It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

As you might have guessed, Christmas is not a big deal in Korea like it is back in the states. I wanted to take a moment to share all of the winter and holiday scenes that I’ve encountered here. 

First of all, on Christmas Eve we stayed at school late to tear down the fake tree and decorations. Obviously, since there was a tree to tear down, people DO decorate here; however, based on everything I’ve seen it seems as though Christmas in Korea was created at the 99 Cent store. Imagine tacky garland, tinsel and plastic jingle bells…

One of my favorite tributes to the season has been the properly deemed “party bus” that is decked out from the bus driver’s head to toe.

  

Another highlight was running into the man himself, standing outside the Samsung store (hopefully picking up presents). The rule is, if you see Santa on the street you have to stop and take a picture. He is not like one of those snobby celebrities who run from the paparazzi… he uses magic to disappear when he doesn’t want his picture taken, duh!

 

Seoul has done a beautiful job getting into the spirit of things with a great display of white lights (LED = planet friendly) outside of city hall. There is even an ice skating rink!   

 

Finally, around the city and even in Paju there are sprinkles of lights. There has even been a bit of snow and heavy packages to really get me in the spirit.

   

   

As for the holiday itself, on Christmas Eve we played games with the kids and had Santa come hand out gifts to everyone. I got a ton of incredible pictures… unfortunately, in my Christmas daze, I left a bag that contained my camera on the bus last night. The silver lining is that I HAVE to buy a new camera before I leave for the Philippines ;) Long story short, the photos I would have shared are gone with the camera… but I did take a few on another memory card that was safely stowed in my purse.

  

 

Right now it is actually “Boxing Day” (which if you don’t speak Canadian or British, it means the day after Christmas).  The parade of expats just left my apartment after a fun day of pot luck, charades and Christmas Vacation. We even had a little Secret Santa action going on!

Overall, not a terrible Christmas away from home… but since it was my first one away from home EVER, it did have some difficult moments. I am planning on being home next year at this time, so mark it on your calendars and get excited!

 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.