We have been living outside the US for almost six months now and we have fully settled into our lives as expats for the most part. We have grown to except the unusual or the uncommon as part of our every day lives. However, every now and then you have these moments that you just have to laugh about and say yep that's Korea.
I was shopping at Homeplus the other day which is one of the big box stores kind of like a four story version of Meijers with a mall attached to it. I was going about my merry way picking up items we needed and investigating packaging to figure out what other items were when all of a sudden the music in the store changed and all the sales clerks filed to the ends of the aisles. They stood in two rows that faced each other then they proceeded to do a dance routine. Think of a Joe's Crab Shack type thing but put in it a grocery store. I had to cover my mouth to prevent laughing out loud. At the end of the routine they gave a great big bow and said something in Korean.
Highly entertaining I must say. Afterwards I spoke with another friend of ours and they said that many of the stores in the city do this at certain times of the day. One store has an opening ceremony inside the store. One store has the employees come out in front of the store and bow to the passing traffic. Can you imagine if the states? It's pretty funny.
Other events in our lives
We have been very busy the last few weekends with friends here in Daejon. We have had Christmas parties and going away parties and have been helping our friends get ready for the holidays. It's nice to be around everyone for a bit of the Christmas spirit. It's also interesting to learn holiday traditions of other countries while we are here.
I got the pleasure of helping make lanterns for St. Martin's day which is a German holiday that basically celebrates the generosity of St. Martin. The story goes that St. Martin tore his cloak in half to give part of his cloak to a poor man. The wealthier people of the village saw this act and realized that they should be more generous with their money and time. The tradition is that the children carry lanterns in the streets in a large procession to honor St. Martin and remember to help those less fortunate.
After St. Martins we had Thanksgiving with friends. How do you explain the meaning of Thanksgiving to non Americans? As in any holiday there are family traditions that are part of that day that are specific in meaning to an individual family. But to give another family the basics is to explain the tale we are all told as children that it is a time to be grateful for family, friends, and those things in life which we have been blessed by. And to eat a ridiculous amount of food. As our friend Mark would explain it. Thankfully we did actually manage to get our hands on turkey which are rare to find in Korea.
Shortly after Thanksgiving we were involved with getting ready for Christmas bazaars and going away parties for friends who are being relocated to China. The craziness of it all feels just like the holiday season in the States. With the exception of all the decorations. Koreans have not figured out the exploitive nature of Christmas yet. You can find some Christmas things but no where near the amount of Christmas paraphernalia that is present in the US or Europe. This is not a bad thing. It gets you back tot he root meaning of the holiday I think. I don't just mean the religious portion either I mean the portion of being thankful for those around you. At least for me Christmas has dual meaning. It is a time to be with family and friends and share the joy of life with each other. As this is our first holiday season away from family we are grateful for the wonderful group of friends we have hear in Daejon.
It was fun to watch the children perform in a Christmas concert last week complete with slide show accompaniment at the international school. And Chris and I had a great time at the expat dinner in Seoul for Bosch employees. Adventurous as it was being the only Americans at a party with almost all Germans except for one French man and us.
Many of our friends return to their home countries this week to visit with friends and family for the holiday season and we will see them after the New Year.
Ahh the holidays are gone and our trip home was a success. Due to limited time we did not make it to Kansas but look forward to the visit of Chris's parents here in the spring.
We had good private laughs at ourselves for the habits we have picked up in Korea and the carry overs to the US. Mainly the two handed receiving and giving for me. Not to mention the mental check of the pit versus seat toilet occurance inthe bathroom at the airport.
As we start to settle back into our lives in Korea we are blessed with many great things to start the New Year. Mainly amazing friends and family. We wish luck to those who told us of coming births and marriages and look forward to seeing pictures of the event filled days to come that we will not be able to join.