A Tale of Two Thanksgivings (aka Fast Metabolisms and One Hardcore Betch)

Well. That was a weekend, wasn't it?

I was looking forward to this weekend because it was going to be the first time that I'd had the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving while living outside the United States, and I was going to celebrate it not only once, but twice. Normally, when you're outside the US, Thanksgiving just kind of passes you by without much notice or fanfare. You go to work like any normal Thursday and Friday, there's no special turkey dinner, no talk about what you're thankful for, and even worse, no pumpkin pie. I've had a couple years without a Thanksgiving (2005 and 2006) and it's a bit deflating. But thanks to the huge US military presence in Korea, that was not a concern for me this year. In order to serve the troops on Yongsan base and others, some companies put together big Thanksgiving dinners-in-a-box which usually serve 10-12 people and cost about $100. I couldn't wait to chow down on two awesome dinners this year instead of just one.

Thoughts on the North Korean Situation

So obviously tensions between the ROK and DPRK have been escalating this year, starting with the Cheonan sinking in March and ramping up again yesterday after the North decided it'd be a bright idea to shell a military base and civilian homes on Yeonpyeong Island. Normally, these little "incidents" between the two Koreas seem to pass by with minimal fanfare; Koreans in Seoul and the surrounding areas, despite being less than 40 kilometers from the border, go about their lives and casually shrug it all off as being just a fact of life. But yesterday, I and at least a couple of friends noted that, for the first time we've seen, Koreans themselves appeared slightly nervous, which got me thinking about the situation in more depth.

Parties and Paintings

My social calendar was pretty booked up this weekend, which was exactly what I needed after what felt like the longest week I'd spent in Korea. Despite taking a sick day on Monday, going to a demo class at a nearby middle school on Tuesday, and sitting at my desk with no classes all day during the SATs on Thursday, I thought my head was going to explode by the time Friday evening rolled around. The second school let out, I got my crap together and headed to Seoul. I have two girl friends, Kasia and Rian, who had never been to Homo Hill and had made me promise to take them before they go home in December, so Friday night that's exactly what we did. I just spent four hours dancing all my stress out, which was perfect except for the raging headache I had to bear the brunt of the entire next day. Stupid cheap gin.

On Saturday, after an extremely late brunch with friends I hadn't seen in weeks, Amanda and I headed to the National Museum of Contemporary Art at Deoksugung Palace to scope out the Picasso and Chagall exhibition.  Picasso and Dali have been my two favorite artists since my time studying in Spain so I was excited to see more of Picasso's work and "get some culture," as it were. The only painting that was famous enough for me to recognize was Picasso's "Woman in a Green Hat." The museum also showed some of Picasso's earlier works, like "The Frugal Repast," which really brought me back to those days in Madrid and Barcelona, when I remember being shocked to learn that Picasso could actually draw in a realistic fashion.

Hiking and Halloween

This past Saturday, Jen and Tim and I decided to take advantage of one of the last nice crisp fall weekends by hiking to the top of Bukhansan, a mountain on the northern edge of Seoul. Unbeknownst to us, we were about to live through an experience like no other on this earth.

Hiking in Korea could reasonably be called an extreme contact sport.