Sigh.. where to begin..
Usually, Chusoek does not suck, if anything, it should be full of good food, laughter, story-telling and sharing. But this Chuseok was different. And this is how it went.
First day (Saturday)
- I decided to hang out some friends of mine in Suwon instead of going home today. So, Hwanki, Joseph, Scott and I went to a soccer game in Suwon and were later joined by two co-workers of Jo's. They were delight.. well at first.
The game was fun. I sat next to Scott and explained some aspects of soccer to him to whole time. As an American, he must have been interested in it that much, but still he was kind enough to stay put and tried to enjoy it. Afterwards, we all went drinking and that's where the horrible Chuseok started to go awry.
Simply speaking, I drank too much. Usually, I don't drink. Even socially, I don't enjoy it. A beer or two is fine. But it would still give me an awful headache next morning. Let's say, that night I hugged the toilet at the bar and regurgitated what I had been eating and drinking pretty much. And after the bar, I managed to get in a cab and head home. It was just awful. Playing drinking games with the guys was fun and exciting but I did not think thru. Also, there was a drama in the group that I will not spell out what it was. At one point, someone told me that the comment I made was not good. Well, I did not give rat's ass since I did not know what was going down and I did not think I was entitled to hear any of that. Well, what is done and done and I don't have hold grudge or regret.
Next morning (Sunday) was, as you can imagine, was awful. It started with pounding in my head and nausea in the stomach. I barely slept. I wanted to sweat it out so went jogging, but it backfired. I ran only 1 mile and had to crawl back home. Then, I laid down a bit, then cleaned the house and donned my suit and went to my folk's house. The ride though usual was awful. As soon as I arrived, I asked my mother to cook up a ramen for me. It eventually soothed, believe it or not, my nausea. It was good to be home. Although my mother had prepared everything for bid day, I helped her a bit. However, I felt tension between my father and mother. Of course, they had a tiff and would not talk to each other. Sigh... Toward the later time of the day, I started to feel fine and gobbled up good food.
Monday morning, as usual, I got up 7, jumped in a shower and donned the suit. Getting ready to set up the table to carry out the ritual ceremony for my passed grandparents, I was a bit excited to see my relatives. That is, my uncle, my aunt and my cousin. Normally, they would come to my parents' around 8ish and help me and my father set up the table. But there were running late. I thought they were. But, my mother told me that they were not coming because of their religion. Apparently, my new aunt (they got married last year) is a big churchgoer and thus does not like to idea to idolize. According to Korean Christianity (except for Catholic) even bowing at your passed ancestors is an act of pagan and heresy. So, they had decided not to come. Thus, it was just my family. I was livid. Thankfully, around 9ish my cousin showed up. But he realized that it was too late. On purpose, I showed up a cold shoulder for being late. Then after about 2 hours, he took off. So, again it was just my family. We ate, slept, watched tv.. that's what we did the whole Monday. And my father and mother still did not bury the hatchet.
The last day (Tuesday) I got up and ate breakfast. I thought I would go back to Suwon around 3ish. So ideally, after having lunch with my folks would end the whole long weekend. But it did ot go as I planned. Around noon, my dad started to feel gassy and pain in the stomach. It turned out he was massively constipated for having eaten a lot of food and barely moved. So, I picked up some over the counter meds for him but it did not work. He just could not take a dump. And there went my mother's nagging. Sigh... eventually, my dad felt less pain and fell asleep with my mother still nagging at him. Then, I packed my things and left. I promised my mother that I will be home for her birthday (next week) and told my dad to drink some water and get some exercise in lieu of eating.
There, the long weekend was finally over. It was eventful and yet rather mundane as always. And now I am ready to welcome the sheik of Sharja, one of the largest cities in UAE. I will update on this more later this week.
