It's Always Sunny in South Korea: Boseong Green Tea Plantation

I have come to terms that I suck at keeping a blog. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to update it on a regular basis. Back around the 4^th grade, one of my mother’s many card readers told her that I tend to be lazy. I am pretty sure that still holds true today. Anyways, great things have been happening in Korea since I last wrote. The fall weather was beautiful. I experienced my first traditional Korean wedding, Pepero day, and celebrated my first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home. As the chilly winter weather sweeps in, both Adam and I have been full of holiday cheer and eager to see what and where the New Year will bring us.

I am pretty sure I was experiencing a post-Christmas high on Sunday night; we had an amazing Christmas weekend. I was nervous about being homesick, but to my surprise I was not. Leading up to Christmas, many of the retail stores were festively decorated, and I saw my first Korean Santa Claus walking around downtown. We decorated an area of our apartment with a small tree and hung stockings. Adam introduced me to Christmas movies that I haven’t seen before: Bad Santa, It’s a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story. Singing Christmas carols with the kindergarteners for the past month also filled me with holiday cheer.

I have so many things that I could write about, but I am going to focus this post on the Boseong tea plantation that we went to the weekend before Christmas. It is the largest green tea field in Korea. Each year they have a light festival during the holiday season. I read that this festival is meant to send a message of hope for the New Year for those who visit. It was about an hour away from Gwangju, and we arrived at sun set. Perfect timing; the view was breath taking! Once dark, the Christmas lights went on, we walked around, and even got our photo with "Santa." We stopped in the café and treated ourselves to some green tea and green tea ice cream. It was delicious and a well needed escape from the cold weather! Below are some pictures. I am off the next few days, so I am hoping to catch up on my blog. Stay tuned.