Yesterday was my friend Becky's birthday, and she decided that for her birthday she wanted to participate in something called Santacon. If you have never heard of Santacon, it is a wonderful gathering of many people around the world who dress up in Santa or Santa-related costumes and go out on a bar crawl of whatever city they choose to participate in. These cons are held around the world by local organizers, and they are a great way to meet some really awesome people and have a good time, especially in a country where Christmas isn't necessarily the traditional holiday that it is in the US. Our Santacon spanned three bars and a nightclub and included over 200 Santas, most of whom I do not know the names of. Banana Santa was pretty awesome, as were Bad Santa and Black Santa, Backwards Santa, Birthday Santa, Chocolate Santa, Waldo Santa, and Leprechaun Santa.
Imagine, if you will, a group of about 200 white people all wearing the same outfit marching around a city like Seoul, singing Christmas carols and handing out candy to the amused and sometimes frightened Korean people around them. We sang, we danced, and (I'm sorry to have to admit) we drank quite a bit. Many of the Koreans even stopped us to take pictures. I got to meet a lot of great people, mostly fellow teachers, who are here for a myriad of reasons and have a million different stories to share about life in Korea. I wish I had more photos, but here is the link to the ones I do have. I will definitely be participating in Santacon for the rest of the years that I am in Korea.
If you would like to participate in or organize one, here is the website for the information.
