What do CHristmas and CHuseok have in common?

So, for those of you who don't know, Chuseok is Korean Thanksgiving.  Like American Thansgiving, they seem to eat a lot and most people look at it as time to travel around the country and visit their families.

A huge difference, though, is that when you go to someone's house, you are supposed to bring a gift.  Being a foreigner here, and knowing practically no one, I am fortunate enough to have three invitations for Chuseok. 

Which means, of course, I have to buy three gifts.  The most traditional gifts are fruit and meat (but I know one teacher who bought her mother-in-law a refrigerator).  There are beautiful boxes EVERYWHERE of fruit and meat, some costing hundreds of dollars or thousands of Korean Won.  It seems, though, that because everyone buys those things as gifts, that people might have enough fruit and meat, so I wanted to get something a little more unique.

For my first gift, I am going to buy a cake.  The first time I spent time in this household, the very kind mother took me to the store and told me that they were no diets that evening and that she would buy me everything I wanted to eat.  We proceeded to fill up a cart, but the  adult daughter wanted a cake.  Her mother told her that she couldn't have one becuase it would be too much food to eat, but since it's Chuseok, I'm bringing one over.  I still have not bought it, because I want it to be fresh for the day we are going to eat it.  I promise to put up a picture though, after the fact.

For my second invitation, I will be going to visit the family of a friend whose daugther is visitng Korea from California.  I had stayed with this family once before, so I know that this particular family likes to party.  So we bought him this Absolut Vodka set.  Please notice the beautiful bag (which you have to pay extra for).  Also notice the way it is decoratively boxed (think: gift sets at Walmart, but more expensive). 

We also bought the matriarch of the family some crunchy rice cake treats, which, because they were on the less expensive side, didn't come with the beautiful basket or table display that the more expenisve ones did.  They did, however, come wrapped in this beautiful pink cloth, which I think is also very nice.

For my third invitation, I am going to the house of one of the Head Techers at my school.  She is a very warm, kind, "Christian" lady.  When I was at her house last Friday, a huge box of Asian Pears arrived at her house and I could tell she had PLENTY of fruit, becaue she INSISTED that I take some home.  So, I wanted to get her something different.  I got her this AMAZING gift set:

Just for your own information.  I LOVE Spam with rice and seaweed, so I didn't get this to be mean, I think it is a nice gift and many Korean people would like it, especially since SPAM costs about $4 a can.  Having said that, this IS funny.  Check out how it says, "For Your Smile -- SPAM."  I could have gotten that knock-off Spam for less money, but I opted for the original; afterall, you get waht you pay for.  This gift, also in a bag that costs a little bit more, contains 3 cans of spam, a bottle of grapeseed oil, and a bottle of olive oil (which was "for your health").  At least I know it will keep until she finishes all those other Chuseok gifts.  

So there you have it.  CHristmas and CHuseok have more in common than the "CH."

One last comment: My friend's adult daughter and I are both of Korean descent and we will both be sharing our first Chuseok this year.  We agree that we oficially feel like "Koreans" now that we have purchased our first Chuseok gifts.  It's amazing how celebrating holidays makes you feel like you might fit in, finally.