Being away from home during the holidays can be tough. Watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas carols, and smelling fresh-baked cookies can make one reminisce of the wonderful moments at home during Christmas. However, I’m in Korea. I almost wanted to say, “stuck” in Korea, but it’s totally my choice to be here.
This winter in Korea has been one worst in terms of weather. It seems to snow every other day and the temperatures stay below freezing. It’s been really rough for most people living in Korea. With the weather, being away from family, and sometimes non-comfortable living conditions, you may think it has been really difficult for me personally. In reality, it’s been an amazing time.
Christmas Eve Dinner
I truly miss my family and friends back at home. I would have done anything to be with them during the holidays. However, I have gained a wonderful family here in Korea. They are made of people from all over the world with different backgrounds, lifestyles, goals, and beliefs. It’s been a great feeling to be so loved by these people. They aren’t blood related, but they are completely special.
Christmas turned out to be a great time and the beautiful Christmas morning snow was icing on the cake. On Christmas Eve, my friends and I had Korean BBQ and tons of meat! MERRY CHRISTMAS! After, we exchanged gifts at a nearby Starbucks. I received a backpack for my upcoming travels. It will be a great trekking across Southeast Asia. The next day was full of food as we went to VIPS, a Western style steak and buffet place. Yes, I ate my heart out and enjoyed every bit of it. That night we watched “Christmas Vacation” and ate more junk food. Overall, it was such a great time.
Gift Exchange at Starbucks
Christmas is really different from in the States. People are more interested in spending time with friends or boy/girlfriends. The shops are crowded, the streets are overwhelmingly packed, movie theaters are full, and there is no room in the coffee shops. It’s more like another Valentine’s Day and less like a family holiday. When I ask my students about Christmas, they would say, “Teacher, I’m sad. I am lonely. I don’t have a girlfriend for Christmas.” I did not have one either at that age, but that didn’t prevent Santa from entering my chimney.
Even though Christmas wasn’t spent with my family and doing traditional Christmas things, it was still a lovely Christmas. I may not have all of the necessary things for a proper Christmas, but I still have amazing friends. It’s all about people and who is surrounding you. I had a great Christmas not because I ate great food or saw snowfall, but it was great because the people were great. People really do matter, and I am thankful for all the great people in my life.
December 29- Grocery Shopping and Radio Veldhoven- Veldhoven to Den Bosch
What a great rest I had! It was my last full day in Veldhoven and I was excited for the special surprises it would bring. John had an interview for a job so the home was empty except for John’s mother and me. It would be the perfect opportunity to spend time with her and see few grocery stores.
John’s mother and I went to the town center of Veldhoven to buy some much needed items for dinner. For me, it was a time to say “Wow!” or “This looks amazing”. The freshness, quality, and even the lower prices intrigued me. I wanted it all! Living in Korea, I seem to have limited options on what foods I can purchase and I find many grocery items overpriced. It was so nice to see huge variety and flavors. The sizes of items were quite smaller than America or even Korea, but still a good value nonetheless.
Den Bosch City Hall
After shopping for food, we went to other parts of the town center including pharmacies and clothing stores. If you ever travel, a great part of the experience is looking at the differences in shopping especially food stores. You can learn a lot about a culture just by looking at its food.
Santa and I hanging out in Den Bosch
After some Dutch mother and son quality time, I was off to meet up with John in the beautiful town locally known as Den Bosch. It seemed as a shopping Mecca as well as McDonald’s land. One unique aspect was the Cathedral of Saint John. In Europe, I visited many cathedrals. They are a great example of European architecture and are usually free to enter. This cathedral had on display a nativity scene. However, it was a mixture of the nativity and Noah’s Ark. It was the creepiest scene of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as the statues were made of wood, or dead bodies? Anyways, it was something I had never seen before.
Mary and Jesus
After some exploring of the city, we stopped by one of the more famous places in Den Bosch. It was a bakery known for making bossche bol. This amazing desert is a ball of cream covered in chocolate goodness. The bakery had a line out the door, and this was completely normal. After buying one, I wanted to indulge at that moment. John wanted me to wait for after dinner. I hesitantly agreed.
Arriving back in Veldhoven, John’s mother had prepared a meal I have heard of for years. In Oklahoma, John always talked about his mother’s spaghetti. He always said it’s the best ever and I would love it completely. After finally trying some, I totally agreed with him. It was delicious! I would have gained a few pounds if it were a buffet.
Radio Sidekicks
That night would be another unique experience. John does a weekly radio show for the local radio station called Radio Veldhoven. His show is called “John Draait Door”. It’s roughly translated as “John goes crazy” or “John keeps turning”. His radio partner and I joined his broadcast of music, news, and opinions (mostly in Dutch). However, when they spoke with me, it was in English. We spoke on the radio about teaching in Korea. I also played a kpop song by the Korean group 2NE1. For three minutes, the city of Veldhoven got a taste of kpop. My friends had never heard of kpop. I later said the Dutch were behind the rest of the world. After the radio program, we got into the car to go back to Veldhoven. The program was prerecorded about ten minutes so we were able to hear the last of the show. Take a look at the short video I created.
"John Draait Door"
That night was the last night to see the family. I had to say goodbye to John’s father. He was very kind to me the whole time and also loved being sarcastic. It took me some time to get when he sarcastic or not. However, I appreciated it. The next day I would say “goodbye” to Eindhoven and “hello” to another city.
December 30- Dr. Watson, Rambo, Assie, F. Dutchman, and Long One –Eindhoven to Munster.
As I said many times, John’s family was so wonderful to me. I will never forget it! This Dutch family truly made me love the Netherlands even more than I did before. I hope to return to see them all soon.
John was playing the secret game like he did before. At the train station in Eindhoven, he said we were going somewhere but didn’t tell me exactly where. I even got on a train to a place we were supposedly going. He told me to get off the train. I was a little confused but I was getting used to John’s games. I walked off the platform and there they were! They were my friends Remco and Toon. Remco was accompanied with his girlfriend who was a delight. It was a surprise to me because John kept telling me they were too busy to see me. I thought I wouldn’t get to see them. I met Remco and Toon while John was studying with me in Oklahoma. They came with our other friend Laurens to visit John. I of course gave them a “Ryan Watson OKC Tour”. It has been great to keep in contact with them. I saw Remco this past spring when I visited Amsterdam. I kept looking at Toon and Remco. They are just so tall. It’s so Dutch of them.
Good friends in Eindhoven
All five of use decided to get some hot chocolate in John’s favorite place in Eindhoven. I also enjoyed a Dutch Croquette in the restaurant. It was so Dutch of me. The waiter also came to me to tell me to be quiet as I was sharing kpop music with them. That became a norm in my trip in Europe as I was getting the “Korean Wave” to Europe.
After a fun meal, we went to play laser tag. Our names were Dr. Watson, Rambo, Assie, F. Dutchman, and Long One. It seems every time I play, I pick the same name. It’s also an awkward moment at Laser Quest when you can’t come up with a name when the employee wants to register you. Anyways, I came in second place with John in first. That might have got to his head a little. I told them in the United States we use real guns, which I am more experienced than them. Haha! After shooting each other with lasers, we played a few games of pool. I am better at pool than I think or I just had good team players. Whatever team I was on, I won. It was fun to have a little victory. Playing pool and relaxing was such a great ending to my time in Eindhoven. Spending it with great people made me want to return soon.
"Freeway Cola!"
Now at the train station, I had to say goodbye to Remco, Toon, and Astrid. I would later see Remco and Astrid in Amsterdam. However, saying goodbye to John was difficult, as we have grown throughout the years in friendship. We waved goodbye. I was now heading to Munster, Germany with train changes in Venlo and Dusseldorf.
Toon Playing Pool
I had smooth travels arriving in the evening in Munster. My friend Bjorn was there to greet me. Bjorn or “B” and I met when we studied Spanish in Costa Rica. We studied at the same school and traveled some. I still remember when we met. Even though we were there to study Spanish, English became our language of communication. It’s so amazing how English truly connects people from other tongues.
Toon and I
For dinner, Chinese buffet. It was my first time to eat Chinese Mongolian food in another country besides the United States. It has the same tastes. I taught “B” how to use chopsticks. I can say he failed. After dinner I learned a stereotype became true, Germans truly love drinking. I was offered a lot of beer and other types of drinks. The family was truly kind to me, even when they were sober. The parents didn’t speak much English, but we were still able to communicate with broken English and the few German words I could understand.
Bjorn and I
The weather was rainy and it was dark. It was time for bed to prepare for another day. This day would be New Year’s Eve. I was excited to celebrate this holiday in Germany with a good friend.
After living almost three months in Korea, I feel Koreans are some on the most naturally beautiful people in the world. I asked the question to my students, “Which country has the most beautiful people?” The majority yell “Korea! Korea!”. I do hear a few “America! Russia! Japan!”.
Korean Beauty
I also asked my students, “What is a beautiful Korean?” They ALWAYS answer “Big eyes, light skin, ‘v’ shape face, high nose”. These are the same answers every time.
If I asked someone in America the same questions, they would give me hundreds of different answers. I would probably say the most beautiful people live in South America and outer beauty depends on the person. This is not the case for Korea as literally everyone thinks beauty is the same. I ask myself, “Why is this?”. It seems so skewed to believe that outer beauty is limited to big eyes, light skin, and high noses.
I have learned a beautiful face is one of the most important aspects of a Korean’s life. Face then money, status, and then personality. Are we the same in the Western world? To a point we are yes, but however, it’s to the extreme here in Korea. Never have a seen men look at themselves in the mirror as much as I do here or women constantly looking at their phones to see their makeup. Did you know Koreans get more plastic surgery than any other country? Every year, 74 people out of 10,000 get plastic surgery. In the United States the number is only 42. In subways and stations, I see numerous large advertisements for plastic surgery. In Oklahoma, these ads would probably be laughed out for their quick reference saying plastic surgery is the way to look beautiful. Let’s all remember Michael Jackson for a moment.
The point of my lesson was not about the importance or unimportance of outer beauty but the importance of inner beauty, personality, and passion. If my students truly believe Koreans are the most beautiful people in the world, then why does everyone want plastic surgery? As a teacher here, I wanted to inspire students to strive not just for outer beauty, but for inner beauty. Take Mother Teresa for example. No one thinks Mother Teresa was a “sexy lady” but she was beautiful because her heart was beautiful.
After teaching this lesson about beauty, I learned more about myself as well. As we all strive to be beautiful on the outside, the beauty that withstands time is not on our face but is within our heart. I hope to strive for this type of beauty in my life.
Seoul has become my second home. It’s the only place in Korea where I feel I can get anything I want or need. My wants are Mexican food, my needs are Mexican food. I was in Seoul for two days and I had Mexican food twice. Thankfully for Americanism, I was able to enjoy delicious fajitas at On the Border. I say it’s where I can treat myself once a month even though I have been there twice this month. It’s so good though. This weekend, I met my friends Chase, Bryan, and Lisa for On the Border. It was Lisa’s first time to enjoy the delicious tastes of Mexican food since she is from Northern Ireland. To me, On the Border is a taste of home so it’s a comfort food to me.
As always, I sleep in the same hostel in Hongdae. Hongdae is one of my favorite areas in Korea. It’s fun during the day and night as there are literally hundreds of coffee shops, restaurants, and small trendy stores. It’s definitely a “lived in” part of Korea. I notice many places in Seoul and in Busan are very modern with tall metal skyscrapers. Hongdae is different and well not so perfect. For a young person, it’s a perfect mixture of new and used. I love the thousands of people who come to visit the area as well as the live music in the streets, street food vendors, and random people dressed in costume. For this reason, it’s one of my favorite spots in Seoul and maybe Korea. You never know what you may discover in Hongdae.
This past weekend was filled with unexpected surprises but at the same time was fulfilled. Originally my plan was to go to a birthday party, however people ended up sick and of course, I was disappointed. However, I met many new and old friends realizing how small Korea truly is. At one point, I was at the home of a Korean friend’s friend cooking pork chops and wondering, “how did I get to this point of cooking pork at a stranger’s home?”. Yes, I always say “Life is an adventure!”.
In Korea, I am losing my comfort zone. As with many situations in life, we may feel awkward or uncomfortable with a situation. Here in Korea, due to language barriers and culture differences, I am faced with that everyday. I guess the difference between now and where I was three months ago is that now, these awkward feelings and situations do not bother me as they used to. I just go with the flow and have become not just tolerant with this situations but comfortable with them. So far, this aspect of going with the flow and being a person without limitations is something I have appreciated about my time in Korea. Here is a video of the Seoul subway that I find funny because the tune is the actually subway song.
I would say this boy from Oklahoma has met a lot of challenges and situations in Korea producing a better person out of me. It’s a weird feeling coming from big open spaces and small cities and then feeling comfortable in the world’s second largest metro region. I love Seoul, I love Korea.
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