Olympic Homestays

[Anchor Lead]

South Korea celebrated the Lunar New Year last week. Foreign tourists visiting PyeongChang and Gangneung during the Lunar New Year holiday enjoyed traditional celebrations at ordinary South Korean homes. The experiences were arranged "Olympic homestays," a program designed to help foreign tourists enjoy both the Olympic Games and Korean culture.

[Soundbite] Happy New Year!

[Pkg]

Scenes on Lunar New Year's Day look new and strange to a blue-eyed foreigner. He wore the traditional Korean outfit hanbok for the first time in his life. He also learns how to perform a New Year's bow, although it is not perfect. The guest takes a glimpse into Korean people's warm hearts and generosity through a variety of traditional dishes prepared for a memorial service.

[Soundbite] (British Homestay Guest)

Olympic homestay guests made new Korean friends. They built up friendship transcending nationality and age while cheering for an Olympic team on Lunar New Year's Day. 94 families in Gangneung and PyeongChang accepted roughly 230 foreign guests during the Olympic Games.

[Soundbite] Choi Eung-O (Homestay Owner) : "It was really good to see and enjoy games at sporting venues together during the Olympic period. I did it in order to introduce Korean culture."

The South Korean Olympic team held a joint memorial service at the Olympic Park in Gangneung and together had the traditional New Year's day dish tteokguk, or rice cake soup.