Serious Fun - Lift Asia 09, Sept 17-18 Jeju Korea

Following on the success of last year's Lift Asia, the call for participation has gone out on Laurent Haug's blog for this year's installment in Jeju September 17-18.

Don't worry, it won't conflict with the Chuseok period of expensive chaotic travel to and from Korea. According to the Lunar calendar, that period is set to happen October 3rd this year. (Unfortunately, conflicting with Gaecheonjeol (or, National Foundation Day)! Korean friends have complained to me that the calendar is all black in 2009 with no -red- holiday dates).

For those of you familiar with Lift on the Europe side, Lift Asia provides an opportunity to engage with the realities of a different locality with regard to technology, innovation, and sociocultural transformation--something for which Asia features ever more prominently.
The prices for getting to Korea will be decent around that time, along with their registration fee which is extra nice for startups/NGO/students (200,000 KRW... whatever that equates to in your neck of the woods). For more information, check out the Lift Asia 09 website.

Post-Chuseok n things

It almost feels like a 'new year' around here... with fresh shipments of (whatever) coming to my local store post-Chuseok, and just a generally more relaxed vibe--well, as relaxed as Seoul gets?:) It's back to business as usual, more or less.

Most places were closed, but what was essentially Seoul's 'skeleton' of operation was still way more happening than other cities in their everyday situations.

The Korean farmers this were a little panicked at the harvest for this year's Chuseok offerings, as the Lunar calendar doesn't always coincide with the yearly ripening of fruits, etc. There was so much good looking fruit packed into perfect gift-boxes. Here's a ripening persimmon on a tree beside my bus stop:










and the full Chuseok moon overlooking Gangnam:

It's Chuseok weekend....

It's the beginning of Chuseok weekend here in Korea...
My plans to go to Pusan fell through (gotta love the unpredictability of fieldwork!), so I'm staying in Seoul after all. Because much of the population will be attempting to get out of the city to their home villages (I've experienced this before, and traffic is uuuugly...) it will be an interesting experience to see what the city is like in a rare and relatively 'quiet' time.
There are actually quite a few 'cultural events' taking place in Seoul. Check out this expat-oriented website for a list of activities for Chuseok>>

Like holidays anywhere, people get pretty stressed out about Chuseok because there's a lot of lead up in terms of preparation and organization. But I'm pretty sure from first-hand experience that the proportion of stress for this holiday is considerably more than 'enjoyment'... as the rituals associated with Chuseok are all about the ancestors and thanking them for the 'good harvest' generally coinciding with the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar calendar. After Chuseok, people seem to relax much more around here and meetings/interviews (just say) are much easier to schedule.

The next ancestor-oriented holiday in Korea that I'll be able to observe is Seollal (Lunar New Year). That time is very important as well, and a little more cheerful... I mean, you'd say Happy New Year... but saying Happy Chuseok is something I only hear expats say ;)

So, I'm off to brunch and then I'll probably take in some of these events to -learn myself- some culture.