Christmas in Korea

Yes, I know... I've been a blog slacker. Luckily, I have lots of interesting (and a couple not so interesting) things to share. In the time since I last wrote, I've made it through Christmas Eve, Christmas and a Japan trip. This post will be dedicated to Christmas in Korea since I believe it's important for one to realize that although acknowledged, it doesn't seem like it's as big a deal here as back home. For example, I worked on Christmas Eve. Yuck.

We had our birthday/Christmas party on Thursday, so really the morning was all fun, aside from the fact that I was unknowingly thrown into the position of party MC since Naomi decided not to go to work that day (thanks Naomi!). We celebrated all the kids who had birthdays in the month of December... and then we switched to the Christmas party where we had a carol contest and Santa came.

The kids wait for Santa to call them up one at a time, then show off all their presents.

Santa was pretty funny. He was this nervous Korean guy from another school, and he basically just repeated himself like 30 times to each  the kids. "Were you good this year? Will you  be good next year? Merry Christmas." The kids loved it though, so it was all good. They all mostly got huge gifts so they were happy.

Doesn't my homeroom class and I look thrilled? Hehe.

Gerstungkinder 2009

Then, we got our buffett. The kid's moms brought food for the school to eat, so we had all sorts of goodies including pizza with sweet potato (which was interesting), lots of fruits, kimbap, chicken wings, sandwiches, and a bunch of other little random foods. It was pretty good though. One of my students told me I was being unhealthy when I poured myself a Coke... haha, I told her it was Christmas so I was allowed. Whatever, I just love Coke.

The afternoon classes were a bunch of BS because I actually had to teach, no fun party for the older kids. Luckily, after my last student left at 5:25 I went to the teacher's room to see if there was a meeting and she said everyone else was leaving early so there wasn't one. I asked if I could leave early and thank goodness... she said yes! Off to Brigid's...

I spent about an hour and a half getting to Banghak station where I met Brigid and Sarah at "the Galbi place" or so it is known as. They already had quite a bit of soju and Cass... so it was my turn to finally try Soju. It wasn't too bad... would have been better if I hadn't recieved a half cup full of only soju, but it wasn't as terrible as I thought. Would be good mixed with something.

Anyway, from there we went to Camp Red Cloud, where we met Mark... hung out for a bit. Acted slightly ridiculous and then ended up at the Veteran's Club, where supposedly the officer party was supposed to be. Well...definitely no "party" but a bunch of guys older than my parents and for a brief moment the cute MP who we met on our way to the bunker earlier in the night. He was married and only 20, but he was cute enough toat with and look at for the 15 minutes he was there. Then... a rum and Coke, 4 beers and a shot later, I ended up fast asleep on Brigid's floor mattress, which was actually quite comfortable. Overall, and despite being at work for 8 hours, it was a pretty fun Chrimstas Eve.

 

Pictures: My Christmas Eve dinner... a shrimp cocktail. Me trying on Mark's gear and realizing how heavy it is. Brigid being slightly intoxicated.

I spent Christmas day with Brenna and her family, which was really nice. I bought a cute cake from Paris Baguette. They had really delicious looking cakes with chocolate and fruit and little characters, so I just had to buy one for them! They invited some other friends over too, so I basically spent my day eating delicious American foods (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salads, bread, pies… etc. etc. etc.) Then, we watched Elf and played all sorts of different games on the Wii. I totally kicked butt in bowling… and that’s about it. It was a nice relaxing day though.

Brenna was even kind enough to get me some cool gifts, Victoria’s Secret body wash, sprays, lotions, etc. She kept my tradition of getting goodies from VS! I was so excited!


Overall, Christmas was real enjoyable and a lot better than I expected. I was being a bit of a Scrooge this year, but really there was no need. I have made some really great friends who made the holidays really awesome!

 I have lots more pictures on Facebook so add me on there if you want to see more.

“I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite.” –Buddy the Elf.