Christmas in Korea!

This was inevitable - holidays away from the family. When leaving for a country for a year you know you're going to miss some very important things. While being in that country for the actual holidays it is important to remember that you chose to do this and that these same holidays will be there next year waiting for you to celebrate them the way that you've always done and to embrace this year as different.

SO that is exactly what we foreigners did. If you're lucky enough you come to Korea and you fall into a group as great as mine. These people have become like family over the past few months so spending it together just was the natural way of it. One of us made a nice Christmas Eve dinner in his apartment before we all headed out to the bar we always go to, where we waited for the clock to strike 12 and make it officially Christmas Day. I was playing foosball at that exact moment, by the way. Due to the fact that I was getting over being very, very sick I called it an early night at 2am.

Christmas day couldn't have gone any better either. I had people over to my apartment where I made everyone french toast for breakfast, and we then had a large Polyanna gift exchange wherein the spirit of Christmas we open presents and then steal what we want from those that we love. I wound up with a nice Guinness set, so I can't complain. There was an intermission in the day for people to go clean themselves up, and we headed into Seoul for a nice, traditional, Moroccan Style Dinner. Wait, what? Moroccan? Yes. We tried for the Irish Pub BUT it was all booked up and this was the next best thing. Honestly - it was a perfect random fit to our day in my mind, and it was actually pretty tasty too (Marakech Night, in Itaewon).

So now, after a successful Christmas comes to a close, I would like to thank all those that were apart of it, and wish all those that weren't a very, very Happy Christmas. I'm really missing friends and family, but I will home in less than a year now, and that's kind of a crazy thought.

Happy Holidays!

Ice Skating at Lotte World!

Lotte World is Korea's own mini indoor version of Disney World. It has an amusement park, a bowling alley, an ice rink, a shooting range, a food area, and I don't even know what else.



Sunday night since most of us had at least a few days off we took a little trip out to Jamsil to go to the ice rink at Lotte World. It is an indoor rink that's pretty large, and surrounded by parts of the amusement park including fake hot air balloons that take people on a tour throughout the place.




We all laced up our skates after spending 8,000Won to get in and 4,000Won on the rentals and hit the ice. Some of us were better than others as is to be expected in any group, but all of us had a lot of fun. There's a light show to music and fake snow that falls from the ceiling but overall it was an excellent time. The only weird thing I still don't understand is one of the rules - All Skaters Must Wear Gloves at All Times. You could go out onto that ice wearing a speedo and goggles, but as long as you're wearing gloves they don't care. The second you take your gloves off you'll hear a whistle come from any direction and the Korean skate guards will come over and nicely ask you to put the gloves back on. My only explanation is that they don't want you hurting your hands if you fall, but why should they care? It remains a mystery to me...

OH, and if anyone sees this guy walking around - give him a high five for effort:

It's an SLP Christmas!

Christmas time at SLP was an interesting time. There was definitely more of an effort put into Halloween than Christmas, but I guess that makes sense? Korea is only 25% Christian, afterall.

Friday morning the two guys on our staff took turns acting as Santa for the children. The parents sent presents in earlier in the week and then Santa has them sit and hands them out. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves...

We spent the morning making Christmas cards which was kind of hilarious. They gave us all these materials - felt, construction paper, ribbon, stickers, little fuzzy balls, and of course directions. Now, half of the staff is foreign, and none of us speak any Korean, but take a look at the directions, notice anything:



exactly. It's all in Hangul. So we improvised and I made a completely different card. Yes, I made, not the kids, because they're six and do not have the dexterity to cut through felt with plastic scissors. I hope their parents appreciate my hard work.

Then after arts and crafts time, there was story time which was such a joke. Like the first half where we were given materials, I assumed we would be given stories. And you do know what they say when you assume. We were supposed to either make up our own stories to tell the children OR take them to the library and have them find christmasy stories. Yea... that never happened luckily, because Santa came and all was forgotten. But I love the ill preparation from those above me. One of those, "Ohhh Korea" moments I suppose.

After the kids got all their presents and went home, the afternoon classes continued as normal. I brought in candy for the kids, and that was as festive as the day got. The one thing I felt bad about was I had planned on giving all of my kids no homework over the break, but through no choice of my own I was forced to give them 5 days worth of homework. Asian children get worked harder than I ever did as a child, that is definitely for sure. Oh well, I guess they're used to it and have no idea what they're missing. Kinda sad really. But hey, at least I get a vacation out of the whole deal...