Seollal

The Lunar New Year vacation starts today.  So being good family, we go visiting.

We took a 3 hour train ride from Seoul to Gumi at 7:40 this morning.  The mother-in-law (JangMoNim) lives near Gumi, out in the ‘country’ about 30 minutes from downtown.
We left early to avoid the rush.
I’ve heard many staggering statistics regarding the movement of people during the important seasonal celebrations Seollal and Chuseok.  According to today’s Korea Herald, 6.7 million people are travelling each day of the vacation period. In a country as small as South Korea, the results of this should be self-evident. Not a time you want to be travelling on a bus…

We’ll eat good food, I’ll drink with uncle and brother-in-law and I return to Seoul on Saturday. The wife is staying a little longer.

Happy Birthday Ophelia!!!

Today (as I post this, Feb 6th in NZ) is the birthday of daughter number 3, Ophelia. She turns 12 years old today.

Ophelia… HyunYoung and I hope you have a wonderful day!! You deserve it. I am so very proud of you and we hope your first year at Intermediate School is a happy one.
I Love you so much and I am a very lucky Dad.

Actually, Ophelia is very lucky too, her birthday is on Waitangi Day in New Zealand – our “National Day”. Consequently, she never has to go to school or work on her birthday. Ever. How cool is that??