Pray for Korea

      This is a trending statement here, in Korea. But after the incident with the ferry crashing on the same day as the Titanic, I think it's a statement worth trending. Recap of what happened: A junior captain was driving the ferry holding about 400 people, most of them teenagers on a high school field trip on heir way to four days in Jeju, when it hit a rock. The captain told all the passengers to remain in their rooms and stay calm. The captain of the ship was the first to leave. Only 44 of the life rafts were deployed. The captain and crew has been given 5 years in jail for breaking maritime law. The vice principle of the school killed himself out of guilt for surviving. Only 32 bodies have been found. The other 300 something are still in the boat. With hypothermia it is expected that bodies exposed to water will only survive 90 minutes. Parents are sitting on the dock waiting for news about their children. This has been the only thing e seen since the incident happened. My coworker told me this is the worst crash in Koreas history.

    Now there's nothing that brings people closer together than tragedy, and though it's sad, this remains the truest statement I have ever experienced. That being said, I miss home. And distance has made my heart grow fonder. This has been one of the most trying experiences I have ever embarked on, and mostly because I'm doing this without my mom or brother within driving distance away from me.  Friday I had an emotional break down and just sobbed in a locker room for two hours. Luckily I have some of the best advise givers at my disposal. My brother told me exactly what I needed to hear to not go ahead and fly right back home. And Aurelie gave me an amazing idea to help try and prevent these emotions from popping up, again.

      I'm also extremely lonely. Though living with a host family, and near Hannah is great, they are both so very busy that I don't really see either my family or Hannah as much as I would like to. I wasn't expecting to be this alone after having recently been surrounded by people every hour of every day. I guess that's what you get when you move away from roommates.

      It's nice weather in Korea, which means tank tops. Unfortunately showing your shoulders in Korea or any of your upper arm is really bad. I had an ajuma yell at me today because I lifted up my arm and you could see my arm under my cardigan. Oh, let me tell you about the ajuma... The ajuma is an old Korea lady. These old Korea ladies are grandmothers, and they wear neon one colored running suits, hiking poles, and giant sun visors. They push you in the subway, they yell at you for doing anything wrong... I actually really admire them and want to be an ajuma when I grow up. Also Koreans seem to believe that it you sleep with a fan in the room you are going to die... I like sleeping cold, so I'm going to be pretty miserable pretty soon. I'm already waking up sweating.

   I hope you are all well, and I hope my religious readers will pray for the families of those who died in the ferry, and my spritual readers will send positive energy and that everyone else will just hug someone they love, today. Just a reminder that lives are lost pretty quickly.