Thanksgiving in America (sort of)

Before I start writing, let me apologize for the lack of pictures this post is going to have.  Since coming to Korea, both my ipod and my camera have died, and my netbook is well on its way to being next. -_- I will make sure that future posts have lots of photos! 

As all you Americans know, last Thursday was Thanksgiving!  Unfortunately, it was just a normal day for us NSLI-Y students.  However, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the American army base, Yongsan Garrison, in Seoul, on Friday night.  Because we live so far away, those of us in Iksan got to leave school early on Friday to come to Seoul.  We took the train for the first time, which was fun because the scenery was much more interesting than what we usually see on the bus.




Ok, I lied.  I'm going to have pictures, just not pictures I took.  This train is similar to the one we took, and the scenery is pretty similar, too. 

We got into Seoul around 3:30 and were at the YES office just after 4 pm.  We waited for the Seoul/Incheon kids to finish their Korean class, and after they were done, we all took a charter bus to the American army base.  It probably took 40 minutes to get there, which was surprising, because last week on the way to Bucheon, our taxi took less than 15 minutes to go from the YES office to Itaewon, the area that the army base is in.  Seoul rush hour traffic is really, really bad. 


Well, it didn't exactly look like this (also this is not Korea), but this is not a huge exaggeration of the traffic.

Once we entered the American base, we were informed that we were now technically in America!  It actually really looked like America, too.  There were lots of American-style houses, and it was hard to tell that you were in the middle of Seoul.  However, looking out in the distance, you could still see bright lights and apartments for miles.

We ate all the normal Thanksgiving foods-- Turkey, cranberries, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc.-- with some of the Americans who live on the base, not military personnel, but people who work for the US government and in the Foreign Service.  The US military base is home to a lot more Americans than just soldiers and their families, it seems.  It was interesting to talk to everyone and see what life is like for expats in Korea-- very different from life for us NSLI-Y students. 


This was not our specific Thanksgiving dinner, but Thanksgiving food is usually the same everywhere, in American and in Korea :)