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!