추석 plans. Discuss em here.

[Guest koreanballads]

Going to the grandparents place for a couple of days.  It's going to be my first 추석 with the grandparents so I'm definitely a little excited...that is until you weigh the costs: tiny, smelly house in a town with a median age of well over 60 demographically and the inevitable dullness that sets in after being locked up in the same room with a bunch of your family members.

[Guest understanding_fiction]

I get ten days of rest ( Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun) so I'm not complaining..

Tues with my mom's side of the family, Wed with my dad's side of the family

I don't know how you can be excited about a holiday like 추석...

[Guest koreanballads]

I get ten days of rest ( Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun) so I'm not complaining..

Tues with my mom's side of the family, Wed with my dad's side of the family

I don't know how you can be excited about a holiday like 추석...

I'm a little jealous.  I have work tomorrow, albeit a half-day. 

Did you prepare gifts for your grandparents?  My grandparents are fierce drinkers and I bought one of those boxed Johnnie Walker gift sets from Lotte Mart.

[Guest ssulja]

I think I'm spending mine in Hong Kong but I'm still not 100% sure I get time off... Most of my coworkers are actually gone from the office now... so I have no one to ask... but I'm pretty sure no one would care if I left...

[Guest Yubumsuk]

I've basically got a six-day weekend. I'll be spending most of it in Seoul and making trips out to Incheon and Suwon to visit old friends.

What did everyone get / give for Chuseok? I got a large gift set of hand creams and body lotions. Better than a spam gift set, I guess.

[Guest koreanballads]

I've basically got a six-day weekend. I'll be spending most of it in Seoul and making trips out to Incheon and Suwon to visit old friends.

What did everyone get / give for Chuseok? I got a large gift set of hand creams and body lotions. Better than a spam gift set, I guess.

YES!  Those spam gift sets...what the hell is up with those, seriously?  Kudos to Hormel's marketing department...textbook market penetration.

I'm not sure what I'll get but I'm 99% sure it'll be some sweet smelling cash.

I think I'm spending mine in Hong Kong but I'm still not 100% sure I get time off... Most of my coworkers are actually gone from the office now... so I have no one to ask... but I'm pretty sure no one would care if I left...

You can't contact your boss...?

[Guest Yubumsuk]

YES!  Those spam gift sets...what the hell is up with those, seriously? 

In the 50s and 60s the US military shipped in tonnes of it. Having had hardly any, if any, meat, up to that point, a whole generation got used to thinking of it as actual meat, and it started to work its way into various recipes. Half a century later my school's cafeteria serves 'fried ham' which is actually fried spam dipped in ketchup, another 'delicacy' the US Army introduced.

PS do you remember during the mad cow protests how one politician claimed that the US was trying to export beef that had failed inspection standards in the US and that America would turn Koreans into 'eaters of low-quality meat'? Yeah, they already accomplished that mission a long time ago, buddy.

[Guest koreanballads]

...Half a century later my school's cafeteria serves 'fried ham' which is actually fried spam dipped in ketchup, another 'delicacy' the US Army introduced.

PS do you remember during the mad cow protests how one politician claimed that the US was trying to export beef that had failed inspection standards in the US and that America would turn Koreans into 'eaters of low-quality meat'? Yeah, they already accomplished that mission a long time ago, buddy.

What the hell?  I live in a podunk of a town and my school still manages to include a decent meat portion every meal.

[Guest Yubumsuk]

What the hell?  I live in a podunk of a town and my school still manages to include a decent meat portion every meal.

The meals at our cafeteria range from stuff I'd pay good money to eat in a restaurant to 'you can't seriously call this stuff food, can you?'. But what really gets me is how they manage to bugger up stuff that could otherwise be all right, like beef and octopus stew. Hmmm, is that a quail egg in my stew? No, it's an octopus head. What a brilliant variation on surf 'n turf.

Believe it or not, our cafeteria actually has a kind of processed 'meat' they serve sometimes that's even far worse than spam. I should check to see what the Korean name is the next time they serve it. It looks a bit like spam but is pinker and tastes like mush.

To be fair, they sometimes serve absolutely great food and lately have been serving a lot more fresh vegetables and fruit. And for what my school's charging me (zilch) I certainly have no right to complain, but if only they could cut out the squid and spicy compost it would just make Korean food on the whole seem so much more appealing.

[Guest koreanballads]

The meals at our cafeteria range from stuff I'd pay good money to eat in a restaurant to 'you can't seriously call this stuff food, can you?'. But what really gets me is how they manage to bugger up stuff that could otherwise be all right, like beef and octopus stew. Hmmm, is that a quail egg in my stew? No, it's an octopus head. What a brilliant variation on surf 'n turf.

Believe it or not, our cafeteria actually has a kind of processed 'meat' they serve sometimes that's even far worse than spam. I should check to see what the Korean name is the next time they serve it. It looks a bit like spam but is pinker and tastes like mush.

To be fair, they sometimes serve absolutely great food and lately have been serving a lot more fresh vegetables and fruit. And for what my school's charging me (zilch) I certainly have no right to complain, but if only they could cut out the squid and spicy compost it would just make Korean food on the whole seem so much more appealing.

Lulzy.  I've also noticed my school trying to cut corners by serving squid instead of chicken/beef. 

I agree that Korea still has some ways to go with this...school lunches when I was in middle school were much better by comparison.

[Guest Yubumsuk]

school lunches when I was in middle school were much better by comparison.

That was in America? Cuz I'll tell you American middle schoolers sure don't look healthier in comparison. Maybe that's because spicy grass clippings just aren't as addictive as french fries.

[Guest koreanballads]

That was in America? Cuz I'll tell you American middle schoolers sure don't look healthier in comparison. Maybe that's because spicy grass clippings just aren't as addictive as french fries.

Yes.  Born and raised.

From what I've seen, Korean lunches have less calories, less protein, less calcium.  Korean kids these days are developmentally on par with American kids (most of the 3rd graders at my school approach/surpass 5'9), but tweaking the lunches just a little bit would go a long way.

While American lunches have the potential to be less healthier, kids have the option of going for the chef's salad - or whatever alternative dish - skim/reduced fat milk, etc.  And if you were a kid with a high metabolism - like me - that stuff never mattered to begin with.  American lunches have much more variation as well; rice isn't the only choice 4 out of 5 days of the week.

American kids "looking less healthy" is the result of lack of physical activity.  Potentially unhealthy school lunches contribute much less to the current epidemic.

[Guest Yubumsuk]

Yes.  Born and raised.

From what I've seen, Korean lunches have less calories, less protein, less calcium.  Korean kids these days are developmentally on par with American kids (most of the 3rd graders at my school approach/surpass 5'9), but tweaking the lunches just a little bit would go a long way.

While American lunches have the potential to be less healthier, kids have the option of going for the chef's salad - or whatever alternative dish - skim/reduced fat milk, etc.  And if you were a kid with a high metabolism - like me - that stuff never mattered to begin with.  American lunches have much more variation as well; rice isn't the only choice 4 out of 5 days of the week.

American kids "looking less healthy" is the result of lack of physical activity.  Potentially unhealthy school lunches contribute much less to the current epidemic.

But giving 12-year-olds the choice of eating healthy food or crap is a really bad idea. As we know, in smoe states french fries and ketchup count as a two vegetable requirement. As you also know, kids in Korea get a choice: what the cafeteria's serving or nothing. I think that's the reason why in a class of 30 I might have two or three who are overweight and not a single obese one (I'm also out in the countryside; as you get more urban the kids tend to get a bit fatter, but still nothing like American kids).