Far From Home no. 4

For the Kids.

First and foremost, I’d like to apologize to all the loyal readers of this blog (read: Mom and Dad) for the lack of posts lately, but I took a little break and headed to Seoul for a 3-day weekend. Yesterday was Children’s Day here in Korea, so all schools and hogwons were closed for the day giving me ample time to explore the city. The celebration became an official government holiday back in 1923 as a means to instill a sense of independence and national pride in the nations’ youth, and now appears to be Korea’s most efficient way of getting rid of left-over balloons. I’ve always been a big proponent of a national children’s day. Though I was pretty young at the time, I can still remember asking my mom why the United States had special days celebrating mothers and fathers, but no day for the kids. “Eli…” she said matter-of-factly, “every day is Children’s Day,” and with that proceeded to drive me to and from soccer practice. Point taken. Speaking of mothers, today is my Mom’s birthday, so everyone feel free to wish her a happy 39th.