2007, my first Christmas away from home, and I only had the one day off, so I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself. The other teachers were getting together for a potluck meal, so in the end I decided to join them as every other plan seemed too expensive or not ‘christmassy’ enough. I volunteered to bring dessert and mulled wine (the two most important things in my opinion).
I wasn’t expecting much, but when I arrived at Mark’s flat christmas afternoon I was amazed at how good the place looked…..
His flat is much bigger and nicer than mine, but even so, I think the guys did an amazing job of decorating. They even had chocolate coins…
Dinner was broiled chicken, spit roast duck (courtesy of our local duck restaurant), gravy, roast potatoes, mashed sweet potato, tuna and pasta salad, and green salad.
Dessert included a variety of cookies (all home-baked) and various cakes including my yummy tiramisu cake (all bought because no one has an oven big enough for a whole cake). There was of course copious amounts of alcohol too.
My mulled wine was a huge success. Unbelievably, Americans don’t have mulled wine so many of the teachers had never had it before! They also don’t have crackers!! (Except in New England). What kind of a christmas is it without either of those? I was willing to try eggnogg, but no one had made any, and honestly I can’t see it being better than mulled wine.
My recipe came via delia smith, and having never made it before I was a little worried. However, you can’t really go wrong with wine, spices and fruit in whichever quantities taste good, and it was lovely and warming as we went on a traditional after-dinner christmas walk in the local park. We even got a bit of carol-singing in 
Although it wasn’t the white christmas I’d been hoping for, it was still rather cold so we soon got back to the warmth of the flat to find we had ridiculous amounts of food and drink still left. Obviously we had to finish it, so whilst we were waiting for santa, drinking games ensued at one end of the flat…
…whilst at the other end we carried on munching the cookies and playing russian roulette with a chocolate covered chilli…
It was very festive and I wished I was back home to enjoy all the christmas things which are missing in Korea. And then Wonderwall came on so I had the brilliant idea of making a video…
Finally, around midnight (a good 9 hours after we’d started the party) Santa showed up. Here I am getting my secret santa gift.
It was about time too, as everything in the flat was getting a bit worse for wear. I dread to think how long it took for them to clear it all up, but I was not the first nor the last to leave when the clock struck 2am. And this being Korea, somebody mentioned noraebang (private karaoke room) and I leapt on the idea. I think I hogged the microphone just a little bit…
Finally it was bedtime, 12 hours after we’d started and just 6 and half hours before our morning meeting with the school director. Altogether a very good christmas, even if it was away from home and family.
