I hope that everyone has been having a great holiday season! Obviously I've been busy, which is why I've not posted a new blog for several weeks. Teaching has been going really well, and I'm becoming more and more fond of a lot of my students. I've also been having a lot of fun with friends and continuing to experience Korea.
Missing Thanksgiving was not too terrible--as the holiday isn't celebrated here, I worked through it and didn't have an overwhelming reminder of missing out on quality family time. I was even able to wake up at 6am and Skype most of my extended family after they finished Thanksgiving dinner.
But I'll admit it, being away for Christmas was pretty difficult. There were a lot of people I really wished I could be celebrating the holidays with back in the U.S. and a lot of people who wished I could be there as well. I hadn't anticipated how much I would be missed. It was a selfish move for me to come to Korea, and I'd only counted on having to prevent myself from being homesick. That's been the easy part. The unexpected and painful part is not being able to physically be there for the people I care about, and Christmas time saw the sharpest that pain has been in my whole stay here.
However, with no chance of going home for the holidays, I made the most of what Korea had to offer. Christmas is a social/party holiday here, rather than one spent primarily with family, so on Christmas Eve I went downtown with my Korean friends, Zenia and Jae Kyung. The streets were packed, even moreso than a typical Saturday night. My friends and I started our evening by taking a photo together at a small shop which seemed to specialize in 90s style portraits.
Have a Merry Korean Christmas!
Afterward, we went to the movie theater to see Mission Impossible 4. As an understatement, I'll tell you that Koreans usually think alike. Everyone was at the movie theater, and MI4 was already full. So my friends and I went to Selly's Cafe, where, for 5,000won ($5) per person, you could sit (for as long as you wanted) in a private room with pillows and a TV and help yourself to the beverage/ice cream bar at the front of the cafe.
My friend Zenia and I at Selly's Cafe.
We were going to go to Bubble Bar, but it was too early to dance there, so we spent the rest of the evening in Soul Train drinking rum-and-coke. Trying to find a taxi home was impossible. The buses stopped at midnight, and, although at 2am on Saturday there are normally tons of available taxis, that night there were very, very few. As the snow piled up, more taxi drivers stopped working, and the Christmas Eve partiers lined up on all the busy roads trying to get home. In spite of that little obstacle, it was a really wonderful night with my friends.
Christmas Eve, downtown.
The next day, Christmas, I went to German Bar to have a party with the other foreigners. We all brought food and had a delicious Christmas potluck, complete with beer and wine.
Christmas day, at German Bar.
I did receive some wonderful Christmas cards and even a package from my parents which included a new outfit I'll be wearing to a New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. Overall, it was an interesting and happy Christmas here in Korea with great friends, even though I missed everyone at home.
A Few Highlights of the Last Month or So
I spent last weekend in Seoul for the DMZ Tour. We actually got to cross into North Korea for a few minutes, coincidentally only a few hours after Kim Jong-Il died. That evening we ate at an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouse in Itaewon for about $30. My coworker Chris and I went to Hongdae, another part of Seoul, to go clubbing, and I danced for hours at Club Cocoon. It was one of the most fun nights I've had here.
With an R.O.K. soldier in the conference room
on the North Korean side of the DMZ.
At Copacabana's Steakhouse.
On December 10, Zenia and Jae Kyung took me to see the Christmas lights at the Boseong tea fields. We rode the train over in the afternoon, so I got to see a lot of the Korean countryside. It's very mountainous, and I think it's one of the most beautiful countries that I've visited. We also went to the winter beach and ate Gamjatang while we were in Boseong.
Jae Kyung on the train.
At the winter beach in Boseong.
With my friends at the tea fields.
Ru-dol-pa, the red-nosed dragon, at Boseong tea fields.
Other new experiences:
Playing around at Ethnic Cafe downtown.
The cable car at Naejang mountain.
Celebrating Maggie's birthday at Ashley's all-you-can-eat Buffet.
During our overnight Temple Stay at Ssangbongsa.
Hiking and visiting Gangchunsa.
At the top of Medeung mountain.
Out to dinner with friends.
"Eat, drink, and be merry." It's a really fitting slogan for my past few weeks here. ^.^
