메리 크리스마스 Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Korea is missing something... Christmas trees, Christmas lights, wreaths, eggnog, presents, candy canes, gingerbread houses, and anything else that will remind you of Christmas. I guess you really can't expect all that from a country that isn't Christian. Neither one of my schools had a single Christmas decoration up. A lot of students would walk around saying "Merry Christmas," and even some of their English lessons were Christmas related. When I asked who had a Christmas tree at their house, none said yes. This was kind of depressing. No spirit at all. Village life without a doubt! I went up to Seoul the weekend before Christmas. I saw quite a bit of lights and decorations around. It was a nice change.

This Christmas was actually very good. I spent it with a good group of people and so many parts of the weekend reminded me of Christmas back at home. Our buddy Ben was able to get a cabin in Deogyusan National Park [Muju Resort] for the weekend. The cabin was pretty sick. It was a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom place with a small kitchen, living room and a loft upstairs. Plenty of room for all 10 or 11 of us.

Our weekend activities included a gift exchange, flaming shots of 151, a Christmas morning hike in below freezing temperatures, an occasional power outage, drinking games, and of course... tons of alcohol. Definitely made for a memorable time.

Happy Holidays from Korea, to the world!