Getting to York and the first two days

It’s been a crazy last two days. Three days? I still get my flying time mixed up. I last left off in JFK, where I was miserable being stuck in the arrivals section of the airport. It really wasn’t as bad as I made it out to be, I just don’t like JFK. Finally the time rolled around and I was able to head back to the baggage drop off. It took forever to make it through that line, and then I had to wait in the painfully long security line. I have never in my life had to wait to long, and I’ve been to a lot of airports. It was so crowded that this TSA woman came over and escorted a handful of us over to first class security so we could speed up getting people through. The first class lounge is sweeeeeet. Perfectly air conditioned, nice chairs, clean….. On the other side of security was an actually decent terminal. Apparently it was new. It was actually pretty nice.

My flight to Iceland, I was both amazing and awkward. Firstly, Iceland air is AMAZING. Best airlines I’ve ever flown. The first class seats were all named after Norse gods and the economy seats taught you Icelandic. You got complementary Icelandic spring water when you boarded, the blankets were actually warm and soft, and the pillows had little lullabys on them in English and Icelandic. This is the English:

Bye bye and hushabye

Can you see the swans fly?

Now half asleep in bed I lie

Awake with half an eye

Heyho and welladay

Over the hills and far away

That’s where the little children stray

To find the lambs at play.

I don’t know, I think it’s cute. I was stuck sitting in the middle seat in a row of three for the fiveish hours of the trip. The boys on either side of me were brothers and kept speaking Icelandic over me. Occasionally the one at the window seat would climb onto the seat and then step over me to go to the bathroom. It was weird. I tried to sleep most of the time.

My layover in Iceland was sadly pretty boring…. There not anything in the area of the airport. Outside is just barren land. . . I had a really good chicken tikka masala sandwich though.

Second flight was in better company. A young mother from Minnesota flying to meet her husband and his family in England. The baby was not just cute but also really well behaved!

After landing in England, it took FOREVER to get through customs. It was even more difficult than trying to get back into the US. After that I went to take the Picadilly Line to Kings Cross. Everything was going great. Then I found out the Picadilly Line was closed halfway through. So a guy came on, ushered us off the train and onto some busses. Then we drove through London. Which was actually pretty cool. Then we had to get back on the trains. By the time I made it to Kings Cross I was stressed and tired. I had planned to get my tickets for the 3:00 train as it was 2:20 and that would give me time to find Platform 9 ¾. However, when I bought my ticket the guy gave me one for the 2:30. At that time I had 5 minutes to run for the train. I had no idea where I was supposed to sit and I couldn’t read my ticket. I asked a woman in a station uniform for help and she was just like “look for an open seat.” Great. So the train was starting to make noise and I was running up and down the platform trying to figure out what to do. Finally she just told me to hurry and get on so I just got in the nearest car. Turns out my suitcase was too big to fit down the aisles so I needed to find a spot in one of the two cars on either side of where I got on. I finally did and sat down. Because of the rush, I hadn’t called Ellen. I used the 15 minutes of free wifi on the train to message her everywhere so I wouldn’t get stranded in York. After awhile, I was finally able to calm down again and enjoy my train ride. Across the aisle from me was a friendly Canadian couple who I talked with some.

I got to York in the end and got to see Ellen. We went back and had cottage pie for dinner. Then she gave me a tour of Heslington, which is the village her University is in.

On Monday we walked into York proper. We walked up and down nearly every street, went into the Minster, went to the train station and the museum, walked back to the city center, then to the supermarket, then home. I feel super fit. We got to see all the interesting places in York. The wall that surrounds the city was originally built by the Romans. The Minster ‘s stained glass is so old that all of it needs to be replaced.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant and got fish and chips. The place was packed with a group of German kids on a fieldtrip.

We did so much walking that both of us were terribly sore. Even today.

Today we went to Ripon, which is the town that the Crawley family of Downton Abbey are always visiting. Modern Ripon is, well, modern. And bigger. We got there pretty early and were freezing. While waiting for the bus to Fountains Abbey, a famous ruin, we looked around town. We got coffee from the nicest barista ever and ended up in the cathedral. Unlike the Minster, this one was actually still in use, though it was also a museum. We donated some pounds and walked around. There were a line of bishop statues or something that were in chronological order. It was interesting to see how their names represented the different groups in the area throughout the years.

After that we went to the Abbey ruins. They were beautiful. At first I thought it was just a tower and some other rooms, just like the Minster and other places we visited. Then we walked down the hill and into the valley, walking around what we could see to discover a vast collection of ruins. The ones we had see from the hill were just the most intact. Behind them were the remnants of what would have fit both of the other Cathedrals we had visited. It was really amazing. After having a picnic in sight of the ruins, we hiked the trails around them. Eventually we ended up at a deer park where we saw lots of awesome deer!!

Amazing Weekend

A lot happened this weekend, so I'm going to update a little!

Friday evening, I was privillaged enough to go to Dongdaemun Night Market, which is a sketch, wholesale market where you can only buy more than three items at a time and only if you are in the retail business (or something along those lines). So we went with a friend of Aunt Lee's and had a lot of fun! I bought almost an entirely new wardrobe (sans pants) for less than 40$. One of the dresses I bought had a retail price of 50$ but I managed to get it for 15$. I bought rainboots that usually cost 40$ for 22$. I'm pretty proud!
There was also that fun moment when we ran into a family (this was above ground, not in the market) where two of the boys debated in Korean whether or not their should speak to me in English. Eventually, I went "Hello" and they both jumped, which was hilarious. They then tried to tell me they were from New York.
It was a great night.

On Saterday, I traveled down to Akira's station and we went on an adventure in the boonies to get to Bucheon. I say the boonies, but thats only because it wasn't packed. Though, for that beautiful stretch where the train was above ground, all we saw were trees and nature. It was beautiful. We traveld on two train lines we had never been on before.
Now, why did you go out to Bucheon again? Because that's where the famous vloggers of Eatyourkimchi live. We got to meet Simon and Martina at this cute (and overpriced) little cafe near their old appartment. Akira and I judged that it would take us about an hour and a half to get there, thinking we would get lost at some point. When we transfered onto the dark blue line (line 1) we thought we had gotten on the wrong train, but it ended up just being an express train to the stop we needed. So guess what~!? We got there early! After getting out of the station, we hailed a cab to get to City Hall, the area where the cafe is located. We ended up being at least 15 minutes early, but Simon and Martina were already there, so we struck up a conversation and started asking about Korea.
I learned a lot about what it's like to be a teacher here and got some tips on preparing for it back home. They also told us some funny stories about things that had happened to them since they had been there.
They were super nice and just as funny in person as in their videos. Sadly, I haven't been able to watch any of their recent videos for the past two weeks. . . T.T So you should all go watch them for me! (link in the sidebar~)
So after the meetup was done ( a lot of people showed up!) Akira and I hopped over to a park for lunch. We were eventually joined by Alexia and Marina, both of who were at the meetup, before we left. Martina had given us a shortcut to get home (a bus route) so we all boarded the bus, but since none of us had been on an express bus before, we sorta didn't even know if it was going the right way! I ended up asking the guy sitting next to Akira and he said we were heading towards Hapjeong, which is in Seoul and almost eveyone knows where it is. So we were set. Until I looked up and noticed my appartment complex about 10 minutes from the Hapjeong spot. Since Akira and I both live on line 9 and the line 9 entrence is near my house, we both got off. Alexia, who thought we were getting off at Hapjeong, got off too. We started following the road back, missed a turn, and ended up very very lost. Here is one of the best things about Korea: lost? Go up to some woman and go "ajuma, ______ eodi e isseoyo?" It works every time. Except this time when the people we asked had no idea where we were trying to go. We ended up finding someone who could take us to the nearest subway station and bam! We made it home~

Sunday, it was pleasently raining. But that was all okay because for once Gayoung didn't say "ansaranghaeyo" (I don't love you!) to me! She actually said "Amellia eonni! Saranghaeyo!!" I died inside. Then Aunt Lee decided it would be a good day for me to see the ocean. So I put my new rainboots on and we left for Incheon! Somehow, we ended up on a ferry that took us to an island. We had fun feeding seaguls shrimp chips. We ate at a small little place by a beach and took some pictures. Even in the rain, it was really fun!
After that, we went to the cutest little town called Provence. No clue where it is, but it would be very very far north. All the buildings were painted bright colors and the arcitecture had a very European feel to it. I loved it. We got coffee and shopped around.
Then, as we were driving back, the right side of the highway was suddenly covered with barbed wire and there was a huge river. Aunt Lee pleasently said "Oh, that's North Korea." Gayoung was very upset when I asked her to trade me seats so I could take pictures.
The other side was mostly just mountains and trees. Very rainy, just like the rest of the Korean penninsula. There were a few buildings here and there, but after awhile the river forked and we were staring at Incheon again, not the North. All and all, it was pretty eerie. . .

Comments. . . are looking sparse T.T

Kayla: I miss you too! And we are supposed to get more rain all week T.T I'm so sick of it!!

JT: What are you going to do now that my mom is out of town and you can't race her??

I AM ALIVE

I hate rain.

Both the Han river and the other river by my house are still horribly bloated, but not as bad as they have been. The flooding here is intense. Some of the subways flooded and when it rains. . . just stay inside if you can. Koreans have been saying this is the worst weather in 100 years. Look, I grew up in Kansas, where fierce thuderstorms happen all the time, and I'm still going "wtf!?" Anyways, it's still cloudy today, but it isn't raining now so I'm happy.

Now that that's out of the way, I guess now I'll appologize! I've been really busy the past week!

Last Wednesday, Akira, Emma, Alexia, Emma's host sister, Akira's penpal and I all went to the Everysing noraebang in Apgujong. Why is it so important that I tell you the exact location of this noraebang? Because Kim Heechul filmed his M&D music video there. Our room was in the video and we got to see the room he was in!! ^.^
Celebrity spazzing aside, noraebang was really fun! Emma's host sister spent the first 10 minutes playing Super Junior songs so that Emma and I would get up to sing/dance to them. . . except we didn't know the words xDDDDD
We stayed there for well over an hour (maybe two?) and afterwards went to the store downstairs, which was a mini shrine to all the pop groups under SM Entertainment (except Amber Liu, as Akira and I wish to point out). I bought a Yesung cellphone charm and a clearfile! Alexia and I took sticker pictures where you could make it look like various SME celebrities were with you. I now have sticker pictures with Yesung and Hangeng~!

On Thursday, my support group met up with Akira's and we went ice skating. Interesting fact: Gayoung happens to be taking skating lessons over summer break. So she was there! Akira and I skated around, yelling at my supported, Sungwoo as he skated circles around us and literally pushing us to go faster. Towards the end of our session, Akira and I found him on his butt and it went something this:
"Seungwoo! I thought you were good at skating!"
"No! nonononononononono! I'm good! just-" at this point we were just laughing. Revenge!
That night, I met up with my long-time penpal Sohyun and we went to Super Junior Kiss the Radio(Sukira or KTR) at KBS together. Sukira is a radio show hosted by Super Junior's Eeteuk and Eunhyuk. They usually have guests and that day it just happened to be Jungmo from TRAX (a korean rock group I like) and who helped Heechul with the M&D project ^.^ He played guitar in the studio and I have waaaay too many pictures.

That weekend, we went to Bucheon for a camp. My host family went to Busan because of family issues.
In Bucheon we met up with Korean high school students and went on scavenger hunts around the city. After dinner we had free time and we played Korean games until after 2 in the morning when they finally told us to go to bed!
The the next day we had a talent show, where both NSLI-Y kids and the Korean students preformed. I have lots of videos, but my I had my small memory card in so I didn't get full videos. And now my flashdrive is full so it's way too hard to upload them >< I'll go buy a new flashdrive or something. . .
Sunday night my host family wasn't going to be back until Monday, so I went with Akira's sister to jjimjilbang again and had fun! But I think her sister thinks we are crazy.

Monday my host family came home, so I bought them a cheese cake.

Tuesday, is a very special date for many reasons. I met up with my friend Dayun, the damn rain from hell started, and Yesung's family opened a cafe, so naturally I went! Let me tell you in great detail about htis event so that you can understand why I now hate rain.
Akira, Alexia, Emma and I get off the train and are standing in the exit of the station. It looks bad out, but we figure it'll be okay if we just run into the Tom n Tom's not 100 yards from the exit. We put up our umbrellas and go for it. . . It was like someone took the biggest, deepest bucket they could find and dumped it over Seoul. Even with umbreallas, we were soaked. For awhile we were standing under the awning of Tom n Tom's, then it started too look suspiciously like it was gonna blow off. So we moved inside. Eventually we met up with Dayun and the rain stopped enough that we made it to Handel and Gretel. It was pretty packed and we waited more than 30 minutes for a table. Why is that bad? It's a coffee shop! Who waits for tables at a coffee shop?
But we got one. The coffee was amazing. I ended up buying two plus a sandwich. Apparently not long after we left, Yesung showed up. I missed my chance T.T But it's okay. The coffee is good enough that I'm going to become a frequent customer. There is hope!!

Wednesday we learned Talchum and I learned to hate rain even more. Talchum is traditional mask dancing. It's actually really fun! We got to make masks and learn a little about the culture behind it. The activity was actually fun enough to make it worth the hell we had to go through to get there:
Most of Seoul, by this time, was flooded. It was about a two mile walk from the station to the school where we learned. It was pouring down rain, and the roads were rivers. By the time we arrived, even the girl with the rain coat was drinched. It was disgusting! I felt like a drowned rat!!
That night, Akira and I went out with some Korean friends and learned the words for colors (because this had not been taught in class yet) and also had a good discussion on the differences on Korea and America.

Thursday Akira and I met early to get coffee and a muffin and Handel and Gretel. It was amazing, as usual. I'm getting really good at order coffee in Korean. After class let out, my host mom took the two of us to this huge bookstore and we bought comics to practice reading! We also have gone through our entire textbook, and the teacher said we aren't getting new ones, so I guess I'll go buy the next set from the Sogang book store because my grammar is still pretty limited. I also guess that means I'm past Korean 2 in high school and Korean 1 in college. WOO!

And now, I want to study a little!!! I'll try to get pictures up, but if I can't save them anywhere, it's a little more difficult ><

Sorry to be so late!!

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??