Christmas Season in Korea

I know it's not quite December yet but it's after Thanksgiving so I'm sure that Christmas is everywhere in America.  It is not quite that way here though.  We have come across some stands set up on the street selling Christmas decorations (usually at ridiculous prices) and some of the bigger department stores set up Christmas lights and decorations in the big shopping areas, but overall Christmas is definitely not the same in Korea.  One of the stores we shop at had a small section of "European-Style Christmas Decorations" the other day but it was not nearly as big or flashy as back home.  I was actually rather disappointed when I tried to do some Christmas activities with my students this week and found out their knowledge of some popular Christmas traditions was almost nothing!  In Korea, Christmas has become intended to be a romantic holiday for couples, rather than families and children.  It's a time where young Korean couples can walk around the areas by the expensive department stores looking at the decorations and buying expensive gifts, though still VERY absent of the commercialism we are used to seeing in America.  Most of the kids talk about getting some presents but it doesn't seem to be a big deal to them.  The real holiday for kids is Children's Day (May 5th).  Children's Day is a national holiday where everything is closed and parents spend the whole day doing things out and about with their kids.  And that's when they get A LOT of presents.  When I realized one of my elementary classes didn't know much about Santa (they guessed Rudolph made the toys so no, it isn't a translation issue) I asked them which holiday they are more excited for, Christmas or Children's Day.  It was quite clear that Children's Day is much more important to the kids here!  Although they do look forward to their winter vacation from school.  We have a one week vacation at the end of December but it doesn't start until after we work our regular full day schedule on Christmas Eve.  But we do have Christmas Day through New Years Day off so we are looking forward to a nice little break.

We plan to go searching for some Christmas lights and decorations to look at over the next couple weekends so that we can at least say we did something Christmasy.  After all Christmas in Korea is intended for couples!  And if nothing else: Starbucks has their red holiday cups and plays English Christmas music at all hours!  We do, of course, have a few decorations up in our house and tonight there is the smell of applesauce coming from the crockpot and a Christmas movie on the TV to go with our hot chocolate.  We think we can still make it feel almost just like Christmas :)

Post Thanksgiving Shopping and Feast

Even though there was no Black Friday shopping to be had in Korea, I decided I should still keep with tradition and do some shopping after Thanksgiving.  So I ended up spending most of my Saturday at the street markets where I found myself a purse and Eric some gloves, although the thumbs turned out to abnormally large compared to the other fingers... I guess that's why the guy told me "I give you good price.  Good price just for you."  I was also excited to find some Christmas decorations at the Daiso store (similar to the dollar store)!  They actually had some Christmas decoration stands at the street markets but I thought the prices were ridiculously high so I had to resort to Daiso.  I guess they know they won't sell much so they have to make everything expensive!

On Sunday I employed the use of my crockpot, for the second time, to make mashed potatoes, for the second time.  But this time I made a lot of mashed potatoes to take to a Thanksgiving potluck we were going to go to at a small international church.  Everyone knows that I am not a cook, that's why I married one, so I was pretty excited that I successfully made something (besides a baked dessert) that other people ate.  The potluck was pretty amazing and just like Thanksgiving.  There was a huge turkey that someone was able to get from the base, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, fruit, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, cookies, rice (of course), kimbap, bulgogi, pizza and much, much more!    There were quite a few people but also a whole lot of food and we both got plenty full on a traditional Thanksgiving meal along with a few extra side dishes.  Eric's only problem was that eating mashed potatoes with chopsticks wasn't very "American."  But at least we know how to eat mashed potatoes with chopsticks now :)  The potatoes were much easier than the corn...

 

Yes, I'm excited about our new crockpot so I took pictures of my mashed potato making...

Thanksgiving in Korea

Happy Thanksgiving America!! In many ways it’s hard to believe it is already Thanksgiving!  Yes, it was a different one for us this year for sure, including having to work just another regular day.  We greatly missed spending time celebrating the holiday with both of our families and eating two huge meals that left us feeling full for the next few days.   But it was also a special time for us as we enjoyed our small, different, Thanksgiving meal together, just the two of us, reflecting on all we have to be thankful for.  Not only do we have so much to be thankful for since we have arrived in Korea, but living here and experiencing a different side of the world has given us a new perspective on many things.   We wouldn’t trade the experience we are having here in Korea for anything in the world.  It has, and continues to, stretch us as individuals and as a married couple.  We are so thankful for all that we have learned over the last 8 months.  Navigating a new country very different from our own that comes with a completely different culture and language has not been easy at times for sure, but an amazing experience we will never forget and an opportunity that we are so thankful for. 

Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of ham, mashed potatoes (my first creation with my new crockpot!), Kraft macaroni and cheese, rolls and corn.  And afterwards we watched a Thanksgiving movie to top it off: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  As much as we missed spending the day with family and will be thinking about everyone sitting down together tomorrow, we are incredibly thankful for all that we have in our lives right now.  Here are a couple reflections of our thanks...

One thing that we are especially thankful for this Thanksgiving: to be an American.  We have learned up close and personally how Americans are often stereotyped in other parts of the world, often not in a good way.  There have been numerous occasions where we have definitely noticed how much of a minority we are here in Korea.  There are more than a few people that look down on us because of the simple fact that we are American.  But yes, we have a new appreciation for being American.  While Americans continue to complain or overly rejoice about the recent election, last week in China, 1.3 billion people were simply told who their next leader would be with no public input whatsoever.  Last December, a country located barely 100 miles from where we are sitting right now was told who their next leader would be as well, not even aware that other countries like America have a choice in whom leads their country.  Yes we have a new respect for what it means to be American and the freedoms and opportunities, like the one we are experiencing right now, that come with it.  

We are extremely thankful for the love and support of our whole family even when we are so far away.  We miss them so much but are so thankful for how important they are in our lives.  We are thankful that we have been blessed with full time jobs that we both love and enjoy.  We are thankful for all of the people that we have met in Korea, without whom we would be just as confused as when we stepped off the airplane for the first time.  We are thankful for each other and that we get to have this adventure and experience together.  Neither one of us can imagine doing it alone, but having the opportunity to do it together is something we will be forever thankful for and never forget.  And of course the list goes on…

 We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy all the time you get to spend with loved ones!  Know that we are thinking of you and wish we were there with you!

Our Thanksgiving table for two  :)

November Weekend

There is not a whole lot to report from our weekend once again.  We have been choosing to stay home and be lazy in our warm house for the most part.  However, we did pick up a few small things on our list for the house, including a teapot because when Koreans come to your house you are supposed to give them instant coffee and it's a bit embarrassing when you have to heat the water in a noodle pot...  We have plans to get some pictures and things up on the walls in the very near future now that we have frames and hooks and yes, the oven will be coming right after the first of the year we are planning! 

We decided to make Saturday night a date night and try a buffet restaurant we heard about a while ago.  It was an international buffet and steak place.  The food wasn't the greatest but it was definitely nice to be able to choose from so many different options!  They had pizza, pasta, salad, soup, bread, Asian noodles, dessert and even a taco bar!  We also ordered some pork ribs which were quite good.  The only thing missing was the kimchi.  Yes, when we go to a restaurant in Korea (with the exception of fast food) we now expect (and take advantage of) the all-you-can-eat kimchi. 

We have yet to decide exactly what we will be doing for our first American Thanksgiving here in Korea but will let you know later in the week what we ended up with.  Regardless of what we eat for dinner, we definitely know we have a whole lot to be thankful for this year!  I have been attempting to teach my kindergartners a little bit about American thanksgiving, but I think they are struggling with the fact that they worked really hard to color cute pictures of turkeys when people in America are just going to eat them.  We hope everyone back home has a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Happy Pepero Day!

Since I have been slacking on the blogging I thought I would make up for it by doing two posts in one day!  And because in the last post I totally forgot to wish everyone a Happy Pepero Day!  While Americans are celebrating Veteran's Day, Koreans are celebrating Pepero Day on 11/11.  Pepero Day is when everyone buys the snack pepero, simply because pepero looks like a stick and can be arranged to look like the date 11/11.  The first reaction we had when learning of this holiday:  They don't celebrate Halloween but they celebrate something like that??  Strange, I know.  The displays and gift baskets of pepero are just as prevalent and large as the spam baskets available during the Korean Thanksgiving holiday.  I bet they went overboard crazy last year when it was 11/11/11.  This is what pepero looks like.  It is very similar to Japanese "pocky" that can sometimes be found in the US. 

Several kids at school were bringing boxes of pepero on Friday to share with the other students and teachers

One more thought for the day:  Tonight while out and about we passed a stand on the street selling fruit, particularly a very large quantity of apples for very cheap.  This is how we always buy our fruit but I thought the price for apples was even better than normal so I jumped on it.  The only problem was it was dark and I didn't take the time to look closely at the apples before buying them.  When we got home I realized they were already starting to go bad and that I should probably do something with them ASAP.  So, lacking an oven and having only a few ingredients on hand, my Sunday night consisted mostly of making applesauce.  However, I did find a recipe for an apple skillet cake which I decided to test out.  It received a thumbs up from both of us.  I still have some apples left so I may make another attempt at some sort of stove top apple dessert tomorrow.  Or more applesauce.

  You were supposed to flip it out of the pan so that the apples were on top but this picture turned out much nicer than the one after I attempted to flip it onto a plate!

Cheonggyesan

I realized it's been a while since we blogged, mainly because we've been taking our time enjoying our home.  Staying home and relaxing has been our idea of a nice weekend the last few weeks.  It's been so nice to finally live very close to work, very close to a grocery store, and a bit closer to a subway station too.  We are definitely enjoying it!

On Saturday I was invited to go hiking with a couple girls I met recently.  We went to Cheonggyesan (Cheonggye Mountain).  It was so beautiful!  The fall colors on the trees were amazing and the view from the top was great too.  The hike was relatively short, coming from the Pacific Northwest I would have called it a hill not a mountain, but the climb was also pretty steep at times I thought.  It was located on the south side of Seoul and it was easy to tell that the air was already much nicer than the air in the middle of the city.  We were also very surprised with how quiet the trail was.  Normally Koreans of all ages are out hiking every weekend of the year, but at least not on the path that we took to the top this time.  It was nice and quiet with just the three of us on the trail and we could really take our time and enjoy the trees and the view as we went.  Last night I met up with another friend and we toured the Seoul Lantern Festival since this was the last weekend it would be here.  Actually we toured it from a distance after the nightmare experience of the last "festival" we went to.  It was pretty neat though.  Many different countries contribute lanterns of different things which are lit along a stream that runs through the city.  Instead of walking down along the stream with everyone else, we were able to get a good enough view by walking along the road and looking down at the lanterns and the stream.  Meanwhile, Eric spent the day seeing a movie and browsing through the electronic shop before spending some more time relaxing at home.  :)

The weather was perfect for hiking and being outside on Saturday as well: sunny and not too cold.  All we feel during the week is how cold it is outside when we leave work at night.  Our classrooms at work are heated but the hallways, stairs, and bathrooms are not.  I already find myself bundling up before I make my way into the hallway or up the stairs!  It's quite amazing how quickly we can forget about that awful summer weather!  It has felt quite cold for the last couple weeks and will likely stay that way at least through March.  Thank goodness for lots and lots of layers!

 View from the top of Cheonggyesan

 Some of the fall colors we saw on our way up the mountain

Seoul Lantern Festival