Things I'm Not Used To:

 Hey everyone!
     
         I just checked my post readers, over 1,000 page views, and from more places than just the US! But Argentina isn't one of them... I'm looking at you, Becca Casebolt! This is a pretty cool deal for me. I didn't realize that my blog would go further than family and friends in the US, and maybe Germany and Switzerland. But, this post is all about things that I find difficult to comprehend being a foreigner.

         Language: The language is difficult, the structure is flipped. I can't give you much of an example, because I don't know the language well enough. I'm just slowly starting to pick up key words in sentences. I'm now able to get to my location on the subway without relying on the English translation. Just gotta wait for your location, and then "imnida". The language is difficult, the different words for politeness are hard for me to understand. Apparently the entire time I've been saying sorry to people, I've been saying sorry to them like I would a friend, which is really rude.

      The Public Transportation System:  Now some of you might not know, but I come from Central Oregon. Where our main modes of transportation are biking, walking, and car. We do have a bus, but no one really uses it, and I've only used the state transit for a 3 hour journey to Portland. Apparently 3 hours is a long time to travel for my European roommates. Here, you have a T-money card. This card is like a debit card for transportation, now I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes and going "well of course those exist."... try to remember, I'm from a small town, go easy on me. It costs me about 3 dollars to do my round-trip transit to work. I walk to the subway station, scan my card, take the subway, scan my card as I exit, walk to my bus stop, get on my bus, scan my card, and then scan my card again when I get off. It's a lot of scanning, and I misplaced my card today ( in the garbage), so that was a big adrenaline rush of how I was going to get home with only about 15,000 won ( $15) in my pocket, if that.. Taxis like to overcharge foreigners, I don't really blame them, though... we must be boring conversationalists ( don't worry, I found my card).

          The Love Hate Relationship W/ America:  This actually grinds my gears, and makes me far more upset than reasonable. Older generations, around 50 and above, have been really nice and friendly towards me, the obvious American. Younger generations have been rather rude, and some of the in between floater people have been really mean as well. It might be that I'm mixing my roommates views with Korean views, they tell me things Koreans think... but I can never tell if my roommates are joking or not, so I just assume that they mean it unless they're calling me a fat cow (yes, my roommates are mean, but apparently that's how they show love... I guess I'll take it). Now, I have seen people react really negatively toward me for being an American, but at the same time they're sporting Nikes and shirt that have American flags on them. I can't help but feel some irony in everything they state. Also makes me want to tell them how rude they are being and how ashamed their mother would be of them.

          Shopping/Fashion: First off, WHY are there so many shopping malls? Every street corner there's a bunch of shops! The only place I haven't seen thousands upon thousands of stores is actually Gangnam. The subways are FILLED with shops. It's kinda cool, but also kind of obnoxiously gluttonous, in my opinion. I mean, do you REALLY need 5 different make up stores right next to each other?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping, but I don't find it necessary or sage to have so many darn shopping centers everywhere.                 Now, the fashion. Girls are wearing leggings ( I have no issue with that, leggings are a god send and totally pants), Calf high socks ( ehhh, interesting.), Nike running shoes ( no, I mean the running shoes you were to go get muddy in the middle of no where running shoes... but sometimes you see some really cool ones), and then generally a button up shirt and a puffy jacket. It's a weird combination for me to understand. And then you have the girls in heals, skirts, tights, p-coat, and cute shirt. AND THEN you have the girls that wear the outfits that in Oregon, you only wear if you're going out, and even then.. you would not wear those stilettos. These outfits are ones that you would not show your parents pictures of.
           Piercings are really popular here, so that's kinda nice, not having to worry about hiding my double cartilage. Also, one thing that's really popular here is wearing masks. Now, some of the reason is for Yellow Dust season ( I'll explain this later), if you're sick, trying to prevent sickness or allergies, but apparently a lot of girls just wear them to hide any blemishes on their faces. I probably won't ever buy one. Oh, and boys wear a lot of make up here. Also, they have make up to give yourself double eyelids. And Surgery is really common. There's one look of beauty here, and there are ads everywhere to attempt to make you feel self conscious, and then you see the plastic surgery add. Psychology. Luckily, I'm a confident person, those tricks don't work on me, and as all my close family and friends know, I really like looking at myself in reflective things.

          Food: Kimchi, Rice, fish cake. That's all I have to say about that.

         Night Life Culture:  this city never sleeps.

       Yellow dust is apparently a bunch of dust that gets picked up from China around this time each year (and other times during the year depending on the weather), but it increases mortality rates by 1.7%, and increases risk of asthma attacks and various other pulmonary malfunctions. I'm not really phased by it, but apparently with contamination to the soil in China, yellow dust season can be really deadly.
   
    There are various other things that are difficult for me to comprehend, like why is showing your shoulders so bad, but your entire rear end okay? Why is it that if you're not in a relationship or married, you feel rather judged? Why don't you go dutch ( split the bill) with Koreans when you go out to food? Why is it considered rude to offer to pay? WHY WON'T ANYONE SMILE AT ME? AND why is making eye contact so bad? Why is shaking hands so weird? Why is Oppa slang for lover but means brother, it grosses me out.

Again, I hope everyone is doing well, and I'm doing well as well.. Just waiting for work to pick up. ( hopefully it will, it's so slow). I've also decided I'm officially, without a doubt, a girl who belongs out in the middle of nowhere with pretty scenery and less people. These people walk too slow, they're too busy texting all the time (don't text and walk in a big city, you swerve and the people stuck behind you get mad). This city is too big for my comfort, and I cannot wait to get out into the Korean country, maybe that's where I'll fall in love with Korea. Cheers! && Until next time.

You Oughta Be Havin Fun

  Bonjourno!


        Last blog post I had vented out how much I missed home, being sick does that to you. But, after a long skype conversation with my mom, and her reminding me how annoying complaining is, I decided to switch attitudes. Attitude is everything, and like Tower of Power so eloquently states with the help of the horn section, You Oughta Be Havin' Fun! So, I switched my mind set, and decided to have a blast for my next 5 months and 1 week in Korea.

         I have been here for 3 weeks, officially. I have bonded with various other foreigners, gotten lost on the subway quite often, and have eaten more rice than I have in my entire life. I have gotten very comfortable on my couch as a bed, and probably will never actually get used to having 5 other roommates. The cultural differences in my own living area is absurd. Well, maybe not absurd, just hard to get used to. They say salsa wrong, all of them, and pasta. I know, I'm the only one who says it correctly, so maybe I'm saying it wrong? Well let me just ask you this, which sounds more appetizing, sahlsa, or sAYlsa? that's right, sahlsa. Same pronunciation with pasta.

        I've still been sick, I hope that today is my last day fighting off this bug. Yesterday I had no voice, and a really cute coworker of mine decided to say hi to me for the first time, but I couldn't speak and just ended up coughing. Oops. My boss man just kinda laughed at me. Work is still ridiculously slow, and I hope it picks up. It's supposed to in March. I hope to learn more Korean before I start working, unfortunately, my mind is having a hard time learning Korean, and I keep going to French instead. I've discussed this already.

         Yesterday on the subway I took an unintentional adventure. Always fun when you take the wrong direction of the subway, but maybe that just happens to me. I decided to now look at every directional mistake as just a way to explore the city more. Also, some older man looked at me and called me cute, but I didn't understand him at first, so I just said yes, bowed and smiled, and then walked away. It wasn't until later that I realized what he had said. Oops, again.

        I went out with Loren, Lauren, and Kristian on Saturday. I really enjoy Kristian's company, he's Danish and has showed me around Seoul a fair amount. He leaves in 2 weeks, and I'm probably going to be rather sad that the first person I really consider a friend that isn't a roommate, is leaving. Loren and Lauren are both great as well, and I've really connected with Uk Loren. Hannah's still amazing. Aurelie has been taking care of me while sick, and Vivi keeps making me tea. And it's really hard NOT to like Claire. She's really sweet. Aside from the loud noises of sleeping next to the living room, and the weird food separations that is apparently "necessary", living with these girls has been getting easier and easier as the time goes on. Poor Aurelie keeps getting parts of the house flying down and hitting her on the head. First the clothes line, now the shower head. Poor girl, the apartment is out to get her.

         Mr. Kim has made us food twice, now. And bought us Mandu ( dumplings). I went out and bought my own Rooibus tea. I can't stand the rice water tea that they drink, here. Itaewon is my savior for little pieces of home in the form of food. I don't know if I have informed you all, yet but the Disney movie Frozen is out of control popular here. I kind of wish I would have seen the movie before going to Korea so that I could sing the songs with just about everyone else here. But I probably wont see it, because that's money, and all my money is going to Noribang and food.

         Hannah's been staying with us for the last week, all the girls are going out on Friday and maybe Saturday as a girls night kinda situation. Karaoke! I'm glad that these girls all wish to form friendships with each other. Lauren (US) has been able to visit us just about every weekend, which is really cool.

        Something just switched yesterday as I was walking home from work. My attitude of "it will get better" changed almost instantly into "make the best of it". I have a few of the other volunteers, previous volunteers, family, and friends to thank for the continued support. But, I do love America. More so, I love Oregon. West coast best coast has never rang more true in my mind. Glad to be a Pacific Northwestern-er.

     All my love to family and friends, and anyone else who is reading this. I'm going to go back to bed and sleep off this cold. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel good, again. Here are some pictures:

 Myeongdong Twister chips, or what I like to call, Tornado fries. Looks good, right? Think again, they're terrible. But they're a cool idea.

                                                 My favorite Lauren/Loren's! Saturday night!

 Mr. Kim, cooking us some food! Mr. Kim photos go too strong with this group of girls.

                                                    My roommate Vivi, making some fried rice

 Jesus Hannah. I have a Last Supper wall poster/picture in my room, made it more personal.

 Found this in Itaewon and had a good giggle, Hannah didn't understand why I was laughing. Again, no one finds me funny here. It's a sad thing.

 Random dancing street performer. Really common here, and a lot of fun to watch.

                                          I bought a horse mask. We've all had some fun with it.

                                       Andy in a horse mask. Andy's the only boy of the new arrivals.

Gangnam, Tornado Fries, and Robocop

Let's just start this off with the truth: I miss America.

      I miss all my friends, my awesome family, and my adorable pets. I miss hanging out in Corvallis, I miss good tea every night, I miss honey. I miss mom's grape scented candles, and the comfortable beds. Oh I miss comfortable beds. I'll even take sleeping on the bean bag chair on Luke's floor. I miss eating Q'doba, and Cafe Yumm with my Corvallis friends. I don't know if anyone else is as homesick as I am. But, I'm fortunate enough to have the ability to talk to my family, almost constantly. Basically, I love the Westcoast, I love Oregon. I miss cheese and bread.
 
       I got sick, just a minor cold, I'm thinking. It hit and was gone within 24 hours. I'm feeling better now. This week has been filled with late nights and early mornings. 2 hour round trip transits, getting lost in Gangnam, spending 7 hours sitting in an office with Mr. Yu, who can only speak a little Korean. So we both just sit there and say yes and no in each others languages, smile, and nod. I am hoping that my work project will get better. I fear that I have not entirely informed you all about what I am going to be doing.. however, the truth is.. I still don't entirely know. I WILL be working at Gangnam YMCA, and I will be working with children. what I will be doing, looks just like sitting in a room for 7 hours a day. I hope it isn't so.

       As I said last Tuesday, I got miserably lost in Gangnam. For four hours I was wandering around by myself. I tried pulling out a map, asking the locals in their language, asking the locals in MY language, calling Mr. Kim, and walking a total of 10 miles around Gangnam. Now I find this all really funny, but I was really frustrated during this incident. I've had a hard time adjusting. I haven't experience jet lag, so I wasn't part of everyone else's struggles the first week. I just have food struggles, and cultural struggles. I recently discovered I am allergic to eggs. As most of my family and friends know, I have a lot of dietary restraints, and learning about eggs being added onto the list is really disappointing.

        The other girls asked Mr. Kim for food, and he ended up making us dinner one night, which was really sweet. Mr. Kim is really nice. I feel bad for everyone asking him for so much, it makes me feel guilty when I'm lost, or in this case, sick. The girls spend a weekend eating bananas and rice, and sometimes Ramen and frosted flakes if they had bought it earlier. Everyone here is really nice, just the language barrier is so hard. It surprises me, but I don't really talk at all during the day. I had an older Korean man snap his fingers at me to translate stuff from English to Korean. He was really nice, but I felt kinda sad that I couldn't really help him all that much. Maybe I'll get better at Korean where I can say more than Thank you, I'm sorry, Hi, goodbye, I'm American, rice Please, Is there rice here?, 1, 2, My name's Rhys, yes, and no. The grammatical structure is really hard for me to understand as well. I have been practicing my french, and I feel like I'm getting better. So that's a really cool feeling. Some of my language lessons are coming back to me. Unfortunately, a guy came in to ask me some questions the other day about the location of Mr. Yu ( he wasn't in his office) and I could understand what he was asking, but I spoke french instead of speaking the minimal korean I know to him. Its frustrating, the only foreign language that comes to me is French. But it's also kinda cool at the same time. I can think in french sometimes. I wish I had gone to Cambodia, currently. I wish that I could go so that I was able to practice my french with locals that also speak french. Eh. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll go.
 
     I've made some friends from Denmark. The quantity of Danish people here is entirely unexpected. Their humor is also extremely harsh. Vivi is my best example. She's adorable, tiny, cute, sweet, but underneath all of that are the most devilish words you've ever heard. I think that if the devil is real, it would be her. I say this out of love, and with a few chuckles. I miss people thinking I'm funny, it was such a short lived quality that I had. No one here finds me the least bit amusing. Unfortunate.

        I recently found out that there's a Costco here! Also, they play a lot of songs that I recognized from home. Loud Pipes- Ratatat is played almost every day, and they always show a picture of Tobasco when they play the song. Maybe it's a tobasco commercial? I haven't figure it out. Starbucks litters every street, more so than in America, as does Mac Shack and BK. Outback Steakhouse is pretty common as well. Andy and I went out for subway, and though it was good, I keep thinking there was something missing. Later I realized it was my melted pepper jack cheese.

       Hannah and I went out yesterday to go to the bank and see if we can successfully withdraw money, we can, and then went exploring in Myeongdong. We got "Twister Chips", but I like calling them tornado fries, they look like a tornado on a stick. They were good, kinda. Cheap cheese powder, and not crispy potatoes kind of made me feel sick, but that might have been because I was sick anyway. None the less, I tried it. I heard about them before I went to Korea, so that was on my bucket list of things to try.

     Oh! I forgot a really amusing story of a giant cultural faux pas that I made. We went to go get ice cream waffles ( seriously, try it), and I went down to pick up our order. The girl behind the counter was trying to show me where the silverware was, but I didn't understand her, and just saw her hand out. Guess what I did.... I shook it. It wasn't until I could understand the look on her face that I with drew my hand and said I'm sorry in Korean about 5 times. Loren (UK) saw this and immediately asked what the heck I did. Luckily, everyone was laughing. But it was rather embarrassing, for me... and amusing for her.
 
    As I said before, I got sick. there's been construction in the apartment to make my living room into an actual room. On Tuesday they made a wall separation. Today they came in and gave me my very own door! I was asleep for most of the construction. But woke up, and was able to understand them a little bit. They also gave me a key for all the doors. I'm the only one with a key, so maybe on April fool's day, I'll lock some the girls out of their rooms. I think it'd be funny. I've also been watching Robocop on Korean television today. Blade was on last weekend, as was The Birds.

     A majority of my friends and family know that March is always a hard month for me, and as the calendar clock ticks closer, and I'm still homesick.. I've been listening to Tower of Power. Mostly you Oughta be Having Fun. One of my Dad's friends once told me that my Dad will continue to live on through the music he loved, I have never found that more true than currently. I'm so grateful for the loving family that I do have.

     Now, I have an address for letters. This address is only for letters and small packages. Like envelope small packages: 9, Jongno 2-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-753 Republic of Korea.  I'll update you all when I have information on Package address.

     I'll be fine. Just currently missing my lovely home. With beautiful sunrises and sunsets. And clear night skies. And cheese and bread. Thank you to all my family and friends who have sent me messages, Skyped/facetimed, emailed, and FB messaged me. I'm so overwhelmed with the love I have for all my friends and family.

     

Here in S'Korea

Hi Friends and Family!

    I have arrived safely in Korea. I just got my laptop charger adapter thanks to the lovely Hannah. She's the best! Thanks again, Hannah!

So I haven't posted in over 2 weeks, and a lot has happened. So for my readers benefits, I'm going to block it up.

First Week:
       The flight was fine by myself, I had entire row to myself which was amazing. I got to stretch out and sleep. There were two Muslim men behind me talking to the air hostess. Poor girl didn't understand either men, and they didn't speak English or Korean, so that was a fun conversation to overhear. I met a girl named Gretchen ( I haven't seen her since) but she helped me through customs, and give me some information about Korea to help me out in the long run. I wish I had gotten her information to keep in contact with her. When I arrived, only Vivi ( from Denmark), Claire ( from France), and Andy ( also from Denmark). I was fortunate enough to not experience any jet lag. The next day, Andy, Claire, Vivi, and I went out exploring in the city. Mostly in Myeongdong and Jongno ( Jogno was were our first hotel was. We stayed there for 2 weeks. 6 girls, 1 room, 1 bathroom.. it was terrible). We also had a surprise introduction to some of the older volunteers, Shawn ( from Australia), and Kristian ( from Denmark). They also showed us around, took us out to eat, and got us our T-Money cards ( cards for travel, basically). The next day Aurelie ( from France) and Lauren ( other US girl) showed up. Aurelie first started talking to me in French because I greeted her in French. Then realized I didn't speak much when I just looked at her and smiled- the foreigners confused look. The next day the three UK girls ( Hannah, May and Loren) arrived. Then we headed off to the beach. I hate to admit it, but I have no idea where we actually went. I'm still having trouble with direction.
          While at the beach, we walked along the coastline. The beach gets expanded exponentially when it's low tide, we went fishing on the coast. Of course we caught nothing. We also went to a Wind Power Plant museum to check that out. Unfortunately, it was all in Korean ( why am I saying unfortunately, silly me for thinking anything else) so I didn't understand it at all, and just played with the interactive models instead. Felt like OMSI. Afterwards, we went to a fresh fish market. The things they eat were odd, for me. Lots of things that looked like tube worms that Gok Ju ( one of the guys that works with my coordinator, Mr. Kim) says that he really enjoys eating it.. that it's his favorite sea food. After the quick fish tour we went to a town that was constructed solely of ceramic pots! Beautiful ceramic pots! ( Picture attached below). We also played a game called Yut. It's fun, I bought it at a traditional hanguk village to play with the family back home.

 One of the palaces that previous volunteers, Shawn and Kristian took all of us except for Lauren and the UK girls to check out.

 The Pot Town! I've never seen anything like it, before! Really cool.

     Proof that I'm actually in Korea, not just posting pictures found on the internet.
Second Week:
         The second week started and we started language lessons. By the end of the week I got so frustrated because everyone else seemed to be picking up the language so easily, and I was still struggling with the alphabet. We were able to explore some more in the afternoon after our daily 3.5 hour language class. We got our bank cards ( where they butchered my name), waited in line for hours to get our alien cards at the immigration office, checked out Seoul Tower and Ichaewon ( where I found Girl Scout cookies!!!!), and went to a traditional Hanguk village. Everything I've seen has been really cool. One of the old volunteers had a birthday/goodbye party which included chicken and beer, and noribang ( karaoke!). He was nice enough to take us all out and show us a good time around Seoul. Noribang was so much fun, the US volunteers absolutely KILLED it.

         I've gained some great friendships here already, I feel really close to the French girls, Vivi, and Hannah. I hope to get better acquainted with Loren and May, I hope time will establish that. Andy, the only new boy volunteer, is really nice. I feel bad for him sometimes for having to deal with so many girls all the time.

       We moved out of the hotel room, and into an apartment. It's really nice. I live 1 hour and 15 minutes ( by bus) away from Gangnam, where I work. The room set up is like so, We are on the third floor of an apartment complex. With a nice kitchen, a washing room ( that's washing machine was broken when we arrived, and the clothes line recently fell down from the ceiling and hit poor Aurelie), there were only 3 bedrooms when we arrived. Aurelie and Vivi are sharing a room, as are Loren and Claire. May got her own room, and I chose to sleep on the couch. Luckily, the living room ( where the couch was placed) has been made into a room ( or the beginnings of a room) while we were all away at work today. There are two bathrooms, and a storage closet that all the other girls have made into their extra closet. I take pride in the fact that I have made do with only two little drawers and a shelf for all my stuff. Ever the savvy packer. Lauren and Hannah both have host families, and Andy is downstairs with the other boy volunteers. Mr. Kim is trying to get the other girls host families, as well.

       Today has actually been incredibly stressful, and I'm missing so much about America. I tried to get to work by myself today, but ended up getting lost, wandering around Gangnam by myself for over four hours. I walked around forever, and actually did break down from frustration when I couldnt get myself out of the mess I had put myself in on accident. I tried hailing a cab, getting to a new bus, walking down each street, asking for help in both English and Korean.... unfortunately, no one could understand me, and I couldn't understand anyone else. Thank god for Denise, Hannah and Kristian, who together gave me enough information to finally get where I needed to go. And thanks to Mr. Yu for giving me chocolate and sitting with me at lunch. I guess I will adapt, but right now it's hard.
      I fell asleep last night listening to the music that was played at Lukes house all the time during the weekend when I'd visit. I miss my friends, I miss my family.  I miss huge water cups, anything more than a tiny cup that's maybe 4 inches tall, it's driving me crazy. I also miss fresh vegetables, there are none. I like the heated floors, though. Persimmons are really common, here. I had a dried, candy persimmon yesterday that was really good. The food here is not doing me well, I've lost a lot of weight. The straight Rice, kimchi, fermented radishes, fish cake, and fish soup do not sit well with me. There is no designated breakfast, lunch, and dinner, either. Kimchi and Rice for every meal. I do, however, like the Korean BBQ and the fried chicken works well enough! The street food is really yummy, and really cheap.

       

 Some of the girls, Lauren, Loren and Vivi in line for the squatter toilets.

 My "UK mom"! Hannah has instantly been someone I've clicked with. I'm so grateful that she's here with me on this journey.

 Red Bean Waffle Fish! I don't know what they are exactly, but they're the only thing I can find with a strong cinnamon-y taste. They're really yummy, and ridiculously cute, too. $1 will get you 3 of these, sometimes 6 if you find the right place.

 Vivi, from Denmark. She's really nice, as long as you don't take her jokes too seriously. One thing this trip has really already done is made me take things a lot less personally, something that I appreciate.

 The Three Amigos, and MR. Kim selfies. These two have been a bundle of fun as roommates, and in general. At the beginning, we all made challenges for ourselves and we made consequences for each other. Luckily all of us faulted, so no one had to pay the price. Mr. Kim selfies has become a game that Vivi and I partake in. Trying to gather as many Mr. Kim selfies as possilbe these next 6 months.

 These are all the girls, Andy, and Gok Ju. Left to Right: Andy, Gok Ju, Loren, Claire, Aurelie, Vivi, Hannah, and Lauren. ( May went to the hospital for a flu).There are two Lauren/Lorens here, so I'll probably just label them with UK Loren, or US lauren to help you differentiate. It's hard to do.

 traditional hanguk village, with parts of the City in the background. Really cool place to check out.

 Just a portion of Seoul from the base of Seoul Tower.

 Much like that famous bridge in paris, and other various locations around the world, Lovers place locks with their names written on them on this fence.

 Mr. Kim Selfies, again.

 Loren (UK), Hannah, and I sharing our ice cream waffle. SO good! Green Tea and Strawberry Ice Cream on top of waffles, and the first good coffee I've had since arriving in Korea.

 Lauren, Vivi, Aurelie and myself

  

These are the cute kids I get to work with. This adorable girl grabbed my hand without even knowing who I was. Super cute, and friendly. Though I now have sympathy of anyone who had to deal with my fast talking.

I miss home, and I'm finding that I like to be alone more than usual. But, as usual, I'll be fine. I'll make sure anyone who wants my address gets it soon. Sorry for keeping you all waiting, and sorry for the vague post. I promise more has happened, I just don't want to bore you all with an overly long post.

I hope everyone is well.  All my love being sent back home.