Last friday, my school had its annual Christmas party for the children, and I was coerced into dressing up as Santa Claus. Actually, that’s a bit misleading. I was coerced into wearing holiday-themed pajamas/dressing up like a criminal doing community service. Here’s a mug shot:
See how happy I look in that photo? By that time of the day, I probably wasn’t in as buoyant spirits as I appear. That’s because I alternated for six hours between chaperoning a “game” where kids tossed crumpled paper at a trash can (one man’s “bored at the office” habit is another man’s “really fun kid’s party game”, I guess), and a “market” where kids used fake money to purchase a load of junk, most of it things you couldn’t give away at a dollar store.
However, I was highly amused by a sticker set which included “Christmas Bitch” and “I’m a Douchebag.” When I pointed that out to a fellow teacher, it was removed from the marketplace.
It should be noted that the kids looked like they were having a lot of fun, and technically that is who it was for.
Anyway, here are some more photos from that truly precious day:
Teacher Kate looking appropriately horrified at this exercise in tacky American holiday shopping.
A closer look at some of the junk.
Some pink crap I loaded onto one table.
This little guy was having fun.
Happy Hannukah!
Now I’m “Sassy Santa.”
That night I went up to Jeju City because I was flying to Seoul Saturday morning. There was a Christmas trivia quiz, which I thought wouldn’t be that hard, until they started hitting me with questions like:
“What was the name of the prospector and the elf from the 1964 claymation Rudolph story?”
Or
“What country teaches kids about Santa AND Father Spanker?”
At least I knew who the Maccabees were fighting against in the Hannukah story.
Next post: my weekend in Seoul.
Culture Time 
Try a white beard and a fake belly next time! Why does everyone have a coat on? Don’t they heat the school?
i had a fake belly for about ten minutes, it wasn’t that fun.