60) Merry Christmas Everyone

Well, it is Christmas eve, and it doesn’t really feel much like it. It feels like Christmas season, but not being at home and with family takes away a lot of what Christmas is about in the U.S.

Last night after a great dinner Chip and I went to a huge market called Dangdaemun, in Central Seoul. We spent a couple hours walking around and shopping and enjoying ourselves. The exact minute we got down to the subways to head back to my apartment they started closing them down- and we missed the last train home. The busses were still running, but we had no idea which bus would take us back to my place, and didn’t feel like messing around with any of that. So we just decided to stay out all night, which isn’t too hard or expensive to do in Seoul. After a long walk we found ourselves in an area of town that I recognized, and new where there would be a good nightlife scene. We ended up at a wa bar for a couple of hours, and had some great food and drinks. The place was still packed when we left at 3 am. At this point only having about 2 hours left before the subways started running again, we decided to enjoy ourselves in a sauna for the rest of the night. We eventually fell asleep for a couple hours there, and then started making our way back home. All in all it was a good way to spend the eve of Christmas eve- with some familiar company- which isn’t so easy in a foreign land.

Tonight I am going to meet back up with Chip in Gangnam (his neighborhood) and we are going to a Christmas party held by his church. Hopefully it will be fun, and a good opportunity to meet some new people.