Christmas In Korea

Hello Friends Across The Globe!

Like everyone else this holiday season we, too, will write a holiday edition. This blog will be in sections so you can skip whatever will bore you.

Aaaaaaand.....we're off!

Christmas in Korea:

According to the CIA factbook only 26% of Koreas are Christian (almost 20% being protestant), around 23% buddhist and the rest having "none." That being said, christmas in Korea does indeed exist and seems to be growing in popularity and commercialism.

There are some small differences here but overall christmas is very similar to at home.

Music:

Yes, they play christmas music in the stores (sometimes blaring outside of the stores) and yes many songs are in English although they have many korean versions of the songs we recognize.

Trees:

People do indeed have christmas trees although the trees are often fake and small. And as every student tells me there must be a star at the top of the tree.

Candy:

Heck yeah. Candy Canes exist and are popular here. However, I haven't seen massive store displays selling candy canes, only a few here and there. They do not have ribbon candy. (i knew you were wondering)

Food:

There seems to be no specific Christmas Dinner, however Christmas Cake is hugely popular and seems to be a staple. What is this Christmas Cake you ask? Well, similar to birthday cake it can be anything. There is no mandated flavor (I asked about fruit cake and they simply started at me). Every local bakery (and dunkin donuts) had stacks of Cake boxes outside their doors. You could tell it was christmas eve because every other person was carrying a cake box.

Santa:

Oh yes and he looks the same, still has a sled and 9 reindeer. They love rudolph here and that's one of the songs I recognize in Korean.

Stockings:

Yes, but I haven't figured out if presents go in them. My students seem baffled when i asked about that and said they were just a decoration. (also they called them "socks" and even "red sox" - real cute and, of course, true)

Christmas Shows:

Watching Home Alone! I'm sure there are also US Citizens that watch Macaulay Culkin on Christmas but when I think of Christmas programing I think of "A Christmas Story" and "Charlie Brown". Oh, and lets not forget "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Please, let me know if you think differently. Anyway, in Korea it's Home Alone.

Caroling:

Does not happen and my students seemed appalled that I even suggested singing outside and in public.

Outside Decorations:

On people's personal houses, No. At stores and in Churches, Yes. However, the Christmas Decorations are not nearly to the same extent. I was told that outside of city hall they do a pretty good display but I haven't made it there. Near us the only really big christmas display is in front of the massive protestant church (looks like a catholic cathedral) near our house.

Lastly:

Clubbing. It seems that those people who aren't married, don't have children or are old enough to, go the clubs on Christmas. I thought it strange, but Sara and Jill, our friends in Argentina said it's a tradition there too. Needless to say, we did not go out clubbing on Christmas (eve or day).

Exciting things about Korea:

Christmas Songs:

Currently the top two christmas songs in Korea are Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you" and Wham's "Last Christmas."

Exams:

Christmas, although growing, is still not the only thing people focus on for the December Season. My poor 1st and 2nd graders had National Exams the day before Christmas Eve and there was school on the 24 (although not the 25th).

Hannukah you ask?

Hardly anywhere. There was a small menorah outside one of the downtown hotels in Seoul that was lit nightly. Of course because I didn't want to teach only christmas I also taught Hannukah to my students. None of them (students or teachers) had ever heard of such a holiday. The Jewish population in Korea is very small.

Soraksan and Naksan Beach

Hi Friends Across the Globe!

Jamie and i have just come back from an exciting trip to Sorak Mountain. We are both required to participate in an English Camp over winter break and the trip was a bonding experience for all the teachers who are going to be working together. It was really exciting and very fun.


It started Thursday morning at 8.30 am when we all met at the district office to get on the buses and head out of Seoul to Soraksan (san meaning mountain for those of you also interested in a Korean Language Lesson). We rode for about three hours before we stopped for lunch. Lunch was a delicious rice and vegetable dish in a lovely little restaurant tucked into the side of the mountain. After lunch we continued on our way to the hotel-and boy, what a hotel it was!

The Hotel
The Hotel Sorak Park was a huge hotel about 5 minutes away from the cable car to take you up the mountain. It had a bizarre 1970s ranch feel and combined with the fact that we were practically the only people there and it was so cold we had to wear our coats anywhere outside of our rooms it reminded me a lot of the hotel from the Shining. That being said, it was still a lovely hotel and the rooms cost about 150,000 won a night so i felt very lucky to get such treatment.



Naksan Beach and Temple
After we checked in we headed back out again to see Naksan Beach and temple (in the increasing drizzle). It was only about 15 minutes away, and while the beach was lovely and i was excited to put my fingers in the East Sea, we didn't stay there long because it was raining so we continued our walk over to Naksana Temple. The temple is famous for a 15 meter statue of the Goddess of Mercy looking over the pine covered cliffs and out to the sea. It has, unfortunately, also become known for a big fire in 2005. Many of the buildings were burned, and they had a display of the charred temple paintings and pictures of the fire. It was pretty intense. The two other really neat buildings in it were both temples. One was over a cliff and had a window in the floor so you could look down on the rocks and sea below. The other had over 1500 images (carved and painted) or various bodhisattvas. It was amazing and all the statues looked gold plated. I would have pictures but for fear of having to be asked for a donation and having neither money nor the conversation skills to handle that i simply peered in Awe from the outside. OH! There was also a neat temple BELOW the Goddess of Mercy that had been built with a huge window in it that perfectly framed the Goddesses Face. It was pretty neat as well.






Dinner
After we finished our soggy tour of Naksana temple we headed out to dinner. And a delicous dinner it was folks. So apparently the area we went to has some special type of pig that only lives there (we saw pictures, they look like wild boar but are much fatter) so we went out for pork dinner. Like every other dinner in Korea it was delicious and included lots of pork (to me it seemed unlimted), tons of side dishes and lots of soju and beer. The makings of a good party. So, for the most part when you eat meat in korea you are also given a big plate of greens. You are supposed to make yourself a little wrap using the greens, the meat, rice and any of the side dishes you want. And "wrap" is the wrong word. You put it all into the green, (i was daring and even ate the raw garlic!!) make it a little ball and then pop the whole thing in your mouth. This was a little difficult to get used to for me in Korea because it was drilled into my head to not shove food into my mouth, but often that's what you have to do. In fact a few weeks ago when i went out with my coteachers they corrected me when i tried to eat it in two bites. Regardless, i've since learned to make smaller portions and it really didn't' matter at the pork restaurant because i was sitting with other westerners.




Anyway, after reveling at the restaurant we headed back to the hotel for a friendly competition of Jeopardy (my group lost, Jamie's group won-winning competitions: reason number 54 to take up juggling) and then finally headed to bed. Jamie roamed around the hotel for a while, but because I am my mother's daughter and was disappointed with the lack of hottub, i went back and took a nice hot bath.

Soraksan National Park
The next morning we headed out to Soraksan National Park, the most beautiful park and mountain in all of korea according to EVERYONE i mentioned it too (and our lonely planet korea guidebook). We were unfortunately only there for about 3 hours so we could see very little of the Park. We stayed in Outer Sorak, took the cable car up the mountain and then took a short (albiet steep) 20 minute hike to a summit. The view from the top was incredible. It was so neat to see both mountains and Ocean (quite close) in the distance. The last part of the hike was super scary, it was this teeny tiny trail that they had to create footholds on and you had to use your hands to climb up. I was pretty worried at some points, but when i looked back and saw the man climbing in DRESS SHOES and a women climbing in platform shoes, i felt maybe i should just suck it up. Anyway, it was beautiful and enjoyable.







When we got to the bottom we had 20 minutes to go look at a HUGE buddha and a temple. Really no time at all, but we breezed through, i did a few bows to the buddha and we headed back to the busses.




Our last stop before we left the region was for an unbelievable boring lunch of tofu at a restaurant. When i say boring, i mean boring. we got ToFu soup that was simply ToFu in water. Not fried, not baked, nothing. it had no flavor. We put all of our side dished into it to make it a little better but there was little to be done. The best part? The korean teachers got a delicious looking seafood and tofu mixture but told us it was "too spicy for westerners." Aw man. It's ok I suppose. they worked hard and deserved something better than us.



Exciting things about Korea:

Tractor trailer trucks:
Having now taken two highway trips, and not seen ANY 18 wheelers, i'm partly convinced they don't exist here. I'm going to ask around some more and get back to you.

Rest Stop Food;
We stopped at a charming Rest Stop called "Gangland" and similar to the other places we have stopped on the highway the food was varied, delicous and cheap. The rest stop food is equally delicous and cheap. When we stopped at one i was expecting Masspike prices, but not so! For example: 2000 won for a bowl of delicious fried potatoes. More than one person could possibly eat.

Note:
Sorak can also be spelled Seorak