My life in Korea: Holidays in Korea!

A lot has happened since the last blog. Mainly the whole holiday season, in which this is the first time I will be away from family during the Christmas season. Not only was it the holiday season here it was also election season. The election took place on Wednesday the 19^th. Election season here is a lot more spirited than America’s. Maybe because it is so much smaller and a lot less people that each vote means even more, or that the voting is still new to them so there is more pride when it comes to voting. Either way where ever you looked you could not miss it. What it meant for me was a lot of road side aids and hearing the candidates’ names when overhearing conversations. I was able to miss all the media ads because I don’t watch television much here. But that day was exciting; all the schools were closed so it meant a day off mid-week. I took advantage of that and visited friends in a city on the coast called Pohang. It is beautiful town with some great people. It was fun to get away from Andong. Hannie, Denise, Caleb and I went bowling, watched the movie Le miserable, which is how they say it here. I was impressed with it, I don’t need to say that a musical is not my type of movie but this one can be the exception. It was a little long but the acting was astonishing and it is a great story. Then we went to a nice Korean/Italian dinner that was delicious and walked along the beach until we got to a nice coffee shop. Then the four of us just relaxed with our coffee, teas, and hot chocolates and watched as the night waves crashed into the shore. It was relaxing and beautiful. OOOO yeah the election. Well for the first time in the history of Korea a Female was elected to the presidency. Which I had heard opinions from both sides of the election. I think it was a good choice from what I was told. I hope she continues Korea on the right path they seem to be on.

Let’s get to the holidays!!

They started the day I went to the motel office and say a big package with my name on it. I ran it up stairs, opened it and to my delight it was a box of presents. But I didn’t have time to open them; I had to be on the bus in 5 minutes. So I froze for a minute and realized how much I am cared about even 14,000+ miles away. It was a great feeling, but when I met up with my co teacher he asked me what is wrong cause I still had the stunned looked on my face. So happy for the love I was poured with, but also sad that I won’t be with them. When I explained it he was impressed and understood why I was so stunned that day.

Christmas Eve!

Wait what did I do??? O yeah on the 23^rd I went to Incheon to help some of my fellow friends carry luggage and also say good-bye to them as they made their way back to America on Christmas Eve. Which as we stayed in the guesthouse talking about memories made and reflecting on the past five months I was reassured that I am not ready to go home. There is still so much here for me to do. But I know in July it will be time. So on Christmas Eve we woke early and took them to the airport. And at about 930 I was saying See you Later to 5 of the great friends I made over the past 5 months. Luckily they are all from the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area so I will be seeing them again. So it’s Christmas Eve and I am in Seoul. I go to Itaewon a big foreigner district, well its big on the bar scene so being there at 10am there wasn’t much to do. But I did find a Subway sandwich shop. An Italian BMT had never tasted so good. I walked around there for a while meeting up with a friend from orientation who helped a lot when Katie was in the hospital and we had lunch and got some coffee. It was nice to see her again and it is nice to know that the friendship is still there. So nothing special for Christmas Eve, but I enjoyed my day.

Christmas Day!

After a nice pancake dinner with Raven and Corey, I think to myself it is Christmas….. Right??…… as I walk around and every store is open and the streets are filled with people. Yeah Christmas in Korea. It is a couple’s holiday. Not one for the family. Korea you messed this one up! Go home and be with your family. But it was nice because I was able to get coffee with a friend Adam who was leaving soon. Then we went to find food, not as easy as I thought. Everywhere was full, so we ended up getting some fried chicken. Then we met back up later that night for a Christmas party at John’s place. That was a lot of fun. There was about 15-20 people, lots of food and Christmas movies. Then we went to the karaoke room and all sang our hearts out. It was a late night but a lot of fun. And the next morning I was able to Skype with all of my dad’s side which was great, including my Grandma Bush. It was great to see her.

New Year’s Eve/ New Year’s Day

Pohang again, met up with a lot of people I had not seen in a while. We spent a lot of time in coffee shops. When we got a decent group we went to a park at dusk and were able to get a great view of the whole sky line. Those views never get old, especially on beach front cities. We then went back into the city for dinner. I had a special soup that is served over New Year’s. It’s hard to explain but it is very good. Then to another coffee shop where more people joined we ended up having about 11 people. It was great seeing everyone. Time for everyone to choose what they wanted to do and I was lucky enough to go to a church service with Hannie, Krissy, and Bonggi. It was in all Korean but still very inspiring. You don’t need to know what exactly is being said when you can tell the passion they all have in their body language, that is enough to make an impact. At one point we wrote what on post it notes. One was what we want to pray about for our church life and the other about friends and family. Then we got in a line and stuck the notes on the pastor’s podium, and reached in to a pot and got a bookmark with a verse on it. And that is our verse for the year. My verse is 2nd Corinthians 9:10, look it up! I really enjoyed being there for the turn of the New Year. It was a once in a life time opportunity.

Then we went back to Hannie’s and took a short nap. Well we tried but there was too much laughing and talking to sleep at all. We arose at about 3am to pancakes and cold. We made our way to Homigok a famous beach that is the first place in Korea that you can see the sunrise. It is very popular in Korea to watch the first sunrise. If you are going to do watch the first sunrise than this is the place to be. There is a hand coming out of the water that if you get the right angle you can see the hand holding the sun. We didn’t get that angle but it was still amazing. With probably 100,000+ people it was just amazing we got the spot we did. We were on the rock with the waves crashing in about ten feet away with an unobstructed view of the sunrise. I will let the pictures do the talking. We then tried to get caught up on sleep and then we went to a nice buffet. Where we pigged out. My favorite has to be the raw salmon, we put capers, caviar and horseradish sauce on it and it was delicious. Had whale once again and it was a lot better. There weren’t the fat sections that tainted it the last time we had it. Then we rolled ourselves out the door and went to an arcade before all heading our own ways home. It was a great way to spend the holidays if I can’t be with my friends and family back home. I was with my friends and family here.