So hard to say goodbye...

Probably the best and worst thing I did in planning my trip to Seoul was stay with three different people who live in three completely different areas of Seoul. What I really mean is that it WAS the best thing I did, but it's just so hard when I have to leave! I move to Hyun Gi's house tomorrow, which will be so fun! Her parents are really into hiking, so I'm hoping to go with them soon! Hyun Gi is one of the sweetest people I know, so it will just be smooth sailing the whole way.

HOWEVER, I think I am a little extra sad because of a few things:

I just finished work.

I really like Ji Young's fam.

I LOVE Ji Young.

I realized that the next time I pack my suitcase it will be to come home.

Wow. It is really just hitting me how much I love being in this city. I can't even imagine spending my summer any other way, and it seems really strange that I will have to go back! But, I still have a considerable amount of time left, so I really shouldn't jump too far ahead of myself...

Today Ji Young and I visited one of several palaces in Seoul, this one being entitled, Deok Su Gung Palace. It was really awesome that in a city of ten million, I could step inside the gates of an ancient palace and watch history unfold before my eyes! One thing that struck me about the palace was it's interior simplicity. While each of the many buildings were very ornately decorated, they were very simple on the inside. Much different from the ornate palaces of European countries.

Next we hit up a huge book store, which is always fun! (Yay, books!)

Lunch was waffles with ice cream (Haagen Daz vanilla and green tea), fruit, and whipped cream. So good!

Later the whole fam went out to the "Mad for Garlic" restaurant. So good! As you might guess, each of the dishes are very garlic-centered. One of our dishes, a spaghetti/tomato sauce dish, was absolutely incredible. Not only was I stoked about TOMATO SAUCE (my first taste since arriving in Seoul!), but it was spicy. Not kind of sort of notice it spicy, but SPICY! At home, when I make pretty much anything I dump a ton of Cayenne pepper into it before eating. The dish I had tonight did not disappoint!

Following dinner, our plan was to ride a ferry down the Han river and then go to the Seoul Tower (think Eiffel Tower) observatory, but it was getting late and we decided to skip the ferry and hit up the tower. By the time we get to the Seoul tower, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Literally every weekend I have been at Ji Young's house it has been really rainy, which is a bummer. By the time we made it to the observatory, it was really really foggy, so foggy we had trouble seeing anything outside our window! Fortunately, the wind picked up enough to allow us a glimpse of lovely Seoul every once in a while.

Ahhh, here ends my time with the Won family. A good three weeks, for sure!

:(

Ashley and I. Kee Hoon, me, and Tae.

The day has come. I am no longer a TA at Elite SAT prep in MokDong, Korea. Today was just really weird. I had to set up the class that I take care of and make sure Tae, one of the other ta's, knew where the copies were etc. Shil Jong Nim kept saying she wanted me to stay, and proposed more and more plans to get me over to mokdong a few times a week. One offer I am actually considering.. She would like me to tutor on Tuesdays/Thursdays for a few hours in late afternoon/early evening. This would mean I would probably miss dinner, but it's only two nights a week, so I'm not sure... Stay tuned!

Also, halfway through the day, around three, Shil Jong Nim came in the room I was working and gave me five chapter books and told me to work on them. FIVE! I was under the impression she wanted me to do ALL of them before I left, along with tutoring a student for an hour and a half. I was in freak out mode, as that would have meant I would have been there until ten! However, later she emphatically told me I could go, and even shed a fake tear in honor of my departure! I honestly didn't really know she liked me that much until yesterday/today! Sad...

It was also really weird saying goodbye to my TA friends... Sad. I really like them! But, I may be seeing more of them soon!

In other news, as one might assume, just by the nature of being a foreigner I have attracted some attention and many excited "hi!"'s in my day, but tonight I had a rather unnerving experience. I didn't get home until about nine, and it was pretty dark out by this time. As I was approaching my apartment complex, this young guy behind me said, "excuse me, excuse me", causing me to turn around and stop. Now, I'm not stupid, and I have listened enough to my parent's lectures to know that this was weird and really inappropriate of the guy, so as he struggled to speak, I didn't indulge him at all by trying to help him.

In extremely broken English, this guy told me that he was a college student learning English. He went on to say (or try to say.. I'm kind of interpreting meaning from his broken sentences..) that he noticed me walking in the mornings and that I was coming out of the apartment next to his. Then, he says he would like to have an AMERICAN FRIEND! At this point I was more than wanting to get out of there, not that I was really scared or anything, but just how inappropriate was this guy? I immediately told him that I was moving tomorrow and then made my departure. What kind of guy approaches a young girl at night and starts talking to her? Well, a few kinds, but this guy was seriously stupid. Wow.

Dad/Mom- don't worry. I seriously don't think he's a creepy stalker. Just a seriously socially unaware individual.

Is this picture random? Yes! But, I just wanted to show the inside of a Korean refrigerator. No cheese. No tomato sauce. No salsa. No yogurt. Straight up veggies, fruit, and KIMCHI!

Misc.

I'm taking the opportunity to have a random blog post tonight. Bear with me!

The weather in Seoul has recently gotten REALLY humid and REALLY hot. Always a bad combo. However, I am used to being able to walk around in the summer in athletic shorts, tank tops, bare feet, and hair in a ponytail. Here, everyone always looks fashionable, or half-way decent at the very least, meaning my wardrobe is vastly different from that at home. Also, I have my newest most awful experience thus far in Seoul. Wednesday morning, I had to take the thirty-five minute long subway ride to Kang-Nam, where I go to school. This particular morning, it was absolutely BOILING and on the subway I was standing next to hot, sweaty, smelly men and was standing the entire time and sweating like none other. The worst possible way to start the morning; hot, sweaty, surrounded by people, and on a subway.

Speaking of school, last week marked the end of my time at Level 1 a and am now at Level 1 b, meaning I have a few new people in my class. Two of these people are two German boys, one about ten and one maybe my age. I think they might be at least part Korean, but I'm not sure. All I know is that the ten year old is absolutely the most annoying child I have ever met in my life. He and his "friend" speak German to each other whenever they want, and "Min" is constantly throwing paper or rubber erasers at "Edgar" (older guy). Today, he hit one of the other students in the head. I sit right next to Min, and he is always just making smart alec remarks and one of these days (maybe tomorrow...) I might smack him on the head. Well, probably not that, but I've definitely shot him some pretty menacing looks over the past few days...

In work news, tomorrow is my last day! I'm actually really sad about it! A funny thing happened today. Shil Jong Nim, my boss (not her name, her title. In Korea you refer to teacher as ,"Teacher", to your boss as "Shil Jong Nim". Title, not name.) asked if she could speak with me. I was kind of freaked out because, although she's really nice to me, I always feel like I'm on the verge of doing something wrong. However, I was surprised when she asked me to continue working! She even went as far as to invite me to live with her, if that was the issue. Multiple times! I actually would like to keep working, and if I was here by myself I definitely would, but I decided that I am in Korea not just for my own benefits, but to allow my friends the chance to show me how they live. Working longer would be selfish, so I can't. I'm kind of bummed, though...

After work tonight, the TA's I work with, Kee-Hoon and Tae, Ji Young, myself, and three girls who attend the hagwan we work at all went out to dinner together. Really tasty! Started out with dumplings (Basically ground sausage and onion wrapped in thin dough. I LOVE this!) followed by noodles in a spicy, almost creamy tasting soup. REALLY GOOD! Then we hit up 노래방, karaoke. Really fun!

Also, yesterday, Ji Young and I met her friend, Hee Ra, and went to a really tall sky scraper (I feel lame, I can't remember the name...!) to go to the top floor and look out on Seoul through the observatory. Unfortunately, that level was under construction, so we had to go to a restaurant a few floors below and look out the windows there. It was seriously the most expensive restaurant I have ever been (not saying much as Taco Bell is my most frequent stop..!). A CHEESE platter cost 45,000 won, or about 45 dollars! We each got a small glass of juice, and the tab came to 31,000 won, or about 30 dollars! Crazy! The view was absolutely gorgeous, though, so no complaints!

머리

Oh, the simple things

Today was Sunday, and I have to say that the highlight for me was definitely going to church! Ji Young's family is Catholic, so I was able to go to my first Catholic Mass in one month. It was honestly really refreshing to be finally back at something that is SEMI-familiar (please remember it was in Korean!) to me. Even though I don't understand the readings and the sermon, it feels good to be close to God in a setting I have experience in!

A few points of interest regarding Korean Catholics-
This I found a little uncomfortable- Almost all the women wear a cloth on their heads, like in pre-Vatican II times. Ji Young doesn't, and when I asked her about it, she says her mom wants her to, but she doesn't because she feels like it's a symbol to put women down, make them not equal to men. I don't know if that is true or not, but I definitely felt a little uncomfortable seeing this traditional practice in use.

Also, no kneeling, but a lot more standing.


Hmmm, today, I also got my haircut. I thought I was just getting a trim, but it's WAY more Asian than that! ㄱㄱㄱㄱ Stay tuned for picture posts in the future.... I think I like it?

For dinner had bulgogi, basically marinated beef cooked on a grill with onions and garlic. SO GOOD! Definitely in my top three of Korean food experiences! I've had this before, but Ajuma just seems to have a way with the beef...!

Sunday. 1:33 am

A few note-worthy things to mention:

On Friday, I was able to leave work early so I could go to a dinner to celebrate Ji Young's Harmonie's (Grandma's) birthday. This was nice! Work had been slow- all I'd really done was correct vocab tests and read a book about Thomas Jefferson, only after which did I realize it was the fourth of July (as you might guess, it's not too big of a holiday here in Korea!). Fun fact: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were BFF's and even died on the same day... July 4th!

Anyway, on the way to the restaurant, Ji Young, Ajuma, and I took the subway and stood next to two Korean girls who were loudly speaking Chinese. They saw Ji Young and I looking at them, and they promptly turned their attention to me. Apparently their mom (who was with them) encourages them to use English and speak with random foreigners, but they ran into a dilemma as they seemed to think I was Russian. Random, but funny!

For Harmonie's dinner we ate at a duck barbecue restaurant, and it was really good! Adoshi told me that duck is a very healthy meat and is eaten usually in accordance with special occasions. I was able to meet a lot of Ji Young's family and use my Korean to win them over (!!). After dinner we went to Ji Young's uncle's house (a real house- a pretty rare occurrence in the Seoul. We were in a more rural part, just outside the city.) and had fruit and talked. Her family was SO kind to me and made me feel so welcome!

Today/Yesterday (Saturday) was really rainy and blah.. Ji Young and I went shopping this afternoon, and walking from the subway station to the shopping malls was probably my least favorite experience thus far. Walking in thick, heavy humidity, rain, through narrow walkways, bumping into person after person, getting umbrella's caught in canopies and inside other umbrellas= NOT COOL!

Tonight we saw a late movie, Wanted. It was really really good! Seriously the most action packed, heart racing, plot twisting movie I have seen in a long time. Dad- if it's still out in the states you should watch it. It's a good movie for you to get out of the humidity with!

Month-versay!

It is my one month anniversary of my arrival in Seoul! Time seriously flies! I can't believe its been a month already.

HUGELY FANTASTIC NEWS!
Okay, so at work today, all the teachers were talking about how they were going to have dinner together at this really good Mexican restaurant.
I have not had guacamole OFF the brain for the past two weeks. I was getting so desperate for Mexican food I can't even express the low levels I stooped to. Then, when I got home, Ji Young told me that she, Adoshi, and I were going to a MEXICAN res truant for dinner! 감삽니다!!
Absolutely fantastically unbelievably amazing! Ohh, a burrito with rice and veggies and guacamole and chips and SALSA! Ohhh, sooooo good!!!!!!


Then, after dinner, Ji Young, Ajuma, and myself watched a really scary movie called "Return". It's about people who undergo anesthesia and are still fully aware of the surgery going on, meaning they can feel but not move. Basically, this movie (Korean but with English subtitles) was about how a boy was subjected to this and then for the rest of his life was EXTREMELY messed up. Really good but really really disturbing. Mom, it made me think of you because of the presentation you gave that you practiced in front of me..!

Now I am going to do a LOT of homework. My teacher decided to give us FIVE pages of homework. This will take me multiple hours. :(

Also, my friend Kate is leaving tomorrow. I didn't get another chance to see her while she's been in Korea, which I am kind of sad about, but I'm sure she has lots of amazing stories to share with everyone back home!