Christmas in Korea

I'm not going to lie, I'm not really in the Christmas spirit this year. There is no snow, nothing is decorated (i.e. no trees and no lights), and my family and friends are thousands of miles away; it feels like any other day, except that I don't have to teach tonight. It's really weird to "hear" (via Facebook) everyone back home talking about Christmas. Christmas just isn't big here so it's hard to feel festive and get excited about a holiday that's barely noticed. Oh well. The big holidays here are Chuseok (like Thanksgiving) and Children's Day. The women dread Chuseok because they have to slave away all day, and the men love it because they get to do nothing (again, like Thanksgiving). Children's Day is in May, and the kids get the day off from school and people give them little gifts. So yeah, Merry Christmas to everyone back home...I really miss you and wish I was there to spend the holidays with you.

Some little tidbits about Koreans:
They go to the beach to sit under an umbrella...they DO NOT want to get a tan, even though their skin would tan quite easily, because they want to look white. They think white skin in beautiful, so the whiter the better.
Similarly, they think black people are funny/odd/strange/dirty. They can't believe that the Americans chose a black man to be their president. They have the "Why on earth would they do that?" kind of attitude about it.
There is no sound for "z" in the Korean alphabet, so Koreans use "j" for English words that start with "z." So the age old joke among ESL teachers here is about the Jews. If you ask kids if they want to go to the zoo, or if they like the zoo, they say, "No Teacher, I hate joos (Jews), they are dirty!" Kind of funny.
I saw man in his 50's riding a bicycle while wearing a business suit. Kind of an interesting little spectacle.

I did go grocery shopping finally so I have some of the basics. I was a little bummed that I had to pay almost six bucks for a jar of peanut butter, but PB is a necessity in Jaime Land. I almost bought some stuff to make my apartment look a little more like someone actually lives here. Day 2 & 3 of teaching were more enjoyable than the first day because the material was far more interesting and I'm getting to know my kids a little better. And I successfully navigated my way to Daegu Station to pick Angie up when she got off the train last night. It was about half an hour walking briskly from my place to the station and about 40 minutes at a more leisurely pace.

So yes, Ang is up for the long weekend, and we'll be heading to the MoonKkang Christmas party this evening. The rest of the weekend is up in the air, but we'll probably do a bit of exploring in my neighborhood and around downtown Daegu. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas...I'll be missing you!!!