a Korean Christmas

And so the holidays draw ever nearer...

I only have a week and a half left of classes before winter vacation starts, though I still haven't planned anything in particular. I did hear about this Christmas dinner thing that's being held at a hotel downtown so I might check that out, but other than that no real big plans or anything. Besides, it's much too cold out to be wandering around looking for things to do. These days I don't leave my apartment unless I absolutely have to.

Tomorrow is open classes which means that the parents can come in and observe their child in all their academic glory. I'll be teaching phonics and vocabulary most of the day, with the usual storytime in the afternoon. We have another open class day on Wednesday for which I will be teaching a bookmaking class all day long. I'm not too worried about that one though, since all I really do is hand out a blank book and tell the kids to draw pictures that match the sentences on each page. Friday we have a birthday party for two of the kids so it's kinda like a free day since in the only other class I have we will be watching a DVD of Snow White.

I finished up my Christmas shopping tonight...I can't believe how easy it was shopping for everyone back home. I bought all of my gifts online and had then shipped out to their destinations. I started shopping Sunday night and finished tonight. Piece of cake. I just hope everyone likes their gifts, cause it's not like they can return them...heh.

This week I am sick of course because that cold I've had is still lingering with me and has refused to subside. I also think I might have developed a case of pink eye over the weekend...can you believe that? If it's not one thing, it's another. I went to the eye doctor yesterday because my eye was bloodshot and kinda puffy and he said I just have a minor bacterial infection, for which he prescribed me some eye drops and anti-bacterial medication. In any case, my eye looks and feels much better today, thank goodness.

This weekend I'm supposed to be meeting up with one of my friend Maggie's coworker's sons who is in the Marines and has been stationed here in Seoul for the last three months as a security guard at the US Embassy. I think we're probably going to go get coffee or something, and then head over to one of the touristy areas since he said he hasn't been to many of them yet. Sunday he's leaving to go home for Christmas (lucky duck) but he wants to go skiing some weekend after he gets back. Skiing might be fun...I wonder if he needs someone to go with? It might be kinda nice having someone to hang out with here since I don't see my roommates very often. He sounds like a decent guy though, so I'm actually looking forward to it.

And finally, my friend Sean asked me what Korean Christmas trees look like, so I made it a point to take pictures of all the ones I encountered last week when I went to COEX mall. I'm also posting some of the night of our first snow while I was shopping at Dongdaemun, which turned out kinda cool.

Enjoy...

COEX Christmas trees:

a subway station Christmas tree:

snow falls over Dongdaemun:

my latest black & white photo (Seongsu subway station):