Home Away From Home

WOW! A month has passed since my last entry. I apologize to all my loyal readers. As weeks and months go by, I continue to settle and make my life here in Korea. Minneapolis will always be my home, but currently Daegu has become my home. I love my city, friends, and most of my students. Here is a random list of things I have learned while living here and just my life in Korea. It is written in no particular order.

1.   I am a proud owner of a rice cooker.

2.   I have learned to make the most of my weekends, and can do almost anything hungover… going downtown until 5am and getting up by 12pm (sometimes even earlier) is not a rare occurrence and is possible.

3.   Korea is turning me into a very stylish person. My appearance may not change, but my clothes and accessories are becoming more Korean everyday.

4.   I couldn’t live without my Korean friends and foreign friends. I need them both.

5.   Friends here have become my family quickly.

6.   Learning a second language at the age of 25 sucks, especially when I need to learn characters which are very different from the alphabet.

7.   It is as essential to make friends here as it is to keep in contact with friends back home.

8.   It’s difficult to be an American in a world that (mostly) hates America. I am constantly challenged to hold my ground and say I am a proud American. I don’t like admitting, but sometimes I struggle defending America after all that has occurred.

9.   Heated floors are fantastic.  
10.    I live in the “country side” of Daegu. Children stare and follow me around. Older children love to show off their English to their friends by speaking to me.

11.  I might kidnap a Korean child someday… they are just too cute. (Just kidding!)

12.    If I was addicted to traveling before, I am even more so now. I want to see so much more of the world.

13.    Although I am teaching English, I believe my English speaking skills are becoming worse the longer I am here.

14.   I have become territorial when I see another foreigner in my neighborhood. It is rare to see foreigners I have never met before in my area, so I (unintentionally) stare at them like children stare at me.

15.  I don’t like agimas (old women) very much. Once in awhile you will meet a friendly one, but usually they are quite rude.

16.   The rest of Korean culture is very welcoming.

17.   Korean relationships are very different than western relationships.

18.    Korean men are much different than western men.

19.     I feel safer in Korea than anywhere else in the world.

20.    I miss American Chinese and good Mexican food more than anything.

21.  When it rains (even a drizzle), every man, woman and child has an umbrella up. I have never seen anything like it before.

22.    I wish my feet were smaller. There are an extraordinary amount of cute shoes here, and I don’t fit into them. I have tried.

23.    Norabongs (a room where just you and your friends rent for a few hours to sing karaoke) are fantastic.

24.    I have had the warmest winter of my life here. Although I missed the snow a lot, I did not miss the miserableness of the extreme cold. I could not even describe to people here how cold our winters are back home. They just don’t understand.

25.     One day I will get hit by a motorbike, no joke. They drive    where they want (including the sidewalk) and don’t care if you are in their way.

Other than this, I went to Hong Kong over the Lunar New Year 2 weeks ago. Although the weather was horrible, we made the most of our trip. It was drizzling and misty the entire time. It was also extremely foggy, so a few of our plans were cancelled. We never got to get a good view of HK from any of the well-known peaks which was unfortunate. We went to see a HUGE Buddha, but even being 5 feet away we only could see the outline of it because the fog was so bad. However, being there during Lunar New Year was a fantastic experience. We enjoyed just wandering the streets of HK, and came across random festivities. It was fun to be a part/view all the celebrations. One night there was a parade, and the next they had fireworks. The parade was quite amazing. Groups from countries all over the world participated in it. Yet, guess who represented America?? The San Diego Chargers cheerleaders! Really!? I guess we don’t have anything else to represent us?! This will probably be my last trip out of the country until July probably due to work. We don’t have any holiday breaks until then. In the meantime, I hope to make it to Seoul and Busan a few times.

Although hockey is over, the ultimate frisbee league has begun! Yesterday was the opening day. I am unfortunately on a team where most of the players travel to Daegu from Busan (about a 1 hr train ride). Due to the traveling, we don’t play every weekend, and to make up for this, we play 2-3 games in one day! With only one (girl) sub, I played a lot!! I am not very good, but I worked hard. I never thought I could feel this sore after playing a few frisbee games. I love to play though. Again, my Sundays are filled with getting some exercise and socializing. I love it. Oh! And it was warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts, and still be very sweaty by the end of the game. I also got some color!!

Happy Birthday to my baby brother who turns Sweet 16 on Saturday!!