Christmas in Korea

HAPPY PRE-NEW YEAR!!

Being away from home during the holidays can be pretty tough. I was lucky enough to have holidays come to me in the form of my very own Santa. During his vacation from ASP Fran was able to make the “great journey” to Korea to celebrate a Korean Christmas. He was here for 10 fantastic days which where highlighted with some fun days at BR English and touring around Seoul. It was so great to have someone special from home to bring Christmas to me……SA-RANG-AM-NI-DA FRANIMAL!!

Being away from home during the holidays can be pretty tough. I was lucky enough to have holidays come to me in the form of my very own Santa.

Fran happened to arrive during the height of a huge cold spell where temperatures remained between -5 to -10 C. The first few days of his trip I had to work, so Fran came to BR English to see the inner workings of things. To most of the kids Fran was the largest man they had ever seen. They were also taken aback by his beard, which is rare to find in these parts. The kids really got a kick of having him in class and a few I would dare say fell in love with him on sight….not to mention the teachers, who no matter how many times they saw him reminded him how tall and handsome he was. He certainly got the movie star treatment.

A highlight by far of those first few days was the first few seconds that Fran walked into BR English. Still a little jet lagged and in search for his bags that Korea Air lost-----It happened to be a day that not only the President of BR English was visiting our branch but also the day that the head of the local Dahn Center was there. So upon arrival there was literally a welcoming ceremony for him in the front entrance. Master Yoon of BR English invited Fran to come back and stay as long as he wanted--- he added for at least two years or as along as Rose is here, which I thought was a nice touch. He was followed by everyone else including all of my co-teachers. Usually Koreans are very formal when guests arrive, so this was my first view into how formal it got. Anyway, after the royal welcome of bows, hugs, handshakes---people kept bending over backwards to make sure he was doing okay. The main concern of course was--- what would he eat. It’s funny how many times I thought of my Italian grandmother at these moments!

Christmas eve we found ourselves at an Earth Star sake party that Master Yoon put together for us. We traveled down to Migeum center and had a delightful meal and plenty of warm sake to boot. After some formal singing and international sharing of Christmas culture we settled down the evening with some games. Mafia and charades of course….you know if I am involved it will be those two games! 1822-ers will be happy to know that many of the other Earth Stars here are excellent gamers….including Tara, who might top me in mafia. Although I will defend that I died early in all the rounds where she was mafia--- coincidence, I think not!

That night I introduced Fran to the jim-jee-bang (JIM-GEE-BONG) or sauna/spa house, which is one of my most favorite places to go in Korea. There we spent the night bathing and talking in various saunas. We brought in Christmas day lying on the floor around dozens of other snoring Koreas reflecting about the year, talking about life and sharing stories of Christmas. If I couldn’t be at Foundry for Christmas Eve I couldn’t think of another place I would rather be than on that floor--- it was a great way to celebrate Christmas day. When we finally ventured outside Christmas morning we found everything covered with a thin layer of snow…a white Christmas to boot! After saying goodbye to the Earth Stars we headed back to Ilsan for a quiet Christmas day.

Back in Ilsan I went to Lotte Mart--- the Walmart of sorts in Korea—to do some food shopping. While Christmas isn’t a huge religious holiday it is a holiday of eat with family, so the Lotte was PACKED…it was just a zoo. I managed to make it back in one piece only to discover that SANTA came to Ilsan. While I was gone Santa aka Franimal (you are so mafia) set up some gifts from my family and others. There was even a fake mini tree and half eaten cookies and milk. It was really cute! We spent the evening opening gifts and sharing Christmas memories.

The next few days we had a lazy time enjoying each others company and seeing some cool sites in Seoul. While I had been in Korea for about two months I have been so busy that I haven’t made it to the main cultural sites. So, this was a good time to go.

Some highlights:

Going to the Korean National History Museum—this was my second time, but this time was a little less rushed and while I saw less of the museum I feel like I took in a lot more. We totally explored the Korean history floor, which was very cool. I was once again taken aback by how big the museum is--- 6^th largest in the world and largest in Asia!

Impromptu stop to City Hall--- we had heard about some fantastic holiday light show, which was pretty, but not “fantastic”—BUT while we were there we decided to walk our cold butts down the road to one of the famed “city gates”. Namdae-mun (or The Great South Gate), which site smack in the middle of huge traffic circle between City Plaza/City Hall and Seoul Station. This is the largest and oldest gate in Seoul. It use to be the tallest structure in Seoul, which of course is ironic considering it is now towered by huge modern skyscrapers. It was first built in 1396 and was rebuilt several times and last restored after the Korean War. It was a very cool site--- but too cold to stay for too long. (Hey Fran--- National Treasure #1--- I guess we found it!)

Chang-deok-gung--- (“gung” is palace and “Chang-deok” means Illustrious Virtue) one of the first palaces that I have visited in the country and everything about it blew me away! This palace, which is considered one of the best preserved in Korea, was named one of the nine UNESCO historical sites in Korea. Originally built in 1405 during the height of the Joseon dynasty it was originally the “annex building” for the larger seat of the kings power at the neighboring palace--Gyeong-bok-gung. The original building was destroyed during the Japanese invasion and the building was rebuilt but used as the official king’s palace as the other was destroyed and then occupied by Japanese colonizers. Some part of the royal family lived here until 1989. Besides the wonderful architecture I was blown away with the gardens--- even in the dead of winter. Biwon, or Secret Garden, was highlighted by a man-made pond with palace buildings surrounded by it—these were mainly used by the scholars of the time to think and plan for the country’s future. They studied art, science and religion not to mention creating poems---a favorite pastime. The garden also had an impressive wooded area that had huge historic looking trees that were hundreds of years old--- including a 1000 year old Chinese Juniper tree that was suppose to look like a dragon, but I didn’t see it.

Seoul Tower--- After the palace we ventured up to the top of Seoul Tower on top of Mt. Nam San (meaning South Mountain). The tower was built for television broadcasting in 1975 and then opened to the public a few years later. The tower is now a modern funky looking thing that is shaped similar to the Space Needle in Seattle. It boasts the best views of Seoul and it was clear why. We were there at night, but even then you could get a feel for how HUGE the city it--- it just goes on for days and days. It was a cool site!

Gyeong-bok-gung--- Shortly after the founding of the great Korean Joseon Dynasty a grand royal palace was to be built. Meaning “Palace of Shining Happiness” it was originally about 500 buildings and the main seat of power and government. As said before the Japanese burned everything to the ground and most of the grand treasures were removed during the colonial rule. Similar to the Chang-deok I was taken aback by the intricate artistry that all of the architecture had—especially in the interlacing roves and eves marked with all of the animals of the zodiac everywhere. Within the palace there still remains a bunch of important buildings including the scholarly home of the man that invented han’geul or the written Korean language. Now compared with modern languages Korean is considered to be one of the best constructed languages in history. There is also the great hall of “felicitous gatherings” where wondrous banquets were held outside. The palace was impressive and while heavily trafficked with tourist—it had the nice touch of cool tour guides who offered her own side opinions of Korean feelings towards the Japanese, the current government and the other wrongs done to the people of Korea….I of course loved hearing that side of it almost more than the history!

By the end of the week we felt satisfied with all of our journeys. Of course the time was never long enough and I wish I could have taken more time off, but we made the best of it--- in fact one of our favorite nights was cooking a really yummy dinner and reading The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, which of course I hadn’t remembered much of since my childhood. Certainly one of the cool things was sharing this country with someone from home and seeing the country through their eyes as well. I have to admit that Fran was quite the trooper and did well with all of the obstacles in this country--- the food, the language, the new customs, even sitting on the floor EVERYWHERE…..things that I have by now gotten use to. Again he was great!

A special thanks to all of you that shared little gifts and sentiments of Christmas with me--- it was really wonderful to feel so loved being so far away from home!

Miss you all tons and tons!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Peace, Rose