Update of sorts and western holidays in Korea

I know, I know. I have been a lazy blogger. Very lazy, my last post was about a month ago. Sorry about that guys.

So I guess I should update you on the happenings here in Korea? 

Well, December, as it always is for me, was a rather busy month. Classes got a little more intense because we were wrapping up for winter break, then there was Christmas to think about and finally English camp. 

So I guess I'll start with holiday's in Korea, in the order I wrote the title. I'll try to keep this brief. 

Western Thanksgiving is non-existent, unless you are of course, western. 

Halloween was just another day, unless you are a foreigner, then you feel it lacking in your life. I don't know if I spoke about this before, but it was the worst holiday for me so far. First, I was barely a month into my contract and second, nobody celebrated it. Nobody. The most that happened was I played a Halloween themed game with the kids. That was it. None of the kids dressed up, no teachers gave out candy, there were no pumpkins, nothing. It was a sad holiday for me. 

I wasn't really sure how I felt about Christmas though. Since working in retail I've had a love hate relationship with Christmas. Pretty much it's like I love food, family, presents and goodies, I hate getting up early, Christmas shopping and all the small talk. I always get stressed out around Christmas. Do I buy that person a gift, what do I get them? Who do I give cards? Should I have a Christmas party? etc etc. 

Then there was work, basically if you work in retail your working everyday and full shifts, no sweet little 4 or 6 hour shifts during the Christmas season! Those shifts are also really busy cause there are soooo many shoppers, just where do they all come from? I don't know. 

Also, I hate seeing the sheer about of crap people buy for Christmas. It's frustrating. Do you really need Christmas balls every year? or is it necessary to buy your kids a billion and 1 presents? (I mean I do like presents, but the amount of gifts I've seen some people buy is ridiculous). I just don't really get it I guess. I mean I like the holiday, but after seeing it from the other side, so to speak, it looks a lot less about family and a lot more about blind consumerism. 

Well there's my rant for the week! Now, in comparison, let's look at Korea. First, Koreans always seem to be shopping, yes there did seem to be a slight upturn in the shopping around Christmas, but it was nothing shocking. I could go into the stores and see just as many people shopping as usual. 

Second, there are very few Christmas decorations. While I can remember in my store we had the entire Homesense side of the store dedicated to just Christmas stuff for at least two months of the year in Korea it was much less in your face. There would be displays of seemingly random Christmas decorations in the front of stores and then maybe something small inside, nothing like Canada. Nothing taking over the entire store. Also, Koreans just take Christmas day off, at least in my job. They don't seem to worry about Christmas a lot. 

Another thing I noticed was going out on Christmas day, the streets downtown were the same as they usually are. No different. Just as many people walking around. It was different. I'm used to empty streets on Christmas, closed stores where you're lucky to find one or two things open. It was just a casual holiday for Koreans though. 

In my classes I tried to ask the kids what they wanted to for Christmas and I got a lot of confused looks, although Koreans do exchange Christmas presents, it was way less exciting. I heard of only one truly ecstatic little girl. My coworkers 4 year old daughter was stoked for Santa to deliver presents. The kids in my classes just seemed to get comic books for Christmas, they also didn't seem to know what flavour candy canes were and they had no idea that you're supposed to kiss when caught under the mistletoe!

I had a small Christmas dinner with some friends who work at a academy together, it was really relaxed. We sat around drinking makali (Korean rice wine), wine, and homemade eggnog; eating pizza, chicken wings and delicious homemade cookies my friend Jackie made in her toaster oven (I don't know how she managed it!) 

New years was a little bit less different for me, Koreans actually seemed to have a new years tradition. The bars were busy when I went out with a different group of friends and we even counted down to midnight at the foreigner bar O'Brian's which was packed with people, I honestly had never seen that many foreigners in one place until new years eve. I'd say my new years eve and the day following were pretty much perfect. 

Despite the late evening my friends and I dragged ourselves out of bed in the morning and caught a bus to Busan, the neighbouring city, and second largest in South Korea. Apparently (as I found out later) many Koreans gather on the beaches of Busan at sunrise to welcome the new day and send off lanterns with hopes for the new year. I was a little sad I missed that, but I had such a fun New years eve with my friends it was okay.

So that's basically the western holiday's I've experienced in Korea so far. I was here for one Korean holiday, but as I didn't know anyone at the time I didn't do anything. It was alphabet day, which happened soon after I got here. 

As I stated in my facebook post I am happy to be here. Korea is beautiful and travelling to see just how big and small the world is has been wonderful. Still, despite my cynicism of the Christmas season, I'm not ready to abandon it altogether. The thing I did miss most was having a delicious, family dinner and spending time with everyone at home. 

Hopefully the new year is full of hope and happiness for everyone!