Christmas In Korea

Its that time of the year again, when family and friends gather together to celebrate love and friendship, and here on Jeju we're trying our best to do the same. This was my first year away from home for Christmas, and as hard as that was to accept at first, I'm sure it won't be the last.

They saying goes, "home is where the heart is," and I firmly believe in that. It doesn't matter whether you're staying with your family in the house you were raised in, or visiting friends in a far away city, the only thing that's important is that you try and spend what time you can with the people you care about...or at the very least, with people you can stand to be around for more than ten minutes.

To liven things up a bit more on the island, and in an attempt to join in on the Christmas spirit, we celebrated with the 2nd Annual Christmas Pub Jumper last weekend. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "jumper", it simply refers to a sweater. A sweater you "sweat" in, which makes obvious reference to its warming properties, but do we "jump" in a jumper? Maybe its jump into a jumper? Either way, I was confused...but nothing a little alcohol couldn't remedy.

We started the night off by all meeting up at this popular spot down on the waterfront in Seogwipo-si, Tipi (or Teepee). Usually, I've been told, there is a tipi setup on the patio out back that you can actually sit in and drink; it must have been in the shop for repairs. What started off as a few people soon erupted into a full size party, with guests arriving with their secret santa gifts. Many people, not myself, had participated in a secret santa, and the party was the perfect time to exchange their gifts. Even though I didn't get anything, it was still nice to see someone opening a gift.



After several pictures and pints of beer, some of us decided to get this jumper challenge going and head off to the next bar. What I wasn't aware of was that we would be walking up a steep hill to get there. Even so, we made our way in several groups towards the downtown district of Seogwipo-si.

We stopped at the batting cages and I couldn't resist the opportunity. I managed to hit a few, which is about on par with how I usually fare. I noticed the soccer ball kicking game out of the corner of my eye, and again, I just had to give it another go. After setting the high score of the evening (again), I then connected with the steel bar that held it together, and in doing so, injured myself; it really hurt...a lot. I'll definitely think twice about trying that again.

Limping along the way, we made it to our next stop and cast our vote in the ugliest sweater of evening. Unfortunately I didn't win, but not everything is about winning, but rather how you deal with losing; more drinking seemed like an appropriate response.

After a few more stops and a few more drinks, I decided to call it a night and headed off. I really enjoyed the night, and it definitely brought out the "spirit" in Christmas. However, the christmas festivities didn't stop there, that was just the beginning.

Only a few short days later and it was Christmas eve, and at work, we decided to celebrate with a "cuny" party. Cuny are these lamented cards that we use at my school as a kind of reward. Every time a student does something good, or does well on a test or in class, we give them some cuny. Every other month we have a party where the kids can exchange these cards for candy, chips, toys, etc., anything and everything a kid could want. It comes in values of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 2000. The better the student, the more cuny awarded. Its a good system, and seems to work well with keeping the kids in line.

Since it was Christmas eve, we thought a holiday cuny party was appropriate. So after buying some supplies and getting everything ready, the kids stormed our school with screams of joy and excitement that no sane adult can bare.



My job for the day was to think of some fun games and activities to preoccupy some of kids, so that they didn't overwhelm the cuny counter with demands for this and that. I thought of a few games including: Santa says (similar to simon says), a rock-paper-scissors team challenge to spell Ho-ho-ho with letters drawn from a bag, a blind snowman drawing game, and pin the carrot nose on Frosty. The last seemed to be the most popular with kids, so we ended up playing that one the most.



After a long day of playing virtually non-stop games with the kids, I was glad to come home to a peaceful and quiet apartment. Waking up bright and early, I had hoped to have a Skype call with my family back in Canada, but due to some unforeseen problems, I had to settle for a msn chat instead. Although not as rewarding as actually hearing their voices and seeing their faces, it was still good to chat with the family altogether.

I did however, get a gift for Christmas, although it wasn't from my family, but I have already received two brand new cameras before coming to Jeju as a present...so that makes up for it. Still, a card would have been nice. The one thing I did get on Christmas was a decent turkey dinner, complete with stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. A few of my new friends and I opted to go to Gecko's for their festive feast, which they have been offering all this month...and it was delicious.



The owner of Gecko's was a good friend of Brian's, and she bought us a few rounds of shots. We raised our glasses together, and in holiday fashion, wished each other a merry Christmas. To each and everyone, I wish you a merry Christmas and happy holidays!