New Year's Eve

If Christmas was a rather lackluster event, then New Year's Eve was even more so. Because of the Korean Educational System, I actually had school on New Year's Eve. In Korea, the holiday's focus is more on January 1st than it is on December 31st, therefore the night before, I stayed up until midnight like I always do, then I went down to the living room just before. All of the kids were there just hanging out. I pulled up the clock on my phone and we counted down the last few seconds of 2018. "Happy New Year!"

Like I said, it is more important to celebrate the first day of the year, so my host mom invited me to hike up to the top of a mountain that overlooks my town and watch the first sunrise of the year. So that is exactly what I did. Only it was a lot more work than I expected it to be. We didn't drive as far up as I thought we would. But the view. Wow. A bunch of other Koreans were there, and they released balloons into the sky.

After the sun rose, we walked back down the mountain to eat 만두 (dumplings). This is traditionally eaten on New Year's Day as it is said that by eating them, you gain a year (because in Korea, you age up on your January 1st, not your birthday). It was really funny because after we ate our dumpling soup, as we were walking back to the car, my host mom looks at me and tells me "In Korea, your age 24." Which I find hilarious because I was just thinking about how when I left the US in July, I was 21 years old, now in January, only 6 months later, I am now 24 years old. I gained 3 years in 6 months. It is actually amazing to me.