Lunar New Year... etc.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Year of the Tiger so far. For those of you who don't know, Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year) is the biggest holiday here in Korea, far surpassing Christmas. Matt got three days off for the holiday. We went to breakfast at home of some Canadian church members that live about a half hour away (they aren't in our branch unfortunately), and then the next day we had lunch at the apartment of Matt's co-worker Amit, his wife and two kids who are from New Delhi, India. They made us some amazing chicken curry!!! Lincoln quite enjoyed the flat bread (Roti) they made for us. Aside from that, I have to admit that we didn't do much for the holiday. Pretty much everyone evacuates the cities and goes to their hometown. I've heard that some people, especially kids will wear traditional Korean dress for the occasion:

We saw a few people on the streets wearing this type of get-up. Many people go to the Buddhist temples to worship. Matt got a few gifts from work that I think are quite common (cause we saw them in many grocery stores), but very funny. One was a huge case of canola oil, Spam, and tuna. My favorites!!!

Another was a huge case of Dove bar soap, body wash and tooth paste. To me that's like saying, "Please take a shower and brush your teeth cause you stink!!!" but I guess it's tradition. If nothing else, these gifts helped us add to our 3 months food/supply storage! I'm pretty sure I'd eat Spam if I were starving.

Here are some miscellaneous pictures we took on New Year at church for your interest:

Our little church

Our friend Kang Kyong Jin who comes to our house every Tuesday evening for "language exchange"

A couple of Lincoln's many admirers at church (I hardly ever have to hold him in RS cause he just gets passed around the whole time... what a dream!)

Sister Hadden (who often translates for me, bless her heart!) with the girls

Our friend Scott (the one other white person in our branch) who teaches us Korean every Saturday

Matt showing off our sweet ride (a Hyundai Tuscon) in the church parking lot