It's hard to believe it's been a year since I made my last Korean christmas post. So much has changed since then. During last christmas, Korea was still so new to me, I had a completely different group of friends, worked in a very different work environment, and had done most of my weekend activities by myself or on tour groups. This christmas, on the other hand, I'm living with a wonderful girlfriend in a different part of Seoul, and working in a school with entirely different colleagues and friends. I'm also nearing the end of my time in Korea, which changes the atmosphere of things a lot.
Overall, I'd say it's been a lot more festive and fun than last year, even if I still miss my family and friends back home immensely. Here's a run down of some of the stuff we did.
 |
| In the run up to Christmas, we of course had to do lots of christmas shopping, for each other, as well for our families and our Secret Santas at work. A particularly useful place was Insadong, an area in Seoul filled with souvenirs and gift ideas. |
 |
| We spent one recent evening drinking mulled wine and skyping with my friends, Nick and Matt. I also wore a Santa costume that Angela borrowed from our school. |
 |
| I wore that same costume to a Santa-Con event in Hongdae. Here we are on the Seoul Metro. |
 |
| In Hongdae. |
 |
| At the park in Hongdae, where people gathered in their Santa outfits. |
 |
| The drunken hobos took part in the festivities too. |
 |
| Later we went to Ska Bar and clubbed in our outfits. |
 |
| Our school hosted a party at which we shared Secret Santa gifts, ate a huge Korean buffet, and drank copious amounts of soju and beer. Here I am with my boss, Jenny. |
 |
| Kimmi and Matt hosted a Christmas Sweater Party at their place. It was a little cramped but that actually made the whole thing feel suitably intimate and festive. |
 |
| We also met up with Angela's Korean family, and took them to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Insadong. |
 |
| They bought us winter gloves as presents. |
 |
| We also took some awesomely tacky hanbok photos with them. |
 |
| And as if that wasn't enough, we went to a Korean Tea Cafe! The whole evening was such a pleasant, festive time for all. |
 |
| On the last day of school there was a Christmas Party for the kids, and I was elected to play Santa Claus. I'd never done so before, so it was quite an honour. Pity most of the kids knew that it was really "James-Teacher" under the costume. |
 |
| Unlike last year, we didn't get any snow on christmas day this time, but we did get some earlier in the month. |
 |
| At home, we put up a few small decorations, like tinsel and this tiny tree. |
 |
| We had a bigger tree in the living room, along with sparkly lights. |
 |
| Before opening presents we prepared and ate a tasty breakfast of eggs, bacon and Japanese pancake. |
 |
| Finally opening the pressies. |
 |
| I got George Orwell's Essays, Tim Powers' Anubus Gates, a Korean jigsaw puzzle, some party games and a whole bunch of chocolate. |
 |
| Later we ate a dinner of chicken, potato and onions in cream-cheese sauce, and pasta. I'm so lucky Angela is such a great cook; it was delicious! |
 |
| Later, we did some reading, surrounded by gifts. |
 |
| I was also really happy to get a chance to speak to my family online. As well as my mother, sister, brother-in-law, neice and nephew, I also spoke to my dad and nan for the first time in a while (though no photos of the latter two, unfortunately). |
 |
| Baby Dylan smiles at his father. |
 |
| A view from the other side. |
That about sums up my christmas this year. It's been a great success overall, and I feel a lot more festive than last year. I'll end with just wishing everyone out there, wherever you are, a Merry Christmas and a Happy Year, and here's hoping for an amazing 2014!
