More random thoughts

Christmas in Seoul has some similarities to Christmas in New York. The lighting and decorations here are over the top; absolutely nothing subtle about them. I've always had a soft spot for over-the-top Christmas decorations (excluding fake trees), so it's pretty cool. However, gift-giving is not common here. Also, Christmas here is considered more of a friendship holiday along the lines of Valentine's Day. To be sure, there are families and wide-eyed children everywhere, but also numerous couples.

I don't have a lot of Christmas traditions, other than listening to Vince Guaraldi's jazz soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Christmas." There's something about hearing the familiar piano strains of this recording that just puts me in a good mood. Also, in New York I spent a lot of time walking around the city and admiring the sights, and I do the same thing here.


I finished grading Friday afternoon. It was crazy. I set 12 p.m. as my deadline for finishing everything and I only missed it by about 15 minutes. Immediately afterward I set out to celebrate for the rest of the weekend. I spent the rest of that day with Kyoung-Ha, who had the day off work. We did numerous things, among them shopping in Insadong, eating lunch and dinner in Jonggak (which has become one of my newest favorite hangouts), doing language exchange in two different cafes, and checking out the Christmas lights at the Chunggye River in the middle of downtown Seoul. Saturday I also spent time with some other friends including Seung-Bum, whom I haven't seen in a while. I ended up going with him to the river, again. The atmosphere and the crowds at this time are comparable to Rockefeller Center. Saturday night it seemed as if the entire population of Korea showed up.


Last night Chung-Eun, Barry and I attended a performance of Handel's Messiah at the church. It was quite an intense experience, and fascinating to watch as it was all in Korean. Afterward, Kyoung-Ha joined us as we went to a cafe and chatted about cultural and linguistic differences. In the background, young couples sat at tables taking countless pictures of each other. It was really funny to watch. We were there for at least an hour and a half, but it didn't feel that long at all. After saying goodbye, Kyoung-Ha and I realized that we were both hungry, so we went to the 24-hour haejangkuk restaurant near the university before dropping me off at home. I went to bed about 2 a.m. It was a good night.


It's a relatively quiet Christmas morning. Around this time of year I often reflect on the year and my Christian life. I've been rethinking the Lord's calling upon my life on numerous levels. My biggest challenge is keeping Him central at a time in my life when I want to accomplish everything while I'm still in my 30's. This season tends to attract a certain amount of excessive sentimentality and superficiality, much of it on a religious level. Having spent previous years participating in various Christmas cantatas and musicals, this season for me also tends to lend itself to a certain amount of stress. But I also like Christmas to be a time when I renew my vows, so to speak. I've been thinking about the love of Jesus Christ toward man and toward me, and my proper response to that love, which is surrendering my life unconditionally to Him. I don't want to write too much about this until my thoughts become a little more coherent than they are right now. All I can say is that if you don't read more about this soon, please pray for me.