Another Holiday in Korea

Today is October 3d and that's another holiday in South Korea. It's called Gaecheonjeon which is translated to English as the National Foundation Day.

My boyfriend wasn't able to explain to me much about this holiday and I am not sure if that's because he's not sure (or interested) in what this holiday is all about, or because he just didn't feel like explaining it to me yesterday. 

Actually he just arrived home while I was writing this and I asked him again what day it was today and he said: "it's gaecheonjeon, I told you".
me: "ya but what exactly is gacheonjeon?"
he: "i don't know ... it's a free day lol"
He's really cute sometimes ^^ Well if he doesn't know then I don't need to feel bad or stupid either.

But according to wikipedia it is the day that celebrates the creation of antient Korea called Gojeseon in 2333bc by Tangun. Gaecheon means Opening of Heaven and refers to October 3rd 2457bc when Hwan-ung decended from heaven to live with mankind. Maybe I can find a story about it in the famous Samguk Yusa (the story of three kingdoms) that I had to study at the University.

Here's the story (a summary of it anyway) from my English version of Samguk Yusa (I'm too lazy to read the Korean one right now, sorry):

In ancient times the heavenly king Hwan-in had a young son names Hwan-ung who wanted to live in the human world. After careful examination, Hwan-in chose Taebaek mountains in Korea as a suitable place for his son. He gave him 3 heavenly treasures and sent him to rule over his people. The son ruled people and taught them everything from agriculture to medicine. But in those days, there were also a she-bear and a tigress living there. They both prayed to Hwan-ung to become human beings. The king gave them some special food and told them that if they eat the food and not see the sunlight for 100 days, they would become humans. The she-bear followed all of the king's instructions and became a woman after 21days. But the tigress didn't obey the rules, so she remained in her original form. The bear-woman was not able to find a husband so she prayed again to Hwang-ung for a child. He heard her prayers, married her and she soon bore a son. She named him Tangun - king of sandalwood, because she prayed to Hwan-ung under the sandalwood tree. Tangun later went to Pyongyang and set up his royal residence there, then moved his capital to Asadal in Taekbaek mountain where he ruled for 1500 years.

I don't think Koreans do anything special on this day, I'm sure they're just happy to have a day off. Not the workers building a new house across from ours though.... I'd happily give them a day off so they'd let me sleep in the morning for once... but I guess not everyone is free. My boyfriend was supposed to have a day off work today but he decided to work today and be free tomorrow instead. Which is much much better, since we have a whole weekend to ourselves this way.

And for me... it's just annoying lol as most Korean holidays... no, but I don't want it to sound like I am complaining for no reason. I do have a reason. I just made reservations on Korean KLM website for our flight to Slovenia this Christmas. The site usually gives you 24hours on working days to complete the payment, but it looks like the website doesn't have national holidays in the system... It is kind of a problem since I have to visit a bank and they are all closed today and tomorrow. I have a daily limit so I can't transfer that kind of an amount through mobile banking or ATM.

If we don't transfer the money by tomorrow our reservations will be canceled. I'm a bit annoyed/worried about it, but my boyfriend said he'd find a way, so... I'm not gonna let this ruin my day and I'm just gonna wait for my boyfriend to come up with a solution :)

Anyway, I hope you liked the story. Happy national foundation day everyone ;)