Early Thanksgiving in Seoul

Friday night I flew to Seoul for an early Thanksgiving celebration at the U.S. Ambassador's home. All but 2 of the Fulbright ETAs were there, and it really felt like Thanksgiving, despite the fact that I am thousands of miles from my family. Thanksgiving dinner began at 2:30pm on Saturday; it was a beautiful fall day, and we arrived with enough time to look around the Ambassador's residence. Ambassador Vershbow and his wife, Lisa, were very hospitable, and they seem like very nice people. The residence is this amazing Korean style home that was built with imported wood from the pacific northwest, United States. Inside they have an art collection of contemporary American crafts. Apparently, each ambassador is allowed to choose a collection of American art to display in their home overseas, and they chose handmade crafts, because they thought it would go nicely with the traditional style of the home.

My friend Sara and I, with full plates of delicious food. It was catered by a hotel from the military base in Seoul; the food was delicious!

The Fulbright director, Mrs. Shim gave a short address, followed by a short speech by Ambassador Vershbow.

After the meal, as we headed back to our hotel, we came upon this interesting outdoor photo exhibit, the subject of which was quite amusing. We spotted it from across the street and decided to check it out. As we got closer we found that it was a very dramatic photography exhibit about photojournalism. The entire exhibit, (some 200 pictures or so) are "action" shots of photojournalists doing their jobs (in other words, the whole exhibit was composed of photos of photographers taking photos.) The title of the exhibit was "Photojournalist Reality". It seemed like the exhibit might have been motivated by a sincere feeling of under-appreciation. In the picture above, I am posing in front of one of the "action" shots of photojournalists on the job.

Saturday night we went to a hooka bar; it was really nice to catch up with some of the ETAs that I don't ever get to see.

Here I am with my good friend, Dana; he and I are probably going to teach a winter camp together in January after I get back from the United States.