Thanksgiving

       Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love that it's about being with your family, friends and eating great food.  While I wasn't able to be with my family I did get to hang out with friends and have some American dishes.  The two main Western restaurants/pubs in Gwangju teamed up to host a Thanksgiving dinner.  It took place at Speakeasy and I have to give my thanks to the guys that helped put it together.  Everyone brought their favorite dish, so I made mashed potatoes and Oreo balls.  The turkeys were incredible and there was American Football on all day.  It was great being able to have the tastes, smells and sounds of home, even if it was only for an afternoon.

Having some good scotch.

Cleaned up and ready to go.

I'm ready.

Carving one of the three turkey's we had.

Thankful.

It's not Thanksgiving without sleeping on the couch after eating.

Supporting Movember.

Brian and I at German Bar. Brian's from Kingsport TN!

Weekend Update

      This past weekend was pretty fun for me.  Friday night I went to the new location for Tequilaz.  It's a Mexican restaurant that moved from one part of Gwangju to downtown.  I met up with Darrell and Brooke.  They're the couple that organized the Gwangju FC soccer game TL and I went to in July.  Here's the link for that: 
http://livinginsouthkorea.blogspot.com/2011/07/gwangju-fc-soccer.html

      Also, James finished up his contract on Friday so the rugby guys came in from Suncheon, Saturday, to celebrate.  I met up with them at Yangdong Market to check out the foreigner flea market and then I went downtown to do some shopping with Dan and Gerry.  Following that we went back to their friends place so they could get ready.  We hung out for a bit and went to First Nepal to eat some Indian food and celebrate a birthday for a good friend of the rugby guys, Katherine.  I had the delicious mutton tikka, grilled Lamb, and then we went to one of the coolest places in Gwangju.  It's called Ethnic Bar and it's the last thing you would expect to find in Korea. You go underground and the whole place is stone, with a water pond in the center, candel's everywhere and no chairs.  Instead you lounge around on pillows.  It's a great change of pace from the traditional Korean and Western restaurants here. 

A margarita with no lime.

The flea market was on the roof at Yangdong Market.

Ethnic Bar.

My serious moment for the night.

Found this racquet on my way home. It's four feet tall and I looked for the huge tennis ball that went with it but couldn't find it. Very random, very Korea.

        Living in Korea is a great experience but you have to adjust to the fluidity of the job.  You'll get close to people but their contract will end before yours and they're gone. Some people think that you shouldn't get close to people because everyone leaves at different times.  I feel the whole point is to give 100% to what you're doing and who you're with.  Otherwise, you'll regret the moments that slip away because you didn't focus on that moment, its setting and the conversation that took place.

        Next time I'll talk about having Thanksgiving in Korea.

A Quick Update

        These past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun just hanging out in Gwangju.  I've been going to trivia, playing darts and cooking some dinners with the owner of German Bar.  Furthermore Josh, my coworker,  showed me a great website that teaches you Korean.  It's called Talk To Me In Korean and it's fantastic to use.  Here are some pics showing what I've been up to:

That's called, "The Robin Hood" shot.

Check out the beautiful fall colors.

No that's not a misprint, it's just a knockoff of The NorthFace.

This little guy watches me every morning I'm at the gym.  Later, I  watch him try and catch the pigeons on the ledge without falling off.

Ahhhhhh good beer for a decent price.

A delicious lunch at work.

I let the little kids write on me if they do their homework during the week.

This is our practice field in Seocheon.  The mountains surrounding it are gorgeous even if the field isn't.

No words.

Turns out Van Gogh is the spokesperson for Home Plus.

       Also,  I've been reading about the Penn State scandal and I'm shocked.  Being around my kids it really hit home how horrific the actions of Jerry Sandusky, and the inaction of those who knew about it, truly are.
       More to come after the weekend.

All Hallows' Eve

            Second only to Thanksgiving as my favorite holiday, Halloween is a night of mystery, fun and costumes.  It’s been a bit surreal for me lately because the leaves are changing, the weather is absolutely perfect but I haven't seen any Halloween decorations.  Also, there haven't been those huge sales for candy.  So to help get myself in the mood I had Halloween lessons for my kids and explained why it’s so important to Western culture, as our main harvest holiday and not just because of today’s modern partying.  Also, some of our most famous American stories are based on Halloween, the changing of the seasons and the coming winter.  These include Rip Van Winkle, Sleepy Hollow and any ghost story centered on that creepy house in your town.

            Moving on, it was great going out and seeing how much effort people put into their costumes and I had one of my favorite nights in Korea.

Mr. Potato Head and Bob Ross

Jammin it out at German Bar.

Adding some touch ups.

She wanted a picture with me because Bob Ross is used in a Korean commercial. Who knew?

Yup that's a Korean Colonel Sanders.