Winter Vacation in Korea: Christmas, Hug Lines and Seoul

Happy New Years to all!

One of my many New Years resolutions is to blog more consistently, so here's my first blog post of the year!

I've been on vacation since Christmas Eve and it's been incredibly relaxing. I've been able to catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, and travel a bit.

Before vacation started, I decided to have a few fun winter-themed classes. I had my students make paper snowflakes and 3D snowflakes to take home or hang in the classroom. This was originally supposed to be a one day lesson and then we would watch a holiday movie on the last day. Yet, when it was time for the movie they kept asking me for more paper to make snowflakes. Not one to squish creativity, we had a movie and craft class. One student even started looking up origami to make little christmas trees. It was definitely one of my favorite activities to do with them.

My adorable 3rd and 4th graders. It was originally only supposed to be a movie day but they all wanted to make more snowflakes.

Again, I was only going to show a movie but they all wanted to keep making snowflakes.

Christmas Eve was spent eating Christmas cake, drinking hot chocolate, and watching movies with Megan. Christmas day was awesome. David, Megan, and I got lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, walked around and bought each other Christmas/Hanukkah gifts, went to Norabang (karaoke), and had a delicious dinner. At one point while walking around downtown we noticed a line of high school students holding signs for free hugs. Sometimes being a foreigner is really fun- I noticed a spot in line, walked up with my arms open and started saying "free hugs." Freaked out the kids next to me when they realized I was foreign and immediately I was swarmed with teenagers trying to hug me. They formed a line at one point and I felt like a celebrity. It actually got pretty crazy. Kids were pushing each other out of the way so they could hug a foreigner. Sometimes there was no warning as they jumped into my arms. It was really fun to see groups of friends (mainly teenage boys) egging each other on to hug me. Although I had a lot of fun wishing middle schoolers and high schoolers Merry Christmas with hugs, I decided it was time to stop when one teenage boy nuzzled my neck.

We attempted to eat this entire cake....we failed miserably. 

Such a cute family picture.  

This past weekend I went to Seoul with a few friends. We didn't do any of the touristy stuff (I'm saving my trip for the palace for the Spring when I'm not bundled up like a marshmallow) but it was nice to walk around and shop. I was having such a good time that I decided to stay an extra night alone (everyone else had work the next day). As I spent a good amount of time last year in hostels in South America, it was really nice to be back in a hostel. There's just such a great sense of community and friendliness. You meet the most interesting people from around the world. I ended up making a new friend and discovered a Korean man who sold falafel. So, believe it or not, I now have a falafel man in Korea. He comes to Gwangju every now and then to sell falafel in the market and I'm SUPER EXCITED for his next trip to our city.

This is the one and only picture I took of Hongdae in Seoul. I wasn't going to use it until I noticed the super happy couple that posed for my picture. Thanks random couple! 

Another highlight of my time in Seoul was the hostel I stayed at. If anyone wants a fun hostel to stay at in Seoul in a great location than Seoul Base Camp is the place to be. Not only is the owner awesome but he has a pet pig.

You read that right. A pig. Here's picture proof.

This pig was kinda crazy. It humped everything and sometimes bit toes...but he's so cute when he's asleep!

He wasn't super happy to be in my arms.

New Years Eve was full of friends, laughter, good food, dancing, and drinks. I had a lot of fun ringing in the New Year with new friends.

Peace!