’s place.

The next morning, an emergency locksmith cut a two-inch hole in my lock box and I was able to get into my place.

Flash forward two days, and I now have a fancy, shiny new lock (yeah, you got that math right. I went two days without a real lock on my door. Thank god I live in a safe neighborhood and have really good luck).

Needless to say, my three day weekend was more stressful than if I had to deal with my crazy students for a full day of class.

I suppose my holiday weekend taught me to really value the good experiences while they are happening, so I can look back at them when life is going to sh*t.

Or something like that.

Honestly, I just hope future Red Days end as calmly as they begin.