Christmas Yin and Yang Style

It's Christmas time in Hollis Queens Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees Decorate the house with lights at night Snow's on the ground, snow white so bright In the fireplace is the Yule log Beneath the mistletoe as we drink eggnog The rhymes that you hear are the rhymes of Darryl's But each and every year we bust Christmas carols
OK, so this year is not a RUN DMC type of Christmas. My family is in Michigan and I am in Korea. But that doesn’t mean that I have to be a total Scrooge about the entire affair. Yes, I will fully admit that after working in retail the idea of what Christmas has become is extremely disgusting and after listening to Christmas carols 8 hours a day from the day after Halloween until the day after New Years, I can easily go to my grave without hearing any song involving snowmen, reindeer or jolly St. Nick. However, for some reason there is something warming about watching children at this time of year, as long as they are not near a toy department. They are naturally amped up as it is, but this time of year, well, it is like some one put crystal meth into their hot chocolate: they can’t stop moving and everything is lights and Santa and toys and sugar and . . . You’ve seen them, you know. Like any good buzz, this lasts until the boredom returns and then they transform back into the little demanding beasts that is their natural state. Ah, how soon we forget . . .

So this year I decided that I would go to the Bubku Church Christmas pageant with Solomon, Susan and their 27 month old daughter, Daniela, who was to be in the play/circus/event. I had seen her in her rehearsals but I really couldn’t figure out what was supposed to be going on. In my mind, the idea of rehearsals involving two year olds is akin to training cats, but this wasn’t my show. If I was in charge I am certain it would be like a bad version of something on South Park.

The pageant was way over the top with kids of various ages doing odd little numbers about Jesus and the joys of the season. It went from little Daniela’s booty shaking dance to some teeny bopper version of an “up with people” kind of Jesus is here and we should dance the night away kind of thing. The crowed whooped and hollered as each act ended and for a minute I thought I was at a Stones concert – where’s Keith, baby?

So it was fun and odd as the songs were mostly in Korean with the occasional attempt at the old English standard. Afterward we went out for dinner and by the end of the meal Daniela finally decided that allow I was big and scary, she could at least try to hit and poke at me which seemed to make the idea of my imposing terror less terrifying: don’t run from your fears, attack them head on!!

After dinner, and coffee with Solomon and Mr. Chang at the Café Id – they even brought roasted chestnuts in with them to make all holiday-like - , I went over to the Lee Way Bar. Mr. Lee runs one fo the few places that cater to foreigners here in Pohang and for some reason the crowd has drifted from Mindy’s over to Mr. Lee’s. Foreigners are so damned tempermental! On Mr. Lee’s side is the fact that he has a HUGE collection of vinyl and some of it is pretty entertaining. Pick a record slap it on. There is a self service cash drawer so if you want a drink you simply put your money in the box. He is kind and helpful and the few times that I have been to his place have been enjoyable as it is usually not as crowded as it was Christmas. For the most part people were trying to drink themselves home which sounded like a rather sound idea. I drank coffee as the following day I had big plans.

Much like the voters in America, Korea is a divided nation. When it comes to religion, 50% of the population doesn’t have an opinion on the matter. Of the 50% who do have an opinion, they are evenly divided between Christians and Buddhists. Much like those who are married, I spent Christmas Eve with the Christians and decided to spend Christmas day with the Buddhists – a Yin/Yang sort of thing.