Ringing in the New Year -- Korean Style

In America we've always celebrated the New Year by watching the ball drop on TV at midnight. For us this usually includes games and a party leading up to the big countdown.  It's always been a favorite holiday of mine.  (Of course, any excuse for a party is a favorite holiday of mine!)  Here though, they have a different tradition -- watching the first sunrise of the New Year.  Everyone wakes up early and hikes to a high peak, preferably a mountain, to watch the sunrise, welcoming in the first day of the new year.  We decided this year we wanted to experience this "Korean" way of celebrating the New Year, but we just couldn't let go of our American tradition.  So we did both.  We spent the evening with friends until half past midnight and didn't get home and in bed until 1 am.  That made the morning a little painful when our alarms went off at 6:15am to start our sunrise hike.  We had given the kids the option of joining us, fully understanding if they wanted to stay in their warm beds that they had just crawled into five hours ago.  To our surprise, though, they wanted to come.  So at 6:40am, we left our apartment.

 You can see the little line of light at the top of the picture.  That's Seoul tower on top of Namsan (South Mountain).  That was our destination.  

 I had read what a huge Korean tradition this was, but to be honest, I was starting to doubt myself.  We had been walking for about 10 minutes, and these were the only other people we had seen.  I was starting to wonder if we would be the only people on Namsan.

As we inched closer to the mountain, we started seeing more people...

 and more people...

 ...and more people, until we couldn't believe how many people were surrounding us.

Honestly, I think this is the largest mass of people I have ever been in, in my entire life.  The walk back down the mountain was insane!  It was like you were in a fast moving river, except the current was the people pushing you.  There was no stopping.  I had to carry Emma because I was a little nervous she might get trampled.  I honestly don't think the mountain could have held one more person; it was that full.

It was a beautiful morning to be out though.  The temperature was around 34 degrees Fahrenheit which was unusually warm for this time of year.  We walked at a pretty brisk pace up the mountain, and by the time we reached the top, we had unzipped our jackets and taken off our gloves.  We were actually hot.

There was a giant party going on at the top.

As the sky began to brighten, everyone inched closer to the east, trying to find a little hole in the sea of people to watch the sun rise.  I was, again, very grateful to be tall.  It's nice to be able to see without fighting everyone around you.

This kid climbed onto the top of the gazebo to get a better view.

Other people were climbing trees.

We were lucky enough to find some room on a bench for the kids to stand on.  (I made sure other Koreans were standing on the benches first though.  It's incredibly rude to put your shoes on things here, and I didn't want to be that American!)

These poor kids also found a bench and were fast asleep on it.  Apparently it was a long night for them as well.

So while we were waiting, I saw a man wearing my exact outfit!  I tried to get a picture of  us together, but he was moving around too much trying to find a good view of the sunrise.  You can see him off to the right of me wearing the same coat and cranberry scarf.  I wish we had gotten a picture from the front.  We would have looked awesome together!

Finally, at 7:39am, the announcer began counting down in Korean to the sunrise.  And then, there it was. Over the hazy morning horizon rose a beautiful ball of orange.  The first sun of 2104.  It was just us and about 10,000 of our Korean friends.  

It was a little emotional for me.  I just sat there thinking about being in Korea and everything we have done here so far...and everything we would do this year.  Our family has been so richly blessed.  I am definitely grateful for another year and looking forward to what it holds for our family.  

As we walked away I declared, "This is my favorite thing I've done in Korea so far."  And it's true...at least until the next fun thing we do here.  :)