A Mistle-toast to the Holiday Season

A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks and I’ve been very busy. I’m now on vacation though with a solid 10 days off, which are very much needed, as I’m in dire need of some rest. It is the first time I've had time off and not gone abroad or travelling around Korea. I’m more than happy to simply not do much and actually go back to work refreshed this time.

Last Saturday was the Christmas concert and it was great. My class performed amazingly, remembering their numbers, lines, and dance moves to perfection. Like last year’s concert, it was incredibly rewarding to see the kids happy on stage and doing so well. Its a culmination of everybody’s hard work and to see it go down a treat with the audience is a Christmas gift in its own right. As much as I enjoyed watching them shine, to say I’m relieved its over is an understatement. I’m bloody thrilled about it. No more rehearsals, woohoo. I’ve replaced the rehearsal slots with game time and I can tell the kids are relieved too.

Post concert pictures and the forest I received as a gift

Post concert, all the staff had dinner at a buffet in Centum Hotel next to the school. I went there last year too and it’s delicious, and being paid for makes it that much sweeter. I had 4 plates total. For starter, I stacked the plate with cheese and crackers, chilli and nachos, carbonara and pizza. For the main course, I put together a roast dinner with all the trimmings. Then, I had two plates of desert. All this coupled with somaek (a popular beer cocktail made with beer and soju) and some red wine left me bloated and comatose, but all together very satisfied.

Fast forward to Friday, it was Christmas party day at school. A day of fun-filled festive fun, or so they say. In reality, it consisted of me helping make 24 Christmas cards, one at a time, meanwhile all the kids are shouting, “Teacher, help please.” I reminded them that there are ten of them and only one of me. And while all this is happening, I turn to see Henry, Mason, and Eric glueing each other with PVA glue rather than glueing their cards. After we got clean, the cards looked great and everyone was happy. Afterwards, it was my turn to be Santa for three of the other classes. I dressed up and shoved a shirt under my costume to make myself fat. Then, I hid behind a wall constructed of mats until the class shouted, “Santa where are you?”

“Ho Ho Ho, here I am,” I bellowed as I made my way out to Santa’s chair. I was Santa for a five year old class, a 6 year old class, and a 7 year old class. The 5’s and 6’s were very excited and I think I managed to fool some of them, but the 7’s knew it was me right away. There was no fooling them. After a short pantomime-like back and forth of them saying, “It’s Oliver teacher” and me replying, “No, I’m Santa”, I had them one by one come and sit on my lap. I made a nice list with all their names on which I checked to see if they’d been nice. There was no naughty list. As funny as it would be to see the look on their faces as they realise they’ve been naughty this year, I didn’t want to be the Santa who makes everyone cry. Plus, the supermarket was all out of coal. I then asked what they want for Christmas and handed them a present. Honestly, I think I smashed it and I might apply to be Santa full-time. I’m coming for you Santa!

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and I very much wish I was at home for it this year. I miss the family, getting up early to open presents, watching movies together all snug and cosy, and the food, oh the food… I’m salivating just thinking of it. That’s not to say I’m not excited for what is planned here though. Some friends and I are getting together at Zeke’s house and I'm very excited to get my Christmas buzz on, get a little tipsy and play some games with everyone. Oh I almost forgot, I have to run 12 kilometres first thing in the morning. Merry Christmas to me!

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a good one!