Um, excuse me, waiter...

...there seems to be a chicken in my soup...I'm getting the feeling that dinner is going to become a great topic of interest in these blog posts. For the first month, anyway. Apparently we get a different meal every day, but it's a one-month cycle. So I get to look forward to three more chicken soup meals! The bowls were set up with the chicken sitting on a bed of rice, and as the students came up to get it, the cafeteria ladies poured the broth part over it all. Mmm mmm good.

Anywho, this afternoon's activities consisted of shopping! Shopping at the Korean version of Wal-mart, I guess, known here as HomePlus. When we walked in the door, we encountered a group of giggling Korean girls still in their school uniforms who said "Hi! You're beautiful! I love you!" to me and who also told Jonathan he was nice... Cute kids. Anyway like Emart, HomePlus had several different levels, which you can get to and from by escalator. But since there are carts just like at Wal-mart (except better because the wheels turn every direction so you can actually push the cart completely sideways), the escalators are ramps, which I find highly entertaining.
And I got new shoes! They're really nice (especially nicer than the flip-flops I've been wearing) and I think they'll be really good on these rainy days. Hopefully they'll dry fast, and I'll definitely stop slipping on all of the brick walkways. Here they are, sitting in the designated shoe area of the room, since it's customary for Koreans to leave their outside shoes off the inside floor. They cost me less than W20,000 ($2o), and for good LA Gear shoes, I figured that was a good deal. I had to get one of the men's sizes, though... apparently my American feet are bigger than those of your typical Korean girl. Go figure.


Anyway, I also rode the Daegu subway for the first time to get there, so that was exciting. It's a really nice, really clean system, which was a nice alternative to the New York subway system that I experienced this summer. It costs W1,100 for a one way trip, but once I get my student ID from Keimyung, that also works as a transportation card, so I can put money on that and maybe it will be even cheaper. I guess I'll find out.
There is a back way from campus to a subway stop, and since our dorm is at the back of campus, it's MUCH easier and a much shorter distance to trek that way instead of going all the way to one of the gates. I took a few pictures back there, too, since it was a side of Daegu I hadn't seen yet.
There's a "hair shop" back there, and a church.

And apparently this is someone's house... I'm extremely jealous. I want a house like that, although in a better location than the back streets of Daegu.
And then here's the little road that leads up to the (long) set of stairs that leads back up the hill to the school. Woo! I'm so tired now, though... Hopefully tonight I'll sleep well!

Second day of classes...

My schedule isn't too bad, I'd say. On most days, I only have class in the morning. On Monday I have two hours of class from 4-6, and on Friday I have one from 1-2. Other than that, though, I only have either one or two classes each day in the morning, so I'm free by 11 some days and 1 on others. I have the same teacher for two classes who is from Great Britain, so his English is fine. The rest of my professors, though, are Korean... I met my Korean Language and Taekwondo instructor today. The Language teacher - Ms. Yoon - seems to be pretty easy to understand, although her English isn't perfect and sometimes she uses very strange phrases.

My taekwondo instructor, however... well... she speaks NO English whatsoever, so that was definitely interesting. There were a few students who spoke Korean and a bit of English who were able to translate the basic gist of what she was saying for us, which was nice. Even though none of us had particularly work-out friendly clothes on today, we started learning the basics of class, like the stretches and stances and how to make a proper fist (which I already knew, so thanks, James, for that :) ). When we stretch, if we don't stretch as far as the instructor (I wish I knew her name...) wants us to, she goes around and pushes and pulls on people to make them stretch farther. It hurts... but apparently it works.



Angela determined that eating in the cafeterias on campus was like being in prison because the trays, cups, spoons, and even the chopsticks are all made of metal. I have come to realize that if you get hungry enough, even something as plain as steamed white rice can taste really good, especially when the alternative is kimchi. Our meat this evening was pork, which wasn't too bad. Meals on campus, though, are definitely not something I look forward to...

Tonight, too, we had our first Korean art class, which was a lot of fun. And the fact that it takes place in the traditional village just makes it SO much more awesome.

The topic for this class was "Korean Traditional Drawing Art," so I didn't have very high hopes for it since I'm not an artist by ANY means. The man teaching the class was really nice, though, and since he only spoke Korean, Mr. Lee (the head of the international office) was there to translate. The man leading the class said he had done this kind of art for 30 years, and he pointed out that that was longer than any of us had even been alive.
Each picture has a very specific technique that is to be used to draw it. He taught us the first four strokes of the grassy-like plant. We each had plenty of paper to practice with, and after we'd been doing it for awhile, he said that there was going to be a contest for the best picture. So as we all started perfecting our masterpieces, he walked around the room to observe our techniques and such.

To my utter shock, mine was the first he picked to tape up on the wall. I thought it wasn't very good because I had too much ink in my brush at first and left blotches at the bottom, but when he was evaluating each individual piece at the end of the class, he said that my third stroke had a perfect curve. Aw. I'm so proud. =)That's his example work on the left, with each of the strokes numbered. That's my blotchy one on the right...

Once everyone was finished and had their work he picked out hanging on the wall, he started the official judging. Jennifer, an exchange student from Tennessee, was voted first, and mine was second! Ah! I did NOT see that coming! As a prize, he gave me the art he'd done of the cherry blossom, which was my favorite anyway, so I'm excited.That's Chinese written down the left side, but he never said what it means. I think it's probably just the name of the flower, but it looks really neat.


Evaluating the artwork.

All of us together with our lovely Korean art. ...and some not-so-traditional pictures, like Jonathan's beautiful onion and Nikolai's adorable house. :)

We're continuing the same lesson next week, although this time the instructor will be bringing some kind of Korean alcohol for us. Mr. Lee said that it's like soju, only thicker like milk. And the instructor said that it was because having alcohol in your system apparently makes a person paint better. Ha! We'll see...

Pictures!!

My internet in my room is finally working!!! It's a huge relief, and now I can even get all of my pictures uploaded! Yay! You can click on them to make them bigger, and don't forget that you can leave messages at the end of the posts if you want to. =) Yay again! And since a blog isn't the most ideal place to organize a bunch of photos, I'll put the highlights here. If you want the full effect, I put up an album (<---- Click there!) of all of them, which you shouldn't have any problems seeing. If you do, let me know... (By the way, tomorrow's schedule: Korean Language and Taekwondo!)

My room! Yes, my bed is on the floor. It consists of a 1", maybe 1.5" thick foam-ish pad and two blankets. ...and two pillows and George. =)

Ju-youn (my buddy student) and me at the international students' party. A lot of Koreans give themselves English names so its easier for us to remember. Hers is "Ally," but she pronounces it more like "Ellie."

Su-hyun wearing the Texas t-shirt I gave her while showcasing her lunch. I don't remember what it's called...

Angela, an exchange student from Germany, and me at Mr. Pizza. Koreans seem to share everything, so at that lunch there were just two drinks - one for Angela and I and one for Su-hyun and her friend.

The view of Seongseo from the highest point on campus - Adams Chapel. Su-hyun took Angela and I up here at night, and the city looks amazing when it's all lit up. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took turned out as anything more than colorful blurs. =( Seongseo, by the way, is the name of the area of Daegu that the Keimyung campus is on. All of Daegu is much, much larger.

I got another chance to get online for awhile, so I thought I'd start explaining how things have gone today, at least, while I can.

The night didn't go so well... there's no air conditioning in the dorms right now since it isn't officially open yet, so it was very hot even with the window open. I ended up closing the window partway throught the night, though, because it opens to a wooded area where there are lots of nighttime sounds. Bugs, I assume. =) I got up at around 7am here to wander around campus and see if I could find any sign of wireless internet or a phone I could use. I did manage to find the phone, so I was able to call home and James, which made me feel a lot better. Not being able to communicate is extremely frustrating.

After I walked back to the dorm - which is an adventure in itself because of how hot it is and how many steep hills there are - I finally did manage to fall asleep for awhile after just lying around for a couple hours. Su-hyun came to meet me at 1, though, so I was awake again by then to meet her downstairs in the dorm. She took us - me and a German girl staying here too - around campus to see a few main points, and then we went to the only open cafeteria, which serves only Korean food. Su-hyun knows that spicey food isn't my favorite, so she ordered me a meal which came with bulgogi, rice, kimchi, and seaweed soup and only cost W2,000.

After that, we ventured off the campus property - across the street from the school's east gate where she took us to a coffee shop that also served ice cream. There she bought us a big dish of something I don't know the name of, but which tasted good anyway. It was a mixture of crushed ice, sliced fruit (watermelon, kiwi, mango, banana...), and bean sherbet (surprisingly sweet...) topped with a tower of vanilla soft-serve and mixed with a bit of milk to make it more soupy when mixed together. It's so hot here, though, and I knew we still had a lot of walking to do, so I didn't eat much.

When we left, we went to the PC bang where I wrote my last entry. I thought it was going to cost W6,000 for the hour we spent there, but it was only W600. Much better! Our next destination was E-mart, which we got to by taxi - thank goodness. It's a huge store with several floors, each one containing a different theme of product, I guess you could say. The bottom floor was groceries, the second was like a department store - clothing and make-up counters, and the third was like a Wal-mart. I bought a few things there that I didn't bring with me - like an alarm clock - so now I feel slightly more prepared.

Everything's in Korean...

So I hope this post turns out okay, because I'm not sure which button to click on to post it...

ANYway! I know a lot of people are wondering what in the world happened to me after I got on the plane for Korea, and if you haven't been in contact with my mom, here's the story.

The plan was to get online at the airport in Seoul after my 14 hour flight and email everyone letting them know I was safe. The plan failed, however, when I was unable to correctly download or install or something... (I'm not even sure) ...the right program to use to connect to the public WiFi. I managed to find a phone card and an international pay phone, though, so I was able to call my (worried) mother at around 2AM-ish her time to let her know.

I should have my own internet in my room on Monday, so I will have much more time to explain the whole story about my trip and my first few days here. I have pictures, too, which will definitely be put up here as soon as I can.

Right now I'm in the Korean version of an internet cafe (called a PC Bang - "bang" means "room" in Korean). My time is about up, though, so I'll write again when I get internet in my room. I miss everyone very much, and keep me in your prayers!

It's going to be a rocky start...

...but what's an adventure without some rough patches?

Because I will be arriving early, Na Yeong (the English-speaking coordinator at Keimyung) says:

"You may go through some inconvenience before the evening on 26 of August, which is the official opening day of the House, for residential facilities including hot water and cafeteria are not available to use."

So far on my first few days of Korea, I will not have hot water, internet (or a cell phone, for that matter), food... And because things aren't officially open yet, I'm betting I'll have to make due with the throw blanket and travel pillow that I'm bringing. :) Oh, yeah. I'm excited.

To wrap up my stunning bad-news intro of this post (don't worry, there will be some good stuff too), James has found out that his official document won't work to get his visa. That of course means that he still has half a week to a month or so to wait for his diploma to come to him. After that, it will take three days to get it to Korea. Then it will have to be processed in Korea in order for him to get a 'visa processing number,' at which point more papers will be sent back to him to get to the consulate here in Houston for the final visa processing. Even as soon as he can get all of that to Houston, though, he will still have to wait three days or so for the visa stamp to be put in his passport.

Confusing? Yeah... Annoying? Definitely. While none of this would have been a problem a few years ago, there have been a couple teachers in Korea who have encountered some problems and are now in jail. Their problems? They were uncertified. If I remember correctly what I read about it, one of them had actually forged a diploma. The government has since become stricter on it's policies about foreign teachers.

At this point, it may not even be worth it for him to go over there to teach at all because he'll end up staying until long after I'm gone. We'll see, though. Much praying is ensuing. :)

On a happier note, I have gotten a few emails from the school asking for more information about different things. One of them was t-shirt sizes. Yay! They say they "are preparing a souvenir at the orientation day" (I'm getting used to their sometimes quirky use of English. It's cute.). Another email was inviting the international students to apply to go on a field trip of sorts to "a beautiful willage at the foot of the Mt. Palgong." (No, I'm not kidding... it says "willage.") It will take up most of a Saturday in September, but we'll be able to see and experience a lot of Korean traditional culture, including a wedding and picking some of the apples that Daegu is known for. I plan to take plenty of pictures, so keep watching in September for that.

Other than that, I'm officially within my last week inside the US! The only thing left to do (I hope) is to get the last of my clothes packed as I get laundry done. If anyone has any ideas on things to take on a long trip like this that I might have forgotten or not thought of, I'm totally open to suggestions!

2 week countdown!

Oh, yes. Two weeks from today, I'll be on a plane headed to the other side of the planet. Am I worried? Only slightly... I hoping it's considered normal for a person to be a little worried about traveling alone into a culture completely different from their own for the first time. I'm sure I'll be okay, though. And I'm prepared!

I have my visa, my Korean Air Skypass, and Korean won to get me started. Don't get too excited about the numbers, though, I'm really not that rich... US$1 is roughly equal to 1000 Korean won, so pictured there is the equivalent of about $26 (don't worry; I have more than that to take with me). The rates are a little low for the US dollar right now, though, so it's actually slightly less than that, but still... it's exciting.

I have been in contact with my "student buddy" from Keimyung. She sounds really nice, and she sent me a picture and everything. Her name is Ju-youn, and she's a 27-year-old tourism management major at Keimyung. She'll be picking me up from the airport when I get there and showing me around Daegu and everything, so I'm really excited about that. I'm hoping she can find me an internet cafe around the school, since I found out that I won't have any internet for the first few days that I'm there. There are a lot of people who are going to be very unhappy (*cough*Mom*cough*) if I don't have any way to let them know that I arrived safely, so that's my best best so far. I asked Ju-youn about cell phones over there, so I'll have to see what she says about that when she writes me back again.

On another note, James is currently sitting in his last class EVER, meaning that he officially graduates on Saturday. Woo!! Unfortunately, he can't get his diploma for 2-6 weeks after that, which is highly annoying since he needs it in order to get his visa so he can teach in Korea. He does have a prospective job, though, and they want him to start teaching on the 30th of August, which would be totally perfect. We're hoping that his official "course completion" document will be enough to get him over there ASAP so he doesn't have to wait for his diploma. Silly UNT. I told him that TLU would have gotten it taken care of for him... =P