Another Christmas in Korea

I don't think that being away from home on Christmas gets any easier each year. Seeing everyone's pictures on Christmas day, especially of loved ones, still makes me want to cry. Maybe this will change when I have someone to share it with where I am, who knows. But as much as I look forward to the season, right now, I always welcome boxing day when it's all over. This year, I was lucky to have my sister join me in Malaysia - more on that in another post.

Friday before Christmas we had our staff party. It was pretty tame this year as we only went out for dinner as the enthusiasm for drinks afterwards was lacking. We met at a galbi restaurant and enjoyed some meat and side dishes. We had a bit of a fire issue at my table's grill which I found funny as instead of trying to put out the fire, some were more concerned about getting a video, which you can see below!

We did a secret Santa gift exchange again which was a lot of fun. Throughout the month treats were left on my desk which were always welcomed surprises. I was first up to open my gift and guess. I did not guess correctly so I had the choice of singing a song, dancing or drinking maekju (a mix of beer and soju). Last year I sang, so this year I chose to drink maekju. I found out that my secret Santa was my supervisor Joanne! She got me some purple tights and a black skirt.

The weekend before Christmas, I held the "Second Non-Annual Luda-Christmas" at my apartment. Last year it mainly consisted of co-workers but as I have met more people over the past year it grew a bit in number but we all still managed to squeeze into my apartment. Sara came over the night before and we prepared gingerbread dough to make cookies the next day. After getting up and ready the next day, we headed to Daiso to find some cookie cutters. They didn't have Christmas ones, but we did manage to find dogs, pigs, hearts and squirrels. Sara really gets all the credit for the cookies as I spent the day cleaning up for guests and making soups for dinner.


                                   

While we waited for people to arrive, Sara and I watched The Family Stone, a favourite of mine to watch at Christmas. Once most people arrived we began eating and drinking Ben's gluhwein (6 bottles of red wine later...) We also did a white elephant gift exchange. Each person brought a used, wrapped item from home that they no longer have a use for. Compared to last year, the gifts were awesome! I ended up with a tumbler filled with different teas. Afterwards we headed out to a nearby beer cooler, then stopped by Underground (the local club) and finished the night off at a norebang (karaoke).

Matt dressed for the occasion 

SY & Chris

One half of the group!

All the shoes

Sara, SY, Ben, Reid and Scott in front

Alexis, James and Laura

Myself, Matt, Chris & Kristine

The best cheesecake in Korea

Leading up to Christmas day at school, we decorated our classrooms and practiced a Christmas song with our class for the song contest. I decided to change my approach this year and let the students pick the song, which can be a nightmare, but it went well this time. One day we all piled into the computer room and we went through songs on YouTube until they fell in love with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." They also did the majority of the choreography. You can check out the video on Facebook if you haven't already. My class tied for third place.

Santa also visited LCI on Christmas Eve and handed out gifts to all of the students. This year was the first where I had to address whether or not Santa is real, and whether or not there can be multiple Santa Claus'. This led to a discussion of "Was Santa a baby before?", "How old is Santa?", "Why doesn't Santa die?" These are tough questions to answer to a 7 year old when you don't know the stance parents take on the topic at home. But I suppose it's good practice (?) for when I have children of my own, maybe?

My Class with Santa & Isla wearing my Santa hat 

                             

In December I also went with a group to the European Christmas market. We drank a lot of gluhwein this day too.

Myself with Reid and Noelia 

So crowded!!

This also marked Maynah's last weekend in Korea, so after the Christmas market, we all went for food together then a few of us went for drinks in Itaewon. It never gets easy saying goodbye to friends. 

A few other things not mentioned in previous posts: 

My friend Reid had been learning to play the Haegeum (a traditional Korean instrument) so I went to his recital which was awesome. 

I was in the hospital for two days with pneumonia.

Kristine and I went to the Lantern festival. 

The last board game meetup I hosted before Christmas had the biggest turn out in awhile - so stoked!

It was a good busy month. The end of the year is always busy. So much so that I've blogged less, and realized I didn't even post about Halloween!! Too late? I feel the urge to leave you with a quote about the New Year, instead I will leave you with the weather. 

<3

Adventures of September & October

After always seeing the subway stop "Seoul Forest" on my subway map app, I finally decided to check it out. It's huge! I met Myan, who had been before and we walked around for a bit. Within the park there is an area where deer are kept and for 1,000 won (about $1) you can feed them at various times throughout the day. It's a beautiful park that I'd like to explore some more. We didn't stay too long as Myan wanted to check out another spot ways away. Here are some pictures from Seoul Forest:

Myan on the wobbly bridge

From there, the two of us headed to Jeongbalsan, an hour away. By the time we got there the sun was setting so we sat down by the water. Myan had been here before too and knew of a fountain water show that is put on nightly so we decided to check that out. We began by going the wrong way, unsure of where the show was and finally asked someone for directions. By the time we got going in the right direction, we could hear the show music already starting so we ran the whole way ... in flip flops. The water fountain show was put to music, both English and Korean songs. The best part though was the adjectives they chose at the end when they announced that the show was over: "Thank you for coming to the glorious spectacular water fountain show!" That night we ate at a place called Mad for Garlic which is delicious. Since coming to Korea, I have become pretty mad for garlic.

Early October, Mel, MJ, Kristine (my new coworker) and I went to the Gwangmyeong Mine Cave through Meetup.com. It was neat walking through the cave and really made me miss playing minecraft. We went to a market afterwards and tried live octopus (it was awful) with some of the vouchers we received. I left early as the others shopped as my eye was really bothering me. When I got to the eye doctor, I found out I had a small scratch on my eye, so I'm glad that I went in right away. My wonderful friends picked up some food for me though! I have now tried persimmons and quite like them. To me, they are a mix between pumpkin and tomato and are best enjoyed slightly defrosted after taken out of the freezer.

Mel, Kristine, MJ and I 

I met up with the group later on and we went to Hello Nature Cafe (the Sheep Cafe)! We enjoyed some bingsu and played with the sheep. They were so cute and super soft. Of course, since we are in Korea, the country obsessed with Frozen, the sheep were named Elsa and Anna.

Trying to get into the Halloween spirit, one night a bunch of us got cozy in Noelia's apartment with take-out and snacks and watched Beetlejuice. We also went to Everland (Korea's own version of Disneyland" which was Halloween themed for October. We went through one of their horror mazes which left us with some good memories. Mel took one step in and decided to not go through. Maynah or Tatiana got down the first hallway and wanted to give up. We were put into a cage and a guy came in to scare us. But in an effort to not get freaked out, Tatiana just started to talk to him "Want to do shots with us?" and he finally broke out of character to ask us how old we were. I think it could have been scarier but it was still fun. My favourite ride was the rollercoaster.

Kristine, myself, Tatiana, Mel and Maynah

Our "scared" picture, Maynah and Kristine did not catch on though 

Mel and I also joined MJ at the pool last weekend. We went to the Olympic Swimming Pool at Olympic Park to swim laps. It was 6,000 won for 3 hours. A couple things I found interesting was that you have to wear a swim cap (and everyone also wears goggles, although that's not mandatory but are extremely useful). Also every 50 minutes past the hour bells ring that indicate you must get out of the pool and there is a mandatory ten minute resting time. On the hour, bells ring again to indicate you are allowed back in the pool. Mel and I have never taken swimming lessons before, we just swim in our own way. MJ on the other hand is a swimmer. She really helped us learn how to swim freestyle and now we just need practice! I was really happy because I conquered my fear of putting my head in water without plugging my nose. I really have been wanting to go underwater without having to plug my nose especially since I am diving more. I think it will be an important skill to have.

Somewhere along the way, I also went to a Drum Festival... which I don't think I posted about!

And there you have it, tidbits from the last two months <3