Not being home for the holidays this year made me realize how much I will appreciate these times with family and friends once I'm home again. Although I missed being home and it was odd not being there for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner when Grampy comes over, dinner out on Christmas Eve before church, big family Christmas party at Grandma's, lounging around on Christmas Day, or ringing in the New Year with my friends, I certainly enjoyed the holidays with my friends who have become family here in Korea.
Halloween
They don't celebrate Halloween in Korea, but several of my students remembered and came up to me giggling and saying, "Teacher, trick-or-treat!" Of course I gave them candy and bought more for the kids I had to give a "raincheck" to. My fault for not being prepared! That weekend, Laura and I dressed up as cats. With Laura being involved, there was no question that's what we would be. We're used to being stared at pretty much on a daily basis, so we found the number of people who stopped and blatantly stared at us quite funny. We rocked it.
Thanksgiving
Western style meal. So good. And they gave me a giant piece of apple pie.
After church on December 1, everyone stayed for our Thanksgiving dinner. Not only was the food really good, but I was also glad to have the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving. After the meal, a group of us went ice skating for a while and grabbed coffee at Starbucks. (This is when I learned they don't have the peppermint mocha, my favorite holiday drink.) It really was a great day--one of those that I won't forget.
Christmas
My Daiso (only the best dollar store ever) Christmas tree! I never quite finished decorating, but I decided this would do.
Being sick and away from home, it didn't exactly feel like Christmas. I got sick and missed work on Monday. Tuesday, I went in for an hour and a half and left after I realized I couldn't even talk. With Tuesday being Christmas Eve, I didn't even make it to church that night. Christmas Day I woke up feeling better and joined these guys in the picture and headed to the Harrison's, a couple from our church. They invited us over for brunch (blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon, cinnamon rolls, mmmmm!). We also had a stocking exchange where we each brought something to put in everyone's stocking. I didn't stay very long because I wasn't feeling as great as I thought, but I was thankful to be with everyone for at least a little while. Once I made it back home, I stopped by Jen's for just a bit and opened the few presents my family sent me (and my mom sent her one as well). We're celebrating Christmas when I get home in March so that I didn't have to mail everything to them, but my mom still wanted me to have something to open here!
New Year's Eve
After what was one of my toughest days in Korea, I wasn't necessarily in the mood for New Year's Eve, but I knew I should be with friends. We all went to Dave's apartment for dinner. Afterwards, we started checking things off our "bucket list." Basically we had a list of silly things to do on our way to Thursday Party where we counted down to the new year. One of those being a freeze flashmob (or whatever we called it) and another being singing Christmas carols in the subway. The second picture was seconds before 2014, while everyone at home was just getting started with the day. I know that I'll be looking forward to the holidays at home again, but I also know I'll think back to this year and be thankful for the memories I made.
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