Seoul Blog: The Philippine Women's Club Celebrates 'Paskong Pinoy sa Korea'!

(PWC members, families and guests; 
 photo courtesy of the PWC FB page)

“When you’re with Filipinos, you’re with family!”

That's the message of the Philippine Women's Club (PWC) to everyone who attended its Christmas party held at the Seoul Global Cultural Center right in the middle of the busiest shopping center in the whole of South Korea, Myeongdong!

                    (Consul General de Jesus)

                      (Christmas sing-along)

That message is absolutely true! In my 13 years of joining Christmas parties organized by Pinoys in Seoul, it’s more than just fun games, food, and exchanging of gifts that gather everyone together. There’s this bond that transforms everyone from just being friends to being family.

            (Shake and rattle the ping-pong balls!)

                        (Lucky draw prizes)


Though the whole celebration is primarily to let the registered guests enjoy the Filipino style of celebrating Christmas, the party was also a venue to help promote a campaign by Sunfull Movement against cyberbullying, a harmful online disease that just pops up everywhere in social media. 

The current Consul General of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, Mr. Christian de Jesus, also helped kick off the party by sharing with the audience the greetings of 'Merry Christmas' in different Philippine dialects.

           (The kids competing at the sack race!)

                (Name the Christmas carol contest)

       (A booth for a family Christmas photo!)

The whole afternoon program was stuffed with fun parlor games for kids and adults, lucky draws that gave away movie tickets, stuff toys and other gifts, a booth for family photoshoots courtesy of a Filipino group of photographers, a sing-along (obvious, Filipinos love to sing!) exchanging of gifts, and the parents' gift-giving to their kids!

            (Christmas carol singing competition!)

             (Exchanging of gifts among adults)

Of course, there was food! And as one American guest exclaimed, "You guys know how to party!", there was a long table full of Filipino snacks and delicacies, like barbecues, cassave cakes, different rice cakes, buko pandan, and other yummy pinoy food that would probably cause me to drool if I write them all here. Ha-ha-ha!

                                  (Pabitin!)

                (Pinoy delicacies for everyone!)

From the top of my head, the PWC members include Wendy Palomo, Katherine Corteza, who's the 2017 Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino Awardee from South Korea, Rina Arinas-Imm, Razel Kim, Anne Campos, Samie Bee, and other hardworking ladies whose names I can certainly add here later (paging Wendy!).  

       (A cute kid's Christmas sweater matches the                 Santa on the yummy chocolate cake!)

The mission of the PWC is to promote the Philippine culture through activities and event, such as this Christmas party, and by participating in social responsibility and outreach programs. You can also join their future activities by signing up for events on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/philippinewomensclub/

       (The members of the Philippine Women's Club 
               with the Sunfull Movement officials;
               photo courtesy of the PWC FB page)

Congratulations and thanks to the Philippine Women's Club for a fun party!

The Grinch And Some Movie Characters 2014 Christmas Party!

Our theme for our 2014 Christmas party was originally Christmas movie characters. But some friends wanted to stretch it to non-Christmas movie characters as they thought characters from the Christmas movies were limited; I stuck to Christmas movie. Why? I had an interesting idea.

In 2000, Ron Howard turned Dr. Seuss' tale into a fun movie starring Jim Carrey. I thought How The Grinch Stole Christmas was a good idea. 

So, last month, before it went all freezing in Seoul, I roamed the Dongmyo and Dongdaemun areas in search for the Grinch costume that was easy to put together. I wasn't prepared to spend a lot as I didn't have the costume budget of Universal Pictures. Ha-ha-ha! But I was prepared to face-paint like a real Grinch; I got this idea during the 2014 Asian Games when Gilas Pilipinas fans face-painted ourselves in the spirit of fun.

I didn't know it was that easy. The Grinch face, that is. Thanks to Arlene for her huge living mirror and red lipstick, the Alpha stationery store for the face-paint colors, a Grinch photo from the internet that I copied, and of course, my steady right hand. Yes, I did it myself. Do I get an Oscar nomination for best makeup for this? Ha-ha-ha!

And it was party time!

Last year's Christmas party was an easy one. This year, the Murphys came as The Scarecrow, Dorothy, The Lion and The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz; the Nardos were the Minions, the Orchards came as the Shrek, Fiona and Baby Shrek; the Sabados were the Flinstones, Minerva came as Katniss Everdeen, Wendy as Mary Poppins, the Woods were Tarzan, Jane and family, and the Garcias were snowmen from Frozen, and Forrest Gump.

          (Yes, that's me. How I wanted to walk home wearing 
           this and see my neighbors' reaction. Ha-ha-ha!)

                                       (The Minions)

                                       (The Tin Man)

                      (The Tin Man, the Lion and the Grinch)

            (The Scarecrow, Dorothy, the Lion and the Tin Man 
                                   from Wizard of Oz)

                                 (Frozen's Olaf snowmen and Forrest Gump)

                                          (Tarzan, Jane and their babies)

                        (Shrek, Fiona and Baby Shrek)

                         (Mary Poppins and her wards)

And as in any Filipino party, we had games for the kids, exchange of gifts with all the families, and lots of food for everyone! Roast beef, fried lumpia, lasagna, paella, chicken, salad and a few more dishes my memory has forgotten, but my palate has not. Ha-ha-ha!

For us, this isn't just a party, where everyone gets together to have fun, but this is a special occasion for us to celebrate our friendship and be thankful that we all survived another year of living away from our home countries. 

                                 (The kids were happy with their prizes)

                                    (The Grinch, the Tin Man and the Lion 
                     tabulating the votes for best costume)

                 ("The Grinch says....give your mums a hug" game!)

                               (The Grinch wasn't pleased as the Shrek 
                         and Fiona won the best costume)

Although our Christmas get-together was meant to be fun, we were a bit sad that some friends are moving on to other countries, which means....next year, we may see new movie characters in our party! :-)

(The Philippine Ambassador Raul Hernandez 

graciously  dropped by our party and joined 

these movie characters in a group photo) 

And to everyone in Korea and anywhere else around the world, my friends and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Enjoy your holidays, too!

P.S. Thanks to Vanji for some of the photos above!

An 'Ugly Sweater' Christmas Party In Seoul!

It's the time of the year again when friends in Seoul gathered and enjoyed each other's company before flying out of South Korea for our respective Christmas vacation.

Last year, our theme was a Christmas carol party, and this time, it's an 'ugly sweater' Christmas party where everyone must wear a sweater that he or she decorated with Christmas trinkets.

As last year, we again held our last get-together at Joy and Archie's home in Seongbuk-dong. And lucky for us, the temperature that day was above freezing, making it easy for everyone, especially the kids, to head northeast of Seoul.

Although we are far from home, we still make it a point to celebrate the essence of thanksgiving and the essence of Christmas by celebrating the blessings and friendships we enjoyed throughout the year. 

And before we started the party, we gathered together to say a prayer for our kababayans back in the Philippines in the areas affected by the super typhoon, Yolanda/Haiyan. Two of our friends in Seoul actually have families and relatives in Leyte, and we made sure we did our share to help.

And just like any Filipino gathering, we thought of a menu to be enjoyed by everyone. This year, we switched from Filipino cuisine to western fare: turkey,  prime ribeye roast, lasagna, japanese fried noodle salad, ham, bacon-wrapped sausage, jambalaya rice, queso de bola, fruit salad, tiramisu and a dessert that's very Pinoy, leche flan.

To add more fun, we had 'Santa Says' game for the kids and 'Dancing on a Christmas Wrapper' for their moms and dads. And to choose the winners for the 'ugliest sweater', everyone paraded their Christmas party attire. The winners, Rio and Archie, won for their creative sweaters, receiving prizes for their effort.

And for the exchanging of gifts, everyone picked a friend's name randomly and gave the gift after describing the recipient in front of everyone. 

To end the night, we did our traditional singing. Over the years, we sang popular Christmas carols that are in English. This year, for a change, we sang one Filipino Christmas carol, 'Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit'. That once-a-year singing performance is now in Youtube.

By now, most of us have already flown out of Seoul and enjoying our respective Christmas vacations. 

So, from all of us, we are greeting you a Merry Christmas and wishing that everyone's new year be peaceful, safe and happier! 

And we're all praying: no more destructive typhoons, please.