Okay so if you read my last post you learned I had to work on Christmas eve until 5 which kinda sucked and my boss wasn't so awesome that day but dont let that fool you. Christmas was really amazing once I made it to Seoul and met up with my friends.
So first things first, I had to carry a big Costco Cheesecake all the way to Seoul from my house in Ilsan because it was kinda like my christmas gift to my friends. It was really more specifically directed at my buddy Calvin but like he could eat a whole cheesecake, so I shared with everyone.
It was interesting carrying the cake around because here in Korea Christmas is pretty much Valentines day and I wrapped the cake so nobody would get hungry and eat some (mostly just for myself ^^ ). But the reason I mention it is like valentines day is because I could feel many eyes on me wondering who that big package was going to. Odd feeling. I am especially glad nobody asked me who it was for because if I had to say a dudes name they would probably run away.
For Christians, Christmas is obviously a lot more than valentines day and much more like a night of worship.
So after a 2-3 hour bus ride through Christmas eve traffic and a subway ride I made it to church and I met up with Calvin. Our young adult group was supposed to be doing a song performance in front of the whole church at the 11pm service but I arrived late so Calvin and I skipped that and just watched the other members do it. (I must say I was quite thankful for that since all the songs were in Korean) So after service our young adult group had candles and we stood ouside the church and sang christmas charols in Korean for people as they were leaving. It was pretty fun; I was part of the humming section ^_^
So then we went around to a few houses near the church which belonged to church members and we sang for them too and at a local convenience store. It was fun being with my church friends and they asked me to sing the charols in English sometimes but the syllable emphasis is different so even though it is the same song it sounds a lot different. Most songs I could do a few words in Korean but that is about it.
So after the charoling we decided to go visit some of the church members homes. It was pretty late at night so they were expecting us. The funniest thing is the gifts we brought for them. We brought toilet paper. haha no joke. It has symbolic meaning in korean because it is wrapped up in a roll and it has symbolism that means your troubles will be rolled away. I think we need to get some symbolism going in america, it would make getting gifts much easier.
So that was my first time in a Korean's home. It was quite shocking because they went all out with different foods and such things to welcome us. A huge ice cream cake with lots of fruits and some other foods that looked great!
A funny tangent that makes me look stupid:
So as always when going in a Korean home you take off your shoes. Well.. my feet stank! This is the first time too, > . < I wore heavy socks because it was really really cold that day but the bus was crowded so I got stuck in a seat that had a heater right next to my feet. So my feet got cooked by the heater for 2 hours in heavy socks :( My feet never stink, I always wash them well and wear new socks but that day i was totally S.O.L. It just had to be the first time I went in a Koreans home too :( Everyone was very polite about it and nobody ever said anything. I kinda wished they would have so I could make fun of myself or something. oh well...
Anyways the people in the house were super nice and welcoming even to a foreigner like me. I was worried that it wasn't appropriate for me to come along because I am a forienger but everything worked out wonderfully.
Next when we got back to the church we had a big wonderful meal which was shared between 25+ young adult church members. And everyone got to enjoy the cake. In Korea we never have our own food plate or dish, it is always group food. As in the food sits in the middle and we all get chop sticks and take some. It was quite fun and everybody loved the cheese cake, especially Calvin. I had to keep telling him to stop eating so much because i think he was trying to be more than polite.
So after that we organized into teams and played lots of fun games. The first games were Korean word games which I probably wasn't the best teamate for (slight understatement). Then there was a game where we had things like toothpics in our mouths and we had to transfer rubber bands from the toothpicks to other people down a line. (Score! I was next to 2 pretty girls that i really hope arent going read this) So there was a tall dude on our team having trouble and backing up the line so I had to start getting like 3 or more rubber bands on my toothpick to pass on.
I feel like my depth perception is much better with my left eye closed so while transferring the rubber bands I would only use my right eye but Calvin called me out on it! "Dustin! stop winking at her!" hahaha yeah, still makes me laugh. I was planning on telling him my nose was to big to see with both eyes but I was busy with the game. (I.E. koreans dont have big noses)
So we lost that game but it was cool. Next we played a the game where you tie a baloon to your ankle and try to pop the others. I lost big time because while I am here here I am overly cautious and gentle since I can't really explain myself. (okay in truth i tried to do a huge stomp on some girls baloon while she wasnt looking but i totally missed and lost). It was fun though. We played games like that until almost 4 in the morning.
Then we had a really great time where we all shared stories of our lives from the past year and gave prayer requests for the next year.
Finally we went over to my pastors house and he let us sleep in a small room. It wasn't uncomfortable at all. We had a few hours of sleep and then went to another church service which wasn't bad. (although i wish i had some more sleep) It was nice though, when we woke up the pastors wife made us a delicious breakfeast and the pastors kids were lots of fun. So that was my second experience in a Koreans home. (once again with smelly socks :( ) I will tell you more about that in the next post because I went back to his house for new years.
So next most the young adult members went to a handicapped people's facility on christmas day to volunteer but I didnt go because well as a foriegner who cant communicate well I would probably cause more harm than good.
I got a couple more hours of sleep in one of the pastors office cubicles because we were waiting for people to come back so we could go Ice Skating. Unfortunately, most people were too tired to go ice skating but that is okay. It was just me calvin, 원희, and 진길. It was really great for 원희 and 진길 to come because they were really tired too.
So we went to LOTTE WORLD! It is like the best theme park in Korea (or one of them at least). It is all indoors and it is truely an amazing sight. I have never seen a building so big and with so many people. We didnt go to the amusement park section, we just went ice skating. Ice skating was really fun but as with anything in Korea it was very very very crowded.
But of course that didnt stop me from showing off big time. Koreans aren't that great of ice skaters, generally (No offence Koreans or Yoona Kim). So I got to show off my years of hockey training. They only allowed figure skates so I was very limited but it was still cool. Afterwords I bought us some 1$ ice creams to help us get over the sleepiness.
So after that (yes i know, this just keeps on going...) we rode over to one of the rich shopping districts in Seoul called 강남 and did a little shopping. I was suuuuper lucky! I was really hoping for snow all day on Christmas and I got my wish! In 강남 it started snowing and I was really excited.
After shopping we made our way to a wine bar and it was nice to sit and relax (omg we were sooo tired). We enjoyed the wine bar to ourselves and had a couple glasses. It was a cosy little place where we could watch the busy, snowy street outside.
After that we called it a day thankfully. So I rode home for a few hours by subway and bus but I was completely content. Err more than content. It was a wonderful Christmas. I definetely missed my family but that was an unforgettable experience.
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