Christmas day puts the USA at a standstill. You had better have a full fridge, because there is no chance you're grabbing a pizza on the 25th... anywhere. That is hardly the case in Korea.
In fact, I actually got a pizza from Dominos yesterday. In doing so I noticed a marked difference between the Korean and American executions of this wintry holiday. Life absolutely hustles along here regardless of Santa's presence. Most Koreans will tell you that Christmas is not really an important holiday to them. The country has a large Buddhist population who could give a crap about santa, and the day itself is not a uniquely Korean holiday like, say, Chuseok or the Lunar New year. For those reasons Christmas, in practice, is just an excuse to take a day off work and shop. And shop they did.
I went to grab a football at the local megastore/supermarket for a brisk toss on Ilsan beach. The store [Home Plus] is never empty, but I had never seen it as busy as it was. Families whizzed around with full carts everywhere the eye could see. I broke hard for the sports section and got out of there within 6 minutes. Any longer would have been trying.
In truth, it felt nice that life continued on around us yesterday. For many of the native teachers in Ulsan, it was our first Christmas away from home. So had life shut down, we would all have been confined to our tiny apartments, eating and drinking whatever nourishment we had lying around. It felt great to have some distraction. I can certainly say that it contributed to what was an amazing Christmas day (pictures forthcoming...)
So there you have it. Korean Christmas is, more or less, just one big excuse to hang up your work boots and buy a DVD player.
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