Merry Christmas!
I've been dreading
this holiday for a while and I'm not quite sure what to write about it. It's strange to be away from my family and
friends but it hasn't been as difficult as expected so far (it's 4pm on
Christmas day) This morning my group of friends got together for 'breakfast'
(we didn't start eating until about 11:30 ish) and did a Secret Santa gift
exchange (I got an awesome fuzzy blanket, a magic spells note book, a really
cute bookmark and some of my favorite Ferrero Rocher chocolates
OMNOMNOMNOMNOM). After that, I went home
and skyped with my dad and now I'm watching all of the classic Christmas
movies, waiting for it to be Christmas morning back home to Skype with my mom
and siblings!
Over the past month
I've been getting presents and cards in the mail from my family, which has been
amazing. It feels great to get things in
the mail even if you're expecting them and know what's inside. I feel so grateful
to have such an amazing family and great friends who send me letters and
things! It really makes me feel less isolated from everyone :)
Christmas isn't as
big of a thing in Korea as it is in North America. Schools only close for the day and, from what
I could gather from my kids, very few families actually celebrate Christmas. Even today, there are stores and caffe's open
as they would be on any other day. It
makes me realize how much of a foreigner and a minority I really am.
My conversations
with students also made me realize how ignorant they are of world
religions. Many of them didn't seem to
realize that Christmas was actually a religious holiday (aside from the few who
practice the Christian faith) and non of them could name any other December
holidays!! They hadn't heard of Hanukkah or Kwanza! I can understand them not fully understanding
the meaning of these holidays (I'm certainly no expert) but to not even know
they exist!?!?!
In preparation for
Christmas, my Hanvit Family got the classic family photos taken, including are
two most recent arrivals Sarah and Tilly (Tilly had only been here for a few
days before the pictures). Needless to say,
we have very few personal boundaries in the group and I hope we didn't freak
them out too much (the photographer was certainly a little alarmed when we
created a huge dog-pile). It was a good time. We laughed, we suffocated each
other…the usual.
My Korean lessons
are progressing! I can now introduce myself and others! I can also write my
name in Hangul (though I disagree with how my teacher told me it should be
spelt. It's written in a Korean accent
:(
Keryll: 케를
I am Keryll: 제는 케를 이에요
I am Canadian: 제는 케나다 사람 이에요
I am an English teacher: 제는 영어 산상님 이에요
I'm not surprised they may not know other December holidays... I think the main reason I (we?) do is because we have such a long break in December so we talk about non-Christian celebrations that occur at the same time (probably to make the holiday seem more inclusive). To illustrate: name a religious celebration in September (hint: Jewish) or June (hint: Muslim).
ReplyDeleteI know. It's not a apart of their culture and we're generally more ignorant of other religions when it isn't our own. I wish it was different!
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