Merry Christmas Linguist members and staff!

Tree01

As of today, December 21, I have officially been in Korea for 4 months!  Wow, how time flies!  My experiences have surpassed all my expectations and I have 8 more months to enjoy all the marvels and wonders this country has to offer.

I apologize for not being a diligent contributer on my blog, but my New Year's resolution is to change that.

Christmas is certaintly different over here.  I've seen only about a dozen Christmas trees, all of which I had to travel into Seoul to see.  I will be celebrating Christmas very unconventionally this year by having Christmas dinner in a local foreign bar.  Yes, that's right, I said "bar".  Strangely enough, I'm almost appreciating my non-Christmas this year.  It's refreshing to not have the stress that this time of year always brings.  With the exception of sending a few small things back home to my family, I haven't been racing around a mall, fighting for that last item on the shelf.  My only regret is not being able to see my family. 

Speaking of family, I had the pleasure of meeting a very famous skin doctor here in Korea.  So famous, he's actually been advertised on T.V. here.  He and his wife were kind enough to invite my friend Anne and I out to dinner, along with their hired foreign english teacher who teaches their daughter.  I have attached a photo from a few weeks ago of our dinner.  It was a traditional Korean dinner and then we went out for coffee after.  They were so nice.  They paid for everything, including our $8 coffee and a very fancy coffee shop.  I'm the one sitting next to Dr. Kim.  Dr. Kim is a male, so no..I'm not the guy in the picture!

Drkim