::A Geek in Korea::

A good friend of mine invited me to his annual Christmas party. This is my second year in a row. I got invited last year and had a blast, so it was no problem at all to set time aside to go again. Unfortunately my wife had to bail, since she was still food sensitive. She said she didn’t want her being sick to cause me to go home early out of sympathy and demanded I go. I had bought a shirt from Babo Shirts just for the occasion for their gift exchange game they do each year. I was commanded to return with chocolate if at all possible, so that’s what I was on the lookout for in the prize category. I made my special caesar salad again, and then headed out alone to the party.

I had arrived a little late, but made it on time to get some of the turkey before it disappeared. My salad needed some turkey on the side to make it just right. After mingling for an hour or so, we got the game going. I drew the first number out of the entire group, which means EVERYONE got to see my gift before they decided to take from the communal pool, and I had no one to steal from. Basically, I had the worst draw, but the greatest total possible number of choices…all of which could potentially be stolen at any time. I was sitting pretty happy when I got some high quality, luxury popcorn with dark chocolate and almond glaze. Super expensive Cracker Jacks basically. Unfortunately, my gift was stolen and I had to pick again. The only other stuff was body wash shop containers or a box of chocolates duplicate to another person’s gift. I took the safe route and ended up with some high end chocolates instead.

We played a second card game, where people answer yes or no questions concerning a card taped to your back. I got something difficult, “Carolers”, which totally stumped me. I was the last person to get their clue. Damn. The cards were color coded, and that meant we split up into teams to do a relay race. We had to wear mittens, while carrying a bunch of boxes one handed waiter style, then peel a chocolate candy from inside one of the boxes, eat it, then return to the group without dropping a box. My group won, so I got some free lip balm. Yay!

I had a good night at the party. I had to cut it a bit early to go home, but it was still a nice time. I’d say that last year’s party was a turning point in my stay in Korea. I met some really good friends, and that’s when I started to actually have things to DO and look forward to on the weekends. I started socializing a lot more, which helped my attitude. I got new hobbies that weren’t Internet or computer related in any way. This is important. I also found ways to release stress by rolling dice and killing some monsters in D&D with the same group of guys. Now I can have a few people to hang out with that know what I’m going through and understand Ex-pat life in Korea.

This party was a reminder that it’s been a really good year, and I hope for many more in Korea with good friends.