Pre-Koristmas

I think a lot of who I am as a person (as opposed to what, Dom?) can be attributed to my somewhat uncommon upbringing.  When you look at it ; born in England to Scottish/Irish parents, soon moving to Malta before hopping around between Dubai and Bahrain a few times and finally settling in Canada- it becomes very apparent that my family has become used to a very transient lifestyle.  Each one of the Fegan kids went to boarding school at one point in their youth as it provided a sense of stability and opportunity among the surreal elements of ex-pat living.  Thus, "coming home for the holidays" was something that we all looked forward to as a family, something we craved, something we didn't take for granted as we knew that it would only be a short time before we would be split up again.  I think this has a lot to do with our family dynamic.  Nowadays, I am in South Korea, Roisin is in Switzerland, Mairead is moving to London to be with her husband Andrew who is working at the Olympics, and Matt and Heather have settled in Halifax, a short drive from Mum and Dad in St. Margaret's Bay.  Day to day, I'm certainly not consumed by longing for my family, it's become a feeling I am used to and I sometimes forget to acknowledge it. But, this year will mark the first year that our family won't be together for the holidays and it makes it that much harder when you live in a country that doesn't share that warm and fuzzy feeling towards Christmas.  And to think, all it took was watching Macauley Culkin in Home Alone for me to come to this sublime realization.

Soju Bottle Christmas Tree

Now that the start of my blog sounds like a Coldplay song, I'll fill you in on what we have been up to recently.  With our trip to Vietnam booked, we realized that our weekends in Korea were limited so we had to try and pack in as much as we could before Louise leaves on February 1st.  Last weekend we took a bus to the city of Gwangju.  Since it is pretty far away from Daegu, by the time we arrived in the city we could only manage to squeeze in a visit to the art museum and then watch TinTin at the movie theatre before attempting to find a local "love motel".  These places are all over Korea, you really only need to look up to find the glow of the neon and you will have found a place to stay.  It is very hit and miss though.  Judging by the fact that some of them rent rooms by the hour, you can get a sense of their intended use for a few of their patrons.  But alas, the one we found in Gwangju was nothing fancy: no spinning beds or mirrors on the ceilings and served as our shelter for the evening.  Rising early, we took a bus to Boseong which is the area known for its green tea plantations.

Boseong Green Tea

Since Louise worked at David's Tea in Canada, she has a real interest in seeing where some of their products come from and the methods used to grow and produce their teas.  The perfect rows of bushes hugged the landscape and climbed up precarious slopes.  You could picture them using the same methods of growth and harvest hundreds of years ago and could sense the tradition surrounding the area.  After walking around the plantations and buying some green tea powder, we went in for a taste of their product.  Being close to the ocean, the tea tasted quite salty to me, although I had just had a bag of salt and vinegar chips so that might have had something to do with it.  Louise, the real expert, confirmed my sentiments and we came away very satisfied with our experience.  I thought to myself; "if only I could take a bath in a large cup of green tea... that would probably be really good for my skin!" And lo and behold, the next town we visited had just that; a bathhouse with special green tea baths overlooking the ocean.  It was a great end to a weekend that saw a noticeable drop in temperature and our first sights of snow while driving to Gwangju.  It was also here, that I decided to partake in some personal upkeep and trim my nipple hair.  So, after inspecting in the mirror and coming away satisfied, I got the thumbs up from two old Korean men that were rubbing their nipples and pointing at me. This was followed by uproarious laughter from the other gentlemen bathing at that time.  Great, I thought I had been very inconspicuous about it but I guess not.  Needless to say, the concept of "manscaping" is one that hasn't really penetrated into South Korea just yet.

Merry Christmas!

Gearing up for the "Holiday Season" has been rather eye-opening.  The stores put on sales, there are lights on the trees downtown, coffee shops have their Christmas drinks on offer, and many teachers are planning Christmas lessons as an excuse to sing carols and draw reindeer under the pretense that the kids are learning.  All sounds pretty familiar, right? But to be honest, it all seems a bit forced. Christmas isn't about family or giving here and much less about the birth of Jesus Christ.  Asking my co-teacher if she has finished her Christmas shopping, she said that no one really does Christmas shopping here...so why all the banner ads in the store windows? It's weird but it almost seems like they are only doing it because they think people in the Western World celebrate Christmas like this and so they are supposed to too.   Nonetheless, Louise and I have all of our presents wrapped under the tree that we made of empty rice-wine bottles and we have listened to Bing Crosby's Christmas crooning several times already.  Our advent calendar is dwindling and we are gearing up for what we hope to make a special day for the two of us while we are miles away from where we would rather be; solving the Christmas crossword puzzle in front of the fire surrounded by our loved ones.  If only, right?

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas folks.
D