The days and weeks just keep getting busier and busier. Christmas and New Year's both came and went, and now January 2011 is about to join them in history. Our work Christmas Party (on Christmas Day) was an extravagant one to say the least. Apparently, it was held in the most expensive reception hall in all of Daegu at the Interburgo Hotel in Manchon. The party included a terribly sub-par buffet, a talent show with pyrotechnics and lighting effects, irrelevant power-point presentations and ₩600,000,000 in bonuses. We would say that it's about $600,000, but the actual conversion is more like $540,000.
The buffet looked like it had solid potential, but it turned out to be nothing but 50 feet of table space covered by a variety of pastas and Korean dishes that had gone cold sans a flame below them. It wasn't until about 45 minutes into the meal that we noticed another table that has some cold turkey and mashed potatoes as well as a person making made-to-order stir-fry. Still, I'd rate the meal a 5. Not too great for the priciest ticket in town.
The talent show had some high points and low points. There were some acts that I could not make any sense of - for example, one that was a 10 minute skit in Korean that half the room didn't understand, followed by 5 minutes of them passing chewed gum from mouth to floor to mouth, and finally into the boss-man's mouth. They won second place bringing in ₩4,000,000. I'm still confused. There were other notable acts, like my co-worker who sang and played an acoustic version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and a couple that did a salsa dance. I, of course, played piano as my fingers nearly shook right off my hands from nerves. I have never played in front of so many people. I was on stage, front and center, and then they felt it necessary to point a spot light right in my eyes, blinding me and leaving the piano keys in the shadows; not a good combination. I didn't place in the top 5 out of 18, but I still got a ₩500,000 prize, as all participants did. It was definitely the fastest 500 bucks I've ever made, but can't say it was completely painless. 
Following the party, which lasted from 5pm to close to 11pm, everyone fought over cabs at the hotel to get downtown as soon as possible and join our non-co-workers. It was a pretty fun night as everyone was out and looking to have a good time. I sensed that some people were a bit nostalgic and missed Christmas with their friends and families at home, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit. The next day, apparently known as "Boxing Day," some friends had another Christmas dinner party. This meal was delightful with a scrumptious turkey, delicious and healthful salads, pesto pasta, endless vino, and of course, the mash. We finished off the the night with apple pie and too many rounds of Apples-to-Apples. That meal trumped the Interburgo.
The following weekend was obviously New Year's. Most of Daegu went on a ski/snowboarding trip a few hours outside of Daegu. They stayed local for the countdown to midnight and were all on a bus by 1am. I heard some pretty eventful stories from their weekend in the mountains, but Daegu was a lovely weekend as well; when in good company. We celebrated with some champagne and other cocktails. All was good until I realized my wallet had been stolen before 3am. The night took a small dive as I rushed home to call 4 credit/debit card companies. Nothing was charged, but that wasn't going to bring back my $100+ that was stolen. I ended up getting my wallet back a couple days later with everything as it was, minus the cash. Oh well, 2011 - at least you redeemed yourself a bit. What else do you have for me? I leave you with Nathan Paagard's acoustic version of "Bohemian Rhapsody"
