Korean Kristmas

Christmas!! It was a lovely, wonderful weekend, chalk full of fun events.
My friends and I decided to be together as much as possible, and being with all of them really made it so much easier to be away from home. I am so thankful for these amazing people!!

Saturday began with 35 minutes of potato peeling and a stiff drink. Then I had a shower and got ready for.... a ballet performance of The Nutcracker by the Seoul ballet!! They came to Jinju (conveniently) for one night only- Christmas Eve. Luckily my friends and I knew about it early on and managed to score ten tickets. It was a wonderful performance, full of incredibly talented dancers. The only thing different about this particular performance (from the ones I've seen previously) is that there were a few interesting dance sequences inserted in.... Korean themed dances, in full hanbok. I did not recall ever seeing that before, but it was enjoyable nonetheless :)

the gang! at the nutcracker :)

After The Nutcracker, the lot of us went for dinner at Outback, pretty much the only place in Jinju to get a nice steak dinner. It was lovely to have a big juicy rare steak!!  Truly scarce around these parts.  After dinner, we went to a local bar called Soundgarden and had a dance party.... with sadly almost no Christmas music.  Yes, it was Christmas eve.... but it was just another Saturday night in Jinju! We danced until the wee hours of the morning and retired en masse to CR's place for a sleepover. He graciously agreed to host seven of us, squishing everyone into two beds. It was wonderful to wake up sandwiched between two of my friends.... even though they had to listen to my snoring all night :)

dancing fools!

morning!

so much love, so little mattress 

We all woke happily in various states of disrepair, and those of us whose families were awake were temporarily glued to computer screens, Skyping away. I got to see my family, all together, and it was exactly what I wanted on Christmas morning (so cheesy, but true!). Seeing their faces, even for a short time, made me so happy :) I even got to meet my friends families, which was also really awesome! We spent the morning in and out of the beds, drinking coffee and eating all kinds of treats sent by our families. Caroline made crumpets! There were so many different kinds of high quality chocolate floating around, it was wonderful. We laid together and ate and slept and sang and laughed and watched movies all morning, it was super.

Bryn and Eoin, demonstrating what most of the morning looked like

Some time later, we were hungry enough to begin cooking a tremendous Christmas feast. Everyone pitched in (including me!), and voila! A tremendous meal, including basil roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, eggplant lasagna, even pigs in blankets! After cleaning up, we all left overstuffed, groaning and clutching our stomachs, the way a good holiday should always end in my opinion. (Although... we skipped dessert. Too full!)

All in all, it was one of the best Christmases ever. I'm so lucky to have been able to spend it with such a fabulous cast of characters.

More so soon!
<3M