Meh-Li Keuh-Li-Seuh-Ma-Seuh

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! I wanted to get this blog down before heading off home..uh let's see...TOMORROW MORNING!? I can't believe I counted down the days from 70 (a bit too soon? no.) and now it's time! Half of my suitcase is Christmas presents. I'm so thankful that Beth, Alex, and I can share clothes, because I definitely don't have room for much. My flight leaves Incheon at 1:15pm on Friday, and I get home at 3pm Friday...oooOOOoooo spooky stuff huh? I'm basically a time traveler.

Before I head home, I should catch you all up on happenings here over these last few weeks! Little America has been doing a lot of Christmassy activities, preparing for the big party day where Santa would ultimately visit the school (the real Santa...not me dressed in a red suit with pillows stuffed under a jacket) The students created crafts and sang carols to prepare for his arrival.

 

 

And then the moment came. I tried to capture the surprise on the students' faces when Santa came and it wasn't one of the foreign teachers trying to trick them. Some of them truly believed that Christina's boyfriend (Rij) was the real Santa Clause. Others remained unconvinced, mainly due to the poor beard quality...understandable.

 

 

He had a list and everything! It was a great touch. After getting their pictures with Santa, the students spent the rest of the day playing games and getting hyped up on Christmas spirit (could have been sugar..)

 

As this day was my actual birthday, the teachers pitched in as usual to get a cake from a coffee shop nearby and the students sang me happy birthday! This year however, I was incredibly lucky to have Kaitie and Alex make me one of the most delicious cheesecakes I've ever eaten in my entire life (THANK YOU KAITIE'S MOM!). It was so much better than any cheesecake I've had in Korea since I got here, and nothing will live up to it now...sorry Korean cheescake...

 Birthday Cuddles

Here are my students performing their Christmas song! I apologize in advance for you getting this song stuck in your head for forever...

As usual, they did a great job singing loudly and acting their parts out perfectly! Can't believe I only have 2 more monthly songs with them before they graduate to first grade! Feel like I just started teaching them...

After the wee-ones were sent off home with their Christmas goodies, the elementary students arrived to compete in their song contests. My classes both did great! One had an absent student...happens to me every song contest, but they still performed really well and received second place! Katrina and I combined classes and they got first place with their rendition of Nsync's "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays".

Despite being utterly exhausted after this long day of holiday festivities, it was time to go to our work dinner to find out our Secret Santa from the past week! It is always a blast to guess who you think your Secret Santa is as well as your other coworkers'. I was lucky enough to have Shine Teacher who gave me a super fuzzy sweatshirt to keep me warm as the winter gets colder...and it will...*shiver* As always, the dinner is entertaining and full of laughter as we enjoy each others' company in a less stressful environment. Add good food and some soju and we are all set to go!.....to a norebang...

This weekend, Kaitie and I met our friend Dan out to check out a Body Museum at the war memorial in Yongsan. Expecting something like the exhibits I have previously seen, I was super excited! If you haven't been the the body exhibit in Philly or Baltimore, basically cadavers are set out in different positions were you can see the inside of a human body (and sometimes even a camel...if you're lucky). They also have incredible ways to isolate other body parts such as bodies made of only the blood vessels. Needless to say, I was expecting something mind-blowing.

 Due to a lack of proper advertising on Korean tourism websites, it turned out this exhibit was not exactly the same thing...Basically take out everything I just mentioned and add cartoons, no English translation, and a trippy, microscopic film about the creation of cells in the body. We learned a lot through less-than-stellar translation attempts and pure guesswork. Some parts were actually pretty awesome! For example, there was one interactive screen that showed actual photos of cross-sections of a human body. Sounds gross eh? Hope you aren't eating. Sometimes you just have to roll with it here and things turn out okay. We wandered around the war museum for a while, then headed off to grab some Arabic food at Petra in Itaewon. For those of you who haven't been- you owe it to yourselves to check it out! Get the falafel...and the hummus...and baba ghanoush...let's just say everything is good!

Fast forward to Christmas Eve, where Andy was gracious enough to invite a rather large group of us to her house to celebrate the holidays together with delicious food and a game of Santa Swap. Some of the gifts are not appropriate for this blog, while others were pretty tame...take these pink fuzzy slippers for example...

thrilled to bits

As the evening went on and the food started to disappear we headed out to carol sing (aka terrify local Koreans) on our way to the bar. What better way to spend Christmas away from home than with a huge group of jolly friends looking for an evening to spend together. Add some pretty amazing singing voices and you've got yourself a cheesy Christmas movie!

Kaitie takes on the duck

 

Speaking of cheesy Christmas movies...Christmas morning, Kaitie, Angela, Tarah, and I gathered in Tarah's apartment to have a stocking opening/delicious breakfast/Love Actually watching time together. We each wrapped up some gifts to exchange and spent the morning cuddled up on the heating blanket (the best invention ever) chowing down on some incredible eggs benedict and chocolate-chip-banana pancakes. Can't get better than that right? Sneak some Liam Neeson and Colin Firth in there too....

Our hauls

I love these girls and am so thankful I've met them here. They made my second Christmas day away from home so special! Who could ask for better friends <3

Now...I've procrastinated long enough...I should probably finish packing and get all set to head to the airport tomorrow morning. I will write a post while I'm home (hopefully) so keep an eye out!

xoxox

Korean of the post:
"손가락으로 그것을 느끼고,  나의 발가락에서 그것을 느낄"
(sonkarayeuhro keuhkeoteul neuhkigo, nawi balkarakehseo keuhkeoteul neuhkil)
"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes"

Santas, Sledding, and Surprises

Lots to catch up on in this post! I'll start from the event two weekends ago. For those of you who have been sticking with me throughout my blog posting, you might remember SantaCon from last December. To participate in this event, people (mainly foreigners) dress up as Santa Clause or other related Christmas icons and spread holiday cheer around the town of Hongdae, this includes wandering the streets as well as taking the subway for one stop and scaring the daylights out of the Koreans trying to take a peaceful ride home. Kaitie and I met up with several other Bucheoners to join the rest of the Santa Clauses. Last year was twice as cold, and yet I feel it was much more jolly! This year not many people were caroling or wanting to go as a large group. I felt bad for the leader of the event who was putting SO much energy into getting us all pumped up and moving from place to place. So overall, it was fun! But not as Christmassy as last year. Maybe it wasn't close enough to actual Chrismas...

crowded subway

fearless leader

 

Fast forward to the next week, where at Little America we are preparing for our Christmas celebration. Beginning with a very winter-appropriate field trip to the indoor sledding park, the students arrived to school all bundled up. Last year this field trip was absolutely freezing. I over-prepared this year, sticking myself with adhesive heat packs as well as hand warmers in my pockets. You might think I went a bit overboard but I assure you I was the warmest one in that entire place. My students kept sticking their hands in my pockets to steal my heat packs. Not happening little ones! This sledding trip involves standing in a very long windy line until it is your turn to sit in a triple tube and fly down the hill. The waiting takes about 10-15 minutes and the ride down takes about 5 seconds. It is actually a bit scary going down. As a larger individual (than my students) I did not fit inside the tube so well. Whenever we flew over any bumps I was a bit afraid that I would fly out into the next lane.

"How'd she die?" 
"Oh, she became the first human sledding ramp." 

We did the waiting-sledding routine three times before my girls were just about finished with the whole thing. After a cheesy dancing magic show (of course Korea) we headed back to school, not before running around in the newly falling snow outside!

 

 

Back at school, the students put together some cute reindeer to write their wish for Santa. The overall theme for my students were animals of some sort, whether it be a puppy, a kitten, or a squirrel, they all long for some cute fuzzy thing to play with at home. Not sure how pumped their parents would be to get those wishes, but it's for Santa, and he will try his best!

"I wish for a kitten"

"I wish for a dog"

After school on Friday, Kaitie and I headed off to Tarah's place for a peaceful girls night of drinks and chatting. Walking into her apartment I saw two friends sitting on the couch, nothing out of the ordinary, but then saw a few friends, who usually don't come out to Bucheon, standing in the kitchen, one of whom had a camera pointed at my face. Suddenly the lights turned on and people popped up from around the apartment yelling "SURPRISE!". Apparently, Kaitie had returned the surprise-party favor and planned a birthday celebration behind my back! Touche Kaitie Teacher! I had no idea the whole time she and Katrina were planning this...not even a hint...They are very sneaky.
We spent the evening taking pictures and commenting on how oblivious I was before going out on the town in Bucheon, eventually making it to a norebang to lose our voices for the next day. Thinking back to the party now it just amazes me that I've met these people in the past year and they put so much effort into planning this incredible evening for me! It meant so much to me. Kaitie had put in weeks and weeks of time into creating a photo album of our friendship thus far including trips we've been on and memories from throughout the year. I can't wait to show everyone back home! It is sitting in my apartment and I can't help but open it up every time I see it. Thank you SO much everyone xoxo

my view as I came into the apartment

"super confused"

the pup came too!

The fantastic photo album

My beautiful friends

Thank you both!

Props to Brent- the photographer! <3

That next evening, I had another holiday celebration down at the Osan Airforce base with a friend, Dan. I had only been down there once before, and I was looking forward to going again to meet new people and see where Dan works! After a few...minor delays... in getting to the base (I'm keeping my promise of secrecy), we walked into the party room, greeted by a sea of people in various degrees of holiday outfits. I saw some incredibly-awesome ugly Christmas sweaters, as well as women dressed to the nines in heels and everything. I was able to meet several of Dan's coworkers who were so welcoming and all had really amazing stories to tell! In their line of work, travel is common. One girl is heading off Australia, another couple to Germany, and more to Japan. I loved talking to others who share my love and excitement for traveling. After spending the evening at the party, we left to check out a few places in the town outside the base. The main difference between Bucheon and this area down here is the amount of foreigners. At home I can maybe see one other foreigner walking around during the day, but down in Osan there are so many military families that it might actually be more common to see someone from the US than a Korean. Just felt like I wasn't in Korea for a bit. We grabbed some amazing Thai food and lazed around watching Elf, getting in the Christmassy mood!

Photobombed

Cute Korean face

Overall, it has been such a fun past few weekends. Sorry for the long delay in posting, but I'm sure you enjoyed the quick recap as opposed to short boring ones. The countdown continues until I head home! 11 days today. Slowly losing my ability to focus for long periods of time. Writing this took a lot of will power...

Until next time! xoxo

Korean of the post:
엄마 산타는 소주가 좋아?(eoma, santaneun sojuga joha?)
"Mommy, Santa likes soju?"

Teacher, Turkey is What?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And no I don't just mean us Americans. Thanksgiving abroad does not solely serve us "Yanks". In fact, it is a time where every expat gets together and enjoys this American holiday together in a new country away from family. Instead of staying home eating cup-o-ramen crying about missing your mom's famous stuffing, foreigners here come together, usually in a pot-luck-style dinner to enjoy our friendship and rather unusual situation of being in a different country during this family-oriented holiday. Thanksgiving changes from being a holiday about the American pilgrims (let's be honest, is it still really about that back home?) to a time for new friends to appreciate each other and enjoy favorite comfort foods. The standard turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pie dinner is altered to fit 1) some back home favorites or 2) whatever is easiest to get here in Korea.

This year, a friend of ours (Danielle) graciously and bravely opened her home to a big Thanksgiving dinner. The night before I used my teeny-tiny toaster oven to cook up a big batch of maple-cinnamon carrots. My apartment smelled delicious and got me in the holiday spirit! Kaitie put together some delicious apple cider using some cloves and nutmeg we had miraculously found here, and Christina grabbed some chicken to bring along (see number 2 in the aforementioned types of food people bring). Walking up to her apartment we hear murmurs of activity creeping out from the window. Once the door opened we were greeted by a waft of a busy kitchen and animated conversations from those who had arrived earlier. For those of you who have lived in Korea, this is a common site in apartment gatherings...

And this isn't even everyone's

Everyone was keeping busy either preparing their food in Danielle's kitchen or swapping stories and picking on finger food before the main meal.

As you can see there was quite a spread including some green tea bars (supposed to be cake, but I told Tom I wouldn't say anything about that...sorry Tom), sushi, chicken, tomatoes, cheese and crackers, and of course some wine near the end there. Never thought I'd have a Thanksgiving where sushi and fried chicken were involved, but then again, never thought I'd be abroad for a Thanksgiving either. Here's a closer look at some of our menu items for the evening.

 Green Tea Bars

Traditional pilgrim sushi

 

 Pecan Pie

delicious green salad

Mashed taters

 

Apple crumble and ice cream

Once everything was set out, the hostess organized an assembly line of paper plates and hungry people. We took our small portions of everything (again, different from home) and enjoyed each other's company while probably reminiscing internally of our Thanksgivings past. Then, the teacher in me came out. I had printed out pictures of leaves on fall colored paper for people to write what they are thankful for. I expected the usual groans and moans as my students might give but for the most part people put a lot of thought into their responses. A general theme of supportive family and friends swept across a lot of the leaves as we read them aloud and tried to guess whose was whose.

Others wanted to show their thanks towards things like their "luscious (there isn't spell check on paper) brown hair", everyone's mothers, cheesecake, and Harry Potter.
 

 

Evenings likes this help me recognize that I've created a whole new family here abroad that I never would have met had I not chose to take this journey. Each of us has our own lives back home, but for now we need that support and love from others. We open up to each other quickly and easily. We provide comfort and advice for friends who we might have only met a few times before. We go to each other in times of homesickness or stress. We grab each other's hands and dance to a new favorite song. We over-share...sometimes a lot...

Who knows where we will be next thanksgiving, or even next month, but for this night we are together, bound by the pure fact of being away from home. For Thanksgiving I'm so grateful to have met each and every one of my friends here, those who made it to this dinner and those who didn't. No matter if you come from Canada, England, Scotland, Australia, Korea, Thailand, or America- when you're abroad, Thanksgiving is your holiday too.

I'll leave you with that happy and hopeful note. xoxo to my friends and family around the world. Know that I love you and am so lucky to have you in my life!

Korean of the post:
"큰 바지가 필요"
(keun bajiga pilyo)
"I need bigger pants"