Both Christmas and New Years are celebrated in Korea, however a little less so that in Canada. I only got Christmas day and two days at New Years as vacation. I considered going somewhere outside Korea for a few of those days but just didnt work out. It was definately different to be away from my family for Christmas for the first time but I managed to talk to them on the phone and even had a webcam setup so that we could see each other. Went bowling on Christmas day and for New Years just did the regular, go to a bar thing. New Years was a little anti-climactic because the idiots didnt even bother having a countdown. They just all of a sudden announced "Happy New Years!" Come on people, we need to build this thing up...I'm not asking that we do a 60 second countdown....10 or even 5 would have been enough!
My Christmas Tree - isn't she a beaut?
New Years in Korea is also a little depressing because when the clock strikes 12, not only is it a new year but guess what...you are also a year older. While I guess the real depressing part of this is that I was already 24 by Korean age so now I am 25. A full 2 years have been added on to my life since my foot first touched ground in Korea despite the fact that I have not had a birthday since I left home. I see no better reason to return to Canada at the end of my contract than to regain my youth :)
Back on my original schedule now so I am teaching from 9:30am to 6:30pm and then have my 2 hours of kumdo at night so it does not leave a lot of time for doing much else besides eating.
Clark
PS: If you are wondering how the ageing system works: when Korean babies are born, they are 1 year old instead of 0 like in the rest of the world. Then they turn 2 on the next January 1. Hypothetically, if a baby was born on December 31, it would be 2 years old the next day! Weird eh?
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