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it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas…

this year would only be the second time i have ever done christmas away from my family. the first time was in mozambique a couple of years ago when i was working in a backpackers there.  that turned out to be just fine so i wasn’t too apprehensive about doing it again. of course christmas is a time for family but when far from home your friends become your family and you are able to have a really special time.

i knew i would be getting excited for christmas early as i was going to make it the theme in my lessons for the 2 weeks prior to christmas. we were going to listen to christmas carols, learn christmas vocabulary and play a christmas game. so i had christmas on the brain constantly in the weeks leading up to it, it helps that i had friends who were equally excited. we shared lesson ideas and christmas plans and generally just let the christmas spirit envelope us.

teaching christmas to the students was interesting. they all know who rudolph is, but they have no idea what a reindeer is. show them a picture of one and say what is this? rudolph! ask them what kind of animal he is? rudolph! eventually you may glean “deer” i have now improved their english vocabulary substantially by including the words reindeer, mistletoe and egg nogg. the best was when i asked them what christmas carols they knew and the whole class started singing “last christmas” by wham. strangely when i asked them if they were excited for christmas many of them said no. when i asked why they said it was because they don’t have boyfriends. apparently christmas in korea is a couple thing. for most of them on christmas day the plan was to eat cake and watch a movie.

i had somewhat bigger plans. already in september me and my friends had hatched a plan to rent a pension close to daejeon. we all wanted to wake up together and open presents and eat delicious food. some of the gang had experienced korean christmas the year before and were determined not to do it again – no kimchi and fish soup! so with a pension booked, secret santas assigned and menu devised this christmas seemed to have all the makings of a success.

christmas actually started a couple of days early. me and hannah (my twin) were actually going to be separated for christmas so we planned a pre-christmas dinner/gift exchange on thursday night.  the night before that we made and decorated christmas cookies.  she decorated her house all christmassy (including christmas lights!), we listened to christmas music and i made dinner. it was lovely. christmas eve was friday and as me and hilette were in charge of the food for the weekend we were the ones shopping in costco for christmas deliciousness. we managed to stuff everything in a taxi and head to the pension, no easy task (we didn’t really have a clue where it was). we eventually found it and were delighted to see that it was beautiful. not so delighted to discover only one stovetop and no oven or microwave. but ‘n boer maak ‘n plan and we had prepared for this eventuality by buying roasted chickens from costco. while most of the people went out me, hillete and paddy stayed home, drank hot chocolate and watched love actually. i fell asleep to love actually which is my christmas tradition : )

throughout the night and in the morning more of our little family arrived. we woke up in a nice christmas bed all over the floor. quite a few of the elves were hungover. but luckily not me and mamma hilette (the designated chefs). first things first though, we had the opening of the presents. what christmas morning is all about! we’d done the secret santa thing and it was fun finally discovering who our santa was. i think everyone was happy with what they received, i know i was : )

now the second most important part of christmas – the food. me and hilette had gone wild at costco. breakfast was bacon, eggs and croissants. we would spend basically the rest of the day preparing dinner. the entire length of the window sill was occupied by bottles of wine. we were nine people in the pension and i think there were 20+ bottles. we wasted no time trying to make a dent in that collection.  throughout the day the other little elves lolled about, drinking wine, playing boardgames, knitting and listening to christmas music. occasionaly being fed snacks by me and hilette (cheese and crackers, strawberries). with only one stove top and nine mouths to feed a feast to, it was not the easiest cooking experience. but it was lovely and everyone was very helpful. christmas dinner was my tomato soup, bread buns, roast chicken and ham, veggies in cheese sauce, paprika’s stuffed with camembert cheese and wrapped in bacon, and a waldorf salad. and of course wine. lots of wine.

so christmas day was a day of wine, friends and food. there were some light snow flurries outside but the real snow came on boxing day. the whole world was transformed in a white winter wonderland. it was magical. the view from our pension was picturesque and after we had packed up our home for the weekend. we played in the snow while waiting for our bus back to daejeon. the festivities however weren’t over. there was a lovley potluck dinner organised at a restaurant in daejeon – a private event so we had the restaurant to ourselves. it was cozy and had a piano so we spent the night singing christmas carols, lighting sparklers and generally having good christmas cheer.

monday was back to school. only christmas day is a public holiday in korea and as it fell on saturday we didn’t get any time off, this was actualy the first time in my life that i was working around christmas… no worries though, we made the absolute most of it and it was lovely to be with my expat family.  those of us staying another year have vowed to re-create the experience and i’m definitely looking forward to it : )