A Charlie Brown Christmas...

We decided to go out under the cover of night and get ourselves a Christmas tree branch.  This truly looks like the tree in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  We welcome this little bit of greenery into our house, however, and we're enjoying the Christmas season.

Look, Ben, it drinks beer!

Almost the finished product...

Here it is!  Our little Christmas tree!  Not the best one I've ever had, but it will do... (actually, I kind of feel like a college student, when you go out to your campus, chop something, and come back and decorate it slightly tackily so that you can feel like you're in the Christmas spirit...)

But we are in the Christmas spirit, and we're having a good Christmas in spite of our distance.

Merry Christmas!

Korea National Museum

We've been on vacation this week, which has been blissful, restful, wonderful, choose your own word that means the same thing and add it here: _____________.  We had originally set out to take another cool trip, but the exchange rate has affected our financial goals, so we're staying home, resting, and taking some great day trips.  We have definitely enjoyed ourselves!

Here are some photos we took when we went to the Korea National Museum.  We only got through the first floor because it was so huge, but we learned a lot about Korean history, too.

Walkway up to the entrance.  Did I mention that admission was FREE??

This museum's architecture is famous, I think.  It was hard to capture with my camera.

When we looked through the picture "window" of the courtyard, we had a clear view of Seoul Tower.

Guess who?  The sign says "choon gong," but I don't know what that means.

Main entrance to the museum.  Wow!  

This was a really fun trip.  Normally admission is 2000 won, but today it was free, and we got an education in Korean history from 8000, BC to the present day.  They have a very long history, as you can see!

Thanksgiving '08

We spent another Thanksgiving holiday in Korea, so this year, my friend Jennie and I undertook a traditional meal, complete with turkey!  Here is our handiwork.  You can see our hardworking legs in the background.  Our bird was truly yummy, and I recommend a brine for all of you who might tackle such a feat for Christmas.  

Our menu: turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green salad, maple-glazed carrots, cranberry jelly, babaganoush (Lebanese contribution), pumpkin pie with home-made whipped cream, and home-made flan.  Wonderful!

Jimmy and Sarah were our hosts, so we insisted that he do the honors and carve the bird.

Caught in mid-something.

Our friend Tyrone on the left, and an old classmate of mine, Gary, on the right.

This is the crowd, pre-feast.  We were grateful to have such a good Thanksgiving gathering.  Even when you're away from your family, getting people together around the table is something special.