(no subject)
Every year, Christmas gets a little harder. The first year, it was fine, cold, David and I went to Everland and had a lovely time. The second year, we went to Lotte World, it was too crowded and we came home early. This year, David is still recovering from pneumonia, and I have some sort of advanced cold horribleness, so both of us were awfully tired and weary. Plus Christmas is on a Saturday this year, so we get zero days off.
I begged off Daniel's Christmas party Friday night, because I felt so awful that I couldn't even imagine leaving my house for the cold again. David brought me this amazing soup called yukgaejang, which was pretty much the best soup in the world, and some special sort of kimchi. We went to Korean Christmas Mass together, and I sang "O Holy Night" and "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" in Korean. "Joy to the World" was a choir-only communion meditation, which I found terribly disappointing, since it has been the recessional hymn at every Christmas Mass I've ever attended. But, oh well.
We went up to Daehangro (University Street) to watch a play, which was...way over my head. I like plays with easy plots and characters who speak slowly enough for my to understand all the Korean. But this one was really complicated. It was a sort of suspense comedy, with a gazillion plot twists and actors flying through their lines...David had to break the whole thing down for me afterward. David liked it pretty well, though.
Next, we went to a fortune-telling coffee shop. As I've said before, fortune-telling is not all mystical and unbelievable in Korea. It seems much more like looking at your investment portfolio. The fortune teller looks at your assets and the things you need to be careful about, and then gives you advice.
After that I came home and skyped with family, including Liz on Jean's ipod. We opened presents together. I got oatmeal, two Zaleski books, deodorant, chapstick, bracelets, honey, a t-shirt, a papercutting from China, and an awesome lunchbox. Also soap from John. Yay!
Also I frosted the disaster of a cake that I made for the Lee family, and made cookies to attach to the top so it would not look as awful.
Technically, today I finished the cookies (the dough had to be refrigerated overnight) so I got up early to do that.
Then I went to the Lee's house in Ansan, and they picked me up in the weird place I got off the bus, since the bus DIDN'T STOP at the bus stop!! and we went to see "Hello, Ghost" at the theater. I really enjoyed it, but none of David's family did. I guess I like easy-to-understand stories, so I liked this one. I am sure if I watched a similar movie in English, with a predictable plot and obvious lines, I would be bored. Then we went to Lotte Department Store, where David bought me warm clothes and a cashmere scarf, and tried to buy me gloves but I wouldn't accept any more.
His sister bought me lunch and coffee, and then gave me a handbag and some merlot at home, and his mom sent me home with tangerines, kimchi, and more yukgaejang, despite my protests that they were giving me too much.
You know, I feel like I have an honest-to-goodness second family nowadays. I only saw David's dad for a minute, but he smiled at me and told me to eat well.
I missed my family like crazy this Christmas, but the Lee family sure helped a lot.
I begged off Daniel's Christmas party Friday night, because I felt so awful that I couldn't even imagine leaving my house for the cold again. David brought me this amazing soup called yukgaejang, which was pretty much the best soup in the world, and some special sort of kimchi. We went to Korean Christmas Mass together, and I sang "O Holy Night" and "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" in Korean. "Joy to the World" was a choir-only communion meditation, which I found terribly disappointing, since it has been the recessional hymn at every Christmas Mass I've ever attended. But, oh well.
We went up to Daehangro (University Street) to watch a play, which was...way over my head. I like plays with easy plots and characters who speak slowly enough for my to understand all the Korean. But this one was really complicated. It was a sort of suspense comedy, with a gazillion plot twists and actors flying through their lines...David had to break the whole thing down for me afterward. David liked it pretty well, though.
Next, we went to a fortune-telling coffee shop. As I've said before, fortune-telling is not all mystical and unbelievable in Korea. It seems much more like looking at your investment portfolio. The fortune teller looks at your assets and the things you need to be careful about, and then gives you advice.
After that I came home and skyped with family, including Liz on Jean's ipod. We opened presents together. I got oatmeal, two Zaleski books, deodorant, chapstick, bracelets, honey, a t-shirt, a papercutting from China, and an awesome lunchbox. Also soap from John. Yay!
Also I frosted the disaster of a cake that I made for the Lee family, and made cookies to attach to the top so it would not look as awful.
Technically, today I finished the cookies (the dough had to be refrigerated overnight) so I got up early to do that.
Then I went to the Lee's house in Ansan, and they picked me up in the weird place I got off the bus, since the bus DIDN'T STOP at the bus stop!! and we went to see "Hello, Ghost" at the theater. I really enjoyed it, but none of David's family did. I guess I like easy-to-understand stories, so I liked this one. I am sure if I watched a similar movie in English, with a predictable plot and obvious lines, I would be bored. Then we went to Lotte Department Store, where David bought me warm clothes and a cashmere scarf, and tried to buy me gloves but I wouldn't accept any more.
His sister bought me lunch and coffee, and then gave me a handbag and some merlot at home, and his mom sent me home with tangerines, kimchi, and more yukgaejang, despite my protests that they were giving me too much.
You know, I feel like I have an honest-to-goodness second family nowadays. I only saw David's dad for a minute, but he smiled at me and told me to eat well.
I missed my family like crazy this Christmas, but the Lee family sure helped a lot.