Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

By John Redmond
Contributing Writer
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/12/177_36618.html
Foreigners Celebrate Christmas in Korea

To many Western foreigners here in Korea, Christmas is a really big deal. It's the one big holiday that adults and children alike look forward to for a variety of reasons.

For children, it is not only associated with receiving gifts better than those on their birthday, but in many cases with the loss of innocence. Most do not recall the exact date they realized Santa Claus was a fictitious character perpetrated by adults and media in society.

Dan Stammer, an airline pilot, clearly remembers the horrific events leading to the realization that there was no Father Christmas.

``Celebrating a birthday in December was never much fun for a child, as people tended to see the birthday gift as a warm up to Christmas,'' he said

``One day, while retrieving a tennis ball under my parents' bed, I noticed a huge guitar-shaped box. 'Wow,' I thought, 'I'm getting a guitar for my birthday.'''


However, such was not the case, ``I got something else for my birthday and was a little disappointed about the guitar, wondering who it was for.''

``A couple of weeks later the family celebrated Christmas and my brothers and I couldn't wait to see what jolly old Santa had brought us, and sure enough, he'd given me a guitar. It took me about a few days to put it all together,'' he lamented.

For many in foreign countries, Christmas can cause feelings of loneliness as the absence of family members becomes all too apparent.

For that very reason, a lot of ex-pat bars and associations play host to Christmas parties, each unique to their native country.

``I miss my traditional Aussie Barbie,'' said Haydin, a videographer from Perth, Australia.

As Christmas in Australia falls right in the middle of the summer holidays, the food served is in keeping with traditional fare.

``It's the middle of summer and being on the coast we would have mostly outdoor barbeques with fish, cold meat and salads and plenty of cold beer,'' he said.

He expressed discomfort with experiencing his first cold Christmas.

``At first I was thrilled with snow, but then, after falling over a few times, I hated it. Leave snow for the postcards''

Haydin would often have people around to his apartment to celebrate Christmas in true Aussie style, complete with an outdoor blow up pool on the balcony.

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[wylies99]

Anyone suspect that this article was heavily edited?

[Brooks]

it seems real to me.
On a side note, what is a nice place to go to?
I was thinking of Canada Buddy in Bucheon.
Or maybe I will go to somewhere in Itaewon, like Nashville.

I haven't been in the US for Christmas since `96.

[Easter Clark]

Why is this newsworthy?

[IAMAROBOT]

This guy should have his writing license revoked.

[wylies99]

[RACETRAITOR]

[bangbayed]

[wylies99]

What about the captions with the pics in the articles? Hmmmmmmm?

[madoka]

When I first read the article, I was shocked that Wylies99 put up a news article that did not have an anti-Korean bias. How unlike him. Oh wait, here it is. . .

[wylies99]

[flakfizer]

[nate2008]

Do all you people really have nothing better to do than debate whether this is a well written article? It's not even scholarly, it's a blurb about Christmas for us foreigners, who cares?

Threads like this make me hate Dave's...

[madoka]

[jkelly80]