How did the year end up. Let me see
Oh yeah, I learned to survive the holidays with my awesome friends and not miss family too much. I have purposefully begun trying many different restaurants to try out all kinds of things. For thanksgiving, we had a going away party on the Friday after Thanksgiving for 2 of our coworkers who were leaving for a term. It was a pub crawl we created in Nowon. I had intended on going to a preplanned dinner in Gangnam and then going to a party in Itaewon for the Saturday/to celebrate. However I drank so much on the Friday that I blacked out - i think it was the combo of pregaming earlier (we got off at 7pm)and then the quick succession of shots.
Fun times at going away party
Drinking games
aww. who will be up for good times at work now Shady?
dig in people
Hotties. Why do I feel like a mom?
These onscreen card games are famous at bars and street corners in Korea
Happy Happy Joy Joy Jello Shots
Check out Yuri's face (in front) such skill
The going away lady mad at how drunk we've gotten her ;) Her blog is awesome too, check it out here
Me and the listening guys. The one on the left also went away for the term (they're dating)
It was quite the shindig
Needless to say I didn't wake up until around 3pm the next day. Keep in mind this was Saturday, and thanksgiving had already technically passed. Didn't matter. All of a sudden I got this idea that I was going to make thanksgiving dinner for my buddies, so we planned up a menu and J and I headed to Costco. We had to buy ingredients to make potato salad and stuffing from scratch, and as there are no ovens in Korean officetels, there could be no baking. Luckily we found a rotisserie chicken, some pumpkin pie, and our friends who were in the foreign district found cranberry sauce and gravy. The prep began.
Prep Time
We didn't eat until midnight but it was so worth it., For a minute I felt I was home.
The feast
The group (-B)
and of course. PIE!!!!
Then we stayed up all night watching movies because that was fun, and our friends had to leave at 5AM. Beaker and Shady we miss you.
After that the next most eventful thing was the string of bad luck that followed me. I went to re-sign my contract so I could stay in Korea another year. Ugh, the process is annoying. Let's just say as a business in the end they will try to get away with giving you as little as possible. That's one reason to go with smaller companies. They can't afford to f*%$ you over because not that many people out there will take your place. Anyways I finally signed on to stay after several trips, and I also was honored for volunteering (see previous post ) .
Then with Christmas approaching I went to buy gifts for my favorite people. I made it a fun trip with my buddy spooky, and we had a great time, but then we got in the cab and he tried to rip us off. When I tried to speak to him and ask him for a translator he refused and was really rude. We got to where we were going and I was so angry I jumped out... without my gifts. Ugh. and worst, my wallet. Luckily I had just gotten my brand new arc card so it wasn't in there. whew. We did all we could but I never got it back. Oh well
The only nice thing CDI did for us all year was buy us a turkey lunch to celebrate Christmas. Needless to say we ate that baby up. They ordered them from the base. The staff was afraid to eat it because they'd never tried turkey before, it might be too weird. What. talk about xenophobia. Anyways, more for us.
and boy did we tear it up
We also got Christmas day off and so when we got off work Thursday we headed to itaewon for ladies night. It was an interesting night.
Out
Geckos Xmas
Yuri!!!
Dreaming of an Ajumma Xmas
eventually i got home and i got to spend Xmas day with my favorite boys. we went out to dinner (everything was packed yet everyone else had to work on Xmas day- weird) at TGIF, and then exchange presents with cake and Irish coffee as we watch movies.
TGIF
Desserts
JP and I
So how do I recommend surviving holiday blues - spend it with loved ones that you've made since you got here, and before you know it, the day is over, and it's back to work (not to be a cynic, but literally, I had to work boxing day)
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