Cheonan Christmas

Merry Christmas!! Our day was special, even being so far away from home. Last night we spent the evening eating and playing festive games with my Flipside Fitness crew. This morning we decided to be just us. We skyped with our families as soon as we got up. Then we ate some breakfast and opened our presents. Jean-Marc got me an iPad stand so I don't have to lean it against various objects or my laptop while I'm Skyping back home and a couple books. He had previously told me about one of them, the Omnivores Dilemma, and I am looking forward to reading it. I also got JM some books that I ordered from the USA, one from a philosopher that he really likes, and a good quality knife set for the kitchen. Which he proceeded to cut himself with before he even got it out of the box.

Rather than going anywhere tonight, we decided to host a dinner party for those who, like us, cannot go home for Christmas, and/or have no where to celebrate. While Christmas is not as popular a holiday here as it is back home (in Korea it is supposedly more of a couple's holiday rather than a family one), it is still a national holiday, so everyone gets the day off.

There were 11 of us in total; two of my Bugil colleagues, one of my boxercise girls, six Nigerian exchange students who we met playing frisbee and JM and me. JM and I cooked 3 chickens and stuffing and everyone else brought different dishes to compliment: quinoa, potatoes, chicken skewers, and many desserts. We played a board game called Life's A Pitch where you must pitch your answer to the person who reads a scenario. Whoever gives the best pitch in the judge's opinion (which could be funny, plausible, clever, or just plain silly) is deemed the winner of that round. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it made for a very fine evening with good company and lots of laughs.We hope everyone back home also enjoyed their day.

Merry Christmas!

Team JMS

 

Santa came!

Jean-Marc, those knives are sharp!

Christmas Dinner 2012

 

Samson Family Christmas Tradition: Meat Pie!

Announcement: We made delicious meat pie from scratch!!!

Being away from family and all the holiday traditions is hard, especially Christmas. At least I get to go home in January to see my family, but I know Jean-Marc is bumming because he doesn't get to.
The Samson Family has a few traditions that I learned of last year when I spent Christmas with them. They always do a puzzle. Some 2000 pieces are laid out on the dining room table and for the month of December everyone who comes over adds a few pieces. They also bake spring rolls and meat pie which they eat on Christmas Eve after midnight mass.

Jean-Marc and I haven't done any baking in our Korean apartment. Baking supplies aren't the easiest to come by and our oven is small. But I really wanted to give JM a little taste of home for the holidays. So he got the recipe for the meat from his mom and I looked up how to bake a pie crust from scratch. With a wine bottle for a rolling pin, we hand made 3 miniature meat pies which we ate with relish, pickles and mozzarella cheese (a tradition of JM and Michel).

While they weren't exactly like Momma K's meat pie, they were soooo delicious.  I'm very happy we laboured over them.

Happy eating everyone,

Jennika

 

Our Little Korean Christmas Tree

Last weekend, while I was in Taiwan, Jean-Marc bought us a small Christmas tree and some ornaments to decorate it with. Despite JM being on holidays from December 15th, we will be in Cheonan for Christmas this year because I have to work until December 28th. There is one week of overlap to our holidays (from December 29-January 6) and we are planning our vacation this weekend. We have picked a place and will reveal the location soon. Stay tuned!

So tonight we finally put on some Christmas music, got in the spirit, and decorated our tree. While last year was our first Christmas together, this is the first year we are living together and get to decorate a tree. I'm looking forward to having an intimate holiday and Skyping with all our friends and families back home. Happy decorating everyone!

Love,

Jennika