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UMW professor hosts Korean students for Thanksgiving feast Date published: 11/28/2008
ALEXANDRIA-- It was karaoke, not football, that held the University of Mary Washington students' attention yesterday before their feast of turkey, stuffing, sushi and stir-fried noodles.The louder each one sang along to American and Korean lyrics splashed by a projector onto the wall, the louder they applauded one another. Esther Yook, the director of UMW's Speaking Center, welcomed six Korean students into her home for Thanksgiving. The evening combined American and Korean traditions. Yook also serves as the director of the university's Korean exchange program. This is the second year she has brought students to her Alexandria home for the holiday that they wouldn't celebrate overseas. Collectively, they said they probably wouldn't have celebrated if they were back at school alone, though university student Subin Yoo said they might have been able to spend it with a roommate. This is their first year celebrating Thanksgiving. To help wind down before dinner the students were jovial while belting out tunes, laughing and cheering. Yook said karaoke is very popular in Korean culture, with families often going to sing it together for celebrations or in their spare time. In both North and South Korea, there is a holiday in August similar to Thanksgiving--a mid-autumn festival known as "Chuseok" or "Hangawi." The students explained how families not only come together during the harvest celebration but cook the meal as a family, too. Some of those delicacies were included yesterday alongside turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Rice cakes, sushi, pickled cabbage, stir-fried noodles and seafood mixed with vegetables dotted the Yooks' holiday buffet. Along with the Korean-American dinner fare was the Thanksgiving tradition most know as simply welcoming others into a home--Yook hosted more than a dozen guests altogether. She and her husband, once international students away from home, understand what the students go through on such a holiday. "We know what it's like to be lonely with no extended family." Corey Byers: 540/735-1976
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