This time tomorrow...

...I'll be home. Home for Christmas. Seems strange. I still remember when my folks took us to the airport around this time last year, to say good-bye for our year away. Tomorrow, I'll get to hug them at that same airport, only this time I'll be home for Christmas.

Ah-sah! Chicago, here I come!

Elves on strike.

I just had my 7:00 class do a little Christmas writing exercise from Boggle's World (the absolute BEST ESL website ever!). It's a creative writing story prompt called "Christmas Elves on Strike". The kids have to imagine that they're Santa's elves and that they're disgruntled North Pole employees (because Santa has been overworking them, not giving out any breaks or holidays, not giving decent wages, and also making them wear embarassing, uncomfortable uniforms >:). Once the kids understood, they came up with some pretty funny messages to Santa (and some pretended to be Santa and replied to their fellow "elf" classmates' letters). Here are a few I found particularly amusing (these are middle schoolers, by the way):

Dear Santa Claus,
Hi, we are elves and I'm representative. We are angry with you. Let me tell you something about why elves are extremely angry with Santa. 1. We don't have any holiday. We should work 365 days. It's very hard and we are tired. We want that you make holidays for us. 2. It's too little monthly salary. The elves work at the toy factory every day but you give us too little money. We feel mortified. 3. Change toy factory's place to warm place. It's very cold here in North Pole. However we're elf, but if you work at the North Pole every day, you'll get cold exactly. We want change the place to um, for example, Chicago, Boston, or Sokcho. However we were friend long time so we'll work again. But you must think about us like you love children. I think you understand. Thank you for read this letter and Merry Christmas. Sincerely yours, Elf. (Joon-Hyung)

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry Santa because you don't make me rest day. I work every 20 hours I didn't sleep every day. And you didn't give me money. I want money. My family didn't eat any more food because I didn't get money. You didn't give us delicious food. We want to eat delicious food, and then we work hard. I want to work for you again, but these things need to change. 1. I want you make me holiday (every Saturday, Sunday). Because I'm very tired. 2. I want you give me much money (every day two hundreds thousand won). 3. I want you give me very delicious food. Because I don't have power. 4. I want 5 hours to work every day except Saturday and Sunday. 5. I want you have vacation 3 months (December, January, February). Yours sincerely, Hye-Rim.

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because you didn't give me free time for three hundred sixty five days. I always work everyday for twenty two hours. I insufficiency sleep so I become sleepy everyday! And you give me insufficiency salary. I want to work for you again but these things need to change. First, I work 7 hours in a day. Second, you raise my salaray (3,000,000 won). Last, I will not work on Saturday and Sunday. You grant my request I will work hard. Good-bye! (Ji-Yoon)

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry, because you didn't give us breaks and holiday. We are very tired and get much stress so many elves are sick. You don't give us much money. I work hard but I'm poor. You can change something. I'll work and don't discontent. First, give us a lot of rest. You must give us twelve hours in a day. Give many holidays. You must give 6 months in a year. Give much money than now. I and my family are very poor. We only have breakfast and dinner. My children said "I'm hungry. I want to eat a lot of food." I heard that I was sad. Give me a new house. My family live outside. Someday we slept in the subway and bench. We were very cold. Please give me a new house. You will promise this things. I will work hard. With love, Elf (Eun-Ji).

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because I don't have recess. I work all the time, everyday!! I'm very laborious, because I'm old!! And I'm very hungry. I work all the time but I eat little rice. Finally, I want holiday. I want oversleep, watch TV and play computer game!! You must make recess. You must give snake every afternoon. And you also make holiday for once a week. If you don't agree to me, I stop to work. You can choose. If you agree to me, I'll work hard for you. You must think deeply and decide. Min-Ji.

(Santa's reply) Dear Elf,
I am a god. I think that the post office mistake. I'm not Santa. But I think if I am Santa, I will fire elf. And I hire oompa loompa. They are work with Charlie. They love chocolate. Have a good Chrismas. I will say this letter from Santa.

Not Dear Santa!
I'm angry about you. You don't give money, time, holidays. You steal our frees. So we want somethings ways. First, we want freedom. Always, we only work very hard. We not sleep, we not talk, we not play and we not love. We are very tired. I think that you understand. Second, we want money. Everyday we work very hard, however, you don't give anything. So we want a few reward. We want money. We want to eat taste food, to see wrestling, to shopping. Third, the Chrismas finished, you are always drunken. You say that you work very hard. But we work harder than you. Please don't drink soju, beer, wine. Fourth, you have to diet. You are very fat. At first I see, you are very thin. But you drink soju, beer, wine, you become fat. Now your weight is 108 kg. How amazing! When you visit our workplace, our workplace vibrate. I think that this problem happen because of earthquake. Please I want to you look this carefully and wish our hopes. Still we are love you. Have a good Chrismas. Always love you, Elf (Jeong Gyu).

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because I work all day long. But I don't earn a lot of reward. I don't want to live!! Also, my life is same everyday!! I'm so boring everyday. So, I want to change my life. I want to work for you again, but these things need to change: First, I want to earn a lot of reward than now. I work very hard but my salary is 100,000!! Many people are surprise when they heard my salary. So, I want to get 5 million. And I want to have vacation like students!! I have break time an hour in a day. So I want to have vacation 3 months in a year!! Finally, I want to meet TVXQ!! If I meet them, I can work so hard than now!! If you keep my promise, I'll love you!! Bye! Your love, Elf (Si Won).

(Santa's reply) Dear lovely elf,
Um...I get your important letter. And now I know your suggestion. You want to make money more than now. But nowadays, our company is in the red. Most parents don't buy our nice toys.

Pretty cute, eh?

AP Christmas Dinner at the Kensington.

Bon appetit!
Sam and Jay (her son); Jay's taking pictures of me with Sam's cellphone
Ara tells a story...
The happy staff of AP (except for Rachel)

Tonight Won Gi and Yeon Soo (our directors) treated us to an AP Christmas dinner at the Kensington Stars Hotel (a very nice resort in Seoraksan National Park). Saturday night is buffet night ($35 per person!) at the Kensington, and they have quite a spread: several different kinds of sushi, crab, duck, dim sum, salad, pasta, marinated mushrooms and peppers, salmon, beef, grilled shrimp, to name just a few. They also had the creamiest most delectable custardy vanilla ice cream I've ever had in Korea. It was FANTASTIC. We had our own private room off of the main dining area, and enjoyed the fine food and Spanish wine for about 3 hours. Won Gi and Yeon Soo were very generous to bring us to the Kensington for our last holiday party...thanks a lot guys!

O, Christmas tree.

Note the perky angel sitting on the moon!
Close-up (I love this ribbon! It's light blue and gold)
All lit up

It may not be all that big, but this little tree has that soft warm glow that I was waiting for. I was going to just wait until I got back to the States (for the real deal!), but I couldn't resist. I broke down and bought this $2 tree at Good Morning Mart (our local grocery store). I found some pretty ribbon at the stationery store, some twinkle lights at E-Mart (Korea's Target), and some red ornaments and gold bells. I put it in the corner of our living room on our little tea table, next to some photos of family. When I look at it and see my nieces, I am reminded of where I will be VERY SOON!!

Korean concert.

The beginner and intermediate Korean classes
The 2 classes perform 2 Korean traditional Korean songs
Paul gets his song on
Our friend and classmate, Rebecca (from England)

Paul and I (and Babbie, Hong, and Rebecca--our teacher friends) have been taking Korean classes at the Sokcho Library every Friday morning (10:00 - 12:00). It may not sound like a lot, but since the class only meets once a week, we cover a whole chapter each time. Every week we get homework, and of course, every week I procrastinate and end up tearing my hair out trying to finish it before Friday morning. But it is a very good class, largely due to the kindness of our songsangnim, Hye Kyoung (a kind, intelligent university professor of linguistics, English teacher, and Korean teacher).

A few weeks back, Hye Kyoung had the class meet at a noraebang (singing room) on Thursdays, in addition to Friday morning's class. There we were to learn traditional Korean songs. This exercise would A) help to improve our hangul (written Korean) reading skills, and B) prepare us for the end of the year concert (where each class has a small performance).

I ended up not going to most of the practices, partly because I got a coughing cold (and wanted to save my voice for teaching English), and also because I found out I wouldn't be able to sing in it anyway (the concert started at 2:00 and that's when my first English class is). But Paul went faithfully, the eager singer that he is (in fact, that's where he is right now--out singing karaoke with our friends!). He learned the songs and sang with Rebecca, Hye Kyoung, and the other intermediate students. All of the students (who may look Korean but are actually Japanese) and our teacher wore the traditional Korean garb (a hanbok), save Paul, who wore the only suit he brought to Sokcho :)

Kimchi 101, continued.

Getting our hands dirty
Paul getting his kimchi on
Eeeeewwww--it's slimy!
Finished!!

Kimchi 101, continued.

Red gold--the source of red pepper paste
Ruth E.'s deep kimchi wound
Fish sauce, green onions, and red pepper paste
Whaddya think? Does it need more pepper?
Adding the paste to the kimchi leaves

Kimchi making, 101.

Paul salting the cabbage the night before
Everything we need: cabbage, radish, ginger, green onions, garlic, onions, red chili powder
Paul works on the ginger while Ara mashes up the garlic
Ruth E. cleans the radish
Don't forget the onions!

When most people think of Korea, the first thing that comes to mind is kimchi. What most people don't know is that there are over 200 kinds of kimchi! The most popular kind, tongbaechu kimchi, is the kimchi made from Chinese cabbage (what most people think of when they hear the word kimchi). Kimchi can also be made from cucumbers, radishes, and any other vegetable. Historically, kimchi was made to preserve vegetables so that Koreans could get valuable nutrients even during harsh winters.

While most of our friends back home are buying Christmas trees, putting up lights, and baking Christmas cookies, we're making kimchi! Right now is the season for gimjang, or kimchi making (usually late-November to early December). The supermarkets are brimming with sales on cabbage, fish sauce, and extra-large tupperware containers. Many Korean families have been making kimchi over the past few weeks to keep for the coming year!
Ara, Ruth E., Paul, and I decided to attempt preparing the national dish. Ara had made it once before, and we had a recipe from one of the Korean teachers (Rachel) at AP. We bought 4 Chinese cabbages, quartered them lengthwise, and set them to soak in some heavy salt water overnight. The salt gets into the leaves and makes them softer and wilt. The next morning, you rinse the cabbage in water.
Today, Ara and Ruth E. came over with supplies from the downtown market: radish, green onions, onions, garlic, ginger, red pepper powder. We got to work dicing, chopping, and cutting all the vegetables for the so--kimchi sauce. After you put in the veggies, garlic, and ginger, you add the red pepper and some Korean fish sauce (which will make it into a kind of reddish paste). Red pepper powder is potent! And, you have to be careful, because it really stains!
After a couple tastings (getting enough red pepper for that famous zip!), we divvied up the cabbage, put some plastic bags on our hands to protect us from the red pepper, and went to work smearing the paste onto the leaves. It's pretty fun, because everything is rather mushy :) You just keep working the paste into the cabbage until everything is covered.
Of course, this whole process took longer because we had to document it :) After you finish, you leave the covered kimchi in a cool place for 2 days...then it's ready! (Or, if you're super traditional, you can put it in a stone pot and bury it in the ground, the way Koreans used to do).
We're very excited to try our kimchi! We'll let you know how it turned out!

See you later!

l to r: Bryan, Aubrey, Shauna, Baby Hana, and Paul

This weekend we bid farewell to a great family: Bryan, Shauna, and Hana. We met Bryan and Shauna very soon after arriving in Sokcho, at The Western (the local foreigner hangout). They worked for another English academy, ECC. Though we didn't see much of each other at first, we always chatted at group parties and eventually started hanging out. They are a wonderful married couple (rare to find, here!), extremely warm and friendly. Paul joined Bryan's poker game night, and I found through talking with Shauna that we had a lot in common, from family to personal interests, musical tastes, and future pursuits.
They have been here a year, and are the only foreigner couple we've known to get pregnant and deliver a baby in Korea. Pretty courageous, if you ask me! Bryan has been offered a job at a university in Daegu teaching English to future health care professionals (which is great, because that's what his MA is in!). They will begin their new gig in March.
On Saturday they hosted a good-bye brunch in their apartment. Most of the ECC and the AP crowds were there, and Shauna and Bryan even gave away goodies from their kitchen and home to us! Paul and I were very lucky to take home many new spices, a bag of flour tortillas (SCORE!), rice, curry, and rye bread.
After the brunch we stuck around for a little while to chat with them a bit more, and see if we could help out with anything. We took a few boxes downstairs so that Bryan could take them to the academy for winter storing. Shauna and Bryan then took us to the new sandwich/coffee shop near AP (after I'd been raving about the sandwiches there--Shauna's bagel club ended up being on a blueberry bagel--sorry, Shauna!) and treated us!
We had a great last afternoon with them, and hope this is just a "see ya later!" Have a great break, guys!