Korea is a fast-pasted country. Everyone
is either doing something, on their way to do something, or pretending they’re
doing something.
Korean people have no concept of personal
space. They like to be 2 inches from your face when they’re talking to you, and
touching your face/hair/hand/etc. is not out of the ordinary.
Seoul is beautiful. Even though it was
about -7 C when I was there, the city was amazing! It’s a strange mixture of
old school buildings and new buildings. It isn’t unusual to see an old temple
next to a skyscraper. My group and I did a scavenger hunt throughout Seoul and
the experience was pretty epic despite the cold weather.
Koreans love to drink! So-Ju is probably
one of the first Korean words I learned. True story.
When Koreans shake hands you MUST shake with both hands or it is considered extremely rude. (Good
thing to know when I meet the principal and vice principal of my school).
I had coffee with the parents of Miss
Korea in Jochiwon. They waved our group into their store and made us coffee and
gave us chocolate! Korean hospitality at its finest.
My classes at orientation so far have all
been wonderful! So much better than taking classes at Eastern (sorry EMU).
The area of Korea is about 100,000 km2
with a population of 50 million people! To put it into prospective for
you Americans, that like taking the population of Texas and California combined
and putting them into the state of Indiana. . . Mind. Blown. Oh, and have 70%
of the state be mountains. Crazy?- I think so.
If you’re in a public bathroom and
someone knocks on the door to your stall, KNOCK BACK! I actually kind of like
it better this way; I think it’s much less awkward than saying “yeah?” or
“someone’s in here”.
My province (where I’ll be placed) in
Korea is called Gyeongbuk, my city is 포항(Pohang) and my Elementary School is 월포(Wolpo). East
Coast. Beaches. Stoked.
Tae kwon do is very popular here considering it’s
the country’s national sport. Tae meaning “kick”, kwon meaning “punch” and do
meaning “art”. I actually got to take a class here at orientation! . . I was
really sore the next day. . and the day after that.
I’ve met people from all over the world! Seven
different English speaking nations to be exact- United States, Canada (eh?),
Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, England, and South Africa. This is something
you don’t just experience everyday; I talk to people from around the world on a
regular basis and that, to me, is pretty awesome. You learn something new
everyday.
Kangaroos in Australia are basically the
equivalent to deer in Michigan. One guy told me that it’s pretty dangerous to
drive in certain parts of Australia because Kangaroos will run into cars and
kill people.
I had a guy from South Africa tell me that the
girls in America are totally different from the girls in South Africa. When I
asked how we were different he said that American girls were more “loud” and
opinionated (naturally), whereas girls in South Africa were more quiet and
generally “don’t curse” (his words exactly). I think he was pretty fascinated
by our group of girls from Eastern- it was funny.
One word. Noraebang,
which translates into “song room”. This is basically karaoke on steroids.
Korean people are obsessed and it’s actually really fun. A group of us from
orientation went out one night and we had a blast! It helps to bring along
someone who knows Korean, but we managed to communicate with hand gestures and
Bianca’s handy dandy Korean dictionary. So what you do is rent out a room, you
pick a song from one of the books (there were songs in English, Japanese and
Korean) and you sing it! You can also get drinks delivered to your room, and
you pay by the hour. Our group did it for about 2 hours and it only cost us
25,000 won ($25). So, if you don’t have a lot of money and still want to have a good
time, go to a Noraebang, you won’t be disappointed.
Koreans LOVE soccer! Excellent news for me since
I’m missing all of my soccer practices back at home.
When you walk into a Korean house (or your dorm
room) TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! It took me a while to get into the habit of doing
this.
Some bathrooms here have “squatters”. If you don’t
know what this is, Google it, it’s weird.
Jjimjilbangs are Korean bathhouses.
Slightly awkward at first, but it’s something you have to try at least once; it
was quite an experience. Here's a picture of the one I stayed at (people told me it's the nicest one in Seoul):
Ahjummas (little old Korean women)
have no problem pushing or shoving you out of the way. They’re like 4 feet
tall, but they are feisty!
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