Korean Christmas

Yesterday, Mr Pan came in and announced that it was time to decorate for Christmas. This tugs at my emotions a bit, since Bobby and I will probably not be decorating our house for Christmas this year. Anyways, the guys produced boxes of decorations from somewhere, and Mr Pan set about directing Mr. Kim and Mr. Yu in Korean while I stood by and obstinately tried to get involved. These guys are pretty big on keeping the librarian away from manual labor, but eventually Mr. Pan noticed how much I wanted to help and set me to decorating the tree. Meanwhile, Mr. Yu was defiantly giving two Santas four reindeer apiece. I rattled off all of their names to try and convince Mr. Yu that there were in fact eight reindeer and one Santa, but Mr. Kim, the joker, said that there needed to be two Santas to carry so many presents and turned back to his work, singing “Jingle Bells.” By the end of the morning, we had one fully decorated tree, stockings on the circ desk—my idea, as the men wanted to put them on the tree—and two Santas with four reindeer apiece in the children's room. Mr. Kim also strung green tinsel from the ceiling over the circ desk while I pleaded with him to be careful. I got a wreath on my office door, which I have to duck to go in and out.

I know none of my Korean library family reads this blog, but I have to mention how I will remember that morning, with fondness, as my first Christmas in Korea. My Walker library staff is closer to my heart than they can imagine. I guess being in a foreign land can make one sentimental and needy, especially around the holidays. Meri from a month ago would be rolling her eyes at my soft underbelly, but there you have it.