Happy Thanksgiving week! I have spent the last few days making jokes with my students about how I wish I could eat turkey on Thursday and showing them clips of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving special.
I have been researching how I could possibly pull together a Thanksgiving dinner, and I think I'm getting close. I've been able to find ingredients for mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and maybe even pumpkin pie (if I can find a pie tin that will fit in my toaster oven). Sure the green beans may be canned, the gravy from powder, and instead of turkey there will be a rotisserie chicken... but I'm not complaining!
The spirit of the season was furthered today by the fact that I received my first Christmas present! It was even wrapped! My parents mailed me a package that included- among other things- the movie Bad Santa and some Christmas Tree-shaped pretzels dipped in white chocolate and green & red sprinkles. Talk about holiday spirit!
Christmas isn't a very big deal in Korea... the only places that ever look Christmassy are the department stores, and even then, it isn't that Christmassy. Christmas is seen as sort of a couples holiday, not a family holiday, and no one really talks about it or has any traditions for it. Yet, all of these little things- the chance of a half-way decent Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas presents in the mail, and the clock ticking down until I escape to Australia, is just enough to get me in the mood to start the Christmas music.
