While Korea does not pull out the stops like back in North America when Christmas time rolls around, Koreans sure throw good Christmas parties!

On December 23rd we attended our work Christmas party and we agreed with a fair bit of certainty that it was likely the best Office Christmas party we will ever take part in.

The four directors and the Youngjae president cut the cake celebrating another great year.

While our academy only has about 30 teachers and staff, we are part of a larger organization called Youngjae Hogwan. When you add all the academies on our street run by Youngjae, that means that this was no longer a Christmas party for only 30 but 150! So at about 3:30 after school finished on that Saturday afternoon, we headed to a nearby banquet hall to share in some glad tidings of Christmas cheer offered by our employers.

The Youngjae school's Christmas banquet drew quite a crowd.

The program began with some formalities, our president addressed the teachers and staff followed by presentations for long-serving teachers and outstanding teachers from each institution. After that, we ate. The food was buffet style, something for everyone - literally! The food ranged from Sushi to Spaghetti from Kim-chi to fried grasshoppers. Of course beer and so-ju was provided allowing for the evening to become slightly merrier than would have otherwise been expected.

Neil and Chris with grasshoppers on their tongues. A Korean delicacy.

After everyone had gotten their fill, we were informed that there would be a few games. The main event - we were told was the Karaoke contest (surprise, surprise!) Ironically T.T.D.O.C. blog # 8 spoke about the passion that Koreans feel for Karaoke so you won't be surprised when we tell you that they had over $1000.00 in prizes for the Karaoke contestants!

Chris, supported by Neil and Paul as well as the background stylings of the other YES teachers, took first prize in the contest with his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. First prize incidentally... A 6 mega pixel Digital Camera! Merry Christmas!!!

By the time the evening wrapped up around 8pm, the night was still young so a bunch of us prolonged the Christmas spirit by hitting up Cafe Atlanta - an American style bar - with MDG on tap of course.

While we have both had the opportunity to work for organizations that have thrown various styles of Christmas parties in the past, the Youngjae party was indeed one for the ages, the combination of food, beverages, a microphone, and some sweet prizes made it the perfect way to wish our fellow teachers a Merry Christmas, before heading home for our 2 day holiday. That's right! Two day's off! We never thought we would be so excited to have a 5 day week coming up (Tuesday to Saturday) next week.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
William B. Sandys -1833