Christmas in Seoul

Merry Day After Christmas All! Well, I am now back at work. Although public schools, banks, and government offices are closed on Christmas Day, the rest of the city is up and running. The rest of the week is business as usual. This is the last week of school. I think I have mentioned before that the school year here starts in March and ends in December. So I am looking ahead to three weeks of a special winter camp (it is only Monday through Friday for 3 hours a day so no big deal) and then five weeks of vacation. I love it!!!

So the question on everyone’s mind: What is Christmas like in Korea? Except for the lack of real hype, it’s very similar. Christianity is very strong here. The two main religions are Christian (Protestant and Catholic) and Buddhist. The one notable difference is that unlike the west it is preserved here as a religious holiday. The Christmas Tree at City Hall has a huge cross on top. Something people would complain about at home. Koreans seem to have a better sense of differing religions that we do. If someone states they believe one thing, no one will complain or try to argue them out of it. Now some of you many think this is because the Christians here are not as “pushy” or “open” about their beliefs as people at home. WRONG!! Your religious beliefs are frequently one of the first questions you will get here after your age and marriage status. I have been asked a number of times – once by a teller at the bank. People who are not Christians here understand that this is a celebration for this religion and why should I care if I am not included – I do not believe what they believe. A lot better than people whining about nativity scenes at home.

So for Josh and I Christmas went like this – one Sunday my church had a Christmas party (well the English service did). It was very fun – lots of food and performance from the different groups. Most of the people who come to the English service do not speak English as their first language. Many are from Africa, Europe, and India – and are studying at the universities here. One thing that was very funny was that every time the guy leading music introduced a song he would say “this is a very popular/famous Christmas song”. He would say this for songs like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” or “Joy to the World”. And Josh and I looked at each other with an unspoken “well dah”. Forgetting that “oh yes Popular to us but perhaps not as well known to someone from some place else”. Oops. We did feel really bad when they started singing verses to some of the songs in which the songs are so old that many of the words are not spoken in English anymore. So here are people who do not speak English as their native language, not heard these songs over and over, year after year – and are being asked to sing words and phrases that are 200 years old. Does not exactly roll of the tongue easily. Then on Christmas Eve, I worked during the day so later we went out to eat. We actually went to an Outback for dinner funny as that was. We needed to pick up our train tickets to Busan for Friday so we ran over there real fast and since I use the subway here to traveling through the city most of the time – Josh has had little opportunity to see above ground so we took a cab back to my place. This is where he got his first taste of how ridiculously crowded this city is – traffic was so bad, but cabs are rather cheap here so that was not that expensive.

Now for those of you who have never been around Josh at Christmas time – I am very sorry. He is the best – he gets so excited about everything and will spontaneously start jumping up and down chanting “one more day ‘til Christmas, one more day ‘til Christmas”. It is like being around an excited seven year old except with none of the annoying whining. So Christmas morning we opened presents and went to church. This time it was an all-Korean service. It was rather interesting. Did not understand a word of it, but it was nice just to see how they did a Christmas service which really was not any different than a church at home. The really fun part for me was while singing. They sing the same Christmas songs as us but only in Korean of course. Well, one thing we noticed was that they tend to sing all the verses – even the really obscure ones no one at home knows. So for all the verses we did know we sang them in English, but for all the verses we did not know I sang them in Korean. You see, they were kind enough to project the Korean words on a large screen for the congregation and since many Christmas songs are rather slow – I was able to read the Korean words on the screen and sing along. I felt very smart!!!!!!

After church we went to visit one of the larger palaces – Changdeokgung. I had already gone there (it is the palace where all of the color fall pictures are from). I think it is one of the more stunning places in the city so I wanted to make sure to take Josh there. It was also a nice diversion from all of the crowded streets and shops. Unlike home where public places are pretty much deserted on Christmas Day, Seoul was completely packed. Everyone is out shopping, eating, and sightseeing. No one stays at home - all 10, 356,000 of the cities residences plus their out of town visitors hit the streets. It is wild. Luckily we found a nice quiet restaurant for lunch. Funny things was it was Josh’s first real Korean meal since arriving on Monday.

By this time, it was starting to get dark. All of the downtown/city hall area is wire for light. I have never seen something so involved or, as stated earlier, crowded. We headed over to that area to wait for the lights to go on. The real fun came with the collective gasp and oooooo from the crowd when everything finally lit up. We then walked over to Deoksuggung (another palace) where it was much quieter and had a bit more breathing room. The buildings are all lit up from the inside at night – it was beautiful. It was kind of like walking through a giant Chinese lantern. It made for a very nice end to a wonderful day.

Tonight we are packing for Japan. We will be in Hiroshima Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I plan on having at least a few comments. Take care. I will write again next week.