Merry Christmas greetings from Korea. We had snow yesterday, two days shy of Christmas but we are enjoying it. (view is from our window)It's funny to see people deal with the snow because it is not that common here to have it stay around. Last night out for a walk we saw some one who had chains on their vehicle for 2 inches of snow, quite funny.
So our holidays started on the 24th and we have been enjoying ourselves ever since. Definitely a very different Christmas but a memorable one for sure.
We were invited to a couple of Christmas parties by friends we made through church. Definitely a fun time playing games and eating an amazing pre-Christmas meal on the 19th. It is wonderful that Korea has Costco and that you can get so many familiar foods. We didn't have turkey because most of us don't have ovens that we can bake in. All we have is a natural gas 2 burner stove top. But we made the best of it. We did eat well meat balls, chicken, and Korean bulgogi. With our Bible study group we had a carol sing night and shared what Christmas meant to us. It was very encouraging.
On the 25th Chris and I spent the morning together, talking with my family and opening a few gifts. Then we prepped for the dinner we hosted. It turned out to be a wonderful time. We had people from 5 different countries represented. A couple we met at church (Australia and US), my Korean friend Christine. Claire (New Zealand) a girl who lives in the same building and works for our company. We enjoyed playing games and a great pot luck dinner. Unfortunately we didn't take a good picture of the meal. But, we do have a great shot of the Christmas cake. I must say Koreans are good at decorating cakes.
Here we are feeling good after lots of yummy food. Definitely a Christmas to remember.Just wanted to mention that Christmas is not really celebrated here in Korea. It's more of a day that friends and couples get together and do things. I think some families celebrate with presents and decorate their houses but extended families don't get together. Also the market and businesses by our house were just as busy as any other day.
This is Christmas morning and out lil gift table. So it's actually winter now we are having weather around 0 to -15. I am not complaining because I know many of you are having much colder winters there in Canada. We have also been watching NBA over the Internet which has been great. So this has been a bit of a scattered blog of thoughts. I cant seem to get it flowing at the moment. I will be back after the new year and after we spend sometime at our winter break get away in Asan Korea. One other thing is that we can not believe we are already down to 5 months left here. Well until next time!~
Happy New Year Becca & Chris! I just spent some time catching up on your blogs. Very interesting reading. I was glad to see you take advantage of time off to get out and see more of the country, etc. It was interesting to read of your homesickness, Becca and how you feel you don't fit in. It reminded me how things can change over the generations. Raeanne and Pablo's next door neighbours in Santiago are a Chilean husband/Korean wife. I can't remember how old she was when her family immigrated from Korea to S. America but she considers herself Chilean and has never been back to Korea. It never seems strange to hear Raeanne speak Spanish but it seems strange to hear someone who looks Korean speak it. The world is sure a lot smaller to me than it was a few years ago! Take care. Aunt Louise.
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