Wrapping up an old year and starting a new one

Seasons greetings are over and I still have a few Christmas appropriate photos to show. I have two students named Chris and Christina that have wonderfully giving parents. Their mother would send along goodies to my class such as crushed dumplings and hot tea. One night she invited me to join her family at the Green Tea Festival in Boseong. It was a fourty minute drive back and forth but they treated me to some Gimbap and I spoke with Chris and Christina along the way. Once we were there we toured the green tea fields adorned with festive lights and some treats. One was called pondaegi which is silkworm cocoons consisting of a creamy taste.

It was a lot of fun and the family is amazingly kind. Recently Chris passed his examination to join an International school on Jeju Island. His mother purchased rice cakes for the entire school.

As I left for Seoul for New Years Eve the weather had worsened. Suncheon was experiencing snow and from reports from the natives that it is a rare occurrence. This area is close to the sea and warmer than the rest of Korea but we received a fair amount of snow.

I was invited to join my friend Heather in Seoul for New Year’s Eve. She was going to visit a friend from college there and her previous partner had bailed. I did not have anything planned and transportation within South Korea is incredibly inexpensive so I packed my bags and joined her without any hesitance.

As we arrived in Seoul at the express bus terminal we decided that shopping was the first order of business. We found the subway and traveled a short distance to Myeong-dong one of the premier fashion areas of Seoul. We found some excellent shops and in time Heather’s friend from college, Chang, joined us. He suggested we visit Gungnam instead as it was closer to his residence and there were excellent shops there as well.

We spent some time walking to many different shops and taking in the expansive cityscape. Suncheon is but a burg compared to the metropolis of Seoul. As we finished shopping we decided that we should find a bar or club to enjoy ringing in the new year. New Year’s Eve is more of a couple’s holiday in South Korea and we were faced with many venues either being completely packed or empty.

We didn’t find the perfect place or any fireworks. We found a comfortable place to count down the New Year and take photos with some quite inebriated celebrators. Afterwards we went to Noraebang (Karaoke) and sang a few songs together before retiring to Chang’s.

The next morning we made our way to Insadong to shop for souvenirs. We waited at a nice coffee shop for another of Heather’s friends from college to join us and enjoyed people watching from a loft and exploring the comfortable cubby while drinking coffee.

Insadong was an excellent place to shop for souvenirs from home. We enjoyed our time with Chang, Jongjin, and his girlfriend.

Afterwards Heather and I left to visit other sites within the city. We were waiting for some other friends of hers and during that time visited Itaewon a district that attracts many foreigners to South Korea. It was nice to see some familiar brands and faces but we cut our trip short. As we met her friends from the TALK program we decided that staying another night would not be practical and we took the train home back to Suncheon.