Today was the simplest week I've endured so far. I taught a grand total of three classes this week--the rest were canceled by flukes or the students were on field trips. Next week will be much of the same, since the election day is free for me, plus more field trips and more student tests. Muahahaa. Some might find it boring to sit at a desk all day, but I actually enjoy the free time. I prop open my Korean textbook, study for a bit, browse around Soompi, and play Scrabble on the facebook with my boyfriend. All in all, it's pretty chill that I get paid for this. My friends at the private academies are so stressed out and never have time to hang out. Blah.

My extra class and I spent a lot of time decorating my huge classroom last week. Christmas decorations are lighting up Seoul, and even my small apartment building strung up some lights around the hedges. While we were busy cutting up the colored paper, I asked the students how they celebrated Christmas--if there was something special that they ate or that they did. Most shrugged and said, "I hang out with my friends." They couldn't pinpoint any specific traditions other than "go to church." It was really surprising! My family and most of my friends' families have pretty solid Christmas traditions. This time of year, my family would be spending hours in the kitchen, making hundreds of traditional Italian cookies and cakes. We have this old record of Bejamin Britten carols that would play on repeat for weeks. On Christmas morning, my sister and I always sit on the top of the steps and wait for my parents to say we can come down. There are countless traditions we have for picking and decorating the tree, games we play with family members, foods we eat, etc. It was strange to hear that my students just watched movies and ate cake with their friends.

My students tend to dress alike...

After we had finished with decorations (only half the students were in the picture)