Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Babo

Ok, so today I realized something. I haven't really explained anything about the culture in Korea. So here goes.
Imagine Pop culture up a couple notches. Everything here is Cute...even the boys wear cutesy clothes. Couples outfits are very popular(they even sell couples underwear so everything can match). Everyone holds hands; child-parent(up to and past age 18), friends(guy and girl), sisters, brothers,grandparents-grandchildren...everyone! Also this is something I find very odd. Everyone wears sandals...but with socks! and usually Character socks (again something cutesy is preferable). Women even wear socks with their High Heels. I think it is crazy, but it is perfectly fine here. Also, I have never seen so much leg. Women here will wear booty shorts and skirts but wouldn't dare show their shoulders or even the tiniest bit of cleavage. As a foreigner I get stared at everywhere I go. I am also the only person here to continuously be "petted." Older women will come up to me and rub my arms and hands like I'm not real and then say something in korean that I dont understand. I can usually pick up that they are saying something about my paleness, but really its kind of annoying. My favorite thing is when they try to take pictures of you with their cell phones and think you can't tell. Its awesome. A couple friends and I always make sure to act really dumb so they have something fun to take a picture of. HAHAH.

That is just a little bit about korean culture. Really, just the things to look out for if you visit. I hope you enjoyed it.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Its been a while...


After Hiking a while we found this. I wanted a picture with it :) At the beach...I was afraid of the sun hahah


Paige, Julia, Me in front of Grean tea
This was the view at the beginning of our hike.
Julia, Ria, Me, Paige..taken by a very nice Korean.
Ok...so these pictures were taken with a disposable camera. My camera broke the day before we left, so i had to buy one while I was there. The Four of us in the last picture took a trip for our summer vacation. It was only a couple days but we visited the Boseong Green Tea Plantation. We ate not only delicious, fresh green tea ice cream, but also Grean tea Beemanbap(a bowl of rice, meat, green tea powder, vegetables and hot sauce) and Green Tea Ramen(called Ramyeon here...it had green tea noodles and green tea spices...very tasty). We also explored Yulpo beach while there(about a 15 minute bus ride from Boseong). The beach was really big but the ocean(after walking about 20 ft. out) was still only up to my knees! It was very shallow. I later found out it was because that beach goes out very far and it is one of those sudden drop off kind of beaches. I just never found the drop (probably a good thing haha).
In the past month I have lost a coworker(she is back in the states now and we miss her alot), Moved apartments, and helped with my local church's VBS(English VBS in Korea...it was interesting).
My new apartment is HUGE! Most single apartments are like a bed, small fridge, toaster oven, closet and two burner gas stove with no oven. Mine, however, used to belong to my boss' parents so it is huge. It is on the third floor(they moved to the first because of age) and has a balcony, two full rooms, and an OVEN! This may not seem so exciting to those of you in the states, but here having an oven is unheard of(unless it is a toaster oven). We are already planning holiday parties here...haha.
Anywho. My new camera should be arriving soon. I bought it offline...and it only shipped to the US so it is being shipped to me by my parents. I am very excited. My new endevor is to find a computer that is a deal as good as that was.
In other news. I bought a bike. I big old big that weighs more than some of the kids in my hagwan...or at least it feels like it...haha. As part of getting it so cheap it already has something broken(I have owned it for less than two weeks). I am taking the plunge to fix it tomorrow morning. Wish me luck. Im off to bed to prepare for fixing a bike I know nothing about...haha. This should be interesting. At least im just taking off an added pointless part and not doing anything major.. YAY for adventures. :)