A Concert, A Class, A Conference

To quote Olan Rogers, it's been awhile since I told you a story.

Juan

Not much has been happening lately that's out of the ordinary, except for last Saturday. That was the day I got to go to a Kpop concert! Although, the Kpop part of it was amazing, the rest of it was pretty boring. The concert was part of a sports festival so we also had to sit through a really long parade of all the different participating cities showing off their talents and weird costumes. There were also a couple singers that I didn't like because they sang old people music that was kind of annoying. But when the last three bands sang (2AM, Ze:a, MBlaq) I will shamelessly admit that I freaked the heck out. There was a lot of screaming, very loud singing and clapping. The two Taiwanese guys with me, Juan and Guan Yu, kept looking at me like I was a little crazy, but I didn't care. I had dreamed of this day for almost three years. MBlaq is my absolute favorite Kpop band, so this was an incredible experience for me. It was definitely worth the couple hours worth of waiting to see them. It was even worth the fact that I was freezing the whole time in a t-shirt and shorts sitting in the rain.

On other things not so exciting, I'll start with some school stuff. The past couple weeks have been really boring because this week and next Monday are the midterm exams. So the week before we didn't really have classes, the students just studied on their own. So Coraline and I just slept, read, or chatted with our teachers. We asked if we could be exempt from the tests, seeing as we wouldn't understand any of it, but the principle said that we had to take the tests, so we did. Each test took me about thirty seconds, except math, which I actually tried to do well. Apparently I actually did better than some of my classmates on that one, which surprised me. I still don't really have any friends to speak of in my class, but I am a lot more comfortable with talking to them and asking them questions at this point. I'm also now a lot more familiar with the building and the way things work. And there was one class when all the other students were studying and my Korean teacher started folding some school newspapers. She had a huge stack so Coraline and I decided to help her. We spent about and hour and a half doing it and afterwards our teacher kept saying "Thank you, thank you, I love you!" It felt really good to actually do something in class for a change and show our teacher that we aren't opposed to work we just can't understand what she teaches.

But this Thursday we didn't have school on account of a holiday. I wish I could tell you what holiday it was, but I can't. And yes, I asked what it was, but no one could tell me in English. But we got a day off school so it was nice. I spent the day with all the exchange students here in Ansan, Jack, Kaytleen, Coraline, Juan and Benedikt. First we went out to lunch at Lotteria, which is the Korean version of McD's (even though they have that too). Seriously, they're exactly the same, except McDonald's fries are better. This time I decided I would try one of the Korean items on the menu and got a Bulgogi burger. It was really sweet and pretty strange, but it was really good. After that we went upstairs to the movie theater. We wanted to see a movie in English, as none of us speak Korean that well, and there were only two choices: Prisoners and Monsters University. Prisoners was playing to late, so we chose the latter. And when the movie started we were all disappointed because it was dubbed in Korean. We had expected it to just have subtitles because all the other English movies we had seen had done it that way. But I guess they actually take the time to dub animations. Thankfully it was easy enough to follow and I understood maybe about a fifth of what they said so it was good anyway. Afterwards we went out for ice cream at Baskin Robins and then went home. It was a nice relaxing day with friends.





Sunggyeol University

Hannah, Juan, Me, EunMi

To tell you what happened today I need to backtrack a week. Last Friday we had our first Korean class with the Rotary club. It was at Sunggyeol University in Anyang, about an hour away by subway from where I live. Last week wasn't really a class, we just introduced ourselves and met our teachers and figured out which class we would be in. This week we actually started learning Korean. I was put in the higher level class because there are still some people here who can't even read Korean so we were separated. At the beginning of the class we were pretty organized and our teachers (who are college students) figured out what level we're at.

But as it went on we didn't really follow the book anymore and most of us were trying to figure things out on our own and it was kinda crazy. I also felt like there should have been more classes of different levels. Me and two other people were listening to our teacher and thinking "we already know of this" while others in our class were thinking "this is way too much to take in". I did learn a couple new things, but that was only because I was talking to Hannah one on one while the teachers helped other people. After the class we all got together and were told that we were going to learn a dance for the district conference in November. I, of course, was not too happy with this, but not all the songs we chose were bad. We're going to dance to sections of about four songs for a total of ten minutes. The only song I was unhappy with was Gangnam Style. So, of course, that's the one we started with. It was the most horrible dance lesson ever. All we did was watch a mirrored version of the dance. We didn't have anyone break it down for us and show us how. We were also in a very cramped space and couldn't move properly. It was just terrible.

On a happier note, the coming couple of weeks are going to be wonderful. This Sunday I am going to go to a different church, one with an English service! Benedict and Kaytleen go there and told me that there are a lot of black people and a lot of Russians, so it should be fun. After that I'm going to go to Gyeonggi University in Suwon for the beginning of the ~Ing Conference. I'm not really sure what the conference is about, but I have a schedule and it's going to be a fun five days (yes five days). The things were are doing include going to the DMZ, seeing some traditional drum performances and seeing some parts of Seoul. And my birthday will be right in the middle of it, which will be cool. I also really look forward to meeting the Rotary students from other districts that are going. The weekend after the conference our district is going on our Seoul tour which will be awesome (except for the fact that we have to walk everywhere).

So, I'm sure a lot of you reading this know what my Wall of Stuff was, but for those of you who don't, when I was in America on one of the walls in my room I hung up anything that I possibly could, from movie tickets to postcards to clothing tags, to chronicle the my life, manifested in the things I received throughout the years. By the time I left it covered over half of my room walls. I would love to do the same thing here in Korea, but I'm going to be living in three different houses and I don't think my parents would appreciate it, so instead I have a sturdy Notebook of Stuff. The front cover is already almost full, so then I'll move to the back and then the inside. If it gets too crowded I'll probably just start layering things. It's going to be one heavy notebook by the end of the year, but it will be a great way to show everything that happened to be over the year piece by piece.

Even though things have been going well and I'm excited for the next month there are also quite a few things that have been hard. It's difficult for me not to have any close friends, or any Korean friends really at all. It's also incredibly frustrating when I have something important I need to tell my parents, but I don't know how. It's kind of like this: "The sun was trembling on the brink of the world, the shadows at their longest...". The sun is still out and the light is shining, but there are long shadows that pierce that happiness.

I have pointed out a few of the differences between America and Korea at various points throughout my blogs, but it's been very scattered and I'm sure I've left out a lot, so my next post is going to be a clear lists of differences. Hopefully I'll finish that in the next couple days. Until then!

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!

 

 

Happiness From Austin

I know, I know, I just posted about two days ago, but these last couple days have been full of stuff. I promise the play-by-play of my life will stop once things become a bit more regular.
Two days ago I went to my school for the very first time. I met Coraline, another Rotary student from France. I was so happy to finally meet an English speaker. She was a lot of fun. Once the Rotary people arrived we met with my principle and talked about classes. My high school is a technical school, so it doesn't have normal classes. It has a bog focus on computers. There were six majors that Coraline and I could chose from. Four of them had to do solely with computers, so I threw those out the window immediately. One was a bio-chem sort of thing, which I find interesting, but it's not my best subject and I probably couldn't do it in Korean. So, I went with the last one, design. Some of the design is on the computer, but it has nothing to do with the inner workings of those blasted machines, so it's all good.
Yesterday I went back to the school with Coraline again. This time we got a tour of the school from the VP. There were a number of classes we were introduced to. It was honestly pretty embarrassing. Everyone stared at us while we stood there, not understanding what the teachers were saying to us. But, when we were taken to our home room it was a bit different. We got to introduce ourselves. After the class stopped clapping, Coraline went first, in English. No one could say her name very well. Then it was my turn. It was very strange for me because everyone here calls me Amy. So when I introduced myself I said Amy the first time not Emmy. But I did introduce myself in Korean. All I said was a simple "Hello, I'm Amy" but the whole class let a huge "OOOOHHHHH". It was really funny. We also met the schools English teacher, who is actually American. But of course, his last day is Friday and I start on Monday.......
The rest of yesterday was jam-packed with activities, so brace yourselves for a few more paragraphs. As soon as I got home Oppa, Unni, and I headed out. All I knew about where we were going was that it was a beach. Oppa told me that I shouldn't expect it to be pretty like American beaches, but I thought it was gorgeous, in it's own way. We went to Daebudo island. First we went to restaurant and ate some noodles and what Oppa called "traditional Korean pizza" which was absolutely nothing like pizza. It was vegetables and breading and little octopus tentacles.

 

This is the beach we went to. The brown part looks like it's dry, but it most definitely was not. It was muddy and rocky with lots of shells. There were little crabs scuttling all over the place. Unni and I both ended up taking our shoes off and squelching through the mud. It felt so nice and cool on my feet. Oppa caught a couple crabs for us, but I didn't want to hold one. I find them mildly disgusting. Unni also caught a little tiny fish before we decided to head back. As we were driving away Oppa explained that that area is tidal water, so it washes in and out periodically. He promised we would go back when the water was high. Next we went to Oido Island. Unni and I walked along a path on the edge of the sea up to a red lighthouse. We also walked inside a navy boat, like in the Mississippi River Museum (for those of you who know it). At the lighthouse there was a group of people lined up at the railing feeding the seagulls that flew in circles over and over again. So Oppa bought a bag of these weird shrimp cracker type things that everyone was feeding the gulls with. It was really fun to throw them is weird directions and watch the gulls twist and turn and dive to get them.


At this point we had been out for about 4 hours and you would think that I would be tired and want to go home and just relax. But, in fact, I could've gone on much longer. I drew energy from the beautiful landscape and all the new things I saw. So when we headed home and Oppa told me we would be heading right back out again I was quite excited. Oppa picked up a couple things and then we got back in the car to go and see Halmuhni (Grandma) and Hahrebuhji (Grandpa). For a while I just sat with Unni and Halmuhni and listened to them talk while a really weird English movie about killer bats played in the background. Then we ate dinner and everyone oohhed and aahhed over my chopstick skills yet again. I just sat contentedly and listened. After dinner there was of course more food (fruit) brought out, which, of course, I ate despite my full stomach. Oppa then told me that Hahrebuhji is very good at making names. He makes names from your birthday and the palm of your hand. It was a bit strange to me. But I was very honored that he agreed to give me a Korean name. After about 20 minutes he came up with 효정 (hyojung). It was a night full of lots of food, laughs, misunderstandings and bad translations. It was wonderful.
Now, of course, by this time I actually was tired. But in the car Oppa asked me if I wanted to see a movie. I, naturally, said of course (in a sleepy voice). So, we headed to the theater, situated in the middle of a big store akin to a multi-leveled Walmart, but with more variety. We waited about half and hour in a big lit up café area, during which time Unni and Oppa looked at posters for new movies while I told them whether they were good or not, since they came out a couple months ago in the US. Then we went in and saw Now You See Me (in assigned seats). That really is the last thing we did that day.
Today was also interesting. I woke up at about noon (hehehe). Then Oppa and I went to the little market just around the corner to get ice cream after lunch because it was 70 percent off. After we ate some we went to get an adapter so that I can plug in my tablet (very much needed). Then at about six Umma and I went to have 삼겹살 (basically huge, thick bacon) with a group of her friends. For the first half of dinner I sat with Umma trying to figure out the proper way to eat the food and only said a couple things in response to questions, but after a bit her friends from the other end of the table called me over and we attempted conversation for about 20 minutes. I think I actually did pretty well, as far as understanding goes (maybe not speaking). It also made me happy to discover that when not in a formal setting, Koreans really aren't against the whole touchy-feely things. We sat pretty close together and it was a lot of fun. After we left Umma and I stopped by a bakery and got some blessedly American food, like sweet bread and donuts. We also stopped and bought some fruit, including this really cool yellow and white stripped little melon that I tried for the first time when we got home (it was quite tasty).
All in all, I am very happy. I know that this whole year will not be as easy as the last few days, but that's ok, because “Happiness is something that comes from our own hearts, not from other people.”. I know that I can have joy, if not happiness, in any situation if I choose to.  (Lynn Austin).

Contentment From Paul

I have arrived.
I got up around 4 to catch my flight from Dubuque in time. It was only 50 minutes long and then I sat in Chicago for quite a while. But the waiting was made better for the company I had. Right when I entered the international section of the airport I found a fellow Rotarian who flew to Korea at the same time as me, but through a different airline. So we chatted for a bit and then found a third Rotarian and had lunch together. Neither of them live in my city, but they are in my district so I should see them this coming Saturday at our orientation.
The flight here was incredibly long (14 hours) and I didn't get up once. Surprisingly, I didn't have to use the bathroom at all, so I just never thought to stand. For the first half I either read or slept or just sat there doing nothing. The second half I wasted the time away and watched 4 movies. I finally saw Iron Man 3 and Les Mis. I also watched The Host and almost finished Perks of Being a Wallflower. The couple who sat next to me were very surprised to hear me order my food in Korean. The lady was adorable and made me laugh.
Thankfully when I arrived going through customs was very quick and easy. It took my suitcase about 25 minutes to finally show up, though. When I went through the exit there were so many signs for me to look at that my family found me first. As soon as my Umma saw me she gave me a hug. Knowing that my family isn't anti-touchy-feely totally made up for the flight. My Unni (older sister) and Oppa (older brother)  were also there waiting for me (remember those terms, they're what I'm going to use in referring to my family). They were all super nice and gave me drinks and took all my luggage for me. I was honestly still in a daze at that point and wasn't even attempting to understand what my family was saying to each other. I only paid attention when they were talking to me. And even then I think that all I ever said in Korean was 힘들었어요 (It was very tiring).
The drive home was nice and relaxing. As we drove through Incheon (where I landed) it was cool to see how all the flat parts of the land were filled up with tightly packed tall buildings, but the hills/mountains lacked anything to suggest a human presence. They were just covered in trees. We also drove over the longest bridge in Korea. We were on for about 15-20 minutes I think. The whole drive was maybe 45 minutes long.
On our way home we stopped by where my Appa works, a little Lotto shop on a cute cramped street. I just gave him a hug and then we left and I haven't seen him since. I went to bed early and got up late, so I missed him.
When we got home I climbed up four flights of stairs. I live in a nice sized apartment with three bedrooms, one bathroom, a big living room and an average kitchen (with no dishwasher I might add).

This is my bedroom. This angle makes it look like it's tiny and that the bed takes up all the space, but it doesn't. I have a ton of closet space and desk space. The bed is interesting. It's not like in America with a mattress, sheets and blankets. It's a mattress, then a thin futon, two blankets to sleep on, and then one blanket to cover up with (not that I need that one yet, It's incredibly warm in this house. My room has a fan and there is one small portable air conditioner; that's the only cooling we got.) The pillow is a bit strange too. It's much firmer than pillows in the US.
As far as food goes, everything has been amazing. The first night we had Chinese delivered (nothing like American Chinese). I had 자장면, noodles with black bean paste. It was really good, but one of those foods that you can only eat so much of before your taste buds can't take it anymore. There was also some good breaded pork. We ate at one of the cute low tables where you sit on the floor in my parents room while we watched TV that I didn't understand any of. The next morning I was very happy to learn that my family eats cereal! Score! Not Reese's Puffs, but any cereal is enough for me. Not too much later we ate lunch. We had some spicy tofu soup, grilled fish, some beef, and a few various vegetables. I found the most interesting to be the sesame leaves that were soaked in something strange. It was pretty good though.
So, about my family. Oppa is 23, very nice and my main translator so far. Not sure that's a good thing seeing as he's leaving for college in a few days, but oh well. He's really easy to get along with and laugh with. Unni, 20, isn't someone I think I would normally befriend, but I think that over time we can be close. Umma is very sweet and does everything for me. She also very pretty. Hopefully I can start cooking with her soon. I just haven't asked yet.
One of the coolest things so far happened just about 20 minutes ago. I've been trying to figure out the easiest time and way to ask if I can go to church (what with the language barrier and everything) because I know that my family is Buddhist. But as it turns out my time spent thinking about it was wasted. Oppa came to my room and asked me if I go to church! There is a church just about 3-5 minutes walking distance from my house and my mother has a couple Christians friends nearby as well. The first couple weeks Umma is going with me until I can find my way on my own. Hopefully I can convince her to keep coming. ;)
Looking to the future, this afternoon I will be getting a phone. Tomorrow I am going with another Rotary student to see my school. I'm starting school on September 2nd I believe. Then on Saturday I have an orientation with the club. Other than that I have no idea what is to come, which makes it all the more exciting.
Though it has been hard to leave everyone behind I think that I'm going to learn a lot about myself this year. I'm simply going to be content with where God has put me, know that He is still protecting everyone at home and be overjoyed when I return. Until then I will remember to "Focus on what's ahead. Use what is behind." - Donita K. Paul.

Patience From Rowling

This past weekend my family and I went to Sanibel Island in Fort Meyers. The picture is of the sunset on the way home. It is a beach known for it's plethora of shells all over the place. It definitely lived up to that reputation. There were shells absolutely everywhere. Which was, of course, the reason we went there instead of any other beach. We wanted to collect shells to make into pins to take to our host country. In case you don't know, the Rotary Club has a tradition of exchanging and collecting pins from other countries and places you've been. So we picked up a little over 100 shells to draw American flags on.



This is the beautiful sky that we got to enjoy the whole day. We were there from 8 am until 3 pm and it felt like just a couple hours. We didn't do much besides sit in shallow waters and sift through the sand to find the right kind of shell. But, of course sometimes we got surprises. We saw a stingray at one point. And after about half an hour of sitting and gathering shells John said to me, "Would you believe me if I told you I just found the coolest shell ever?" Me and Dominic automatically said no. John fools around too much and says way too many things to throw us off every day for us to believe something like that. But then he pulls his hand out of the water and has a huge beautiful shell in his hands. Something like "I'll never doubt him again" should probably have popped into my head, but let's face it: I'll have every reason to doubt him all the time.

I also had the opportunity of finding a sand dollar. Sadly, though, it was still alive, so we couldn't keep it. And, of course, we had to take group pictures at the end before we left and I don't think we actually got a good one. Maria was too intent on making silly faces. But it was a very successful day. We found lots of shells perfect for pins. And that big huge black shell, that's the coolest shell ever.

So, although Maria missed out on a lot while she was watching the baby, we had a wonderful time swimming, gathering and laughing and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Cracker Barrel afterwards after eating almost nothing the whole day besides a hotel breakfast.

The next day we had a very long shopping trip to pick up the things we needed to make out pins. We picked up markers and pins at Micheals, along with Zoe's Hello Kitty mug and her shirts from Rue 21 for her birthday. We got some ribbons to make different pins as well. We also stopped at Joanne's to get the last of the fabric I need to finish my Nurse Joy dress and some buttons for Maria.

So, when we got home we plugged in the hot glue gun and got started. Maria didn't put flags on any of her shells. She just glued the metal pin on each one. I grabbed the sharpies and spent quite a while putting flags on my shells. And just like me, by the time I got two thirds of the way through I decided that that was enough flags and I could just leave the rest as they were.

So, Including the ribbon pins we made, this was the result. We put pennies on a lot of the ribbon pins. All except the bows. To us, it seemed a little strange, but people from other countries love foreign money. As do we, I guess. We get excited about coins from other places. I guess I'll just never wear my own pins, 'cause I don't find pennies all that cool. Even though I love the ribbons that we found, the shell pins are my favorite. It's probably because they took so much effort to make and because they're different than most people's typical pins.

So, I've sent all my papers in and my visa has been applied for, but I still don't have it and we still haven't made air arrangements. In the mean time I'll just wait and trust that the Lord will work it all out the way He wants it. I'll just keep the mindset of Harry. "There was no point in worrying yet.... what would come, would come... and he would have to meet it when it did." (J.K Rowling)