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

Plans!

I woke up feeling Monday morning feeling happy and generally stoked about the future. It's not a feeling I often get; excitement is mostly smothered by anxiety. But it's Wednesday morning and the feeling still hasn't gone away. There are so many things happening- very soon- to look forward to!

For starters, this weekend is Christmas :) It's my first Christmas away from home, and though it makes me sad to not be with my family, I'm happy to be with my friends here in Jinju. I feel more and more lucky to know them as the days go on :) Friday at school, I'm throwing my students a proper school Christmas party, and I'm going to surprise them by dressing up as Santa, haha. Saturday night, my friends and I are all going to a performance of the Nutcracker at the Jinju Art Center, and then to a big steak dinner at Outback. Then we're having a group sleepover at CR's house, followed by a big breakfast and potluck lunch! The weekend can't come quickly enough.

The next week, I have two days of vacation to use however, and then of course it's New Year's Eve! Plans are still solidifying for that week/end, but I know whatever I do, I will be with my people, and it's going to be 100% great.

The Monday after New Year's, January 2nd, starts two weeks of "winter camp" for me, which is basically a continuation of school, but with less students (I'll be working with only about ten students, instead of my usual 110). I really wasn't looking forward to this initially, but I made a plan today to make it a "Hollywood Camp," and for two weeks, I'm going to teach my students how to write scripts, act, direct, and make movies in English. I've scoured the internet for tons of materials, and I feel prepared and excited about it. I'm predicting it will yield hilarious results.

After camp, I will have my first visitor in Korea- Ian is coming! I can't wait to be a tour guide.
After Ian comes, we will fly out of Busan together, and I'm going to Thailand for a week!!! Even better, I get to see my sister in Bangkok the night I get there!! It will be my first solo vacation, and I could not be happier about it. I can't wait eat heaps of delicious street food. The good things just keep coming.

I know the next two months are going to just fly by with so many amazing things happening. After I get back from Thailand, six months will have passed since I've been here! Winter will be almost gone and the events and destination weekends will start piling back on (March is the beginning of festival season, which lasts until late November). Then comes the time to start evaluating things....

More soon!

Visions of Seoul

As predicted, my weekend in Seoul was wild and crazy! All in all, there were probably about 700-800 santas, cramming into a subway, caroling, and generally spreading the Christmas spirit. It was beautiful!! It was super fun. But rather than further cheapen the experience with words, I present to you a slew a photos:

the bus ride down. everyone is lively, happy, and excited!

santas in action, hongdae

here we are, watching a complete lunar eclipse in hongdae, seoul. it was amazing!

we quickly made lots of new friends, haha

attempting to navigate the streets....

this lovely old man pulled my hand to sit down next to him on the subway. we cuddled for a little while.

surely more to come soon!
<3 M