Life Update

Ok, guys. This time is more like a life update than a relation of events. Not too many big things have happened, but things are definitely different.

Firstly, my family. In the first few days I was here I felt a lot more comfortable with my brother, just because we spent more time together and his English is better than Unni's. But after he left to go back to wherever it is he goes to college, I can now say with certainty that I am a lot closer to my sister. It's not that I like one more than the other, I just know her much better. She is so much fun and quite a bit like me. She hums and softly sings fairly frequently, she makes a lot of faces, she does silly things just for the heck of it. She's great. My mom is also wonderful. I knew that from the second I met her, but seriously guys. I love her so much. She is so sweet and nice and funny and cute. I honestly want to stay with this family the whole year. I also know my dad a bit more now. I still don't see him that often because he works, but now that I stay up later with the rest of the family I see him at night and all of us usually just sit in the living room and talk for a long time. It's really nice. We have a lot of fun without really doing anything.



Sunggook, Inbum, Kangik, Kihoon, Coraline and Jinsung (and me)

Secondly school. School is really strange. It's a big mix of fantastic, boring, and annoying. Let's start with fantastic. I really like the people in my class. I'd say my closest friend right now is Hanbyul. He's very funny and outgoing and has better English than most people in the class. Even though I say he's my closest friend, we're not close. Really at all. I guess, I wouldn't say he's my closest friend, he's more like the person I know the best. I don't think I can honestly say I have any friends yet. It'll take time. But even though I don't think of them as my real friends yet, I have a lot fun with them and like being there. Now for the boring. I think that even if I did speak Korean I would find this school boring. Most of the classes are just lectures with little participation by the students. The only classes we do anything in are math and gym. Both of which are wonderful for me because they don't require me to speak Korean. And I never thought I would say that I'm the best gym student at any point in my school career. But here I am. Seriously. These people are fifteen and sixteen and they were holding the volleyballs as if they had never seen one in their life. Finally, the annoying. There are a couple things here that really bother me. Ok, so the whole corporal punishment thing wasn't a surprise for me when I got here and I don't mind it. It's not like the students ever get serious beatings or anything. So the occasional hit on the head or student that has to stand with their arms up doesn't bother me, as it's quick. But it does really bother me when teachers will take up to half the class calling different students to the front of the room and stand there talking to them before making them do whatever punishment they have in store. One class period the teacher took up the entire time making the class squat/walk down the hallway. But it bothers me much more that Coraline and I are generally exempt from the punishments. Only our homeroom teacher has punished us with the rest of the class, which I appreciate. I want to feel like a part of the class and the system. Just because I'm from America doesn't mean that I can't do exercises. Watch our gym class sometime. So, overall, I like the school and love my class, but wish that they didn't waste as much time and included us more.

In the past week or so, I'm happy to say that my free time has been much more productive than the beginning of my stay. The first couple weeks I usually just laid on my bed or sat at my desk and thought. Now I spend a lot more of the time in between classes and things praying and reading. It's amazing how praying can calm you down when you're really frustrated. My free time at home is also well spent. I've gotten a lot of cross-stitching done recently and my current project is moving along nicely. Just yesterday I also remembered that I like origami (yes, I forgot) and started doing a little bit of that again. I finally wrote a response to a letter I received the first day I was here (sorry Janet). And running down to the market on the corner has become one of my favorite things to do. My mom sends me to get stuff often and the lady that owns the place is so cute and sweet and always gets things for me because I don't actually know what they are, I just know the name that my mom told me.

I still haven't been able to go to the youth service at the church I've gone to a couple times. The first time I had the chance my mom had planned out my whole day. The Saturday after that we had a big rotary day (I'll talk about that in a bit). And of course this Saturday we're going to be out of town. Hopefully I get there sometime soon; I really want to decide whether I'm going to stay there or try to find a different church.

So, last Saturday there was a big huge event for all the Interact (high school) and Rotaract (college) clubs in our district. There were maybe three hundred people there. It really was a very boring day. Because only a very small percentage of the people was us, the foreigners, everything was done in Korean and I didn't understand pretty much any of it. The entire morning we just sat in our seats and I just talked to Anna, another American, the whole time because we had nothing else to do. She's pretty cool so that made the morning better. I ended up spending pretty much the whole day with her. After lunch we all did this weird domino game that I honestly am not going to try to explain here seeing as I can't do it even when I'm actually talking to someone so.... Then we sat around a bit, then we had dinner, then we sat around for a while longer. I was yet again just talking to Anna and Kaytleen sitting outside. A little bit before we walked back in something interesting did happen though. There was this Korean guy that walked past us, but after a few paces he turned around and walked up to us. He had his camera out and he didn't say anything he just held up his hands and mimicked taking a picture. So we took a picture with an absolutely adorable, silent Korean guy. He did say thank you (very quietly) afterwards though. And I noticed as he was leaving that he had a tattoo on his arm that said "Serendipity". It was so funny. It was probably just an English word that he thought would look cool and be hard to pronounce, but it was hilarious how it fit the way he looked and acted. After that we went inside and watched an absolutely hilarious talent show where everyone's talent was dancing in a group to a Kpop song.
Friday I went out for the day again with Ochun, Kaytleen and Jack. Ochun also brought his friend Gunhee along, which was nice. I'm in need of more friends. He was really polite and sweet. I liked him. We didn't really do much except see a movie and eat and walk around and ride the bus, but it was really good for me to get out and go somewhere without adults and with people that I already knew, instead of meeting new people again. It's not that I don't appreciate when people take me out places, but I get kind of tired of meeting people thinking "I'm probably never going to see you ever again.".
Oh my goodness, I almost forgot Choosuk, Korean thankgiving! It was on Thursday. The day before we spent a couple hours on the floor in the kitchen making a ton of food, including burdock and lotus roots (strange, but not gross). Then on Thursday morning we got up early and went to my grandparents house. There my dad and grandpa set up this whole thing for a ceremony to honor their ancestors. From what I saw in all the other exchange students pictures, most of them wore hanboks, Korean traditional clothes, and saw a lot of family on Choosuk. But me and my brother (who came back for a couple days) and sister, didn't have hanboks and we didn't participate in anything, and we were the only relatives there. We just sat in the other room and eventually fell asleep. Then we ate and then slept more while the adults talked a lot. It was much more boring than I expected the day to be, but that's ok. The food was delicious.
So, yeah, that's how I'm feeling at the moment. I love it here, a lot. It's simply beautiful. Before I came I thought that I might not like being in a big city very much, but I love everything about it. Even though a lot of things have been really hard and frustrating so far, this has already been one of the best experiences of my life and I've learned so much about myself. I can't wait so see what the next few weeks have in store. (Sorry, no quote this time. Too much work).

A Revelation From Davies

School trips.

Wow.

I went on a three day school trip, this past Wednesday through Friday. It was absolutely crazy. The first day we set off from school at maybe nine o'clock. We sat in the bus for just a short time and went to a place where people made ceramic things. I wish I could tell you the name, but... no one ever told me what it was. We just sat around a bit outside a while. Coraline and I just sat and talked to a few of the boys. Then we went inside a building and we all sat down at tables with paintbrushes and paint sitting, waiting for us. We were given the choice of painting a plate or a cup and I chose the plate, simply because of the ease of painting something flat (well, nearly). I started by drawing a design on my plate like everyone else, but halfway through, I looked at my design, said "screw it" and just started painting over it. I decided to paint it blue with one corner that had little pink flowers. I didn't quite have enough time to put in all the flowers that I wanted to, but it was enough to satisfy me. I honestly don't know if we're going to get the things we painted later after the ceramics people finish them, or if we just painted them and never get to see them again. I guess we'll see! After we finished that we outside and ate the lunches we packed. Coraline and I yet again hung out with the boys. Coraline much more outgoing than I am and I just kind of followed her everywhere and that's where she went so.... Yeah. It was fun to actually start to get to know them a little. We had a good time. And I also found a very interesting phrase ( 30 Sexy Years!) on the back of one of the boys shirts.

After the two hours we had for lunch we hopped back on the bus for about another three hours of driving. We drove through an incredibly beautiful area full of mountains. Every single mountain was completely covered in trees. It was just gorgeous. I was very happy to discover that the place we were staying at was right in the middle of the mountains. It was just incredible walking out the door every morning. But the first thing we did when we got there was just kinda sit around while we waited for dinner to be prepared. Coraline and I sat and talked with a couple boys while a few others played Korean soccer, which isn't normal soccer. It's kind of like a mix of volleyball and soccer. There was a low net and the point was to get it over the net and not outside the bounds. The ball could bounce once in between every kick and the same person couldn't kick it more than once in a row.  Those were basically the only rules. It was fun to watch. Then we ate dinner, which was delicious grilled pork. After that we just hung out some more and watched more soccer and then went to bed around maybe ten.

We got up the next morning and had breakfast at eight. At about nine we hopped on a bus and headed out a little bit higher into the mountains to go fourwheeling. It was funny how hesitant and bad most of the people were. It was pretty obvious it was their first time. Most just went at an average/slow speed around our little practice area while Coraline and I lapped them a few times. Then we went on a couple of different trails after people got the hang of it.

Immediately after the four wheeling we went out to go paintballing. We got all geared up with greaves, breastplates, helmets and swords.... I mean, guns. I don't really know whether I ever hit anyone. I got hit once on the hip, but it didn't burst (just hurt quite a bit). I also got a lot of green splatter on my shirt despite my armor. I didn't really think it was all that fun, so I only played the first two games, and even then only about half of them due to gun malfunctions and a depleted supply of ammo. I sat out the last game and just watched. Our team had switched sides and I really didn't like the other side. It was much to dangerous.

As if paintball and four wheeling didn't expend enough of our energy, we also had a busy afternoon. After lunch we went rafting. It was very easy rafting, simple, no white waters, but it was still fun. We had eight people and our "driver" in our raft. The actual rafting part of it really wasn't what made it fun (it wasn't fast enough for me), but the scenery. The river we were on was gorgeous and clean and the surrounding mountains breathtaking. (The picture isn't from our rafting adventure, but just of the mountains nearby). Swimming in the river was awesome as well. We had a short break half way through and there were a few people standing with just their legs in the water. There were a couple guys who were all the way in, but were just sitting there, not really looking as if they were enjoying it. I, on the other hand, jumped right in and floated around a little bit. I also really like the competition we had with all the other rafts. When we got close to one another we were suddenly counting our strokes at about twice volume and using twice the strength. It was a blast.

The third day of our trip was much less eventful. Most of it was spent in the bus. But we stopped in Gwangmyeong (I really hope that's the right name) to go to a Kia Company. There we watched a video about Kia's growth and how it was put into the top 100 worldwide brands. It was about twenty minutes long, and then we left. But we did get a souvenir: a model K5. After that we went home. I didn't do much once I got to my house, as I'm sure you can imagine. I was in great need of restoration.

The very next day my mom had an outing planned for me. In the morning I went to Jacks house and helped his mother wake him up and then watched some TV while we waited for the others (whom I had never met before) to arrive. As I was flipping through the channels I miraculously found that Pokémon was on. Jack was sleeping on the floor in front of the TV so I didn't bother to find out whether it was something he wanted to watch. It was strange seeing it in Korean, but I know the characters well enough that I knew what was going on and still found it to be hilarious. When it ended, I was kind of at a loss on what to watch (we were still waiting) but not for long. Just a few channels away I even more miraculously found Howl's Moving Castle! I was so happy. I, yet again, didn't understand the Korean, but I've seen the movie so many times I knew exactly what they were saying. A little bit into it two of Jack's friends from school, Ochun and Hyunsup, arrived. We chatted a bit (Ochun has fairly good English) and waited for Kaytleen, a Rotarian from France, to come. When she did we all sat down and ate Bibimbab, which was delicious (of course).

After lunch we took the bus out into the city. We walked around for a while to waste the time away until our movie started. We stopped in a couple different places and I finally bought myself a notebook. We stopped and sat in a café for a bit. Then we saw Now You See Me (me for the second time. It was just as good). Afterwards we went out for dinner and ate 닭갈비. Then we went back to Jacks house and hung out for a while. It was really nice to finally feel like I had real Korean friends (meaning Koreans that were real friends, not as if I have friends that are fake Koreans). I know the people in my class, but I still don't really feel like they're my friends. Yet.

 

Even though I've only been here a little over two weeks it feels like it's been a couple months. I've read so many books about fantastic worlds and often times I've thought that I would love to be in them and experience them. But the world we live in is also covered in beauty and filled with wonder. “But life is not a legend or a story. Reality is far more precious than a story...” (David Clement-Davies). Being exposed to new places really helps me to believe that and truly love this world despite it's failings. But I also remember that this isn't my home, and if I love Earth so much, I can't even begin to think what Gods Kingdom will be like.

A Challenge From Stevenson

"Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen have asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back...."  (Robert Louis Stevenson). This, my dears, is a hard task, but I shall do my very best to remember everything that I can so that you can have a good look at what Korea is like.

A few days ago Oppa took me to McDonald's! It was wonderful and tasted exactly like America. Although, the uniforms here are worse than the American ones. All the employees have to wear red and white striped half length ties. And the cups that we used for our soda weren't paper. They were plastic and we put them in a stack just like the trays, which was strange.

On the topic of food, the next day Umma, Unni and I ordered chicken the day afterwards. Sounds pretty normal, but one kind of chicken that we got was in a obviously Korean sauce (sorry, there's really no other way to explain it), which really made it new for me. And we ate the chicken with plastic gloves on, which was strange, but definitely cleaner than the way that we Americans do it. I was very appreciative of that fact, as I often see the way Americans eat slightly gross.

This past Saturday was our first district-wide meeting. We got an orientation! Yay!....Not really. It was quite boring, as everything we went over I already knew from my sponsor district and it was all said twice, in Korean and English. But besides all the lecturing it was pretty fun. Our district has five people from France, four from America, two from Brazil, two from Taiwan, two from Mexico and one from Sweden. I loved getting new pins to finally start filling up my blazer. And as it turns out, one of the Americans is from Platteville, Wisconsin, the town where I was born. Fancy that.

After the orientation was fun as well because Unni, Umma, and I went out to lunch with one of the French girls, Melissa, and the two Taiwanese boys, Jack and Guan Yu. It was so hard because Melissa was speaking French and just a little English, my mom was speaking Korean, and my sister was speaking Korean and English. It gave me a huge headache to translate in three different languages, but it was also fun. Misunderstandings can be a good way to have a laugh together without really knowing each other.

So, the orientation was Saturday and obviously the next day is Sunday, so I went to church for the first time! It was...really strange to say the least. I didn't know what denomination of church I was going to because I didn't know how to ask. But it started out with five people leading some hymn-like songs while people arrived. Then the choir sang a few hymns. Then the reverend came up, said a few words I didn't understand and then led us in a couple more songs. Then there was a guy who prayed for over ten minutes I think. Then the reverend gave his sermon, while I just sat and smiled, not knowing what was going on. After a couple more songs at the end Umma and I went with a couple of her friends to the basement cafeteria to have lunch together. Thankfully about halfway through Umma's friend called over a guy who spoke very fluent English (he lived in the Philippines for six years). So, I was able to ask him things about the church. I found out that there is a teen service on Saturday nights, so starting next week, that's what I'll be attending. Hopefully he'll be there too to translate for me.

Monday was my first day of school. It starts at about 8:20 with is a huge plus for me after arriving at Hempstead every day at 7:10. I met Coraline outside the school with our moms and then we met our homeroom teacher. He showed us to our classroom and gave us seats right in the front of the room. We had met our class before so they just said hi and kind of looked at us to see what we would do (not sure what they were expecting). But, even though our class was pretty laidback in the beginning the other classes were most definitely not. As we walked through the halls we literally had groups of people following us and whole classes crowding up to their classroom windows to see us. Half the people we walked by said hi and then looked really embarrassed and pleased when we responded. When we were in our room there was usually a whole row of people lined up outside our room window to see us. Our teacher had to keep telling them to leave. I found out today that it's because this school has never had a western foreign exchange student before.

Our first class of the day was a creative activity. We had to write a letter to a friend. Me and Coraline didn't really understand what was going on and didn't have any friends anyway, so we just wrote short letters about ourselves. But one of our classmates, Eunbin, wrote us both really cute letters saying something like "Hello! I don't speaking English! I love you! Eyes so pretty". It was really nice. For our second period we went outside for gym class. One of the students (whose dang name I can't remember) led us in some half hearted stretches. Then we played some volleyball. Actually we passed back and forth in partners, but it was fun. For third period a new teacher came into our room. I'm not sure what the subject was, but all the teacher did was show videos about subjects varying from bookbinding to wedding planning to car constructing. It was weird. And over half the class was asleep. Not that the teacher did anything to wake them up....Then our homeroom teacher came back and we drew these little character things for about ten minutes before it was lunch time. Lunch was kimchi soup and fish and, of course, rice. It was all really good. Afterwards we finished our drawings. Then we had science. Even though I didn't understand anything the teacher said I could tell by the pictures and graph that they were talking about particles and energy, so I don't feel bad that I wasn't paying attention.  I wouldn't have learned anything new anyway. A lot of people slept in that class too. Our last class of the day was industry. It was obvious that the students liked that subject and that teacher, who was awesome, a lot more than the other classes; no one slept. And then at the end of that class, I went home.

Ok, so that was the play-by-play. Here are some more general remarks. In between every period we have about 10 minutes to do whatever. Most students we down to the little café downstairs to get a snack or a drink. The only student in our class that speaks any amount of useful English is so shy that when he's asked to translate things he doesn't say much and isn't much help. So our homeroom teacher does most of the explaining to us in choppy English and sometimes talks to me in Korean when that doesn't work (Coraline hardly speaks any Korean). There was a group of three or four guys that came to say hi to us in between every class. I had a couple people tell me that I have a small face (that's a compliment). The teachers punish students quite often. Sometimes they'll hit them with an umbrella or something (lightly). Often the students have to stand in the front of the room facing the wall with their arms in the air.

The second day didn't hold much that was new. We had math class today. Definitely my favorite subject here (someone tell Mrs. Weires) because they're doing things I did three years ago and find very very easy (the distance formula, for those of you who care). I went up and did a problem on the board. Then two others were asked to go up and they just stood there staring. In the afternoon we went to a computer lab with a different class to do stuff with and illustrating program. For the first half we sat in the back talking to people while others used the computers. That was fun. Then we made gradient rectangles. That part was boring.

For dinner today I went out with Umma, Jack, and his mother. We had some delicious shellfish and noodles. I asked Jack about how his school was going and what it was like, but we didn't talk much. He understands English as long as I don't use big words, but he doesn't speak as well and isn't a big talker anywho. But when we got back to his house I was designated to be his Hangeul (Korean alphabet) teacher. So, I spent about 45 minutes teaching him the sounds of the different symbols.

Tonight I packed for the school trip that I am going on tomorrow. It's three days long and in the region whose name I forget with lots of mountains. I don't know what we're doing the first day, but the second day we're going to mountain bike and go rafting. The third day we're getting a tour of a Kia company building. Hopefully I'll start to actually get to know my classmates. So, I'll be back in three days with lots of stories. Until then!