Turkey day... not so much

We have finally passed our first holiday while in Korea, and though we miss home, it has made us realize we are comfortable with the fact that we live here. Unlike tradition back home, Thanksgiving was just another day for us. We went to work in the morning and prepared a large spread of food for dinner which consisted of steak, mashed potatoes, and a miriad of vegetable dishes. There was one thing of note to make the day more special than any other oridinary day: Cheesecake from our neighborhood bakery topped off by a candle and some confetti guns (I think they thought it was for a birthday party). After the cake it did feel special, pretty special.
Since Thanksgiving we have done a little exploring in the area where we live. We have found a boulder in our area to practice climbing in a pretty nice secluded hiking trail. We have also met up with a couple of other english teachers, who have since shown us where a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant are in our little town.
Last Saturday night we got to experience somthing that we were both craving in our lives, a little bit of culture and diversity. Our new friends took us to the Thai restaurant where we were able to drink good beer, and eat amazingly authentic Thai food.
The entrance into the restuarant crept on you like a dream. The walls all at once were washed in a transient, sunset palor of light and pastel furniture; a very beautiful assortment when finally realized all at once. Relying on the knowledge of our newly befriended teachers, we were treated to an incredibly spicy Thai seafood soup, accompanied by sticky rice and green curry. If that wasn't enough, the local inhabitants, who were all Thai, were kind enough to sing to us some Karoke, doing it so well it became impossible to distinguish whether or not it was a person or a recording artist singing, until they had a few more beers.
We no longer hesitate as much with our senses as to what we are seeing. It was with a smile and a pure moment of laughter that we embraced where we were as being a good thing, rather than looking at it like another crazy adventure we would soon rather forget. The pleasures were simple: food, people, song. But in the undertone of it there was something significant, a feeling of being at peace with where we were, like we were fortunate to be there, to be here, doing what we are doing. And...we were even fortunate enough to find a "World Mart," which is really just a place where they sell slightly better beer and quaker oats (for 17.00 bucks!!!). I think were getting the hang of it here. Now we spend most of our time trying to find the ingredients that were used in our food. We haven't had much luck, but Tofu aint too bad. Oh, but we were fortunate enough to score some burgers and fries this week, but in comparison to IN & OUT, I'm afraid it pales overwhelmingly. Gotta give em credit for trying.