The REAL Christmas Celebration

Officially, the Christmas festivities started Friday night after the school holiday party. And continued to Saturday night. BUT, as some of you know, all of the foreigners that I know (and some new faces) got together for a big turkey dinner on Christmas Eve. John (the guy who's moving to Australia) ordered a turkey and all the fixings from a hotel. We ate like kings and queens. And then we drank. Well we were actually drinking before we ate, but we drank even more after. That's the thing about Korea--always alcohol with celebrations. It's like peanut butter and jam. Or milk and cookies. They just fit so nicely together, but aren't as nice alone. Anyway, we were drinking red wine, which was great because I haven't had much of that since I left the states.

After we finished dinner, we went to a bar in the foreign district called Bungalow. It's fantastic because it's an island themed bar. It has sand floors and ratan chairs suspended from the ceiling. There we had more wine, and then left for our standard bar, Rocky Mountain Tavern (poker and trivia bar). Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't remember much of that place. But I did have a friend take me home.

When we arrived at my apartment building, we met one of my Korean neighbors in the elevator. He insisted that we go to his place for some food. We went and found ourselves in the middle of the biggest buffet I've ever seen in one small apartment. They were tanked as well, so I didn't feel too bad acting like the idiot I'm sure I must have been. My friend was speaking Korean with them, so I was just kind of in a food and wine-filled daze. Definitely fun though.

Ok....a pictoral summary: the first pic is of me and Keith. He's been here for several years and speaks Korean quite well. He writes books for a University English program. The second pic is of Lee and Keith. Lee has been here the longest (SIX years) and speaks fluent Korean. He writes the books my school uses. The third pic is of Patrick (a guy I met through the people I work with...isn't he cute?!?!), his girlfriend (they ALWAYS have girlfriends....!), and Su Hyun, who is Australia John's girlfriend. She has the epitome of Asian hair. It serously gleams, it's so perfect. To those of you wondering why there is only three pics documenting the weekend's escapades, I will say: pour yourselves a tall glass of shut the hell up, you're lucky I made it home all three nights WITH my camera. New Year's resolution: be less sarcastic. :)