Everybody is racist. I am seriously.
That’s persecution lady
(I was talking about the future) –> It won’t happen, the world will end. Have you heard of Greenland? It will melt.
*About the above: Grace is always talking about how the world will end soon because of the Arctic melting. It’s quite funny.
(asking Josh)
Oh you know, I call my husband an Arab.
So I just bought my flight ticket home about 30 minutes ago. I will be arriving in ATL about 9:30 pm on the 19th of December. It’s so crazy that I will be in the states… home… in a little over 3 weeks. It is so incredibly crazy to me how time flies by. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I got here, and then other times I feel it’s been forever. I’m really excited about coming home, but sometimes I get really sad thinking about leaving the students/kids. I see them at least 5 days a week, sometimes everyday of the week – I’ll miss them terribly, especially since I’ve grown so close to them. I will be coming back to Korea earlier than I thought. I negotiated a deal – very business like, right? – and I am coming to work half of winter camp. Instead of me staying until February 9th, I will be leaving January 15th to come back. I know, I know – why? Well, it was a great deal for me, and they really need teachers. But, I’ll still be home for a little under 4 weeks 
Update on learning Korean – I know….
I don’t know if I mentioned, but me and Rachel got to thinking that we’re young adult women… why do we get off work, change into our pj’s and sit there – we’re city women now. We need to go out! So… we do “Women Wednesdays” where we go out to eat – lol. I know – adventurous lol In our defense, it’s only the weekdays. We go out and have fun on the weekends. Anyway, we haven’t been in a while because of different school obligations and now we kind of changed it to Thursday because it works better aroung my night class schedule. We can’t think of any good T(Th) words. Well, Rach thought of some… but it was a bit out of hand haha. Tonight we’re going to a new restaurant that we discovered a couple weekends ago called Krazy Burger so hopefully it will be really good!
FYI: Sometimes there is a 20 degree difference between Cleveland and Gwangju. I’m already dressing for winter and I’m coming back the coldest part of the year – BRRRRRRRR!!!!!
well… my last blog update was October 27th and it is now November 17th – I’m horrible at this thing. I’ve never done one before, I’ve never kept a journal/diary – sorry folks. I promise I am not going to write a book because I don’t feel like it – way too long and way too much to remember that I probably can’t recall at this point and I’m sure you don’t want to read a forever long blog. I’m sparing both of us Let us recap my life:
Not expecting anything, obviously, but it was fun and interacting with others and not feeling like a total loser felt great.Ok – it’s a little long… I know. But give me some credit, I could have been a lot more detailed and it would be twice as long
Holla
me and Rachel were talking about split ends….. so we took our office supply scissors, went outside and trimmed the ends of our hair. I got bit by a mosquito twice. . . . . .
We think our hair feels better.
Last week me, Rachel, and Josh took a business trip to Seoul for the school. I mean… no big deal. Just going to Seoul for work… one of the top 10 most populated cities in the WORLD. Yeah – I know. Actually, we just went to a school to observe their Meysen program to better help us (more-so Rachel) on teaching Meysen to our elementary aged children. Well, like everything else that has happened, they weren’t even expecting us! We felt really bad because they changed their plans around to accomodate us. They were totally nice about it though and very hospitable, but there shold have been better organization and communication about us coming. We still haven’t figured out yet if it was our school or their school — anyway, I’m learning it’s a KOREAN thing. Unorganized, last minute, lack of communication – good Lordy. Just gotta go with the flow, I suppose. Everything turned out fine and it worked out, but it could have been handled better.
We arrived Thursday afternoon, went straight to the school, observed till dinnertime and then left. Oh my gosh… we found. . . MEXICAN FOOD! It was an On the Border (I had never been before but knew enough to know it was Mexican!). Seriously, they said “hola” when we walked in followed by “aun-yong-ha-sayo” LOL It tasted sooooooo good. They even served chips and salsa as a starter. It felt wonderous and tasted even better. Oh how I miss you tex-mex. . . . . .
After dinner we went exploring and found an area similar to chumpa (in Gwangju) with several shops. I later found out it was actually a major shopping district. It was called Sinchon – I bought a pair of black skinne jeans; it was one of my goals for the weekend. We all stayed in a motel and went back to the school the next day. We only stayed until lunchtime because they had previous plans and we didn’t want to longer inconvenience them… plus we wanted to explore. The subway system was pertty easy to figure out… thanks to my Metro application on my iPod. It was so CONVENIENT to have. We just put in where we are and where to want to go and it tells us which line to get on and off at and any changes, and the direction to catch the subway. It was great. We went shopping in Myeong-dong and Namdaemun (you can look them up). It was so much fun just looking around at clothes, all the people and exploring. I bought a huge hunk of pineapple on a stick – yummy. I have officially decided I LOVE the big city — I enjoy Gwangju and defintely liked Seoul. I like the excitement, all the people, so much to see and do, the lights, the subway, the good-looking and nice dressed men HaHaHa! In all seriousness, I really enjoy living/visiting the big cities. I never thought I could be a big city girl and really didn’t realize how small of towns I came from until I got here. Here’s some stats:
Cleveland: 40,000 Florence: 31,000 Atalanta: ~500,000 Gwangju: 1,400,000 Seoul: 10,000,000 (just in the city!)
CRAZY!!! Anyway, being in this country is seriously making me a shop-a-holic. I love going shopping – so many stores, so many styles, clothes that FIT my body and look good, can be cheaper…. and it’s just fun looking around and getting ideas.
Anyway, that was my first trip to Seoul and definitely intend on going back SOON! There’s seriously so much to do there and I haven’t even begun
So Saturday we had to go to work for “Athlete’s Day.” All the students and staff, and extra workers came out to the school, loaded the trailers and 3 school vans and headed for a park. Luckily the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Little by little, parents started arriving and there was actually a good turnout of adults. It was nice getting to interact with the parents and see the students having fun and getting to see their family. Although it was a lot of fun and had the opportunity to interact and have fun with the students and get to meet some parents, there went my Saturday. We had to be at the school at 8:00 am, so still had to go to bed early, didn’t get to sleep in and no relaxing. It was a full day of events including jump rope, hula-hoop contests, some game that was like volleyball but using only feet (like soccer – we called it voccer), tug-of-war, and other various activites. It really was a lot of fun, but I still missed my relaxing Saturday. The parents all brought lunch. Susan and Monica’s mom asked to eat with them – she’s so super nice. I really like them all. Anyway, lunch was really good and Koreans are such a community based culture. They all shared what they had with each other so we had a wide variety of food ranging from kimbop, to chicken feet, to chicken salad, to shrimp tempura, to rice cakes, and so much more. It was so good I love how they all shared and gave freely. It was a good day and then Pastor Park took us out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. It was actually really fancy and in a super nice hotel. He’s a good man and so kind.
On a side note: It’s Monday morning and I do a listening class with the elementary kids. Seriously, like 2 of the boys are probably on my list of the worst children I’ve ever met and had to deal with. They don’t listen, obey, stay still – they are so defiant. I don’t know how these elementary teachers handle them because just those 40 minutes put me in a bad mood and angry. I could’ve beat those kids… seriously – they were bad (well, those boys). Props to Sophia, Mrs. Jung, and Rachel – MAJOR props.
So… I was sitting at my desk today catching up on e-mail and message responses. As I was writing my niece and responding to her upcoming fall festivities, it all the sudden hit me; I won’t be home for Thanksgiving. Of course, obviously, I knew I wouldn’t be home – duh. But the actual thought really hit me. My eyes became so teary eyed and even as I write this, I am getting teary eyed again. So me and Rachel went outside and shed a few tears… it was nice. I’m glad she’s here. Anyway, Thanksgiving – no, it’s not necessarily my favorite holiday nor do we have any crazy traditions or whatever (of course there’s the cooking, relaxing, more eating, and shopping on Black Friday), but nothing that I just miss so much. It’s the fact that this is my FIRST Thanksgiving away – oh man. Sometimes, though it seems stupid, I hate that life goes on without me. Everyone is fine without me there. Which is great, but then again… I’m not there. They all get together, hang out, go out to eat, whatever and create memories that I’m not a part of that. I want to be there. I want to know what is going on. As depressing as it sounds, it is true and that reality kind of hit me today. Do I regret my decision for coming to South Korea? Of course not, but it has definitely made me realize how important the people I love so dearly really mean to me and how much I really miss them.
I know I will be fine. Thanksgiving is one day out of the year and there are yet many more memories that I can be a part of.
I miss you all. Wish I was there.
Ladies, if you want a good looking guy that dresses nice, Korea is where it is at.And. . . . .
I am fully and definitely intending to come home for winter break!!! Depending on flights (prices), I hope to come in around the 20-21st of December and intend to leave within the 1st of 2nd week of February.
I miss you all SOOOOO much and can’t wait to see everyone.
It is Sunday morning and… well. . . we skipped church. We packed our backpacks, caught a taxi and headed to the bus terminal. We bought 2 tickets for Mokpo, waited in line and hopped on. It was only about a 50 minute drive and not too bad. It was a little crowded though with our bags and all at our feet, but still comfortable.
We arrived in Mokpo and after debating for about 20 minutes which way we needed to take the #1 bus to the ferry terminal, we went back to the bus terminal and got a taxi instead. He didn’t understand terminal, ferry, ship – but with Rachel’s fast thinking skills, she said Heuksando and he knew where to take us. At the ferry terminal we were able to buy a ticket to Heuksando, and they also gave us litle bottles of vitamin water (random). There was a little restaurant/kiosk, so we ordered a kimbop and pointed at this other couple’s soup (ramen) and had lunch. We then bought ice cream and waited for boarding time. We get on the ferry and take our seats. A doctor from Heuksando, the only doctor, sat by us and spoke some English so we talked with him some. He wanted to take us out to dinner that evening once we got in town – we agreed. Well, the beginning of the ride wasn’t too bad, but we made a stop halfway (after 1 hour) and after people got off, the doctor told us to move to the back of the ship because “safer” and then…. the staff passed out barf bags. It was definitely a lot choppier and I am so thankful Rach let me have one of her Dramamine. As motion sick as I get nowadays, it was definitely needed. I listened to my music and closed my eyes and luckily dozed off a bit. Once we got there, Rach told me that it was horrible and people everywhere were puking. Like you could hear them throwing up and as we walked off the ferry, there were seriously people sitting on the ground with buckets – oh gosh. I am so glad I fell asleep because I would have been right there with them puking that kimbop up.
We are in Heuksando – whew! We made it. We found a hotel, thanks to the doctor pointing out some places, and dropped off our bags. Everything was closed so we went exploring. We had no idea where to go, what to do… everything was in Korean. So we just started walking, well, after some purchasing of ice cream (I found pistacchio!) We went one way but it seemed to not go anywhere so we took a side street and followed it through a neighborhood. This is where we met “Lady.” She was a golden brown/auburn cocker spaniel. She was laying there, sleeping, and as we passed her she woke up and led the rest of the way. It was like a movie… I said, Rachel… if we make it to the top of the hill and aorund the corner, there will be a wonderful view. Well, I really thought it would be more streets and houses, but it was actually a really beautiful place! Thanks to Lady, she helped lead the way. It was so majestic with the water and the rocky cliffs/land. We relaxed, took pictures, explored, and talked to Lady. She was, after all, our encouragement. We would stop and in a little while, after running ahead a bit, she would come back and check on us – it was too cute.
Well, we left because we told the doctor we would meet him for dinner at a restaurant. We weighed our odds and since it was out in public and we agreed to not mention where we were staying and only remain in public, we would be safe. Besides, we thought, it’s not like he sought us out, his friend was already sitting there when we sat on the ferry and seat numbers are assigned. Well, the restaurant was closed and he and his friend tried calling other restaurants to see if they were open and they weren’t. They tried to invite us back to their house – don’t worry folks, we’re not stupid. We definitely declined their offer and waited for them to walk away until we talked about what we were going to do. We knew to play it safe and though it sucks not being able to trust and see the good in people, can’t be naive. Well, we went back to the little market and bought: cereal, milk, potato chips, cheese, crackers, and Fanta orange – this was dinner We went back to the hotel and laid our spread out. It was dark and everything was closed so we didn’t feel bad about sitting there watching TV in the hotel – and they had American channels in English. It was very pleasant
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day – perfect – and packed up our stuff. It was time to hike. The hotel shuttled us to the beginning of a trail close by and off we went. It was all up hill! A little tough, but very relaxing and refreshing. We made it to the top and found this beautiful view of the city/port. It was well worth the hike all the way up. Well, then we headed back to town, found a map and decided to try and explore more of the island and find a nice beach. Well, according to the map, it looked about an hour away so we agreed it’d be worth it. We had to be back in town by 4:00 pm for the last ferry off the island. We could NOT miss it! We started walking, SOOOOO many hills… it was, the least to say, very difficult. We had our backpacks and a bottle of water… and we walked… and walked… and walked. We were totally discourged because we were tired, hot, getting sore, and had no idea how far away it was. We were probably walking on the street going up and down, mainly up, for about 2 hours, which isn’t bad, but considering we had already hiked that morning and it was all uphill, we were exhausted! Besides, we had just spend the past 3 days walking around different towns. Well, we found this little area with houses and a gazebo type thing, but just a flat floor, no benches and we laid and rested. Seriously, the only thing that kept me going is the thoguht that this would soon be over and when we got back to Gwangju bus terminal, I would sink my teeth into some delicious cheesesticks from Lotteria! Mmmmmmmmm. . . . Anyway, we couldn’t go farther, there was a huge hill ahead of us and another behind. Rach tried to get a taxi or at least call for another but they wouldn’t – I think they were tour taxis. Luckily, this one taxi we saw we waved down and he waved at us. After brushing everything off, we had to head back or we would miss our ferry. We walked about 20 minutes and the taxi man came back!!!! Thank God! Seriously, it would have taken us forever. After riding in the van, we probably walked at least 3 miles… UPHILL! I couldn’t believe how long we walked, especially having rode back. After the taxi, we were then able to laugh about it lol. We bought our ticket back to Mokpo, waited and headed for home. Suprisingly, we both agreed that we felt a little homesick… for Gwangju. I guess that’s a good sign.
Well, we made it back to Gwangju, safe and sound. While we were there, it occurred to us, if ANYTHING bad were to happen to us, nobody would know. No one knew our itinerary, only the cities we were going, but that’s not to say if we would have changed our minds and went to another island. No cell phone. Nothing – but we played it safe and took precautions For not knowing any Korean whatsoever, we did quite well Well, we made it.
Friday was our free day – hallelujah! Never before, even as a student, have I so looked forward to weekends/free days. These are the types of things other adults/older people forget to tell you – the reasons why adults like to come home, not think, and go to bed early and relax – literally folks, you get so tired and braindead. Adult work is hard :/
Anyway, Friday we decided to go downtown and explore… and well, to SHOP. (I love shopping!) Seriously, we left around 1:00 or 2:00 pm and didn’t get back till around 7:00/8:00 pm. It was like Walk-a-thon part 2! But it was fun and I wasn’t told I had to go walking (orders – boo!) We really got a good idea of the Chum-pa (Choom pah) area which is basically the shopping district of downtown. It is so much fun and exciting. There are tons of stores/shops: shoes, accessories, resturants, bakeries, clothing, cell phones, street vendors, bags/purses, sports, and then just a huge variety of those. There are, of course,the really expensive stores (they would be considered expensive in the US), but then there are the stores (usually the ones with Korean names) that are SOOOO much cheaper. I bought shirts for $5-10 and they weren’t even considered on sale. We really explored the entire shopping district and we didn’t even go into every store and even other streeets that had more stores. It’s so huge – I love the city life! More fun and convenient to explore and shop than having to drive 30 minutes away to a large mall, or having to drive from store to store to go shopping – downtown… all within walking distance of each other. I also love people watching – they dress so nice here, but that’s for another blogging time Oh yeah, we also ventured out and found the art district with more “traditional” Korean artifacts and clothing. We are such explorers in the big city.
On Saturday we joined Pastor Park and his family (wife, David, and So-e *Soy* and Ted came along) and went to his in-laws family. It was about a 2 hour drive southwest of Gwangju. We went and met his wife’s family and sat in their living room for about 15 minutes. They served us this sweet rice soup that Josh compared to rice pudding – I didn’t care for it too much, and they served fruit. We each had to bow to the father – it was funny. Everyone would chuckle when each of us bowed. Grandpa really liked Rachel – he kept talking about her face and how she looked Korean/Asian — guess I have bad eye sight, I just don’t see it – lol. We then left with the pastor, grandpa, David, So-e (Soy?), Ted, me, Rach, and Josh to visit Wando for touring and. . . .bum bum bum. . . .SUSHI! We first went to this beach that was so beautiful and peaceful. It definitely made me and Rach excited for our future excursion to the coast. We stayed there for a bit and took photos ofthe scenery and each other. We hopped back in the car to head for lunch.
We get there at a fish market and hop on out of the van. We then proceed to go into this seafood market. You walk in and there is a small walk path in the middle and to the left and right are these large shallow buckets with water and tons of different kinds of sea life – OH MY GOSH!!! It was crazy folks. Like, my mind was blown away. It’s always the food that gives me the biggest culture shock. Well, the pastor then goes on to choose two LIVE fish. We leave, go into a restuarant and wait. They bring out the side dishes (kimchi, soy sauce, wasabi, lettuce/green leaf wraps, etc), and in about 15 minutes 2 large dishes with fish meat and 2 small dishes with the fish’s organs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .uhhhhhhhhh. Yeah – tell me about it. I was so nervous – like extremely nervous. This was my first time with hard core sushi (bye bye California rolls). So, I make my little sushi wrap, put it in my mouth and chew (it took me about 5 minutes to build up the courage) –> it took me another 3 minutes to convince myself to not throw up while chewing. The taste wasn’t bad at all. I couldn’t taste the fish and it didn’t have any sign of being fishy. It was the texture that got me… bad, and the fact the organs were on the plate right next to my dish. Ewwwwwww! I ate it though, at least some of it, and acted like I was full. They then bring out this soup in a large metal pan – it’s like fish stew, with the actual fish. You see this huge spine, ribs, and when you look closer – - yep, you’re not seeing things, a fish head looking up to you. I felt like he told me “Why me?” Maybe this wouldn’t have been so bad if I just hadn’t seen these creature alive before I ate them. But, I lived I’d eat it again, at least it didn’t taste bad, right?
We then finish lunch, get back in the van and drive just up the road to this long pathway. It was ALL uphill with an incline walk-way and stairs. The view was beautiful though and definitely worth it. Besides, if grandpa can do it, so can I. In all honestly, it really wasn’t that bad and it was the perfect weather for a walk. We took pictures on the way up and at the top was Wando (name of town) Tower. He bought us tickets to go up and we walked around the top (circle) and saw the 360 degree view of the town, the mountains, the sea, the harbor, etc. Again… photos… soon.
I am not quite sure if that is normal for holiday or if he just wanted us to not feel left out or just give us a little site-seeing. Either way it was a lot of fun and nice to spend time with the pastor and his family. He really is such a good man with such a good heart. AND he wears his collar popped and looks cool doing it. Perfect.
HAPPY CHUSEOK
