Christmas in Korea was much different than celebrating in America. There's not much hype throughout the month of December to really get you excited for the holiday. Yes, some stores and restaurants decorate and play Christmas music, but it's not as "in your face." At school, the Christmas tree went up two days before Christmas and the holiday party consisted of a Cooking Class. Not your typical school party like back in the states. But it was fun eating ra bokki and teaching my one class how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They were apprehensive at first, but then gobbled the sandwich up! After work, our friends had a little gathering to play charades and exchange secret santa gifts. I received a t-shirt that says "Noraebang Superstar" in Korean. Love it! (Noraebangs are the private karaoke rooms all over Korea).
On Christmas morning, we actually had a decent pile of presents to open! (Thanks families for sending us packages to make it feel more like Christmas!) Since we're only in Korea for one year, I didn't want to invest in a tree, so we decided to make one out of construction paper, pipe cleaner, pompoms, and a styrofoam angel, then tape it to the wall. I think it's adorable if I do say so myself!
We met our friends for an early dinner at an Italian restaurant and ordered the Steak Set. The steaks are served as a smaller size, but it's a rare delicious treat! While we were at the restaurant, it started to snow for the first time this winter and kept snowing throughout the night! It was absolutely beautiful! It was strange seeing all the families out to eat for the special occassion, since in America restaurants would be closed and you'd be eating a home cooked meal with your family. We hung out with our friends all day and celebrated Colin's birthday at midnight. It was a much different day than what I'm used to, but I'm very grateful for the great friends I had here to spend it with.
During the week leading up to New Years, I noticed that not many people had plans nor did anyone know of anything special that was going on. I was really not in the spirit whatsoever at 8:30 when we left work to go do anything because everyone seemed so blase about the night. But I finally perked up and met some friends at a bar just in time for New Years. There were about 10 foreigners at a table and we did the countdown with a K-Pad because the only thing on TV was the movie Ironman (for about 200th time since I've been here by the way). We lit sparklers, celebrated and had a great time!
But I really have to wonder why the Koreans in the bar continued to watch Ironman when the clock struck 12. Was it just that bar? Or is it really just not a big deal here? Maybe because everyone in Korea turns one year older on the New Year so everyone was depressed about getting older. Or maybe the big celebration is in February during their Lunar holiday. Even our new Malaysian friends were wondering where the fireworks were. At any rate, it was still a great time with good people. After celebrating the New Year, it seemed only right to go to a Noraebang and start 2011 off with some singing!
So peace out 2010...You've been wonderful, depressing, exciting, strange, and a big adventure. You've been filled with lots of highs and lows, kimchi, K-Pop, little rascals, and singing. It's not that I'm happy to see you go, but it's been one heck of a learning experience.
Bring on 2011!!
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