Christmas In Korea

Christmas is over, and I survived. I have been worried about being away from home for Christmas since I decided to come to Korea. Christmas has always been a big deal for me - the whole season, not just the day, so I was anticipating that it was going to be a difficult time for me over here. I was pleasantly surprised to have a nice holiday. It was still hard at times. I missed the big build up this month - Christmas is not a big holiday in Korea, so there are nowhere near the amount of lights, songs, movies, etc. that there are at home. It's ironic that I used to complain about being over-Christmased at home given how much I missed it this year. Being away from the family was the hardest part. It's amazing how many small rituals you take for granted: our hors d'oeuvre dinner on Christmas Eve, watching DVDs all Christmas day, visiting Grandma and Grandpa... We never did anything I had considered "special" for Christmas, and it all ended up being painful to be away from! School activities made things more bearable. We had caroling contests for our elementary students on Wednesday and a full day of kindergarten activities on Christmas Eve. I also snuck in a lot of Christmas games into my lessons - more for my benefit than the kids. Anna, Danielle and I have also been having Christmas themed movie nights every Tuesday to keep us in the spirit.

Thank god for Skype. I was able to spend Christmas morning (and about seven other times these last few days) with the family that way. It ended up being pretty close to my typical Christmas mornings, just via computer. They even put the laptop next to the Yule Log on TV at Grandma and Grandpa's, so I was able to sit next to the fireplace while I opened presents. I was spoiled, given how much mom and dad have already given me to help me get ready for/settled into Korea. I got a little teary thanks to a calendar they made full of family photos (which is going up on my wall first thing on January 1st), but the tears only lasted a few minutes and I focused on the fun day I had planned. Grandpa is now hooked up on Skype so he can join in the video conferencing merriment.

The ECC crew, plus friends, got together for brunch at Natalie's (she's the one who went to high school down the road from me). We ate lots, in the true spirit of Christmas, and drank the remaining homesickness away with mimosas. Next came shopping at PNU (Pusan National University). Nothing is closed on Christmas here. The streets were packed with people - Christmas is a big couples holiday here, so there were many coordinated outfits. I bought a dress for work/maybe New Years for 25 dollars. Next we headed to meet up with everyone again for Christmas dinner. Katie and her friend Lauren came too, which was nice. The Seaman's Club is located right on the pier which made for a sketchy cab ride. There was a ton of food at the buffet and I ate WAY too much. They had everything a Christmas feast should have, except for perohe. Oh well. The turkey coma set in and a few of us went back to Natalie's for movies and cards. I learned to play euchre for the eightieth time and hopefully it will stick this time around.

I spent most of Boxing Day the way I usually spend Christmas Day - in my jammies watching movies. I incorporated as many of my gifts as possible: I watched Grey's Anatomy while knitting and eating peanut butter cups, wearing my necklace and the socks mom knit with breaks for reading magazines.

We were supposed to go to see Sherlock Holmes last night, but it was sold out. We hit up a noraebang instead. Noraebangs are karaoke clubs. For fifteen dollars, we got a private room for an hour to rock out to the biggest song catalogue I have every seen. There are couches and pillows, a big flat screen and a built in light show with every song. There is a nice reverb on the microphones, so even horrid singers like me sound okay. When you are done singing, the computer gives you a score. I think the computer is programmed to be polite though, because I got some pretty good scores. We closed the night with a loud rendition of the class Journey song, Don't Stop Believing... because it is not karaoke without Journey.

All in all, a pretty good Christmas. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Miss you all. Next adventure to look forward to: Chinese New Year in Beijing!

Jimjilbang

I had, what I feel, was a very Korean friday night this weekend. After school, a few of us headed for dinner at an all you can eat Korean BBQ buffet. I love Korean barbeque... bulgogi is by far the best thing I have eaten since I got here, so much so that I have had it four or five times. It's basically thinly sliced marinated beef that you cook at the grill built into your table. You put the meat into a lettuce leaf with ssamjang, a spicy red paste, and some onion that is soaked in the Korean equivalent of soy sauce (I say equivalent because it is sweet, not salty). The buffet has a bunch of other meats, soups and side dishes and it only costs 7500 won. We stayed for almost two hours... until we realized they were closing.

Anna and I then headed to a jimjilbang. In simple terms, it's a bathhouse but without all the sketchiness of the ones in North America. Mostly. The one we went to is in a big hotel on the beach. After you pay (less than ten dollars), they hand you a key, towels and a pair of pyjamas. The men's and women's bathing areas are completely separated. You'll understand why in a second. The key is for a locker for your stuff. ALL your stuff. The baths are all nude. It was pretty bizarre at first, not being a fan of public nudity myself. But it was after midnight and not many people were around. The baths are a room full of different temperature pools from cool to really, really hot. There are tinted glass windows that look out onto the beach. The water was really pretty.

After we were sufficiently pruney, We went back to the change room and put on the pyjamas we'd been given. They were kind of like scrubs, but pink. The men's ones are orange. Once you are dressed, you can move to the coed floors. There are blankets and these headrest things that are supposed to be substitutes for pillows. Then you find a spot somewhere and sleep. There are many different sauna-like rooms in the coed area. Each is at a different temperature. The hottest was sixty degrees celsius and the coldest was minus four. Some rooms have pebbles on the floor and one had salt. The rest of the areas are heated stone or hardwood. We chose to sleep in the ball pit. It's an area filled with about five inches of small stone balls - kind of like an adult fun room. It was surprisingly comfy. People are awake and around at all hours, which was pretty annoying (did I mention Koreans don't sleep?), but I had a fairly decent sleep. It was nice to wake up to an ocean view.

We opted not to go back to the baths in the morning - too many people for my liking. I should say that staying over isn't necessary at jimjilbang, but we did it as part of the adventure. Plus, it costs the same to go if you stay one hour or sixteen. So why not? I had a surprisingly good time, given that I swore I would never set foot in the baths when I first heard about them. I must be becoming Korean after all.

Plans for Christmas have finally been settled. First comes Skype with mom and dad in the morning while I open presents, then brunch at a friend's place around noon. We are going to stuff ourselves full of food until it is time to... eat more food. A place called the Seaman's Club is hosting a huge buffet dinner that night. It's a little pricy, by Korean standards ($25), but it will have turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. We all decided it would be worth the money to have a real Christmas dinner in the land of squid and spam.

Finally - we discovered an English library in Busan this afternoon. Lots of books, including pretty current ones, and I can get my library card as soon as I get my alien registration card. Anna borrowed a book for me today, to hold me over. I am so happy - English books cost a fortune here.

I hope the week before Christmas is treating you well. It doesn't quite feel like the holidays for me yet, but all of us here are doing our best to get into the spirit!

Pictures

I just put up a bunch on facebook: my apartment, some of my classes, the korean wedding I went to... Check them out! This video is of one of the ECC students singing for the bride and groom. I wouldn't have posted it, but the song is a special one for me - mom and dad know why.

It's starting to look like home

Shopping for the apartment this weekend was a success. I have Katie to thank for the decorating help and mom and dad to thank for the financial help. Katie and I managed to find almost everything I needed to make this place livable and a few extra things to make it feel like home. Cleaning wise, I've tackled my bedroom and the bathroom. I managed to get some of the grime out of the washroom (and can I just say, ew - for a place that was apparently cleaned before I moved, there were WAY too many black paper towels). It will likely get a bleaching about once a week for a while, nevertheless. I'll post some pictures next week once I've finished getting it set up. I still have the kitchen to tackle, but it was the least offensive dirt-wise, so I feel less pressed to get it done. Plus, I haven't eaten more than a handful of meals at home since I moved in because of my schedule and going out with friends (tough life, I know).

I did my laundry today, too. It was a daunting task, not because of the amount of laundry (I was actually a little worried at how little I had given it's been two weeks - what have I been wearing?), but because my washing machine scares me. It's all in Korean and the layout of the display is nothing like the machines back home. I just found the picture at the top of the page online with a translation of everything, thank god. Also, people don't use dryers in Korea so everything is currently hanging on a rack in my living room. I am hope knowing that it will take a day or two for my clothes to dry will keep me from letting my laundry pile up until I'm down to my last pair of undies.

I'll post some pictures of the in progress apartment in a separate post... assuming I can figure out how to do it. Bathroom pictures will be saved until its ready - I want people to truly appreciate the before and after pictures.

Th End of Week One

It has been a busy first week. I started teaching on Tuesday. My start times vary from day to day - Tuesday and Thursday I start at 10AM, Wednesday and Friday at 1PM and on Monday I don't start until 3PM. Our days are 8 hours at most, so I finish at nine MWF and six Tuesday Thursday. On my early start days, I spend more time with my kindergarten class. These days will be my favorite, I think. My class is small - only five kids. This is their second year at school, so their English is pretty strong. I will take some pictures soon and tell you more about them.

I moved into my apartment on Tuesday night. It wasn't what I was hoping for - the bathroom is pretty dingy, the internet and phone didn't work and there is a lot of crap left behind from people who lived here before. It made for a tough day of adjustment. I had been so excited to move out of my motel and I was about to ask to move back into it. On Wednesday, I bought some cleaning supplies and started tackling the mess. I have a closet on my balcony, so I am putting a lot of the extra stuff in there. I unpacked some of my clothes and got the school to start sorting out the phone and internet. I am feeling a little better every day. I am going to tackle the big cleaning jobs this weekend and do some shopping. Hopefully, this place will start to feel like home.

I went out with two of the teachers from my school last night and some of their friends. We went to see New Moon, which just opened in Korea on Wednesday. It was a good night. They brought me to Rock and Roll, an English bar, for dinner and drinks. It was nice to be able to read an entire menu without needing pictures. The food and the drinks are cheap, they play good music, and they speak English. It was just what I needed to remind me that being away from home is not that bad.

Today, I am going to the hospital for my physical. The girls warned me I would be poked, prodded, x-rayed and asked to pee in a cup. Should be an interesting morning.