Korea- our home for another year

Hi all!

As most of you know by now, Nathan and I are staying in Korea for a second year.  As a matter of fact, August 16th marked our one year anniversary of living here and we are already over a week into our new contract.

We went back and forth on our decision for a while, but ultimately decided staying here for an additional year was the best thing for us.  It is a very bittersweet time for us as we miss our friends, family, and (let’s be honest) our dog more than ever.  However, we have a good thing here.  Living here gives us a lot of great opportunities to reach some of our life goals (saving, traveling, experiencing the world in new ways, studying a new language, etc).

Now that we have a year under our belt and most of our lesson plans already made, I’m hoping to budget my time well and be really productive over the next year.  As part of that, I hope to blog more often (I know I’ve made that promise in the past so if you don’t believe me than I can’t blame you).  

Check our blog again over the next few days as I hope to post about our amazing vacation!

Rachel 

 

Jindo Sea-parting Festival

Once a year in Jindo in the Jeollanam-do Province, the seas mysteriously part and visitors can walk through the sea from the mainland to a nearby island. This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width. Visitors can enjoy walking along the sea road, gathering abalone and various other fun activities. The spectacular sight of the waves parting is widely known and many people travel to Korea from all over the world just to witness this amazing event.

In my last blog post, I wrote that we were heading to Jindo for the weekend to attend this festival.  However, poor Nathan got pretty sick on Friday (mainly because of the reeeally long and curvy bus ride he has on Fridays… we’ll have to blog about that another time) so he wasn’t able to go.  I stayed and took care of him Friday, but then hopped on a bus early Saturday morning and headed to Jindo to meet up with some friends (our close ones that we often refer to as “the family”).  Four hours and two very curvy bus rides later , I arrived in Jindo and hopped on Sam & Kaylie’s scooter to meet up with everyone.

Once we were all together, we bought some galoshes (that can be seen in the pictures above) and headed to the festival.  We got to see a performance with singing and dancing as well as traditional outfits.  We then headed over and got to see some reeeeally adorable Jindo puppies.  Jindo dogs are special dogs that originated on the island.  They are really cute and, apparently, very loyal.   We then wandered down to the beach area to test out our galoshes (hence the pictures).  There were tons of adjumas (old women) everywhere gathering seaweed and digging for other sea creatures.  They were intense! After all that it was time for the sea to actually part.  To avoid the crowd  (there were A LOT of people),  we climbed over rocks and sludged through the sea mud.  We made it just in time to be in front and begin the walk on the “road” that slowly appeared as the sea parted.  It was really neat.  There were drummers that led the crowd and there were lots of star fish, crabs, and other sea creatures along the way.  It really did create quite a long and wide road.  A fake Moses even attended!   It was definitely worth the trip to see.

After the festival, we got some delicious Korean barbecue and went for some drinks.  While out for drinks we ran into some people from our orientation and others we know which was a lot of fun.  It was also kind of strange to see so many foreigners at the festival and to hear so much English.  It’s amazing how accustomed you get to tuning out people’s conversations when it’s in a language you can’t understand.  My mind was on overload hearing so many different English conversations.

Sunday morning we woke up and Sam fixed us some delicious “hoddeok”…  Korean pancakes filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and sometimes nuts.  After eating and visiting, we gathered our stuff to head back to the bus terminal, but quickly discovered we were locked in Sam & Kaylie’s apartment.   I’m convinced they have the sturdiest door in all of Korea… for real.  Despite everyone’s best efforts, in the end it took some phone calls and a maintenance man (maybe he was locksmith, not sure) using a crow bar and screwdriver to break the lock off and give us our freedom.  I’m not sure what the guy was expecting when he opened the door, but I’m SURE it wasn’t 7 foreigners applauding him (hahaha).  Although I didn’t make it home at the time I was expecting, it made for a good laugh.  Major thanks to Sam & Kaylie for being such great hosts!  It was a really fun weekend.

Other than that, there’s no real news here except that SPRING IS FINAAALLY HERE!  The trees are blooming, the grass is green, and everyone is out and about.  It’s wonderful!  Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy it because it’ll soon be really HOT.  Apparently spring only last a couple of weeks here.  YIKES!  I’m really dreading that.  Spring is my favorite and I just wish it would last forever.  The good news is that we’ve been spending plenty of time outside lately and fully taking advantage of the weather.  I take a little walk after lunch everyday and it’s soooo nice!

I’ll try to post some pics on facebook sometime in the next few days because it has been WAY too long since I’ve done that and I know you are all anxiously waiting (haha).   As always, we love and miss you all!

Rachel

P.S.  This past weekend we traveled to Boseong to run a race and had a great time. I’ll make Nathan blog about it soon!

One of Nathan’s coworkers 효진 (Hyo Jin) invited us to dinner with he and his wife this past Tuesday night.   Hyo Jin was nice enough to give us a ride the restaurant and I was so surprised when a teacher from my school walked in with her 2 young children… the one who sits RIGHT across from me in the teachers’ office.   Her name is 선영 (Sun Young) and she just happens to be Hyo Jin’s wife.

We chatted over a delicious dinner…. grilled duck, duck soup, side of duck gizzards, etc.  It was really yummy with some really good side dishes.  The men sterotypically enjoyed lots of beer and soju, while Sun Young and I enjoyed maesil-cha (매실 차 – plum tea).  I had tasted it before but never knew the name.   I really like it and now I can actually ask for it, YAY!   Their children were running around the entire restaurant playing.  It didn’t seem to phase anyone, and it was actually quite refreshing to see.

After dinner, they insisted on paying for our meal and then invited us back to their apartment for some citron tea and fresh fruit.  We felt so badly we didn’t have a gift for them or anything, but agreed to go anyways.  I’m so glad that we did!  It was so neat to actually be in  a Korean’s home.  It seems strange to think this is the first time we’ve hung out with Koreans IN their home.  I am thankful for the experience.  It was neat to see their decorations and how they use their space so well.  Apartment living here doesn’t have to be shabby!  It was refreshing to see how it really is a home.

It was such a lovely time.  I got to learn a lot about Sun Young and her 2 adorable young children (ages 1 and 3).  The children were quite frightened of us with our blond(ish) hair and blue eyes at first but they eventually warmed up to us.  They were so sweet and kept repeating the most random English words they thought sounded funny.  It was neat to practice a little Korean with them.  The great thing about practicing with young kids is that they won’t laugh when you mess up!  I loved getting to know Sun Young better.  Before this we didn’t know much about each other since I don’t speak much Korean and she doesn’t speak much English, but we have always shared smiles .  She really has much better English than she says she does (but that is true for almost ALL Koreans).  She is SO sweet and we’ve been having a short language exchange after lunch ever since.  Yay for new Korean friends!

The most interesting part, though, was learning about Hyo Jin and his family background.  I’m not sure how the conversation started (maybe it was the soju, haha), but suddenly he was telling us the most interesting stories.   The short version goes something like this:

His father was a North Korean soilder who was captured and held as a POW in South Korea long before Hyo Jin was born.  When the war was over, he was given the choice to return home or stay in South Korea.  He chose to stay in South Korea, but struggled without a woman to take care of him (his words exactly, haha).  After many years, he met a woman who had recently escaped North Korea.  They married and had children, Hyo Jin being one of them.  They dealt with many hardships and constantly felt guilty for leaving their relatives still living in North Korea.

It was such an interesting and sad story and I felt honored that Hyo Jin shared it with us.  A few months ago I read “Nothing to Envy” (by Barabara Demick).  It’s a very interesting book about North Korea.   I definitely recommend it.  It’s entertaining yet informative.  It certainly made me take a much larger interest in the situation there.  Reading about it was one thing, but to hear it straight from a Korean’s mouth was another.  I’m not sure I have the right word to describe it.

Well I hope I didn’t ramble too much.  It’s time for me to finish my lesson planning for next week and to get home and pack for Jindo.  We’re heading to visit friends and go to the Sea-Parting Festival this weekend.  It’s also called “The Moses Miracle”.  The sea will part and we’ll get to walk through to a neighboring island.  It should be a fun time.  I’ll make Nathan blog about it next week!

Until next time,

Rachel

P.S.  Two side notes:

1) I’m not sure if many of you know, but Nathan was hired by the office of education here to work at a gifted school on Monday nights.  He teaches Science IN English and LOVES it!!!!  I’ll have to have him write a blog about it sometime.  It’s the highlight of his week!  His coteacher there is the one who invited us to dinner.

2) Nathan and I can both (finally) read Hanguel, aka Korean writing.  Nathan is much better than I am, but I’m getting there!

It’s been WAY too long.

First of all, a very special birthday shout out to my wonderful father, Stuart.  It’s his 60th today and I really wish I was there to celebrate with  him.  I love you so incredibly much Dad… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Second of all, a big CONGRATULATIONS to my amazing friend Krista on the birth of her adorable little son!!! I still can’t believe it.  I am so proud of her and so excited to be an aunt to such an adorable little baby 🙂

Okay… now down to business.  Well folks, as you’ve noticed, I’ve been a total slacker when it has come to keeping up this blog.  I’m pretty ashamed that our last post was over 3 months ago… like REALLY ashamed.  I could feed you a lot of excuses but I won’t.  I’ve spent a lot of time in the past week reflecting on our time here so far.  During that time I decided that this blog is something that I certainly want to be more dedicated to… for so many reasons.  I love blogging because it helps me to process our challenges as well as the good/funny times.  I want to be able to look back and be glad we documented our experiences.  Even more important than that, is that this blog helps me to feel like I’m more connected to our friends and family back home (which I have REALLY been missing lately, by the way).  I mean, all you  guys read this blog and anxiously wait for the next post, right?  I want to commit to writing at least one blog a week. That is going to my goal.  You can certainly hold me accountable!

I’m not feeling very well today which is maybe what made me FINALLY take the time to write this, because I don’t have the energy for much else.  Anyways, I’ll keep it short but I do want to share a little story about my evening because it’s just a little too ridiculous not to share.

So it’s about 9:00 pm here and I’m laying in bed resting when someone starts continuously ringing the doorbell.  I force myself out of bed, and open the door.  It’s a Korean woman in her mid-forties (I think) that I don’t recognize.  She immediately pushes past me and barges into our apartment looking around.  I’m so baffled I can’t even speak.  She then turns to me and proceeds to yell at me and motion that I’m stomping on the floor and I need to be quiet.  I then realize that she must be our new neighbor that lives below us.  I kindly try to explain that I was in bed so it was not me making the noise.  She continues on her rant and when she realizes I don’t speak Korean, gets really angry.  I then receive a lovely tongue lashing which involved words like “foreigner”, “speak Korean”, etc, etc.  I told her sorry (in Korean mind you) and asked her to leave (in  English).  She then stormed upstairs to yell at our landlord about me.  I’m still a little baffled to be honest.

The point is, I’m having one of those really frustrating days where I just want to pack up everything and move out of this stupid mold invested apartment (I’ll save that topic for another entry).  Days like today just make me crave the familiarness of family and friends and a LANGUAGE that I can understand at all times.  In a positive light though, I am more and more thankful everyday for the little things in the states that I always took for granted… in this case, communication.

That’s all I got for now, but I’ll update again soon.  Miss and love you all more than you can imagine.

Thanks for reading!

Rachel

K-pop

Let me introduce you to K-pop folks!  I’m actually pretty amazed that Nathan and I have gone this long without blogging about K-pop.  I’d say it’s one of the more entertaining facets of day-to-day life here in South Korea.   You hear it on the radio, you see it all over the tv, you hear about it in the halls between classes, and our students are absolutely obsessed.   I’m getting ahead of myself though.

For those of you who have never heard the term (which I assume is most of you, since I never had before living here), Wikipedia classifies K-pop as “a musical genre consisting of electropop, hip hop, pop, rock, and R&B music originating in South Korea.”

Now I know it’s kind of cheating to quote Wikipedia twice in one blog, but they do a great job of explaining just how huge K-pop is.

South Korea is today one of the largest producers of contemporary music in Asia-Pacific. Their popular culture is today serving as a major driver of contemporary culture all across the Pacific Rim, with special reference to mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. The K-pop genre is currently moving towards a position in the region, similar to that enjoyed by American music in Europe and the West, up until the 1990’s. …

Now, there are SO many things I could say about K-pop.  Mostly, I just wish I could share all the ridiculous songs and music videos with you.  I’m not going to lie, it grows on you and sometimes I even find myself wanting to listen to it (although I’m not sure I should be admitting that).  Don’t ask me how, but K-pop is ridiculous AND amazing all at the same time.

Things about K-pop that make me laugh:

1. The bands are HUGE… not even kidding, there’s like 20 people in each group.  Just google and see for yourself.
2. The songs usually involve Konglish… which sometimes makes for some interesting lyrics.
3. The music videos.  Like most things Korean,  the music videos are overly dramatic and ridiculous.
4. The group names.  I’m not making these up:  2am, 2pm, Drunken Tiger, 2NE1, Shinee, Loveholic, Swing Girls, T-ara, Beast, Big Mama, Crying Nut
5. The nicknames the singers somehow end up with.  To name a few “G-dragon” and “Mr. Simple”

I couldn’t resist including the video above.  It’s a bit different from most K-pop, but great nonetheless.  I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw K-pop… Christmas style.  Hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

Rachel

 

 

 

A cup of chicken

So much has happened since I last posted on here.  Nathan is doing a much better job blogging than I am, so I hope you’re enjoying his blogs.  He tends to blog more about Korea and the culture and I tend to blog a little bit more about our personal life.  I think it makes for a good mix!

It’s late here so I’m going to keep this short.   I’ll have to write about my birthday and whatnot on another post.  For now I just wanted to share a quick fun experience I had today.

While walking home from school, I saw Nathan on his way to Taekwondo.  Being the wonderful wife that I am, I decided to take the long way home and walk him to the studio.  After leaving Nathan, I walked down a small street I’m not usually on.  Previously, I had noticed some small window vendors selling various foods and snacks here.  What I didn’t realize is that these small “store fronts” are actually mini restaurants.  You can walk and go into a back room with tables and chairs.  Not only that but they are jam-packed with students!

I happened to see a few of my students while walking by and stopped to talk to them.   They all told me this is where they always eat “dinner” before going to their private academies (aka hogwons).  There was copious amounts of ramyeon (the Korean version of ramen), meat on a stick, french fries, unidentified fried vegetables, popcorn, etc.  It definitely doesn’t seem very healthy to me so I was surprised when they told me they eat this kind of food everyday.  Side note: I’m absolutely convinced that 99% of Koreans have the natural skinny gene.  As we talked my students scarfed down their food so they could make it to their hogwons on time.

I spent a good amount of time just sitting with them, talking, and laughing with my students.  Some of them seemed absolutely terrified to see me outside of school while others hung all over me and enjoyed the company.  It made me feel really great.  A few of my students even bought me a “cup of chicken.”  It’s exactly what it sounds like and it was only 1000W (less than $1).  I’m not going to lie, it was pretty delicious, but what isn’t delicious when it’s deep fried and covered in sauce?  It was nice and incredibly refreshing to see these girls outside of the classroom and enjoying their friends.  My students really are sweethearts and I love them!

Write again soon,

Rachel

“A short picnic”

Yesterday my coteacher informed me that the staff at our school would go on a short picnic after school.  Unfortunately, that was all the info I was given.  In general, I tend to get very little details but I’m learning to adjust.  Honestly, I was just impressed that I was told an entire day in advance.

Now, what I didn’t realize was that “a short picnic” really meant an extremely long uphill hike to a temple.  I’m not going to lie, I was not pumped about the hike, especially since ALL my coworkers changed into full hiking gear and hiking boots.  I obviously missed the memo that we would be hiking so I was wearing my dress clothes and some flats.  Not quite the ideal hiking attire… and I have the blisters and sore feet to prove it. The rest of the evening made it well worth it though!

After our visit to the temple (which was GORGEOUS, but I didn’t have my camera for), we stopped to rest at a small restaurant.  It was here that my vice principal made it his mission to help me experience the 3 types of Korean alcohol.  First came the “makkoli” which is Korean rice wine… however my principal just kept insisting it was “Korean whiskey”, haha.  After resting for a while we moved on to a bigger restaurant where we ate dinner.  Here, my vice principal proceeded to serve me multiple soju shots.  (If you’re wondering, soju tastes like sweetened vodka if you ask me).  I know this sounds crazy, but it was actually a compliment that he kept serving me.  I, of course, in return, served him back.

Now I think most of you know I’m not a big drinker, but drinking here is such a strange thing… it’s actually kind of important, especially when being served by your boss and all your coworkers.  Thankfully I had a nice big meal to enjoy while attempting to maintain a sober state.  I suppose it was inevitable that the beer came out after dinner.  As my vice principal served me he made me stand up and then proceeded to interview me on my opinions of Korean alcohol… while the entire staff stared at me.  It was pretty embarrassing, but I know it was all in good fun.

After dinner I thought I was being given a ride home, but to my surprise my coteacher and I joined some fellow teachers for some major noribong-ing (if that’s a word).  I know a while back Nathan wrote a blog about  “noribongs”  (aka singing rooms), however, tonight I got to experience noribong like never before… with Koreans!  Most of these teachers are the 3rd grade teachers that I share an office with… so they don’t speak English.  No English?  No problem!  We basically took turns between Korean and English songs.  (Side note: I was pretty sad to discover they didn’t know ANY English songs… they didn’t even know who Elvis Presley are The Beatles were.  How is that even possible?!?).

Anyhow, it was an absolute blast.  They were so into it and jumping around dancing, singing their hearts out… and they cheered and cheered when I sang (which is probably the only situation in which people will EVER cheer for my singing).  See the video below if you want a glimpse of what it was like!

It’s amazing how different things are outside the school setting.  These people that are usually so serious and too tied up with work to really talk to me are actually incredibly funny, kind, and entertaining.  I really enjoyed seeing that part of them.  It was so fun!  I’m not sure how, but I know we broke some sort of cultural barrier tonight… in a good way.

In short, I’m thankful for today.  I’m thankful for the reminder of what an adventure living here can be.  I’m thankful that everyday is different, and that sometimes ordinary days can turn into amazingly fun days.  Ohhh Korea, where a “short picnic” can turn into a grand noribong adventure!

Until next time,

Rachel

P.S. If you’re interested, check out the noribong video here .

Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival

There is so much I want to blog about today!   Today is Korea’s National Foundation Day so we have a day off from school.  It’s SO nice to have a day to chill out, do laundry, blog, etc.   School has been keeping us pretty busy and we’ve spent a lot of time venturing out on the weekends and hanging out with new friends.  Suncheon is feeling more and more like our home.

Since I can’t blog about everything that I want to, I’ll stick with our adventure this past weekend.  We went to our first Korean festival (the first of hopefully many). To give you the short history behind it: the Jinju Lantern Festival is held each year to commemorate the 70,000 militia corps and government troops who died defending Jinju from the Japanese forces during the Imjin War (in the 1590s).

We heard the festival was worth checking out so we got together with “the family” early Saturday morning and ventured over to Jinju.    It was only an hour and 1/2 away and only $6 in bus fare (not bad).  We arrived Saturday around lunch time and our group of 10 began searching for a place to stay.  After being turned away multiple times, we finally managed to find a $40/night Love Motel (we’ll save Love Motels for another post).  It wasn’t the best place but it was decent enough.  It was also in walking distance of everything so  I’d say we were pretty lucky.  We then ventured out for food and to watch bull fighting (which was fairly anticlimactic).  After that we headed over to the actual festival.  There’s not enough words to describe how beautiful the festival was!  There was music, fireworks, games, plentiful food, A LOT of Koreans, and tons of incredible lanterns.  All the festivities were held on and around the river which made it all the more pretty.

My favorite part was making our “wish” lantern filled with wishes for our family and friends back home (see pictures above).  We made it, lit a candle in the middle and then set it afloat on the river.   It made me seriously miss everyone.  Please know that I think of you often and that we made lots of thoughtful wishes for you!

Sunday we made our way back to the river to check out more lanterns/floats and then explored the fortress.  Korea really does have a rich history and so many things to see.  I can’t wait for more adventures like these!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with great friends. Pictures can’t do the weekend any justice, but I tried to capture some of the sights.  I also posted other pictures from the past month or so.  Check them out on facebook if you’re interested.  Looking forward to the next blog where I tell you more about our jobs here.

Much love,

Rachel

A side dish that merits a blog entry…

There is A LOT to say about Korean food.   I’ll keep it simple and say that for the most part Korean food has been pretty good.   I mean, don’t get me wrong, kimchi was really gross at first, but you kind of grow to love it.  All in all, Korean food is just much different than I imagined.  You just kind of have to go with the flow and eat what’s given to you.  Like all things, it’s hit or miss.  That being said: today was DEFINITELY a big fat miss!

As usual, I’m going through the lunch line loading up my plate to please all the Korean teachers.  I see what looks like fruit salad and I get pretty dang excited.   I ask one of my fellow English teachers if it’s fruit salad and they reply “Yes, fruit salad with apple.”  I went from being pretty dang excited to super PUMPED.  As I scoop a heaping pile on my tray I believe I see apples in what looks like yogurt with some raisins and bananas as well as some other fruit.   At this point, my mouth is watering.   I was in for a very rude awakening.

What was actually in the “fruit” salad:

• Ridiculous amounts of mayonnaise
• potatoes
• fake crab meat
• apples
• tomatos
• some squishy substance I couldn’t identify
• black beans

I’ve had some interesting food in my day, but nothing quite prepared me for this.  

 

Gross.  

Rachel

One week in Suncheon…

Exactly a week ago at this time we were unpacking and trying to settle into our new apartment for our first night.  In some ways I can’t believe it’s already been a week and in some ways I can’t believe it’s ONLY been a week.

The City and the Apartment:

As far as the city goes, Suncheon is GREAT.  We’ve slowly been exploring and I think we’re going to love it here.  We are in the old part of town, but there is still plenty to do and see.  We can’t wait to do more exploring this weekend. Lots of pictures to come soon!  As for the apartment… it took me a few days to warm up to our new place, because (honestly) it just felt really small.  I kept reminding myself that we were very spoiled in our spacious 4 bedroom house in Boone with Courtney and Josh. After a few days, I decided I absolutely love our apartment.  It is really nice as far as apartments go and I think for the 2 of us it’s JUST the right size.  Now we’re just slowly trying to decorate and make it “home”. I’ll post pictures soon, but by now I’m sure you’ve seen Nathan’s video (if not, watch it below).

School:

If I had to choose one word to describe school so far it would be: overwhelming.  I’ll have to blog in more detail about this later.  For now, I’ll just say that it’s been quite a week.  I was teaching classes 1^st thing Monday morning, and I have learned SO much about teaching English already.  The students (all girls mind you) are absolutely precious and I love them already!  It’s been so fun to show them pictures of my family and friends and introduce myself.  My week has been full of “compliments” such as “You have a nice nose and big eyes” and “You have a very small face.”  And to all my family: you are the prettiest and handsomest people they’ve ever seen (haha). My week has also been full of invasive questions such as: “Do you have a baby?  Why not?  When will you have one?  When was your first kiss?  Where is your apartment?  What is your phone #? How did your face get so small?”  On the note of school: my co-teacher is the sweetest lady.  I think it’s taken her a few days to warm up to me.  She misses the teacher that just left, and understandably so, because she was wonderful.  Although she’s sometimes hard to read, I can already tell that she’s looking out for me around the school.  I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know her and the other teachers better.

Homesickness:

On a slightly sad note, yes I am homesick.  This was definitely not something I anticipated.  I knew moving here would be a big adjustment, but I definitely didn’t imagine experiencing homesickness, especially this early.  I mean I knew I would miss my family, friends, and Wilson but I didn’t realize how quickly I would.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it here, and Nathan has been so wonderful, understanding, and supportive.  I’m so lucky we’re in this adventure together!  I think a lot of the homesickness is just a result of  how sick I’ve been lately.  I’ve had a terrible cold and I’ve just felt pretty miserable.  Maybe it just makes me long for the familiar comforts.  I also think there’s also just something about being in an incredibly unfamiliar place and not understanding ANYTHING.  We live on the other side of town from all our foreigner friends and we never see any other white people.  Not that that’s a bad thing…it’s just different.  I was naïve to think that we’d be able to “wing it” and get by.  We are trying really hard to learn some Korean… and fast!  Right now I think I just need time to adjust and learn the area.  I’m taking it one day at a time.  I’m sharing this in hopes it will make me feel better… and so you feel free to email me and/or skype me (wink).

Korean Kindness:

On a happy note… I’ve heard it said countless times that Korean people are kind.  I am quickly learning this to be the truth.  They have a sincere compassion about them.  They are always trying to help… even if they just keep repeating the same thing over and over in Korean.  Today at lunch one of the teachers taught me how to pick out fish bones with just my chopsticks (a whole different topic).  And just tonight we experienced the sweetest taxi driver.  He even gave us his name and number for the future.  AND tonight at dinner, the Korean couple beside us (total strangers) showed us how to properly eat the different dishes we were served.  They even offered us some of their own food so we could try different dishes!  I really think I’m going to fall more in love with this country the longer I live here.  For now I’m so thankful for their genuine kindness!

I’m exhausted so that’s all for now.  Thanks for reading.

Love and miss you all,

Rachel