The Title of Our Blog Should Have Been, "Korea.....It Just Doesn't Make Sense"

December is a big month. With Dave's birthday, Christmas, and New Years its a bit of a splurge of money, energy, and above all, fun!

I just wanted to share a quick update before we leave for Seoul to see BBBBEEEEENNNNNN for our whopping 5 day winter vacation!

The Friday before Christmas weekend went as any other Friday at E Bo Young Talking Club goes. We read storybooks to the kids and bored the pants off of them. We did get Kevin (the student that hit me a few weeks back) who was very excited about a stocking that his teacher gave him. He came into class and said (in broken English of course), " Teacher! Look! I got a new pencil case, stickers, and a new sock!" At that time he put his stocking on foot and began to walk around with it, like it was, in fact.... a brand new sock.

On Friday I got a package from my parents containing a ton of candy, yarn, and best of all, Oprah Magazine! I was so excited and I showed all of the kids, asking them if they liked Oprah. The general response I got was, "No Oprah!" I did have class of 2 older girls and thought it would be a learning experience for them to see a magazine in English (I know, I'm pushing it) I found it very interesting their view and reaction to the black people in the magazine. They laughed at them in a confused/ this is very strange/ I never see this, sort of way. They didn't seem to understand why there were different types of people in the magazine. They kept asking, "Teacher, chocolate?" or, "From Africa?"

Christmas in Korea was a success! It's funny being in an Asian country, I never expected Christmas to be as recognized as much as it is. Not to say that it is anything like home, but it still is quite popular. There were a few cafes decorated with lights and trees which helped us get in the Christmas spirit. We found ourselves asking about Christmas traditions here in Korea and there doesn't seem to be many other than eat good food and get together with the family on Christmas Day, which is still pretty optional. It seems that only small children receive presents from Santa and once they graduate from middle school they get cut off from the gifts.

On Christmas Eve our friends Kirsten and Keegan came over and we had a huge dinner together. It was complete with chicken (and lots of it), mashed potatoes, honey carrots (surprisingly easy and delicious), Stove Top Stuffing (courtesy of Kirsten's Mom), and gravy. Yum!

After that, we met up with Janet from South Africa and went to a little get-together at one of our friends apartments. I suggested doing a Yankee Swap, or White Elephant as the other party goers wanted to call it. Either way it was a hit. Everyone brought a weird/ funny gift. There were 14 of us who exchanged gifts and it was an absolute riot! Dave and I put in 2 very funny gifts (if I do say so myself) As a little background information, which you may or may not know, all Koreans love cell phone charms. Cell phone charms are (typically) tiny accessories that that attach to your phone. Normally they are fairly tiny so that everything can be put in your pocket. Dave and I put a different spin on it. We bought a stuffed animal and attached a handmade cardboard cut out of a phone. On the front it said "1 TXT from...." and on the inside it said "Your Mom!!!!"

The second of the gifts that we put in was a hand knit Willy Warmer. It was electric green and came with a poem.

"Now that you are getting older,

And the nights are getting colder,

Nothing could be neater,

Than this little Peter Heater."

Everyone was dying! Among the other gifts there was a panda hat, a recorder, a tambourine, and "I love pussy/I havea good time" chopstick set (which is what I ended up with, after a major game of battle swap) Side note: the chopstick set is just another example of misused English that can be found anywhere, and everywhere here in Korea. It was not, in fact, intended for the words to be so dirty...at least that's what I hope.

After the gift swap we all went outside to ring in Christmas with a bang....literally. Aaron bought fireworks at the local dollar store (Eh-sounds wrong...I know. The words fireworks and dollar store should never be mixed) It was snowing a lot which made the night have a magical feel about it. Some took to making tiny snowmen and others went for the fireworks. Kirsten and I tried to stay a safe distance away from anything on fire or that made us cold (a lot harder than it seems) If I could describe how the night made feel it would be a mix of whimsical, exciting, very scary, and overall fun.

On Christmas morning Dave and I woke up like little kids. We were both very excited to exchange our gifts, and open the big box from Dave's parents. Aside from a few gifts that disappointingly didn't fit (from both of us) it was a success. The rest of the day was a mix of bagel sandwiches with bacon, eggs and cheese, marathons of The Wire, decorating our apartment to finally make it looks like someone lives in here, naps, and pizza for dinner. Oh, there was also a lot of chocolate consumption in there as well....some would say too much, but I say there is no such thing.

Our Charlie Brown Tree (and Teddy just waiting to open gifts on the couch)

White Christmas in Mokpo

Snowmen with only 2 balls...it's how they make them in Asia.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

-Lindsey