Christmas in Korea

Sitting in my classroom now.  It's 9am.  The packed, grey remnants of the first snowfall cover the streets and sidewalks.  The air outside is dry and cold despite the overwhelming brightness of the early morning sun.  In an hour I'm going to get onto a coach bus with my co-workers for 48 hours of Korean madness.  I'll spend what little remaining sanity I'm privy to now relating the events of my Christmas weekend.

Christmas Eve: Those of us who live in and around Tapdong met at Mary Beth's house for some pre-game holiday cheer.  I had already realized that Koreans don't make as big of a deal about Christmas as westerners.  To them it's just a day off that they use taking their girlfriends on dates.  Over the past week I had begun to miss corny Christmas songs, tacky decorations, and blatent consumerism.  Never before did I think that I'd be nostalgic about materialism.  So when I arrived at the yuletide mausoleum that Mary Beth had turned her apartment into, a warm tingle of home invaded my heart.  A Christmas tree with presents under it, colored lights, tinsel, cookies, and...yes, savor the moment...eggnog.  Thanks MB for so vivaciously embracing the holiday spirit.

After a breif exchange of presents we moved up to the station to have dinner at where else, but Heejay's.  As usual it was a wild time with wonderful, attractive people that can only be accurately recalled due to the amount of photographs taken.  By the way, that handsome Korean guy is the man himself, Heejay.

Christmas Day: Miserable weather.  At one point the fog was so thick that it was impossible to see more than a few hundred feet out over the rooftops.  We spent the morning at Mary Beth's watching Home Alone and eating salmon eggs benedict.  Delicious! 

Later, an attempt to go bowling was made but ultimately thwarted due to overcrowding and inconvieniencing on the part of some handsome Polish dude.  I played video games until it was time to call friends and family back home.  It wasn't the best Christmas ever but it certainly stands out from the pack.

The Day After Christmas: Decided I would feel better about the holiday's if I blew some cash so went to Seoul with my friend Haley to do some shopping.  I spent about 45,000 Won on T-Shirts.  She spent about 400,000 Won on a Wii.  Niceuh.  Duk-Galbi for dinner.

The Day After The Day After Christmas: Laundry, Video Games, Ramen.  A knock on my door.  Upon opening I was too surprised to see three inches of snow on the ground to notice Josh and Mary-Beth waiting in ambush. 

Had my reaction time been anything less than cat-like I would have surely been laid upon with snow and ice.  Pizza School then Sherlock Holmes (I thought it was fairly entertaining).

Cool Thing About Korea #41: It actually snows here.  I was beginning to think it wouldn't.