Do you know South Korea?

Here is a video that a fellow foreigner sent to me.  In 10 minutes, it really shows what it feels like to be in South Korea.  For those far away, I thought you might enjoy this!

Thanksgiving in Korea

While I usually assume the holidays are going to be a sad time to be away from home, this Thanksgiving was one of my best yet.  Naturally, I missed my family and our big family dinners at my grandparents' house.  But, I got to skype with my mom and the McBrides after their feast.

Thanksgiving this year went something like this:

Friday night: The plan is to cook.  Friends ccome to town from all over Korea.  It is a joyful reunion.  We go to the supermarket to get ingredients.  We stock up on veggies, potatoes, milk, pounds of butter, pounds of cheese, etc.  MJ shows up with 6 bottles of wine.  Matt breaks out a bottle of whiskey.  No cooking gets done.

Saturday morning:  We wake up and get to work on the food.  Matt peels and mashes 24 potatoes downstairs.  Upstairs in Scott's apartment, we have one oven.  Jerusha makes a sweet potato and spinach gratin covered in cheese.  I make two trays of the mac and cheese, clearly smothered in cheese- that Massey proceeds to fry.  Andrew K makes a green been casserole with the french's fried onions that his mom sent from the USA.. we then covered that in cheese.  Needless to say, it's thanksgiving, and we're going all out. 

In the afternoon, we head to the pension to meet our friends.   In case you're unfamiliar with a pension, it's basically just part of a house or apartment.. it usually has basic kitchen supplies and bedding for everyone to sleep on the floor.  It's perfect for get-togethers like these. There are about 20 people coming up to Cheorwon for the Thanksgiving festivities.

Carla makes mojitos (a rarity here in Korea)

the boys goofing around

Apples to Apples before dinner

We spend a few hours playing apples to apples and watching football before our friends arrive.  When everyone is there, we go around in a circle and give thanks- and then the feast begins!  Along with the things we brought, there was stuffing, cornbread, honey glazed carrots, homemade hummus, pumpkin dip and ginger snaps, roasted veggies, more greenbean casserole, home-made cranberry sauce, fresh baked bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, fresh whipped cream, and real butter.

around in a circle, giving thanks

Carla does work on the turkey

Matt makes gravy

Carla makes a plate- look at all that goodness

Everyone enjoying their meals

The feast!

After dinner, everyone is in a food coma.  We spend the rest of the night playing scrabble, having a sing-a-long with the guitar/piano, and of course- having a dance party.

food coma

Lisa's solo of the Little Mermaid soundtrack

singing

scrabble

makgeoli bottle microphone.. nice

bailey's

leftovers, of course

baileys shots in chocolate covered strawberries

limbo

And like I said, this was in a pension with about 20 people, so here was one of the rooms the next morning:

cozy!

So all in all, it was a fantastic holiday.  Everyone really went all out on the food and a good time was had by all.   With friends like these, it really makes being away from home not so bad.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheorwon Chamber Ensemble Winter Spectacular

On December 1st, I attended a wonderful show in Sincherwon (the town over) hosted by the Cheorwon chamber ensemble.  There were a variety of acts- orchestras, child violinists, solos, a capella, etc.  And the best part? Along with the talented Koreans, my friends were performing!  

Johanna was the M/C.  She was paired with a Korean girl to do the translation.  Jojo was so hilarious, but her counterpart was realllly not into what she was saying.  Jojo would tell long stories or make jokes and then the girl would translate it into about 3 words.  This whole situation was really funny in itself.    

The M/Cs

Scott and Claire each performed a solo, and Scott performed with the chamber ensemble. Of course, my favorite part of the show is when Matt, my boyfriend, got up and played 3 songs with Claire and Scott.  Their band is called "The Clatt," which stands for Claire, Matt and Scott.  I know, their name sounds like a disease.  They played two songs that Matt had written, and then a Korean song that the audience got really into.  Here are the videos posted below! I got the first and third song. The first video is "Fireflies" and the second one is a Korean song that none of us know the name of.  

I apologize in advance for the end of the video being shakey.  In all honesty, my arm got tired (I know, lamest excuse ever).  

                                                                                    

Another part of the show that I really liked was when a Korean a capella group performed "Jingle Bells" in Korean.  It was awesome! Here's the video below:

 

When the show was over, all the acts came on stage.  Everyone was given at least two bouquets of flowers.  

the whole show

The Clatt

Matt and I after the show (he later gave me the flowers)

English Complexity

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

This is a really cool video that I used to teach a lesson to my adult students.  (Actually, my friend Jerusha made the lesson, so I can't totally take credit).  It really gets you thinking about how complex (and overwhelming) the English language is.  It uses nine words: play, blow, break, split, run, fly, fall, light, and space.. and it makes you think about how many different meanings each word can have.  For example, run: run in your tights, to run (jog), runny nose, running water, run a bath, running paint, run a red light, run away, run way, run a class, run machinery, etc.  Or split: banana split, do a split (gymnastics), split up (break up), split wood, split your pants, a split in bowling, etc.  Pretty crazy!  They really enjoyed the lesson, and I really enjoyed the video. I hope you do too!