오랜만이죠?! It's been a while!

Well, hi there. First of all, sorry, this post is so overdue. Life is immensely busy and fun, so hopefully it's excusable.

I'm not quite sure where to begin, as it has been over two months since the last entry. Which means I've been in Korea for over 3 months! That's what I'm thinking about a lot lately, the fact that exchange is about a third over and where is the year going?? It's scary to think about it that way. In some ways it still feels like I just got here. 

To anyone reading this who may be considering going on exchange, may I offer one piece of advice? If you can avoid it, try not to have to do college applications half way across the world from your school and parents. That is my most recent and on-going excuse for being so undedicated to this blog. It's not impossible to apply from abroad, but it's hard, I'll say that.

Other than that, exchange is a dream. Yes, there are times when I just want to sleep or be alone or speak French. And there are times when stupid little things annoy me or I just want to give up for the day at 10AM because I can't even understand my math teacher's Konglish (...today). However, I promise you, I LOVE KOREA. Sometimes I forget for a delusional moment I'm a foreigner because I just feel so at-home here. I think almost every day that this is just where I am supposed to be right now. Like back when I thought my name was spelled ㄱㄹㅐㅅ (really unfortunately incorrect use of the Korean alphabet), God was watching me, thinking ahead 2 years, when He knew I'd be here. I just can't imagine being anywhere else right now.

So, what's new? Everything~ Some highlights of what has been keeping me busy in the past two months (definitely not a complete list):

• Korean Class (so glad to have this, really. Learning Korean would be slow without it). Now some of us are studying for the TOPIK (Korean language proficiency test), which will be in January and April. 
• Taekwondo Class - Yes, I'll admit it, I like this class. The idea of martial art is sooooo not my personality, but the class is fairly casual considering the content and we have college student teachers in addition to our amazing professor, which makes it all a lot more fun. It's also nice to have goals towards which to work which aren't "memorize the next 80 vocabulary words, quiz on Wednesday (ahem...that's tomorrow)." 
• Lantern festival in Jinju city...so beautiful. We decorated a lantern and sent it into the river.
• Saw a movie at the Busan International Film Festival. That was kind of a big deal, even if the movie was in Chinese (with subtitles, including English!). 
• K-Pop (Korean pop music) concert! This was so much fun, especially since my friend and I got our tickets less than 4 hours before the concert started (thanks a million to our Korean professor!) and still had fairly okay seats - disregarding the super crazy fangirls beside us. (If you know K-Pop, it was Teen Top, IU, 동방신기 (TVXQ), DJ DOC, Leessang, and 용감한 녀석들 (Brave Guys??)). It was a fun experience, but the fangirls, honestly, were frightening. I wouldn't be surprised if the girl behind lost us her voice indefinitely from that night. Anyhow, it was cool to see some super famous people there, albeit at a distance. 
• Fireworks festival. Oh. My. Goodness. Stunning. The organization behind this kind of event has got to be overwhelmingly detailed. It was just so beautiful. And then there was the crowd afterwards. We literally waited a half hour for people to clear so we could safely cross the street. And then we hung out for a while at a coffee shop and tried to ride the metro home. We gave up that idea after waiting in the metro station for maybe 45 minutes and still getting nowhere close to  being able to take a train, and rode a bus home, instead. The fireworks festival is that amazing.
• Saw a "Baritone Recital," at one point in which a bunch of middle- to senior-aged men started square dancing and then imitating Gangnam Style) on stage while singing a totally unfitting song. Cute~!!
• Experienced 수능 (sooneung; Korean infamously tough college entrance exam) day. It was a really big event; the schools were serving sticky rice cakes (because it's said that eating sticky foods will help you "stick" to the university you wish to attend) and the day before the test school ended in the morning, after having one class and then cheering on the third-years as they left school after their last real school day. My (host) brother took the test that next day (the 8th of November), so our family drove him to school in the morning. There were police officers and soldiers everywhere and traffic was fairly heavy. Outside of the school on one side of the street, all the test-takers were lined up, waiting to enter the school. On the other side of the street, controlled by police, there were crowds of students cheering for them. Apparently, there were police cars reserved for escorting test-takers who were running late to school. Also, to create a non-distracting testing environment, there were no airplanes taking off or landing that day. The sooneung is no SAT.
• Going on mini adventures with the other exchange students. This city has fabulous public transportation (no comment on the individual driving culture or lacking significance of red lights), so the exchange students end up having wonderful adventures because we can safely, quickly and easily go by ourselves almost anywhere in the city. It's super cool because we have found areas that we like and have nick-named and we come across little unique places, like vintage clothing stores, a shop that sells ice cream waffles and a café that serves amazing bubble (tapioca) teas. 
• Going to Jeju-do (Jeju Island) for 4 days later this week! I've heard it's gorgeous there~ Not sure what else to expect, except rain and cold weather. But I'll take photos!

I'm having fun. I'm so tired, but really, really happy. Exhausted bliss? Precisely. Especially since I slept for a half an hour on my desk with my Hello Kitty pillow blanket before school started this morning (I swear, I'm 17 (or 18, if you go by Korean age)). It seems that Korea can have this kind of effect on a person; suddenly it's totally normal for a high school student to have a teddy bear on her assignment book (guilty) or socks with bunny rabbits on them (...yep). Even some boys/men wear sweatshirts and socks with bear designs. Last week our social studies teacher wore a sweatshirt with a rubber duck design. And nobody seems take a person any less seriously for doing so. I digress...

Everything is going well here and I hope the same is true for all of you where you are. Anyhow, I really need to sleep now. Have a great day, night, morning, evening, etc, everybody!

잘 지내세요. Take care~

One Month!!

Hooray for 4 weeks in Korea!! But seriously, if the next 9 months are going to go by at this pace, I'm quite afraid to blink. 

It’s Sunday, which means there’s an entire week to talk about here. And a lot has happened! First, we (the exchange students) started Korean class! There are two classes, separated by those who use the Korean alphabet and have some prior knowledge of the language, and those who do not. I’m in the former category, and our class is quite small- only 4 students and the professor. One of our classmates is a student from China, which is fabulous because our only common language is Korean, so we have no choice but to make the most of what we learn in class together if we want to talk to him. He and I had a (simple) conversation while waiting for the bus after class, entirely in Korean (by necessity). It must have seemed so ridiculous-two foreigners speaking Korean-but the fact that we had no other choice was just so cool. 

It’s not like that in school. Almost everyone speaks more English than I do Korean, and several people will just automatically use English with me. But I so badly want to learn Korean and the best way to do so, of course, is to converse. That’s frustrating because it’s hard to have much of a conversation now with what I know and understand. It’s hard to start a conversation, next to impossible to join one, but somehow, quite easy to finish one. I’m impatient to get to the point at which speaking Korean comes naturally, but not quite sure how to reach that level of fluency. Sometimes I find myself thinking, ‘How can I ever figure out what my friends are saying if I simply don’t understand? I cannot just keep asking, “What are you saying?” And it’s not as if, without even having context clues, that sentence will suddenly make sense.’ Or maybe it is. Who knows. Babies learn languages like that, don’t they? But I’m 17 and this is my third language. That's why we have Korean class.  Anyhow, some of my homeroom classmates invited me to meet them for lunch yesterday at a buffet. Among the seven of us, we used maybe 20 plates and just as many cups. And I had mango salad!!! It has pretty much become a rule that if I have a chance to eat mango, I will because it’s such a rare (and usually quite expensive) opportunity here. I digress.

So, back to Korean class (we will also learn Taekwondo, but our uniforms have not come yet, so we didn’t have that class this week). Class ends around dinner time, so twice earlier this week, the exchange students ate out together. No, rewind. That sounds way too fancy. Actually, we wandered around the area near where we have class until we found a little tiny store selling various types of extremely cheap and equally unhealthy chicken. After eating dinner (which cost us around $1.50 each, on average), we were given strawberry soft serve ice cream by the man who runs the store. Yum, yummy yum!!  After the next day of class, we returned to the same place and he gave us not only ice cream, but samples of a very spicy something and fried chicken gizzard. It seems that as exciting as it was for us to find this nice guy selling cheap food, it was even more entertaining for him to see what he could get away with feeding a group of young, clueless foreigners. We have so much fun!

Earlier this week, we had another fun experience that I'm kind of dying to tell you about. The exchange students went to a puppy cafe! Do we have these in America? I'm actually not sure. It was on the second floor of a pet store and there were a bunch of dogs and a few cats there. We paid ₩8000 (just over $7) each to enter and then we could play with the animals and have smoothies and refreshments. Here's a photo of a dog that I really liked. My dad has two dogs of the same breed, so I was so happy to see this dog! It was a puppy...so cute :)

Today was a rainy day, so I stayed at home for the most part. I’ve been out and about almost constantly for the past week and a half at school, Korean class, and with friends, so for once I didn’t really feel like having any plans. And that was fine. My host brother isn’t feeling well, so he was home from academy and we just stayed together. We studied and watched TV and then we took a walk to look at houses in our area (we live in an apartment, so he was showing me other housing). This week, the exchange students start Taekwondo class, so I’ll let you know how that goes. But, I’m seriously tired now, so if you’ll excuse me, I might just go to sleep. Take care, everyone~

Update re: Nothing in Particular

Hello, everybody~

It's been a few days, so I'm writing this post, even though there's nothing specific I intend to talk about.

School is going well. It's still tiring and classes are becoming boring. But it's fun, anyway because of between-class time and friends.

This week the exchange students start Korean and Taekwondo classes. I am very excited for that, even though it means leaving school early. I am so ready to learn Korean more quickly. It's frustrating not being able to start or maintain a conversation, or know the vocabulary to comment on something. My problem is that I really enjoy learning grammar (that's probably a problem in more ways than one), but I never know which vocabulary words to learn. So, even if I know how to conjugate the verbs and create the structure of a sentence, my limited vocabulary only takes me so far. Hopefully Korean class will help. Also, I'm interested to try Taekwondo. As we have established, sports are not my strong point. However, I've never tried anything even close to martial art, so I'll keep you posted on that.

Today we ate a lot of "Western" food. 엄마 (host mom) and I went to Lotte Department Store for lunch and ate at a super cute Italian restaurant. It had a garden-y style: pink and green colors and chandeliers and fencing and "pavilions" and flowers and it was just so lovely. Charlotte and Olivia, if you are reading this, you would have adored the place! I really, really wanted to take a picture, but there were a ton of people there, so it seemed that it would be weird to do so. Restaurants and cafes here are often extremely well-decorated and creative. Like the cafes in dramas - they actually do look like that. We had two different kinds of spaghetti. So yummy. So familiar. For dinner our family went to Pizza Hut. They have those here. I have never even gone to Pizza Hut in America, though, so this was a totally new experience. In my French class this past school year, our teacher showed us photos of pizza from around the world (can't quite remember how that topic came up in class) and she pointed out Korean pizza to me, suggesting that I try it, as it seemed interesting. Indeed, interesting it is. There were options such as "bbq chicken pizza," "bulgogi (Korean beef recipe) pizza," pizza with "cheese bites" as the crust, pizza drizzled with creamy dressings, etc. Ah, here we go:  Google in Korean images of "pizza"(피자 - almost same pronunciation as "pizza"). Suddenly American pizza seems somewhat healthy. Hehe. Also worth noting, I used a fork twice today! They almost don't exist here, it seems. So, that means that in the past three weeks, I've used a fork exactly three times (the other time being in my first few days here when I tried to eat super slippery noodles with chopsticks at a Chinese restaurant and it just wasn't working, so my host father asked a waitress to give me a fork).
Well, that's a lot about food. Somehow I've been very hungry this weekend, even though I've mostly just been studying - Hooray for correspondence English class.

And now I'm tired. Sorry this wasn't more intriguing. Well, goodnight, good morning, good afternoon, whatever it is in your part of the world!

Korean High School!! ♥

Last Monday was my first day of Korean school! It was the beginning of the second semester (school starts in February here, I think). I am in first grade high school, which is the equivalent of 10th grade in the US. Since I'd be a senior in high school in the US, it's backwards sequentially, but academically, maybe not so much. 

School starts at 8AM. Sort of. That's when we have to be there. But we end up spending 30, 45 minutes socializing before the teacher comes in. Then we have class. I copy notes from the girl next to me and spend the time not understanding 95% of what the teacher says. It's very tiring, actually, not understanding. But school is interesting in so many other ways that I can't say I'm entirely bored yet. 

Korean education is not like American education. You probably guessed that. High school (and middle school) students study very diligently and stay at school until 9PM or so. They might go to academies after that and sleep at 1 or  2AM. (By the way, I don't do that. I'd expire). That's what it seems that most people think about when considering Korean school. So...

...Because of that preconception, the culture of the school is really, really surprising. It's not at all bad, just not what I had expected. It's very comfortable. One of my friends said, "Our houses are not our homes. [School] is our home." When you spend 13 hours each day at school, mostly in the same room, that feeling is likely very valid. And it shows. Girls (our school is separated by girls and boys, so our class is all girls) use the classroom essentially as a bedroom. They bring pillows, blankets, makeup kits, cell phone chargers, and flat irons to school. During class, 25-30% of the students are texting, applying makeup, or sleeping. And between classes is when it gets really interesting. For example, twice I've seen girls giving and receiving hair cuts in the classroom. Maybe trim is a better word, but you get the point. 

In school, we wear school uniforms (교복). Almost every middle and high school in Korea has a uniform. Since they are distinct by school, I won't put a picture of mine here. We also wear slippers in school. Not really slippers, but like this: 

....but mine are pink.

We have many classes, as well. For example, we have 4 different science teachers (who each teach a different type of science). However, there are only seven periods each day, so we study each subject 1-4 times per week. So far, the classes that I've understood the most are music, biology (yep, I'm shocked, too), social studies, and English class (Hehe... But it's mostly in Korean, anyway). 

Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, we haven't had a lot of homework yet. In fact my only homework so far has been memorizing math vocabulary and equations and getting a paper signed for class assignments next year. Hopefully I didn't just jinx the good fortune by mentioning it here. Anyway, there may be more homework later because the exchange students will start Korean language class soon. But these days I get home after 5PM and by the time we have dinner and clean up, I'm quite ready to sleep (I don't know Korean very well yet, so just being immersed all day is exhausting) . So, minimal homework is a blessing for now (By the way, I'm guessing that the reason for the lack of school homework is simply that students study really hard on their own, anyway. It seems that the other kids are doing self study after I leave school. That's why they stay there until 9PM). 

I really enjoy school. It's good to be with kids my age (well, sort of, they're 2 years younger, but it doesn't make too much of a difference) and to make friends and speak Korean. My classmates are very nice to me and they don't seem to get annoyed with my cluelessness of Korean or of their school. They share their notes, teach me their language, and hold my hand to show me around the school. And when I can't understand something, many of them speak English to some extent and can try to translate for me. The teachers are also super welcoming and supportive and tolerant of me, which is good, because I'd be lost otherwise. Lately, my math teacher has been giving me basic translations of her lessons so that I can follow along. So, basically what I want to say is that I'm happy and thoroughly enjoying school! 

Baseball!

Well, I don't know if I've ever used baseball and an exclamation point at the same time before. On Sunday evening, the some Rotary students and host parents went to the Busan Lotte Giants baseball game. It was very busy and fun - it would have been more fun if I hadn't been so tired, probably. Anyhow, I'll just post some photos and a very short video. I couldn't get any with me and the other exchange students onto my computer, though.

My host mom and me at the baseball game

People started to hand out orange plastic bags which we blew up
like balloons and tied around our ears. 

Already an Adventure

Hi! How are you?

Today is day 10 in Korea!

I just got home from school (like 8 hours earlier than the other kids do... and we'd already been there for 6.5 hours). Anyhow, I think you are all wondering what has been going on in Busan.  So, I'll fill you in.

There are three people in my host family:  My host mom (엄마, Uhmma), host dad (아빠, Appa), and host brother (whom I call 오빠(Oppa), because he is older than me - 오빠 means 'older brother').

So, here's a bit of what I've done so far:

• Went to PNU (Busan (Pusan) National University) twice- once with 엄마 and I walked around while she met a professor. I also went with 아빠 for the same reason.  It's really nice there and the view of the city is beautiful.

One view from PNU - aren't the mountains spectacular?

• Rode the bus. There's an experience. Some buses here are tame. Other buses (like the first one I rode) just speed down narrow streets and don't allow much time for entrance and exit. In 엄마's words, "roller coaster."
• Rode the metro. The metro here is so easy to use, clean, and mostly quiet, even when it's crowded. For both the bus and the metro, you can use something called a 교통카드 (Gyotong (Transportation) Card), or T-money. It's a phone charm (or you can get a plastic card) with a chip on the inside. You pay money to your account and scan it to enter the metro platform or bus. My 교통카드 is in the shape of an angel wing (see photo below). Do we have these in America?
• Rode a taxi. Convenient and cheap. As in, we rode for 5 or more minutes for less than $2. That seems cheap to me, but I've only been in a taxi once in America...in NYC...so my point of view might be a bit skewed. 
• Ate out. It's usually fairly cheap with delicious food and fast service. We've eaten at restaurants very often.  It seems to be Korean culture. 
• Watched 아빠 play golf. Virtual golf. In the upstairs of a building with a car elevator. So high tech. That's called city golf. There are actual golf courses here, but Busan is a big city, so they're probably not too close to our home.
• Went shopping. In Lotte Department store. In Mega Mart. In a little shopping district. In a market (시장). 
• 엄마 and I went to Lotte and Mega Mart because I need to buy a backpack for school. Mega Mart is really interesting. It's kind of like Target or Walmart in that you can buy food, home goods, clothes, etc. But they have name brand clothes and bags, which are really expensive (For example, Abercrombie t-shirts for $60). And if you go to the edge of the store, there are little boutiques. We didn't buy my backpack there because the cheapest one was almost $100. As a student, I don't feel like spending that. This evening I plan to get a backpack elsewhere. 
• Small stores here are very plentiful. Even though they have places like Mega Mart, there are soooo many little stores. And it seems that you can buy extremely cute things very cheaply. 엄마 wanted us to get matching cell phone charms, so, we went to a store that had an entire floor dedicated to such accessories. Phone charms and cases, hair accessories, etc. Oh, my goodness...I should have taken a photo. Sparkle, shiny, shimmer!!! But, we didn't find any charms that we liked and of which there were two (to match) at that store, so instead 엄마 picked matching monkey charms at the metro station. Cute, right?



My Korean phone with T-Money and
the charm that matches 엄마's charm

• Closer to our apartment, there is a small market (in Korean: 시장). 엄마 buys produce there. It's simply a street with vendors on either side. Some people sell fish, or clothes, or different kinds of food. 
• Went to Rotary meetings. All of the inbound students in Busan came (exchange students from other countries - like me), as well as outbounds (Korean students who are about to leave on exchange) and rebounds (Korean students who have come back from exchange). That was really fun. We traded name cards and pins. The pins go on our Rotary blazers and we collect lots of them during exchange. (Google Images: Rotary Blazer). It was just really great to meet the other students. Yesterday (instead of going to school), all of the Rotary kids in Busan met to take care of formalities of immigrating to Korea. Then we ate ice cream and it was very enjoyable.  
• Spent a day with 아빠 (host dad). We went walking/jogging in the morning in a park near our apartment. At lunch he sent me to the store to buy 비빔면 (bi-bim-myun, ramen noodles with a slightly spicy sauce). Ok, so it was a little convenience store about 50 meters from our apartment building, but I felt accomplished, nonetheless, having completed the transaction in Korean. In the afternoon we went to the mountain (아빠 and I) so that he could meet his friends. We also played basketball and table tennis there and walked across the safety net for a zip line and walked on a short 3-rope course. It was fun. 아빠 said that I am better at basketball than table tennis. And I'm terrible at basketball. So, maybe I should stick with jogging and walking rope courses for now. 

Play yard of the boarding middle school we visited in the mountain.
 The ropes course is somewhere in the trees. The view was....wow.
The whole place is spectacular. 

• Went to a baseball (야구) game with 엄마 and some other Rotary kids. We watched the Lotte Giants from Busan and the Nexen Heroes from Seoul. It was fun and loud and busy. I'll make a different post for that after posting this. 
• WENT TO SCHOOL!!!! I love school ♥ Again, this should be the topic of a different post, though, because this post is already quite lengthy. 

There's a glimpse of what life has been like here. It's beautiful and exciting and enriching. It's frustrating at times, but I knew to except that. I never could have anticipated the experiences I've already had and the people I've met. It's an adventure!

Take care, everyone~

Hi from Busan!

Hello, everybody :)

I'm in Busan! My flight out of Incheon ended up being delayed 25 minutes, but other than that, everything went perfectly for travel. 

We got to my host family's apartment around 10:20 (Korea time) last night. I unpacked my things and we ate Korean bread (빵) and iced tea together. My room is very lovely. I've never had so much glorious shelf space in all my life! And the wallpaper is a little bit sparkly! And the window has a fabulous view of the city and mountain! And...it's just so good ^^

My host family is wonderful. We don't always understand each other's words, but the resulting 'Konglish' (Korean + English) can be fun. They seem be be very interested in learning bits and pieces of English and I've already learned a few new Korean words (선반 = shelf!). 

The weather here is noteworthy, too. It's really hot. And really humid. And really cloudy. The fan that my family provided has saved me. Korea has a myth about 'fan death' that suggests that sleeping with a fan on can be deadly. I'm pretty sure it's considered an old wive's tale and is ignored (maybe not?). At least I ignored it...and survived the night very comfortably. 

So, now I'm just relaxing. My host father (아빠) is at work and my brother  (오빠) is at academy. My host mom (엄마) went out for a bit. Something about meeting her friend every 6 months and housework. Yep, I'm lost, too (Edit: the housekeeper just came. That must be what she meant). Anyway, 엄마 (mom) will come back and I think we'll go out. Hopefully my comprehension skills will improve before I have to understand something truly important. 

My room (it's slightly larger than it looks here)

My desk~

This is my bed :) Yes, it's very comfortable.
This is the Korean way~

한국에 잘 도착했습니다~!!!

I have arrived in Korea!

Despite its duration (14 hours or so), the flight went really well and was comfortable. It really didn't seem quite that long.

Now I'm writing from Incheon Airport, near Seoul, rated the 'Best Airport in the World' since 2005. It's very nice here. As in, I got out of transfer security and the first store I saw was Burberry... and then Charlie Brown Cafe :) I'm in Korea~

There are a few hours until my next flight (to Busan, only a 1-hour flight) this evening. I'll probably walk around a bit to see this place. My students (in America I'm an ESL tutor for Korean students) have told me over and over how great Incheon Airport is. Looks fabulous so far!

So, in about 4.5 hours I'll meet my host family. Our Rotary Chair, and the couple that was originally going to host me are also coming to the airport, which is really nice.

I'm so glad to be in Korea. I was beyond ready to come here. I just cannot believe it's true. Everything is in Korean (and there's so much English...there are so many foreigners...)  Everyone (well, like 90%) is soooo well-dressed. It's quite clean and feels very refreshing. Like a dream~ ~


I promised my brother I'd take photos from the airplane. Really luckily, I got a window seat. So, here are a few that I have from the first flight. The sun was brightly shining the whole way here (until we got below clouds). It was just so beautiful.

  

We flew for miles over totally untouched land like this.

To me, this looks like ice on the sea. Gorgeous.

As we approached Incheon, it was really cloudy,
which made for a stunning view from this angle. 

행복과 슬픔...가슴이 혼동하다.

(Happiness and sadness... my heart is confused)

Today was my last day in my home town until next summer. Tomorrow my family will go the city where the airport is. I'll fly out on Saturday. That hardly feels real. I just finished packing clothes, arranging suitcases, and trying to figure out what to wear in the airport.  There is no way I'll be in Korea in less than 60 hours. Really, I would not be surprised in the least if I woke up and this was all a dream.

Also, goodbyes are the worst. I really dislike having to say goodbye to friends, family, and neighbors. You all are so special to me! Even though I know I'll see everyone next year, so much will have changed by then. And so it's sad. A very, very happy kind of sad - 아주 행복이 있는 슬픔.

Everything Happens for a Reason...

I don't mean for this blog to be too, too religion-centered, but this just fits so well with what I wanted to say, anyway; I couldn't resist. It seems that no matter what you believe, there is a lesson to take away from what our congregation heard in church this morning.

Our pastor talked today about asking God the right questions. "Don't ask 'why,'" she advised, "but 'what now?'" She meant that we should not question God's intentions when He does something unexpected, difficult, or seemingly inexplicable. We should instead wonder what His plan is for us. Rather than asking "why" and implying blame or disappointment, we should ask what God wants us to do next and show trust in God with the new set of circumstances. In other words:

This message was really well timed for me. I'm processing some very unexpected and sudden news these days.

In short, the family that was supposed to host me first is suddenly going through a difficult time and I've switched first host families. Since I'm not in Korea yet, this could not be less disruptive, but it has shaken me a bit, nonetheless. I was admittedly a bit attached to my first host mom (who is still my 엄마!) and with whom I exchanged more than a few emails. We were excited to meet. More than anything I feel so badly for the family that they had to make the decision that they did. However, everything happens for a reason, right? There's no way of knowing yet what God's idea is. I'll find out soon enough.

The new host family seems very kind - they would have to be if they are willing to host an exchange student a week later! I really cannot wait to meet them. I'll have one host brother, who is about a year older than me and I'll live in the same general area of Busan as I would have with the other family. With less than a week until departure, it's all beginning to feel slightly more real.

Also, 감사합니다 (kahm-sa-hahm-ni-da...Thank you!) to everyone who has been so generous in time, words, and gifts as I get ready to go. Your thoughts mean a lot !!

Getting Ready

Even though I'm not in Korea yet, I'll give you an update. There's already a lot to talk about!

First of all, do you have any idea how much shopping this has required? Oh my goodness, it's unbelievable. I originally planned to check one huge suitcase and have a carry-on and a backpack. Right now that one huge suitcase is about a third full with stuff. Not really clothes or shoes, just stuff - host family gifts, Rotary trading pins, school supplies, paperwork, contact lens solution, vitamin C drink mix, a bunch of toiletries, etc, etc, etc. Luckily, my host mom reassured me that their car is big and that most exchange students bring 2 suitcases, so I should "not worry" and "pack to my heart's content." Thanks, 엄마!

My (highly disorganized) pre-packing

My host mom, 엄마 (mom in Korean, pronounced uhm-ma), seems so wonderful. We have regularly exchanged emails since the family sent me their introductory message at the beginning of June and I have printed and saved each one. My host family seems very genuine and interesting - the kind of people who truly experience life. I'm quite ready to meet them. 엄마 even said that she had seen and liked 사랑비 (Love Rain; One of my favorite dramas ever)! 엄마, we're going to get along so well~

                                                              사랑비 ~ Love Rain


There's not much time until I get to be in Korea, meet my host family, go to school (most people aren't so excited about that ... ㅋㅋ), and make some new friends! It's very surreal, actually. I mean, I know that I'm going, but since it's next to impossible to imagine living abroad, reality hasn't quite set in. It's totally exciting to get an email from 엄마, to start packing, and to practice Korean. However, it's not as if I spend all my time thinking or worrying about going to Korea. Strangely, it just feels normal. Like this is what God has planned for me and it's going to be fabulous, so. . .great, let's do it!!

Where? Korea!! South Korea. 부산!

I'm going to Korea this for the 2012-2013 school year as a Rotary exchange student.  The city where I will live, Busan (부산), in the southeast of South Korea, is by the beach and is home to the world's largest department store (!!!) and fifth busiest port.

Home, as of August 2012!

신세계 백화점 (Shinsegae Department Store)

Busan during fireworks festival :)

Why Korea?

South Korea may be a little country (smaller than PA), but it is a country rich in culture, history, and innovation. I've been interested in Korea more or less since I was nine. To have the opportunity to live in a foreign country, especially Korea, is an immense blessing!

The Korean hanbok (한복, traditional clothing) is one of Korea's most beautiful traditions.
Koreans wore hanbok daily for centuries, and now it is worn for special occasions. A few people (especially elders) wear hanbok as everyday clothing. I'm lucky enough to have been given one of my own :)

한복 (hanbok)

Korean tradition is also quite evident in its cuisine. Korean food uses a lot of meat, vegetables, and seasonings. Many people have heard of the 'staple' Korean food, kimchi (김치, fermented cabbage). I will probably eat that with almost every meal.  Since Busan is a coastal city (with Korea's largest fish market), I am looking forward to trying some incredibly fresh seafood!

김치....yum!

자갈치 Fish Market

Korea is the home of some very common brands in our everyday lives in America. Do you recognize these companies? They're from Korea!

Internationally, Korea is becoming increasingly well-known for its popular culture, namely dramas and "K-Pop" music. It's surprising how many people around the world know about K-Pop or have seen a Korean drama. For those of us who are learning Korean, they're an invaluable resource. For many who find them, they actually become the reason to learn Korean. The extreme K-Pop fan base, though, is like no other. Search "kpop" in Google Images and you'll see what I mean. If you want to learn more about this particular topic, please see the corresponding websites listed on the "Links" page or wait for future posts... it's pretty inevitable that I'll write about this at some point. 

So that's a bit about Korea for you! I hope you will visit here again soon and I promise to do my best to keep you all posted on what happens! I know that this upcoming year is going to be very exciting, so hopefully that will show through in what I post here. Please feel free to leave comments and follow the blog by email! See you :) 안녕!!