Holiday Season: SoKo Edition

Thanksgiving has come and gone.. and it couldn't have been more perfect. About 50 of us had gathered at the Andong Church thanks to great Korean friends who helped approve the venue. Two huge turkeys were ordered in from Daegu, and everyone brought some kind of dish to contribute. I made my favorite Thanksgiving dish... mashed sweet potatoes.

 Some facts on sweet potatoes (고구마 pronounced "go goo ma") in Korea: 

1. They are absolutely delicious.

2. Sadly, they are not orange like in the States.

3. You can buy 호박 고구마 "hobak go goo ma." (Hobak is pumpkin. So basically- pumpkin sweet potatoes.) These have more of an orange tint to them.. but to me, taste exactly the same as regular ones.

4. Koreans LOVE their sweet potato lattes.

5. Don't forget the sweet potato pastries in every bakery.

6. Oh, and pizza is not complete without it.. and if you're really lucky.. you can order sweet potato stuffed-crust.. No comment.

My mashed sweet potatoes

Thanksgiving was a hit. Americans were elated. Koreans needed to eat way more than they did. And we all enjoyed each other's company. People made dishes from their own countries. For example, we had a traditional South African salad, a Mongolian dish, along with all the traditional American Thanksgiving sides. It's not every year you have a Thanksgiving spread with pizza, fried chicken, and egg sandwiches.

Lisa taking action!

Suzanne really enjoyed her first American Thanksgiving

My friend Scott was on leave from the Army =) 

Costco Pumpkin Pie!! I wish my mom was with me at that moment I spotted it. I was elated.

I also made turkey hands with my fourth graders and had them write four things they're thankful for. I made Tom the Turkey from felt scraps. I'm pretty proud of it.. 

With the Holidays in full swing, I have mixed feelings..

Thanksgiving turned out to be less of a depressing time than I imagined. But Christmas, I know, will be a whole other ball game. I lived through fb stalking all my friends and their Thanksgiving Eves. I watched a video on the new floats for the Macy's Parade. I was able to call my mom that morning and talk to my brothers who were home from college before they were put to work on peeling potatoes. And my cousin captured a live stream of pictures during dinner so I could treasure them between classes the next morning. My aunt and uncle hosted a bunch of my extended family from Rockaway.

<The Rockaways were hit extremely hard during Hurricane Sandy, throwing them all out of their homes, leaving them with barely anything. They lost their cars, their belongings, and a place they used to call home. From what I have been hearing and seeing, my family has been working with diligence and optimism since day 1. My family on the island has taken some of them in- offering beds, clothes, food, warmth, and a feeling of comfort and security, while the rest of them stay in Rockaway trying to build back what was lost. Their spirits are high, and that's what will get them through it. I am anxious to get home and to help out however I can. By now, most of the basements have been gutted, first floors have been cleared out, and now it's time to rebuild or figure out what to do/where to go next. Schools re-opened about two weeks ago,this week, so the students, (including my cousins) are back on track and in school-mode, focusing their energy somewhere other than the devastation of their homes. We're never ready for these things. Life has its own game of knocking us off course, but keeping your head high and not letting fear or sadness take over is what moves us forward. I am so incredibly thankful for my family. Now more than ever. I think we are all feeling how strong we are when we come together, and I am so grateful for that.>

As I mentioned in my last post, the weather is getting colder, and so I've been coming home from school and wanting nothing more than to change into sweatpants, a hoodie and thick socks, then crawl into my blankets and read a book/watch Modern Family. (This has become my life for the past two weeks because I've been disgustingly sick. The gym was clearly out of the question. But today we started back on our grind =) Thank god. This whole sitting around thing was fun in the beginning, but got old REALLY quick.

Next holiday up: Christmas.

Even though a good percentage of Koreans are Christian, Christmas is not as big as it is in America, and other parts of the world. Schools and mos businesses are off Christmas Day, but that's it. Unfortunately there's not a lot of talk of Christmas, nor are there many decorations floating around town. Some coffee shops decorated, and that puts a smile on all of our faces. You'll see "Christmasy" things here and there but it's nothing like at home, so you kind of have to deal with that. I've been making it a point to take pictures of almost every Christmas-related thing I see, just to keep my sanity.

Fun Polar Bear

Mammoth Bakery in Andong

This is a Korean winter cabbage arrangement found on many streets.

To celebrate here, we are doing a Secret Santa with my friends in Andong, and having a Christmas Eve dinner and a huge Christmas lunch. If you know me or my family, Christmas Eve has always been more of a big deal to me than Christmas. Christmas Day is spent in Rockaway, with my enormous extended family. I compare it to our big NY weddings, because when the end of the night comes, you realize that you wanted to talk with so many more people than you actually did. It is lovely seeing everyone under one roof when we barely get to see each other all year long,  but it's a lot of people, and it's like you have to time your conversations to make the rounds. Haha I love them all nonetheless.

My mom has hosted Christmas Eve as long as I can remember, and it consists of my immediate family, and my maternal aunts, uncles, cousins, and our closest family friends. Even then, it comes to about total of 35-40 people. It's a more personal, more cozy, and more intimate night.

This past Saturday we took a 5:45am bus to Seoul to attend the Christmas Market. We started the day with Butterfingers, a very popular breakfast joint in Gangnam. I recommend it to anyone who is missing their American breakfasts. We then made our way to Insadong for some  Christmas shopping, then over to the European Christmas Market near Hansung University. It was very small, but still had plenty of Christmas cheer going around. There was a tree, lights, kids writing letters to Santa, and a Mexican band playing Christmas music. The European countries who were represented were serving traditional foods. We ended our day in Myeongdong to continue our shopping. There, I found a great new sweater for an equivalent of $2.00. Awesome find.

Oh yes, it's 5:45am 

Me and Angel at the Christmas Market

Those are my gingerbread pecan pancakes and blueberries I'm enjoying =) Heavenly.

Having fun at 9am.

Mexican Band

Not quite Macy's but I'll take it =) 

Not quite Rockefeller, but I'll take it =) 

Lovely tree in Insadong

Wasn't the biggest fan of Gluehweine (hot spiced wine)

Tom, Leandi, Suzanne, and Myself

I've never spent a Christmas away from my family before, so this year and next will test how I cope. Nevertheless, I am excited to spend the holidays with my six close friends here. The seven of us have grown into a family away from home. We have bonded incredibly well, and though we all come from different parts of the world, (South Africa, UK, and the States) even though we speak different dialects, even though we come from different family dynamics, we all bond over something so huge, that it brought us all the way to Korea. Curiosity. We live for new knowledge of cultures, exploring different countries, ways of doing things, why things are the way they are, how we are different, how we are the same..Our desire is with gaining knowledge of the world.  This is something I don't really share with many friends back home. This urge to travel and seek out new experiences bring our conversations and actions to life here. Of course teaching in Korea and the struggles that come with it is something that has also so greatly bonded us together. These people here are my family, and I truly believe you make the best out of what you have. So if this amazing opportunity is taking me away from my mom, brothers and the people I love most in this world during Christmas, I might as well spend it with my other family here. The people who make me laugh and smile on a daily basis. Pair it with some wine.. and we've got ourselves a nice looking Christmas.

My Andong family =) Leozanda, Leandi, Lisa, Suzanne, Tom, and Angel