update from the rok
so i'm in korea safe and sound, and have been for almost a week now. things here are much as i remember and much as i don't remember as well. the main differences being that my sister and i are living in seoul, the capital, which is rather different than where we grew up, songtan. so far we've done a bit of sightseeing, lisa's shown me around her college, and we're going to visit the relatives (who i haven't seen in about 10 years - with the exception of my korean grandmother, i haven't seen her in 5...) the day after tomorrow.
getting to korea was a pain in the neck. geographically it's pretty much as far away from maryland as it can get. i spent a total of about 20 hours in the air and another 8 just sitting around various airports. the incredibly long flight(s) coupled with the weakest stomach of God's creation made for quite an unplesant trip. in essence i fasted for a day, as i didn' think my stomach would take too kindly to food and i really didn't want to cross the ' i've thrown up in an airplane' border quite yet.
that being said, after my arrival things went blissfully well. korea was playing their first game of fifa 2006 the night i arrived (which they won, thankfully), but i was too tired/dehydrated/sick to do anything but crash on my sisters bed. since then though things have gotten progressively better. my body has adjusted to korean time and environment (namely this smoggy ass city), and we've already done our fair share of sightseeing. we've been to folk villages, palaces, open markets, universities, and museums just to name a few. there are still several things that i think i'll never adjust to:
1) being as tall/taller than a lot of the men and taller than almost all the women (not a bad thing, just that i feel like a friggin' amazon most of the time)
2) mini-sized drinks. it's a wonder this whole country's not dehydrated.
3) technological toilets. toilets seats are programmed to be warm in the wintertime which makes me quite thankkful that i'm visiting during summer (something about a toilet seat waiting, welcoming my bare ass makes me a bit uncomfortable)
4) squat pots. i remember these clearly and i'll be thankful if i can escape from korea having successfully avoided all squat pots.
so in a nutshell: all is well on this end. i'm happy to be here but will be happy to go home too. already i miss my mother, father, boyfriend, dog and chinchilla. definately not looking forward to the flight back, but i'll have lisa with me. also, i wanted to thank joe, the man sitting next to me on the plane ride over, for being there. without him the flight would have been much more difficult on me. may God bless you joe, and thank you.
that's all for now folks! we're off to itaewon. love you all.
getting to korea was a pain in the neck. geographically it's pretty much as far away from maryland as it can get. i spent a total of about 20 hours in the air and another 8 just sitting around various airports. the incredibly long flight(s) coupled with the weakest stomach of God's creation made for quite an unplesant trip. in essence i fasted for a day, as i didn' think my stomach would take too kindly to food and i really didn't want to cross the ' i've thrown up in an airplane' border quite yet.
that being said, after my arrival things went blissfully well. korea was playing their first game of fifa 2006 the night i arrived (which they won, thankfully), but i was too tired/dehydrated/sick to do anything but crash on my sisters bed. since then though things have gotten progressively better. my body has adjusted to korean time and environment (namely this smoggy ass city), and we've already done our fair share of sightseeing. we've been to folk villages, palaces, open markets, universities, and museums just to name a few. there are still several things that i think i'll never adjust to:
1) being as tall/taller than a lot of the men and taller than almost all the women (not a bad thing, just that i feel like a friggin' amazon most of the time)
2) mini-sized drinks. it's a wonder this whole country's not dehydrated.
3) technological toilets. toilets seats are programmed to be warm in the wintertime which makes me quite thankkful that i'm visiting during summer (something about a toilet seat waiting, welcoming my bare ass makes me a bit uncomfortable)
4) squat pots. i remember these clearly and i'll be thankful if i can escape from korea having successfully avoided all squat pots.
so in a nutshell: all is well on this end. i'm happy to be here but will be happy to go home too. already i miss my mother, father, boyfriend, dog and chinchilla. definately not looking forward to the flight back, but i'll have lisa with me. also, i wanted to thank joe, the man sitting next to me on the plane ride over, for being there. without him the flight would have been much more difficult on me. may God bless you joe, and thank you.
that's all for now folks! we're off to itaewon. love you all.