The Festive Season and School

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Hello again everyone, and happy new year to you all.

Christmas has come and gone and I can now say that I haven't seen any of you since last year. I had a good time and I'm now looking forward to the adventures that 2009 should bring.

A wise old friend of mine - also living far from home - recently described his Christmas as a challenge to get past rather than an occasion to celebrate. I saw the festive season in very much the same way but I still managed to enjoy myself and make the most of it.

Whilst everyone at home was still tucked up in bed, I was out enjoying my 'Christmas meal' at the Hilton hotel in Seoul with a few friends. I say 'Christmas meal' because that's not really an accurate description. Very nice though it was, there wasn't much Christmassy about it. Not a sprout in sight. Afterwards, we went for a drink before heading back to Incheon...

As I delved into my small mountain of gifts, I definitely felt something resembling festive spirit. Christmas can be a selfish time, and sometimes people lose sight of what it's all about, but I have never felt more grateful for presents in my life. They truly made my day.

On Boxing Day I was back at school and we had a 'Market Day' where the children exchanged their equivalent of housepoints for new stationary, food, and fizzy pop. I had the job of cameraman so took the opportunity to get some snaps for the blog. You can see here what my school looks like as well as some of my favourite kids (I know I shouldn't have favourites!)

New Year was a typical night out drinking with friends; no different from what goes on at home. I'm looking forward to the Chinese New Year later this month when I'll get to celebrate all over again. Interestingly, I was born in the Chinese year of the cow and this year is also the year of the cow so maybe that will bring me some sort of good fortune. Either that or I'll get BSE.

I'll close there for now but it won't be so long between my meagre contributions in future as I should have something worthy of a write up over the coming weeks.

TTFN and all that jazz.

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Photos

The Huge Hilton Christmas Tree
It rotated slowly and was very impressively large. Yet probably not as big is some of the trees we've had in our house in recent years.

Giftage
Funny how wherever you go in the world, Santa and his bulging sack will always find you.

Nice to see the receptionist doing a good job.

Three girls from one of my best classes. The two in the front are sisters.

They have some smashing headgear in Korea.

The girl on the left has taken to drawing hearts with my name in all over her book.