Grinchy Greetings from Gokseong!

It's getting on one a.m. Christmas morning; Noelle is crashed out on the couch, and my guilt at not having written a word since the seventh of November is weighing on me. Last year at this time, if memory serves, I read David Copperfield, eating chocolates and Parle-G crackers before riding to Powai lake on my Atlas Gold Super. Today, I hereby put forth the following statement: a holiday is immeasurably better if shared.

Noelle and I picked up our Chinese visas yesterday morning. We're going to bum around China for a few weeks in January and early February. Everything about traveling, so far, seems much more complicated with a partner because one cannot torture oneself so easily. Even worse, sneaky desires for creature comforts hide behind my desire to see Noelle comfortable. Still, it's an exciting prospect; and likely a good agent to temper the naive Christmas happiness that's floating around Nols' pad--around the fake tree, the stacks of gifts (!), and the in-floor heating.

On Friday night my co-teacher Kim Jung-hwa, who I teach with in the three rural schools, took us out for Kalbi, coffee, a stroll and a drive in Gwangju. The three of us happily hummed carols and discussed language; Kim Jung-hwa is my de facto Korean teacher these days. Over coffee I learned the verb suffix for "when", as in "when you drink this" or "when you go". Having my education so tied up in a friendship is a new dynamic to me; I'm grateful it's turned out as it has. Today, Nols and I walked around Gokseong, made a solid spaghetti-and-meatballs, before turning our attention to gifts from family, friends and each other. She found, in Korean, the one Tintin (Ttaengttaeng?!) book I don't have, "Destination Moon". Tomorrow, in addition to phoning family, we're headed into Gwangju to see a Stomp-like performance. A friend of a friend is going to sneak us in, I guess, and then we will watch chefs chop and dice in a manner befitting members of a samulnori. Add these outings to after-school snack trips and take-out binges with the likes of Kim Jae-Hung, Yun Sun-Kyeong, Pak Chi-won, and Vivian Bernal, and you have the ingredients for a good Christmas season abroad.

This coming week is the last of the semester, and the last regular teaching I have until March, save 9 days in February. I think I'm going to take a series of trips around the peninsula by local busses, sleeping as cheaply as possible and studying Korean. First up is Gangwon-do, I think; it's widely praised for its beauty by everyone that I ask. I have a couple of textbooks that I'm using for language study, but like anything, the most difficult part is overcoming my pride and simply talking like a monkey at every opportunity. Today I laughed leaving the library, imagining my exchange from the librarian's perspective. Some guy with a thick American accent says: "Theess theeng, thees card...I want to doo. Can I doo? I need a picture?"

I will try not to go so long without writing next time. Merry Christmas.