Thanksgiving Weekend...

So since Korea does not celebrate Thanksgiving, our church was kind enough to host a Thanksgiving dinner for foreigners!! We decided to invite a couple from work to join us for the festivities, a perfect opportunity to invite others to church. I have to say they are from Canada, but I can't make any jokes because on the foreigners side, they out number us Americans by a landslide. Arla and Jon work with me at Pagoda. Arla and I have gotten to hang out a bit and are trying a hot yoga class tomorrow. We figure since we are not very flexible, maybe a heated room will make up the difference in flexibility. Probably not.

Let me introduce you to our small group. We have our leaders Wontae, and his wife.....I still have difficulty pronouncing her name so I will not attempt. They showed up later after the dinner and picture taking took place.

Here is Marcelo and his wife Veronica. They are from Ecuador. They are here studying at the University, for their Masters program. Marcelo was here for a year before he went back to marry Veronica and then moved back here. Can you believe the same weekend you get married you move to another country as newlyweds??? They are so brave.




Then we have Ben and Anna. Anna is Korean but was born and raised in Argentina. She speaks Spanish fluidly because that is her native language. She speaks 3 languages and works at the Uruguay Embassy. Ben is Korean but has American citizenship because of work. They have been married for a little less than a year and are expecting a baby in February. She has the cutest baby bump!! Veronica and I are throwing her a baby shower and when we told her she had a very confused look. She thought we wanted to shower the baby. Like all of us gather to take the baby a bath! It was so funny. Now that she knows what a baby shower is, she is pretty excited.



So after the meal last week, Pagoda had a staff turkey lunch and then on Friday we had a teacher/student turkey dinner. It wasn't as good as home but with all the effort people put into giving us a Thanksgiving, it was really fun. I don't get too homesick with Thanksgiving, but now that we are in December, Christmas is not going to feel so great. It's not the same without familia.