It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

One thing we did not expect to see here was anything to do with Christmas. Perhaps that was a little naive of us but we expected the holiday to go by with only the observation we gave it. To our delight we were dead wrong. Christmas is popping up everywhere. The restaurants and shops all have trees and lights and ribbons and bows. A select few are even playing Christmas music. We are very happy our small town is getting so into it but Seoul has gone all out. We were quite surprised when we stumbled on this end of an underground mall. Christmas as far as the eye can see. I really had to control myself - there is no sense in buying decorations here, only to lug them home.

And of course, it really is Chistmas when you have a nice cup of Joy tea in a red Starbucks cup. (Yeah-yeah, I know, enough with the Starbucks already!)

Armed with paper and crayons we are trying to spread the Christmas cheer to our students (only a handful of them actually celebrate Christmas). We have trees and ornaments covering our rooms. (Darin's tree wasn't decorated yet in this picture but while it was definitely creative, it is the funniest looking tree I've seen!) On our last visit to Seoul, I convinced Darin to buy a Christmas CD. It is the EMI Best 100 Christmas songs, 6 discs and only 22,000 won. He says it is to torture him with, I say it is to spread the love. I think the kids will love it! If not, torture Darin it is. I'll just play it at home.