the list goes on...

some more things that only happen in korea. :)

1. everything has some sort of health benefit or health detriment, according to Koreans. everything.

2. girls wear high heels all the time here.

3. ajuma's (old ladies) can be quite aggressive! I've been pushed and pulled by them..especially if i'm kind of in the way. Also, when people run into you here, its not followed by an "excuse me". Its not really considered rude here...

4. masks. People wear masks a lot here. Especially ajumas ( i love this word..) Some look like the masks people were wearing during the swine flu scare...others have more face coverage, and look more intense. Its funny to see people wearing them everday...

5. my students all wear cutesy, super colorful socks with strange images on them (even my middle school boys). From obama socks to hello kitty ones...theres a lot to chose from!

6. "Have you eaten" or "did you eat lunch" are frequently asked questions. It seemed strange to me at first...like, the answer was pretty much a given. Yeah..I did eat today :) My director told me that this stems from Korea's very recent emergence from poverty/being a developing country. Back when it was poorer, asking whether somebody had eaten expressed a lot of concern for how they were doing. Also, older people ask this more than younger people...which makes sense. There seems to be a pretty big generation gap here between this generation and the ones before, because life has changed so ridiculously fast here.

7. you can buy fried chicken and coke in a nifty all-in-one cup. The chicken is in a little bucket thingy that inserts into the cup and the coke is underneath. :) We were excited when we discovered this nifty snack.

8. patients from the hospitals roam around freely outside the hospital. Complete with hospital gowns and i.v.'s, they hang out and walk around, sit, smoke, and people watch in the area surrounding the hospital. Near my house there's a hospital along the main road, and it is still strange to see them all chilling on the side of the street

9. they make octopus bread here. I have yet to try it. Don't think I will. I have heard from friends though, that there are actual chunks of octopus in the bread. Yummm ;)

10. People give gifts all the time...especially food gifts. I get random things all the time from my coworkers, bosses, fruit vendors, and parents of my students. I've gotten are apples, tea bags, soap, toothpaste, coffee, rice cakes, pizza, grapes, sweet potato, chesnuts...to name a few. So nice.

11. man-purses. They're everywhere here.

12. great coffee shops in abundance here. Even though instant, sugary coffee is pretty much all you find at the stores (you can buy regular coffee but its quite pricey and the selection is really small!), there are great coffee shops all over the place. Oh, it is bliss. Lots of mom and pop places too...

13. couple-wear. Couples dress matching. A lot. They even sell matching underwear sets. And you see lots of couples who are dressed almost completely alike...I couldn't do it. :)

14. korean women usually cover their mouths when they laugh...

15. almost 50% of korean women have had plastic surgery and almost 90% want to have something done (don't quote me on the stats...but this is what i read somewhere). sad!

16. badmitton is a really popular here. I see kids playing it at parks and on sidewalks...

17. there's outdoor workout equipment in most of the parks here...no need to go to the gym! I've people do some really strange exercises...usually the ajumas.

13. a lot of high school kids stay in school till 9 or 10 at night...crazy. I walk by them on my way home from work as they are just getting out of all their extra after-school classes.

14. lots of people are out and about late. Its fun. People are always eating in restaurants until late. Lots of night owls here, it seems!

16. "Dong shim." Literally translated, this means "poop needle." This is when you poke someone in the butt with your pointer fingers. and YES, my students have tried to do this to me. Its so bizarre and slightly terrifying knowing that they might do this at any minute...they think its hilarious.

17. they don't eat much meat here, at all. The meat they do eat is AMAZING. But, the average person eats it like once a week. Less meat, more veggies. Us Americans eat far too much meat...I think it'd be better for all parties involved if we ate it more sparingly. And they have so many veggies and side dishes in every meal. I enjoy all the veggies lots.

So, just some more things that puzzle, confuse, amuse, betwix and even sometimes annoy. But, its things like these that make living here quite an adventure.

These last couple weeks I've been missing home more. Being sick had something to do with it, i think. I had a pretty gnarly cold. It just sucks being sick when your alone, and don't have your family or friends near. The routine of my day to day life, especially during the week, has started to seem more dry lately. And a bit lonely...work, home, work, home. Weekends are great- lots of fun. I see lots of people, travel, go to church, etc. so I always feel refreshed after weekends. Initially I really liked the alone time that living alone gave me. And I still do to an extent..but, I'm realizing that I can only have so much time without people around. I miss my roomies. I miss being able to debrief at the end of each day, and talk about our days...what happened. What made us happy. What challenged us. What amused us. What made us sad. Cooking together. Bedtime prayers. And wrestling. And munching. And just doing life- regular, day to day life with people that you love. Nami, Kate, Chels- roomies, I think of you often :) So...too much time alone and I start feeling antsy and a little out of wack. Which is kinda how I've been feeling recently. It's not that I don't have friends (I do, I dooo!), just that its hard to see people during the week. This next weekend we have a church retreat coming up, so I'm excited to get away and just be with others to fellowship and worship God. Should be grand. Anyways, that's all for now, I think. much love. xoxo

my journey across the pacific.

Anyo Haseo!! That’s how you say hello in Korean (and happens to be one of the few Korean words in my vocab…although I’m learning new words everyday!). Well it is now Saturday morning here in Korea. Hard to believe I’ve already been here nearly a week! It has been jam packed with so much…I feel that I have so much to write about already.

My trip here was incredibly long. I left Rockford, at 3 AM on Saturday (July 3) with my two very large bags and headed out to the airport. My parents had already planned a trip to Virginia to visit my dad’s family, and because my trip was delayed week, they weren’t able to be at the airport when I left. Ben and I drove off at that ungodly hour and got Chicago in plenty of time for my 7 AM flight. One of my bags was nearly 10 lbs. overweight. Oops! Being a light packer has never been a strength of mine. I managed to do some rearranging and it worked out just fine. J

I flew to San Francisco first, had a short layover there, made some quick phone calls to say last minute goodbyes, and boarded the plane. Destination…Seoul, Korea. It finally started sinking in (a little late, huh?) when I boarded that last plane, that I was really leaving. And I was going far. All the way across the Pacific Ocean. Oh my. I sat next to a guy that I was convinced was some sort of secret agent. He looked the part. When asked what he did, he replied with a vague “I work for the government…department of defense.” Suspicious, don’t you think?! Anyways, he grew up in Korea because his dad was in the military, and we had some friendly chit-chat about life in Korea.

Unfortunately, I was in the emergency exit row- so the only view I had was of the wing. Dangit. But on my next flight I got to see a bit of the Korean countryside, and the brightly colored rooftops when we landed. My travel agent decided to have me switch airports in Seoul. They told me not to worry, it was really very simple to get from one to the other! After I went through customs, got my bags, searched for the shuttle bus to the other airport, arrived at the other airport, and got in line, I only had 5 minutes till my flight left! So I missed it! I then attempted to use a pay phone to call my recruiter (who hooked me up with my current job). Amidst this process of looking for a phone, and trying to communicate with people who kept telling me different things and pointing in different directions, I had a small meltdown. A few tears were shed. And then I was fine. =) I made it safely to Pusan (a large port city about an hour away from where I’m living). My last leg of the trip was an hour bus ride to Daegu (my city), where I was pleasantly surprised to meet a fellow American! She is also a teacher here, and we exchanged numbers. She is going to show me around Daegu later today.

My first week here was a whirlwind. I got to my apartment on Sunday night and started teaching Monday morning! After a 20+ hour trip, I went to bed at midnight and woke up at 5 AM thanks to the jetlag. I got out of bed around 9 am and had myself some cornflakes and coffee in a French press. My director filled my fridge with random food items…such as cornflakes, milk, tomatoes, bread and peanut butter! I journaled, read my Bible, talked with God and felt an incredible peace about being here. Thankyou Lord! I knew that was from Him, because the previous day I had felt very anxious. My directors (Stella and Joey) were wonderful from the very beginning. They and their three adorable kids met me at the bus station. They are both very wonderful. And I am thankful!

Monday I had a few hours to sit with the other teachers on staff (all Korean, all so great!). They gave me a quick briefing on what to do. I am teaching classes ranging from kindergarten through 8^th grade, with a wide range of English abilities. On M, W, and F I teach about 8 classes that are 40 min. each. On T, TH I only teach four. So I have some down time/prep time, which is very nice. Some students have great English, while others don’t really seem to understand much of anything that I’m saying! It is hard to see them get really frustrated and discouraged because they don’t understand. It can be a bit difficult. But it is motivating me to learn Korean! This whole week I felt pretty unprepared. Everyday I had a different schedule with different classes. So there is much to learn! Sigh. But I made it through, and I think that the hardest week is over! And I am happy to be here. Continued prayers would be much appreciated!

Below: One of the diretor's kids...Cathy & I in front of the world cup stadium

My new classroom.

Some of my highlights have been:

1. Taking the subway downtown with my director, Stella.
2. Trying kim chi (the spicy cabbage stuff…its delicious!)
3. Window shopping
4. Seeing women power walking along “exercise trails”…people are really into that here!
5. The street vendors (remind me of South America)
6. learning about “Korean time”, which is much more compatible with me than American time! (anyone who knows me will know what this means;)
7. Students with English names (they pick them) such as “King”, “Texas” and “Dude.”

only in Korea...some things I've noticed

*note, this is probably full of stereotypes, as most of my conclusions are based off of one (or a very limited number of experiences!) read with a grain of salt.

1. strange english messages on apparel/signs (pretty much anything that has english on it tends to be kind of bizarre).

2. colorful rooftops. (it looks really cool from above...next time you fly over korea look out your window!)

3. when you are in large groups of people, it is strangely quiet.

4. korean soap opera's (called dramas) are JUST like telenovalas.

5. "warning high heels" message before getting on escalators (brilliant..why don't we warn heel-wearing girls of the danger that likely awaits them?)

6. everyone here is so trendyand petite!

7. they drive on the same side of the road.

8. whatever you do, don't cross the yellow line at the subway station. you will be yelled at!

9. koreans are very welcoming.

10. no ovens! (at least in my apartment)

11. my life will be much easier if I learn korean

12. karaoke bars are all the rage.

13. there is a small mountain that people climb up for exercise right in the city ...with an outdoor gym at the top of it!

14. when koreans offer you something (food, a gift) just say thankyou!

15. kim pap shops are the place to go for food.

16. kim chi is quite good!

17. koreans are big into sharing things (food, etc.)

18. the korean alphabet is called hangul. the vowel symbols were formed after heaven, ground and people, while the consonant symbols were formed after voice organs (like lips, throat and tongue). it sounds confusing, but it actually makes sense when you see the symbols!

19. the world cup stadium is awesome!

20. Christians hand out free stuff all the time (while going for a walk with my director, they handed us hand wipes and free iced coffee!). i was informed by another foreigner that this is normal.

21. korean kids are adorable.

22. capris amongst korean guys are very popular.

23. heated toilet seats. (also brilliant!)

Thats all for now. I'm sure i'll had more to this list later!