CBT and Getting in the Classroom!!

It has been a whole month since we arrived in Namibia.  Thus far, I could say I am adjusting pretty well. I lived with a host family for almost three weeks in Okahandja, which was really nice. Our family ranged from five to eight people on any given day as family members moved in and out of our house. Permanent members are my host mom and dad and my host brother. A week ago we moved, however, to our CBT. The way that our group 42 is undergoing CBT (Community Based Training) is slightly different from the way they have done it in the past. Now, we all move to a new site based on our language groups and undergo language as well as technical training. Seven of us moved to Outjo last weekend to begin this training. Ideally, we live with a family that speaks our language, Khoekhoegowab (KKG) or Damara-Nama. There have been some complications for me on this front as my KKG speaking family members have either been out of town the whole time (in the case of my host parents) or are around 10 years old and will not talk to me in English or KKG. The two people in the house who do speak to me do not speak KKG. One is my host sister, who speaks English, Otjiherero, and Afrikaans, the other is her two year old son who only speaks Otijiherero! My parents returned yesterday and a few other members of the family came over. We had a total of ten people in our house and it was a bit overwhelming!

Since coming to Outjo, we have also finally started working in a school. Our group was divided into two groups, four at the primary school, three at the secondary school. One member of the primary school group ended up deciding to ET (Early Termination) Sunday night, so only three of us started school on Monday. Though those teaching at the secondary school have been having a tough time, the three of us at the primary school are living it up. We get along well with our colleagues, who seem to like us. The student adore us and we have a lot of fun interacting with them. Our school is amazingly well organized, which is something I’m learning is quite special. For most of the week we have been observing classrooms at our schools. This has resulted in some amazing learning experiences, some positive, some negative. A few of the teachers are just amazing teachers. It’s been a real treat to watch their classes. Some of them are less interested in their students, and some seem to downright hate them. I sat through a class where the teacher did nothing but scream at the students, calling them stupid and all sorts of things. I was a horrible moment in my week. The next day we switched sides and we went to observe classes at the secondary school. It was very unwelcoming and there were multiple classrooms where teachers hadn’t shown up all week. I ended up in one of those classrooms and sort of filled in as the teacher. I had a good time with the students and got almost everyone to participate in one way or another.

The next day, we were back at primary school, except we weren’t. I got to school at my usual time only to have the principal pull me aside and ask if the three of us would attend a conference for novice teachers. I said it sounded like something we would benefit from since only one member of our group was an experienced teacher. I told the others about it when they arrived and we quickly came to realize that she meant for us to LEAD the workshop, not merely attend. In an hour we threw together a presentation and some activities on how to asses and incorporate different learning styles and ways of expression into our lessons as well as implement word walls to create a classroom environment that encourages reading across subjects. The teacher member of our group was amazing in organizing everything, but me and the other non-teacher helped out quite a bit and at the end of the day, everyone in the workshop was feeling inspired and like they learned something (including us!). Though ridiculously stressful, I felt so accomplished and inspired by the end. The teachers that attended were from rural areas and talked about some of the challenges but also rewards of teaching. Their concern for their students was powerful. It made me so eager to start teaching!

Now, let me tell you a bit about how my day goes here. I wake up at 4:40AM most mornings and get ready for work. At 6:00AM I begin my 2km walk to school in the dark. The moon and stars have been beautiful walking companions. I get to school around 6:40, just in time to greet people and be ready for the staff meeting at 6:50. School starts at 7:00 and ends at 12:00. We have an hour break for lunch, though we usually combine that with debrief, and then language lessons for an hour. Some days we get out by 2:00PM, others it’s closer to 4:00PM. Then I walk 2km back to town. I usually spend some time with the other volunteers after work and then head home around 5:00/6:00. Dinner is at 7:00 or 8:00. Sometimes I cook, sometimes I just help, others I do nothing. I usually try to get in bed around 9:00, but some nights I just have too much to do to make that a reality. Then I get up and do it all again! This week I’m going to push to get home earlier some nights so I can spend more time with my family.

Oh! I forgot one of the most exciting parts of my week! There are two Japanese volunteers in my town. One of them even teaches at my school. We had coffee earlier this week and will go again next week. It was such a relief to be able to speak Japanese again!! They also gave me the contact details for a Japanese volunteer in the other town where we will finish training.

Let me just say, while this week (or even this month) has been far from easy, I have had so many wonderful experiences. I know I’m not even an official volunteer yet, but I still can’t help but think that joining Peace Corps was the best decision for me. I hope that I can keep up this attitude in the future!

한국 음식

The long awaited food post arrives!

It's been awhile, but I've literally been trying to shove everything I can into these last two weeks. It's a real headache. Last Friday I bought the Yesung edition of SJ's new album. Since then, Gayoung has enjoyed dancing around the house shouting "Amelia loves Yesung" in Korean. It's a bit annoying, but she's seven.... Wednesday I went to Myeongdong with Akira, Alexia, my penpal Dayun, and Akira's penpal Gonwoo. It was super fun! Last night Dongjun and I went out and bought an electronic dictionary for me and then went to Namsan Tower. Namsan has one of the most amazing views ever. Period. Afterwards, we got a little lost and ended up walking all the way down the mountain. Ow. Then today was graduation. Oh my gosh my life is moving so fast.

Anyways. Food.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the idea of "breakfast food" doesn't exist in Asia. As in Japan, in Korea your breakfast is a full meal. I've only eaten lunch in my house a few times because I usually go out with Akira for coffee, or meet my supporters. But a traditional lunch is just as complicated at the breakfast with sidedishes and such. Dinner is even more food. Usually more meat I would say. All meals are eaten with the family together, too. The first week or so, all of this was fine, but recently I just can't eat a full meal in the mornings and I feel aweful when there is food left in my bowl

Another interesting fact about Korean dining: almost all of it can be eaten with chopsticks or a spoon. Koreans use spoons a LOT. I was really surprised. Also, Korean chopsticks are flat. It took me forever to adapt and I still can hardly pick up noodles.

As far as the contents of the meal, in my house we have three staple sidedishes that come with every meal: kimchi, sweet black beans, and these tiny little fish that are possibly candied with nuts and the most amazing things I have ever eaten. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I can't eat them anymore. Probably cry. A lot.

There is always rice served, of course. I also think it's more common to serve soup, but we don't usually have it. When you eat the soup, its also very common to put the rice IN the soup. Also, rice is mostly eaten with a spoon, not chopsticks.

Main courses vary. There is always meat. Korea actually eats a lot of meat. A lot. There is always a lot. Not as much seafood as I thought there would be though. But I guess that's okay. I don't think there is a meat Koreans won't eat. Dog is apparently very common as well, but my host mom loves dogs, so we never eat it. We usually have beef, but chicken and pork come along sometimes too. Food is usually mixed. ie. Bibimbap, which is a multitude of veggies and meat mixed with rice, hot sauce, and egg. There is also something we usually eat that is like rice mixed with minced veggies/meat. Bulgogi is common. It's beef thats been shredded and cooked with some delicious sauce. . . so good. Then there is kimbap, which is veggies and rice rapped up in seaweed. It's like sushi, but without the seafood! It's super good! That's what I ate for dinner tonight actually.

Another thing I must talk about, of course, is kimchi. I had eaten kimchi in America, but dear god, its just not the same. Kimchi here is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. All of us NSLI-Y kids talk about how our host mom's make the best kimchi ever. And really, my host mom's kimchi is to die for. It's amazing. She's been laughing at me recently and saying "You eat kimchi like a Korean!"


Anyways, it's not as spectacular as I had hoped, but that's a small window into Korean food. Feel free to ask questions!

Comments:

Ellen: *gives cookie* thank you~~~~ the rain sucks >< It's raining again. And Spudgy didn't come T.T We met up in a coffee shop, so pets were a little difficult....

Kealey: thank you~~ I feel like the London Underground would be a thousand times scarier than being lost in Seoul. It's super safe here, which is nice.

Shelbi: they were kimchi cookies :P I can't wait to see you Monday~

I have to start packing now (FML) so I better wrap this up! See some of you state side in two days T.T

Quick Post~!

Saturday, was recovery day. Highlight: Watching Korean TV, namely Mnet Countdown and Music Core (I missed B1A4 and Block B though T.T). It was even funnier when Gayoung would point to the preformers and call them "ajuma" and "ajeossi" which literaly translates to aunt and uncle, but the terms are used to name older people you judge to be about the age of your parents (or consider too old to call "eonni/nuna" and "eoppa/hyeong" which is literally brother and sister. This is only used to address people older than you but still look young enough to be a sibling). I take one look at these people and tell Gayoung that I'm about the same age. I'm not an ajuma!! T.T We also watch some other popular shows, like "We Got Married" which I was surprised to find Gayoung liked...?

Yesterday I woke up with lots of energy. So much engergy, I at a whole three bites of rice soup. Yesssss! Actually, I was feeling pretty good, just not really hungry. So, since I was super bored of being cooped up in the house the day before, I asked if we could go for a walk in Hangang Park. Because I love the Hangang. And Saturday was my first day not seeing it since I've been living here T.T
Instead of going to Hangang Park, we went to Seonyudo Park!!! Yaaaay! Seonyudo Park is an island in the middle of the Hangang and you take a little bridge over. It is really really beautiful! Seonyudo Park is a perfect example of why I really love Seoul. It's so green. Every where: green green green green MOUNTAIN. (No mountains in Seonyudo park though. . .)
When we got home, Jaehak had come back from Busan and had made spaghetti. I ate almost a whole bowl! We then all sat down to watch a movie together, which was really fun! Jaehak is a Korean business man which means he's almsot never at home, so this was one of the few times we've done something together!
After that, I went to meet up with my new friend Dongjun, who is not only going to Mac next year, but majoring in Linguistics as well. Yes, we get along great!
We walked around Gangnam and had sushi for dinner (I also had tonkatsu and was amazingly hungry enough that I ate a lot). I bought a cute headband, dragged him to sticker pictures, and answered questions about America. We also went into this huge bookstore and I bought Le Petit Prince in Korean. I can't wait to start reading it!

And, since I have lots of free time during the week, we met up again this morning and went to Jongno-go, where the Gyeongbokgun (Gyeongbok Palace) is. In Japan, there are temples, in Korea, there are palaces. If you go to Korea ever, I think it's a must to see some of them. I'm still totally in awe of ondol heating. There are a lot of really beautiful pictures, but they are taking forever to upload so I'm not going to post them here!
Before we went to the Palace, we saw the giant statues of Admiral Yi and King Sejong the Great. Admiral Yi is infamous for being one of the greatest naval comanders in miltary history. He once led a fleet of 13 ships against the Japanese forces who out numbered him by more than 25 to 1, and won.
King Sejong the Great is also very famous in Korea for helping creat the written alphabet. During the second year of his reign, it bothered him that so many people could read or write because of the difficulty of Chinese characters, so he formed an institute to create a uniquely Korean alphabet. The shapes of the characters are apparently based on the shape your mough, tongue, and teeth make when saying them.

And this post took me way too long to write. I'm going to go study now, because recently I've been very bothered by how little Korean I know.

What's Up With Me, and a Few Pros and Cons to Living In Korea (Pt. 1)

After my last post, Aunt Lee and I went up to Insadong. Insadong is pretty much a tourist district, with lots of expensive, handmade Korean goods! Many traditional looking trinkets are for sale at prices that make you shiver and are sold at every street vendor for the next mile or so! For the most part, Aunt Lee told me to wait to buy something because we are going to Dongdaemun this weekend~! YES. Cheap shopping is my best friend, and there is a lot of it in Korea!
Aside from shopping, Insadong also has an art gallery that we went through, displaying many traditional arts that are still practiced by people today (see the pictures). A lot of the artisans working that day were really friendly (from the Korean I could gather) and the kind ajuma making horse hair hats even insisted for a photo with me! The hat I'm wearing? Yup. That's horse hair!

The ajuma in the picture is wearing a traditional korean outfit called a hanbok. I really really want to wear one sometime, so if I do, I'll definitely upload some better pictures!!
Another really interesting fact about Insadong is that all the shop names are required to be in Korean. There are subtitles for most things to help out foreigners, but where in other parts of Seoul you will see shops like Tous Les Jours and Tom n Tom's Coffee, you won't in Insadong. English (and other languages as far as I know) aren't allowed. For instance, this is a picture of the Starbucks there, which is (supposedly) the only Starbucks in the world where the sign is not written in English!

While we were there, we met up with Aunt Lee's brother and his family. Together, we ate patbingsu which is a little like shaved ice, but with a little more oomph (still working on food post. A better description will be there!). After that, we went to this really cool roofless shopping mall, where instead of having steps up to each floor, the whole building is a continuous spiral. At the top is a cafe and an outdoor eating area. I think I've mentioned this before, but one of my favourite things about Seoul is that there are huge, forested mountains right next to the city. In Insadong, the buildings go up and up and suddenly BAM! there's a mountain! I love it!


Monday before school, Akira and I met up for coffee and Tom n Tom's, which is pretty much a Starbucks knockoff. It's good though, and they have this bread that's cheap and it's a pretty decent place to study. Both of our families are gone in the mornings, so we get pretty bored after awhile and usually meet about an hour before classes start.
After classes, Akira, Emma and I went out for patbingsu because Emma hadn't had it before (I don't know that Akira had either actually. . .). It was delicious, as all Korean food is, and we had a good time talking about various aspects of Korea.
Emma lives about an hour and a half from Sogang, so she had to leave when we finished. Akira's family wouldn't be home until around 10 that night, so she and I went to Paris Baguette after that. I ended up buying a small cake for my host family and she got a sandwich. The bags are really cute and say "Mon Amie, Mon Amour, Mon Paris Baguette." Yes, I'm keeping it.
On the subway home, we stopped by a magazine stand and I found the recent issue of W Korea, which has pictures of Super Junior in it from when they were in Paris. Don't worry, I bought it! I really like the photography in general of Korean magazines, so I was really happy to get this ^.^

When I got home, Gayoung greeted me at the door (which is rare) and gave me a hug. This girl is adorable, I tell you! Anyways, I managed to hid the cake from her, before I took my shower, slid it onto the table. Not five minutes later, Gayoung came into the kitchen and went "Cake!?" Mission: success.

Later that night, I decided to take a few pictures from my apartment landing.

What a view!
Aunt Lee said there was an even better view at Mapo bridge, so we hopped on our bikes and took the Hangang trail to Mapo! Seoul at night is so beautiful!

Tuesday we met with our supporters and studied. It was interesting. After class, I went home and we went to a restaurant that served Korean style soup. The waitress was one of Aunt Lee's friends who was in Gapyeong.Her daughter, who is my age, also came along so I got to make a Korean friend~! Gayoung was being silly and Aunt Lee would tell me how to scold her in Korean, which made everyone laugh. The food was really good and I really want to go back sometime!!

Wednesday. . . here is were things start to get complicated! On Wednesday I was planning to post (actually, I had written most of what is before this Wednesday morning!) but then, while randomly surfing on facebook, I noticed on the the RD's (Gooseul) for the program posted a picture of everyone doing Taekwondo. I was suddenly very very confused because I had no clue it was so soon. Well, it turns out the other RD had been sending out emails and text messages about it all (none of which I got), and it really was today. Naturally, I got very upset, very quickly. I'm not usually one to cry, but ever since I heard we would being doing Taekwondo in Korea, I'd been looking forward to it.
I checked my email again multiple times, and then went through all the documents we had been given since coming here. Sure enough, in the handbook it was printed that we were doing Taekwondo today. Sadly, I still had absolutely no clue where to go. At about 10:30, Gooseul called me and asked if I was coming. I managed to tell her that I had no clue it was today and didn't know how to get there. She told me to hail a cab and then call her again. So I quickly through everything together for class and dashed out the door. I learned how to hail a cab and after some confusion, I was able to get there!! The cab driver was really nice especially considering I speak very limited Korean. Also, please understand that in Korea, traffic signs are more of a suggestion than a law. Red lights only mean look both ways before crowwing the street. . .He got me there in under 20 minutes and I got to actualy participate. We sparred a little, which was a blast, and then they had us break boards. We wrote down dreams on them and one by one broke them in two. It was really great! I still have my wood in my suitcase!
After that, my friends Sofia and I went to lunch at one of the bakery/coffee shops near Sogang. I bought a sandwich, but only ate about a fourth of it (remember this sandwich!)
When we got to school, Emma and Sofia were moved out of my class so it was just me and a girl named Katrina sitting at our table. During break, I ended up giving Katrina the rest of my sandwich.
That night, my childhood ended. Heres a little surprise. I had thought all along that Harry Potter came out the 14th here. This is a lie, and I must not tell lies. It came out on the 13th, so naturally, I asked my host mom if we could go see it. Turns out, she and Gayoung love Harry Potter, so on the 12th, we reserved tickets.
Quick fact about reserving tickets in Korea. Actually, quick fact about trying to sign up for anything online in Korea: YOU MUST HAVE A KSSN (Korean Social Security Number). In other words, you must be a ressident of Korea. Or you can't sign up. This is uber annoying.
Regardless, on the 13th, I literally ran home from school and barely made it home by 6:00 (our movie is at 6:20). After lots of confusion we made it to the theatre!

Oh my god. If I typed up everything I had to say about this movie, I would make this post so long none of you would read it (if you are still reading this far, I aplaud you!). For the last time, I was sucked into the world of Harry Potter, the world that I've grown up with. Watching the actors on the screen was like seeing old friends after a long time, seeing how much they had grown, seeing what they had become. It was all very moving.
It also gave me a really warm feeling inside. Here I was, sitting in a movie theatre in Korea, half a world away from where I had seen every other movie, and yet, it felt exactly the same. People still gasped, laughed, and cried with every scene. The only difference, really, was that I was the only non-Asian (most likely non-Korean, but I can't be 100% sure) in the theatre, and there were Korean subtitles on the bottom that I couldn't help but read every so often.
After the last scene faded, I realized that was it. There wasn't anything else. it was over. It was time to grow up a little more, and move on, taking with me the happy memories to cherish forever.
Although. . . it bothered me a little bit that there wasn't a "The End." before the credits. . . I really wanted it to say that . . .

So, then came Thursday. Well, I was supposed to go to norae bang with my group, but remember that little sandwich? Yeah. It gave me food poisoning. So I spent the morning miserable in bed waiting to feel well enough that I could go to school. I learned that in Korea, why your stomache hurts, you drink warm water. Aunt Lee would also come in from time to time and massage my stomache and body, which, actually, helped a lot. By the time I had to leave for school, I was feeling well enough to go.
After talking a little before class, I found out Katrina had the same thing the night before. Oh little sandwich. . .
During that class period, a very odd thing happened. Katrina said her foot was hurting a little where she had a blister, and by the time it was 5:30, her ankle had almost double in size. Turns out, a boy in another class had a similar issue with a cut on his hand.
After some thought, and talking it over with various people, we've sort of decided there must be some kind of bacteria that isn't in America that is making people sick/swell (I'm not the only one who's been sick).

Friday morning rolled around and I still wasn't feeling well, so I went back to the doctor. I have four different meds I'm now taking, but they do make me feel a lot better. However, one is really weird. . . It's like toothpaste thats sat in the sun so its gooy... bleh. I would like to add, however, that my two trips to the doctor plus my medicine still haven't reached more than 50 USD and that is without insurance.

Other than having no appitite and being rediculously tired all the time, I'm feeling a lot better now. Hopefully, I'll be up and running again soon so I can do more than sit at home!!

Comments:

Bryan: You beat Mum AND Jillian! Congradualtions!! I have to say, your comment made me laugh. And I haven't found it yet. I've been on about 5 different subway lines but no luck yet. . .

Shelbi: I just go to the local place with my host mom. There is a pharmacy next door.

Mrs. Dossey: Not a problem! I harrassed her about it the other day, so maybe she'll put some up soon!

Mom: I've missed you and JT talking to eachother through comments xDD And Gayoung is adorable! ^.^

Uncle Mike: English is taught here starting in Elementry school. My host sister already knows quite a few words and phrases and studies English for about an hour every day. English and surprisingly French are pretty popular. Though I don't know anyone who speaks French here, it's on lots of clothes and many shops have French names.

Aunt Nancy, Lena, and Grammy: I have so much to say about Korean food that I'm working up a whole post about it (with a little help from my host mom!) I have lists of things I've eaten and I've been tryign to take as many picture as possible!! Breakfast here is pretty much a smaller version of every other meal. We have rice, some type of main dish, and then side dishes. Lots and lots of food!

Mrs. Sharpnack: I'm so happy you are reading!! Studying isn't so bad. Though I haven't memorized every piece of vocab, but I usually start to pick it up after a day or two. The pace of our classes is super fast. We cover a unit every two days.
As for slang. . . yes and no. Korean has three (four?) ways of speaking formal, polite, and plain. Plain is considered super rude to speak to anyone older than you or people you don't know well. So when I speak, I always try to use the polite, but sometimes my host mom corrects me when I talk to Gayoung and asks me to use the plain, which then usually messes me up and I'll speak plain to people older than me. It's really confusing and I usually end up repeating myself a few times to make sure I'm not being rude!

And typing this tl;dr has completely exhausted my energy reserves. Today, Aunt Lee said we would just stay home so I can rest.
Next time, hopefully I won't be suddenly, and randomly busy/sick and I'll update sooner~!

Subways, Hello Kitty, and Gapyeong

Okay, so I haven't posted in almost a week because I was waiting for something really interesting to post about.
My past week has pretty much gone like this:
Get up, eat breakfast with Aunt Lee and Gayoung (Jaehak leaves super early), see Gayoung off to school, then find something to do until 12:40 when I leave for school. I've decided I don't like afternoon school. Not one bit.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays we meet in groups with a Korean supporter who gives us extra tutoring sessions and takes us around Seoul. My group members are Sarah and Peter, our supporter is Seungwoo. Seungwoo is hilarious in a very dorky sort of way. He obviously isn't comfortable with his English, so he tries to make a joke out of it (even though his English really isn't that bad. . . .). On Tuesdays, we meet him at his university to study and on Thursdays, we go somewhere. This Thursday, we went to. . . somewhere (I can tell you the subway stop, but not the town ><) and made traditional Korean paper fans. Then we went to another place where there is a giant market for lunch. I got to see pig heads. . . Sadly, I didn't get any pictures ><

As for school, it's pretty great. Monday we took a placement test, and somehow I managed to end up in intermediate. Tuesday was a complete joke. We pretty much just reviewed hangul, the Korean written alphabet, for 4 hours. Wednesday it picked up a little and Thursday we got our textbooks, and we are actually learning things now~! Yaaaay!!! We also have at least 10 pages of homeowrk a night (record to beat is currently 20 pgs).

Monday, since it was the 4th, Akira and I went out to "celebrate". We went to Tom n Tom's Coffee, one of the thousands of coffee shops in Korea. (Basic layout of a Korean street: coffee shop, make-up shop, cellphone shop, restaurant, coffee shop, clothes shop, cellphone shop, make-up shop, stand selling iphone 4 cases, coffee shop.) We ordered italian sodas and apple cinnamon bread/toast. We were expecting the usual, Starbucks size scone or something. . . holy crap we were wrong! It was huge and we didn't even finish it >< Pictures posted.
After that, we roamed Sincheon and went shopping! We found this super cute clothes store and I bought two dresses and a long shirt for less than 25$. I love it. Otherwise, we didn't find much else. . . .
When I got home, Gayoung, Aunt Lee, and I went for a walk on the Han River. I think I may end up dedicating a whole post on the Han River, because it's so beautiful. I cross is every day on the way to school, and it's my favourite part of the ride. I'll have to take some more pictures. . . Anyways, on our walk, I finally saw fireworks on the 4th for the first time in 3 years. I was pretty darn happy!

Tuesday evening I went to get a new phone because mine liked to shut off when ever it felt like it, and Thursday was my trip to the doctor. I'm happy to say I can pretty much hear again!
Wednesday, Emma, Akira and I went to Ewha where we saw the most offensive shirt we've ever laid eyes upon, Korea hipster, and more cheap clothes. Afterwards, we went to McDonalds, which, I must say, is a must while abroad.

Friday, Akira and I met up for lunch, since we live super close and have nothing to do in the mornings, and then met up after class and went to Hongdae. There was a very particular reason we were going to Hongdae: the Hello Kitty Cafe.
We took the subway to Hongdae and within 10 minutes, got lost (well, we could get back to the subway, just not the cafe). Akira had been there before, but they had gotten lost on the way there as well, and we went in a lot of circles. We asked about 5 different people how to get there and eventually found it. OH MY GOD HELLO KITTY CAFE ALKSJFLAKSDJLAK.
Yeah. That was pretty much my mind then intire time. We ordered caramel macciatos and waffles shaped like the cat herself! It was super yummy ^.^ Then we navigated home and found a much quicker route from teh subway, so we can get there easier next time!

Then, yesterday I went with Gayoung and Aunt Lee to Gapyeong! Gapyeong is up in the moutains and I'm not really sure how far away it was because on the way up we were stuck in traffic and on the way back, Aunt Lee got lost!! But we pretty much went up to this little area where you could rent a super small house and stay for a bit. There was a stream that was so clean you could drink from it, and lots of trees and mountains. It was very lovely!! We ate a late lunch/ early dinner with some of Aunt Lee's friends on an outside, traditional table. I felt like Anthony Bordain, except, I wasn't allowed to drink. Sorry Anthony. There was a TV on a covered platform next to us (there are pictures so you can look for a better description) and they had Music Core on, which was interesting to watch. I picked up a few works here and there and over all had a good time! On the way home, Aunt Lee got lost and we didn't get home umtil after 10:00!!

Now, in this post I've talked a lot about the subways. Why, you may ask? Because they are amazaing. I walk about two blocks to my subway entrance and once I'm on, I can get pretty much anywhere in Seoul. It's absolutely wonderful!! Aunt Lee gave me a little pocket map I can keep in my purse which makes transfers super easy! The only thing I don't like about the subway is the fact that it is a subway. Except for crossing the Han River, it's all underground, so there's no view >< But it's still very convienient!

Now to reply to comments, since JT is so desperate for them! ^.^

Ellen: I'm sorry >< I will have to check with you before I post something about language again!!!

Mom: Come on! Leave more of a comment than that!

Zach: You will love this: my trip to the doctor and my two bottles of antibiotic cost me less than 25$. And that's without insurance! And I'm actually not teaching English (you have to have a degree to teach) but I'm going to a university here to learn Korean. Thank you so much for reading though!!

Emma's Aunt Susan: I'm sorry!! But thank you for reading!!

Jen: Thank you!!

Jt: :p this better??

And so it begins. . . .

Well, after last summer's failed attempt at blogging, I will actually try to keep up this summer. For those who don't know me, or are just a little out of the loop, I'm spending this summer in Seoul, South Korea through the NSLI-Y program. Exciting huh?

I leave on Sunday (the 26th) and don't come back until mid August.

In preparation for my great adventure, I've been studying Korean, riding the hallyu wave, and learning to play Starcraft. . . Yeah, I'm completely unprepared xD

The reason I'm writing today is because I finally have my host family information~! I have a father, and mother, and a little sister who is younger than Michael. Apparently my sister speaks better English than my mother. I'm super excited! No English for me while I'm in Korea~ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Anyways, stay tuned~! I'll definitely write more when I actually have things to talk about xDD

Home Away from Home

So exciting! I am finally with my host family!

So yesterday we woke up at the Keio Plaza Hotel. It was so nice! One of the YFU Japan reps went to Australia for a year and had a funny accent somewhere between Japanese and Australian.

Then we went and met some people from the US Embassy here in Japan. It was interesting... After that we went to the Meiji Shrine and then to Harajuku. Meiji was cool, until we had to clense our mouths and I accidentally drank from the cup. I will never do that again!!! I learned.

I`m to lazy to post pictures, so I am going to put up links:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

In Harajuku, most people gave us weird looks... The Forever21 had a line out front... it was crazy! Then we found and H&M. We went in, but my friend Anna (the only one who would go in with me) was bothered by the weird looks people gave us so we left fast. No we were to nervous to go into the Japanese stores. A lot of weird looks...

The ride back to the hotel was long, and I was so nervous about meeting my family. Only nine of us went home today, and I was lucky to be one of them. I said goodbye to all my friends and waited for my family. There was only o ne man there, and I kept thinking he was my dad, but I wasn`t sure. Then He was introduced to me. We gathered my things and left. My host father speaks a very little bit of English, so we had fun trying to talk to each other.

Mom, I really regret bringing so many bags... the only good thing that came out of dragging them to Shinjuku station and then waiting with them for the hour train ride to Ageo was that I know I got a good work out. Especially when I had to carry them up the stairs! My arms and legs still hurt!

At Shinjuku, we met Ayumi. She is so nice! The three of us borded the train together and went to Omiya where I finally got a watch. No more not knowing what time it is! Yes! lol then we got back on the train and went to Ageo. Yes, I still had my bags.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0102.jpg

When We got to the house I put my bags in Ayumi`s room, which is where I am staying. Ayumi started making dinner when her brother, Nao, came home, followed by her mother. Everyone is soooooooo nice!

We had Japanese hamburgers and miso soup for dinner. Japanese hamburgers are amazing! So much better then American hamburgers!! They have veggies in them and aren`t greasy. Unfortunatly, I wasn`t very hungry. I ended up finnishing mine for breakfast. We slept on futon, which weren:t as comfortable as I thought. I woke up around 5, but Ayumi wasn`t up yet, so I went back to bed. I woke up many times, none of which Ayumi was awake. We finally got up around 10:30, by which time I was VERY hot! And sweaty and gross. I took a shower, which took my forever to figure out, then Ayumi and I went to the super market. I was stared at, but pretty used to it.

When we came back, she showed my her books. She likes manga a lot. Then we made a Strawberry Shortcake for her friends, but since we had no strawberries, it was a Kiwi Shortcake. Goldern kiwi are oishi. Then she helped my with some Japanese.

When ootosan came home, we went to a department store for more food. We bought things for spagetti, and then, the highlight of my life: purikura!!! American would benifit from purikura! It`s like a photobooth, but then you can edit all the pictures with cute little addons. I`ll show you all the pictures when I get home!!

Oh! And Mrs. Emliy, I have a question: I was told when I got here that they dont drink water, only moicha. Do you know where I can drinkm just plain water? I`m dying for some......

for more pictures just take the links and go through my album. JT flickr limits uploads so I:m not using it.

love you all!