MERRY (late) CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY (early) NEW YEAR!   Sorry for the belated blog update.  I've been running around doing Christmas shopping this last week and have felt too guilty to update at work (I sit very close to the VP's desk and he walks behind my desk about a dozen times a day.  I hate having to constantly check over my shoulder to make sure he isn't squinting at my computer). 

How have you guys been?  I guess on the east coast of the US, there's been a lot of snow recently?  In Seoul, we got a dusting but it had all melted within the hour.  It did occur on Christmas, though, so we had an almost-white Christmas.  On the 25th, we didn't do much.  Michael, Dean, and I just hung out and watched a movie, grabbed some dinner.  On the 24th, we went to a friend's birthday party at his and his friends' apartment, which was great fun.  I really miss that kind of college-style house party lately, so it was good to just show up in jeans and a hoodie and drink somaek (soju + beer) from big paper cups. 

As some of you might know, Christmas in Korea is a strange thing.  On the surface, it looks just like any other western country.  There are gorgeous light displays up at City Hall, all the department stores have huge wreaths and boughs decorating the displays, every bakery has special Christmas cakes, every store is blasting Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."  But, as many Koreans are very quick to point out, it isn't a big deal here.  Christmas is a couple's holiday here, not a family one.  It's like Valentine's Day or White Day.  The restaurants and coffee shops are packed with couples taking selcas on their phones, wearing matching outfits (it's not uncommon to see couples FULLY decked out in matching clothing--hats, t-shirts, jackets, jeans, and even shoes), and generally being nauseatingly annoying.  Ok, maybe that sounded a little mean, but geez.  There are only so many girlfriend: pouty blow fish faces and boyfriend: "ahhhh, kieopda!!" moments I can take.  People don't really exchange gifts here as a big deal--maybe one present, if that.  No one in the office exchanged presents.  No one even said "Merry Christmas" in the morning. 

For the past few years, we've made the mistake of trying to hang out in the city on Christmas Day, so this year, Dean and I refused to leave our neighborhood.  I wasn't in the mood to deal with the packed subway and prissy couples that would be flooding every cafe or restaurant in the city and neither was Dean.  Sometimes, I'm pretty thankful that we're both unromantic. 

Last night, we went to a party at Mansion in Hongdae.  Dean had bought me this huge green feathered, black veiled headband for Christmas (I had seen it at Doota earlier in the week while shopping with a girlfriend, and she later took him back so he could buy it, the sneaky girl) so I wore that with my crazy "bling bling" silver sequined dress.  The tables at Mansion are so much cheaper than at Le Nuit Blanche, Eden, or Heaven--the cheapest set is only 150,000 won, compared to 400,000 at the other places.  Our friends and I got two tables and spent a few good hours giggling, dancing (our friend was the DJ again), and taking way too many pictures. 

Oh, and I really needed last night to be good.  Last weekend, my friends and I went to Le Nuit Blanche and it was a mild disaster.  My phone was lost then stolen (after calling a million times, someone finally picked up, yelled something in Korean, hung up, then turned off my phone), another friend got really sick, another friend got cut on some broken glass and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, and because the people I was in on the table with were late, I ended up paying the full 400,000 won for the table.  :(  So last week, I had to cancel my Blackberry (I only had it for 3 months! Pathetic!) and get my Ice Cream phone re-registered.  I would buy a new Blackberry but they are about $800 USD here and it will only work at home on roaming, which just isn't worth it.  Even though it's just a phone, I couldn't help feel really distressed for the few days after I lost it.  That's the danger with having these phones that serve as an mp3 player, computer, camera, and phone--when you lose it, you feel like you've lost more than just a phone.  I felt so stupid mourning the loss of a Blackberry and tried to cheer myself up by thinking about the plusses of the Ice Cream phone---longer battery life than the Blackberry, Korean to English AND English to Korean dictionary...um...I guess that was it. 

But now to the good news... I'm on vacation!  Kind of.  The students and most of the teachers have from Dec 24th-Feb 1st off.  Everyone comes back from Feb 1st-5th, and then, everyone has break from then until March 1st.  What a worthless little interlude.  Anyway, my camp starts tomorrow but it's just three hours in the morning and I'm finished by 12:30.  I have to do it for three weeks.  I know all the kids in the second class (there is one class from 9:00-10:30 and another one from 10:45-12:30) and they're my best kids, but I'm not looking forward to my first class with these random 2nd years. 

PICTURE TIME


First, we went to our favorite bar, Gab, for some cheap drinks!  TK and I pose with some hot dogs, as well.  (I'm jealous because TK does work as a cameraman for Kpop-related stuff and he worked with SHINEE yesterday morning!)  Then, we go to Mansion, I accidentally rip my tights, people drink, confetti is shot, the night continues.


Carlos from Seoul Lust decorates himself with sparkly streamers and Chad from xoxokids poses.


More fun with streamers.


And these were from last weekend.  This is...a wig!  Susan's wig, not even mine.  True friends share fake hair. 


I made a video from the 24th but...Korea.... *really annoyed*  Korea has stopped allowing people from its country to upload to youtube because our names aren't verified.  With Korean websites, in order to register, you HAVE to include your real name and your ID number, which is basically like your social security number.  This is for ALL sites, from Daum to Naver to Gmarket to Interpark.  They are forcing youtube to do it for youtube.kr, too, but...I guess it isn't operational yet?  I don't know what the case is, but I'm pretty annoyed.  I'm not a Korean citizen and I don't even use Korean youtube, so I don't quite get how this applies to me.

This blog title is Gimme Sympathy by Metric

Get hot, get too close to the flame
Wild, open space
Talk like an open book, sign me up
Got no time to take a picture---
I'll remember someday all the chances we took

We're so close to something better left unknown

  And I can feel it in my bones
Gimme sympathy after all of this is gone.
Who'd you rather be:
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Oh seriously, you're gonna make mistakes you're young
Come on, baby play me something,
Like here comes the sun