Hey ya'll! It's time for more Korean quirks! These are just a few things I see daily and laugh about while I'm walking alone..leaving me to look like the crazy American girl who laughs all alone, when really, they're the crazy ones. (just kidding...cultural differences, I know..) But please, see for your self.
1. There is no tipping at restaurants in Korea. Instead, often times, the restaurant (or store) will give you something for free just because. This is called 'service' here in Korea. The first time we went out for Korean BBQ the lady brought us two Pepsi's at the end of our meal and said, 'Service'. I was confused at first, but later learned about this awesome phenomenon! Then, when I was buying laundry detergent the other day, the lady gave me a free bucket with my detergent. Not really sure what the bucket is for, but she said service and handed it to me. haha I also frequent the 7 Eleven down the street far too often. How do I know it's too often, you ask? Well, the same Korean man is working every single time I go, and gives me that kind smile that says, 'Wow, you sure do like water and Doritos a lot, white girl.', so the other day I paid for my usual items and he handed me a Chupa Chups sucker and said, 'Sucker for you.' Awe, so sweet! Koreans are the best. This also happens to some of my friends on the other side of town who frequent a convenient store near their apartment. It's an awesome way to say thank you for your business.
2. Koreans are very keen on certain hygiene practices, while others are just thrown out the window. My first example is shoes. They take shoes off inside homes, schools and a lot of restaurants. They do this so they keep the floors clean. After seeing these Korean sidewalks, I understood a little better. Koreans spit all the time. Watch your step! It's like dodging land mines out there! If Koreans are sick, they wear face masks similar to what your dental hygienist wears when she's cleaning your teeth, except in good Korean fashion, they have little bears or some cute design sewed on and the mask is made out of cloth. They wear these to keep from spreading germs, yet when they cough or sneeze, they don't cover or even try to direct it in the opposite direction of the crowd. I guess no one ever taught them to cover. They also share all of the food on the table. Your soup and rice will be the only individual plate of food you get. The rest will be shared between all of the people eating. Double dipping is the thing to do here. This country is not for the faint hearted when it comes to germs. It's also common to only have 1 or 2 shot glasses at a table of 10 or more people. Take a shot, pass on the shot glass.
3. I've already talked a little bit about driving the habits here in Korea, but I'm going to talk about it again and with some new things I've noticed. The streets by my house are a little narrow, so when a taxi drops me off, he pulls ON to the sidewalk to let me out. Thank you kind sir, you just saved me a step and a half. If he doesn't do this, in the .3 seconds it takes me to get out of the cab he will get honked at. As a walker (not a Walking Dead reference unfortunately), you have basically no rights and have to be on the lookout at all times. These people drive on the sidewalks, squeeze their cars and mopeds by people and buildings, and run red lights like there's no tomorrow. Mopeds/motorcycles follow even less laws (if you can even call them driving laws here...not sure they exist) than cars do. If there is a line of cars at a stop light, the moped will drive to the side of the cars, often causing him to drive on the sidewalk, to get to the front of the line. He then waits for a somewhat clearing and goes. No need to wait for a green light, that would just be silly.
4. Speaking of driving...More often than not, my taxi driver drives me home and watches TV...simultaneously. Yeah, their GPS turns into a TV I guess?
5. Koreans believe there needs to be air flow at all time. What does that mean, you ask? Well, that means that when it's -6 degrees outside, and the heater is blasting, there will be windows and doors open everywhere so you can still get fresh air. This holds true everywhere. The bus, my school, restaurants, stores, you name it, they have 'good' air flow. Same goes for summer apparently. I haven't experienced this one first hand yet, but when it's hot and the AC is going full speed, there will be windows and doors open everywhere.
6. Koreans believe in a little thing called fan death. This is one of those silly superstitions that is passed down from generation to generation and people just keep believing. Sleeping with your fan on will result in your death. If you leave your fan on while you sleep, the fan will suck out all of the oxygen in your room and you will suffocate. Hum..luckily, my apartment doesn't have a fan. Also, fans in Korea are made with timers, so if you want to fall asleep with your fan on, rest assured that your fan will shut off before it gets the chance to suffocate you.
7. Korean girls are dressed to the nines at all times. Heels in any and all weather is 100% expected. I've heard they even wear heels to the beach, in the sand. Talk about a challenge. I'll confirm that for sure when I make my first beach getaway, but at this rate, I wouldn't expect anything less. I've also witnessed a girl on crutches rocking one super tall heel. So crazy! Guess you've always gotta be on your A game if you ever expect to find the love of your life.
8. Koreans have no clue what personal space means. I guess it's only to be expected when you're from a country as small as Korea with this big of a population, but can't they at least learn how to say excuse me!? Nope, they just bump right into each other and both parties act like nothing happened. I guess when it's as common as it is, you probably don't notice it, but I sure as heck do! I still apologize every time, only turning around to find the person i bumped into is already 20 people away and probably bumped into them too. haha
9. Drinking in public is completely legal here. Walking around with alcohol, or buying it from 7 Eleven and then standing inside the store drinking your beverage is a-ok. Just picture Bourbon St. times an entire country. Drink on, friends.
10. Koreans are very modest about some things. This list includes PDA between opposite sex and showing any skin from the waste up. They're very un-modest in other ares. This list includes PDA between girls and showing skin from the waste down, as well as peeing on the side of the street in broad daylight. Girls of almost all ages can be seen wrapped arm in arm or even hand in hand. Totally normal for friends to do that here. It's pretty cute when they're small, but a little odd when they're my age. To each their own though. haha You know the saying, "Skin's a sin, tuck it in."? Well that holds true for Korea, except when it comes to the legs. Woo wee...showing shoulders/cleavage is a big ole no, no, but the worlds tiniest skirts and shorts can be found in good ole Korea and are completely acceptable and expected. And the last one, men pee any where they want. It is not uncommon for me to be walking home and see a man with his back facing me, peeing on the side of the street. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go? I should just be thankful they at least have the decency to turn around.
11. People hardly drove cars until just recently, so that means the car to parking spot ratio is way off. Luckily, Korea is the land of all things genius. Prepare yourself for this one.. To conquer this dilemma, Koreans park where ever they can find a spot and have a sticker or lit sign in the front window saying their phone number in case they block someone in. If you're blocked and need to get out, just check the window, call the person and they'll move. Problem solved. Genius! Oh, Korea!
Okay, I hope you enjoyed your Korean lesson for the day and learned something new. If this list of things inspired you to come visit me, I'll be here until July 31st, so head on over and I'll show you all of these things within the same day, probably. haha
-Kyla
2013년 3월 26일 화요일
2013년 3월 24일 일요일
Weekend Shenanigans: Gunsan Edition
This weekend I decided I would save a little money and stay in town to explore Gunsan. After all, it is my city and I know very little about it since I run off every weekend to explore other parts of Korea. Next weekend we're going to Seoul, so I figured a nice, low key weekend is just what I needed.
Before I begin, I wanted to mention that this weeks accomplishments include me figuring out the bus system! Score! It's so much cheaper than a taxi, especially since the taxi fares went up last Monday. I rode the bus several times back and forth between mine and Emilee's and didn't get lost once. Knock on wood. haha
Let me preface these next story with a little definition. In the TaLK program, most TaLK teachers have a co-teacher. A co-teacher is usually a Korean university student in or near the town you live in who either wants to be a teacher or can speak English pretty well. The co-teacher comes a couple of times a week to help you in your classroom. In my case, my co-teacher is actually a private English teacher who goes to the homes of children and teaches them English, so she is very busy and can only come to my class on Fridays. She is very kind and helps me communicate with my students and mentor teacher, as well as helping me with other things I need while I'm here. She also gives me a ride home every Friday and I tell her about my weekend plans and ask for advice about what to do when I go to these places. This week she asked me what I was doing this weekend and I told her my plans were to stay here in Gunsan. She got really excited and asked me if I wanted to go to church with her on Sunday! Of course, I said yes, and told her I would see her Sunday. After I got home, I relaxed a little and found out that my settlement money had made it to my bank. What better way to celebrate than meeting Lizzie and Emilee for some pizza. It was good, as always! It was also followed up by some Baskin Robbins, as always. haha After that, we walked around a little, but it was chilly outside so we called it a night pretty early.
Saturday started off with some sleeping in, which is still my favorite activity. Then Laura, Emilee and I decided we wanted to find the seaside of Gunsan. Emilee knew how to get us there, so off we went! We took a bus to Emilee's school and then headed in the direction of the water. About 20 minutes later we were there! It was a little windy, but there were a lot of people out walking around. We took some pictures of the water and went to the Jinpo Maritime Theme Park where we got to walk around inside an old war ship and learn a little about a Korean victory over Japan. The words 'theme park' in Korea don't mean the same thing as they do in America. A theme park in Korea is exactly what it sounds like..a park that has a theme to it. There are all sorts of theme parks, as well as amusement parks in Korea. Going to an amusement park is on my Korea bucket list, so hopefully I can cross that one off before I leave!
We decided we were getting hungry and Laura and Emilee knew we were on the right side of town for the Lee Sung Dang Bakery, so we started searching. There are bakeries and coffee shops on every corner of Korea, but what makes this one so special is that it's the oldest bakery in Korea, and it just so happens to be about 10 minutes from my house. Speaking of theme parks, this one resembled an American theme park in the sense that the line wrapped around the building. This place was packed! It's a very popular bakery, and it did not disappoint, except for the long line. After about 20 minutes in line, we pile our trays full of pastries and eat so much bread we can't move! Eventually, we got up and continued walking, finding the old town center and a bunch of clothing shops. It was a good time, but we were tired and came back to Emilee's to decide what was next. We ended up sitting around forever, Laura went home, Emilee and I had some delicious mandu, then I successfully used the bus to get home! haha
After all of that awkwardness, Hyunyoung's sister and brother come over and introduce themselves to me, as well as the preacher and a few other people at the church. They were all so nice! Hyungyoung asked if I was hungry, and of course I said yes. (Even though I was a little nervous about the food.) We went into another room of the church and loaded our plates up. Apparently I had sliced squid..? I prefer fried, but it was okay. The soup was amazing and I got complimented on my use of chopsticks 5 times! Mark me down for two accomplishments this week! Turns out, Hyungyoung teaches English to the little kids at 1:10, so she tells me to stay there and wait. More awkwardness. While we ate, two high school boys joined us and we all talked with the help of translation from Hyungyoung. They knew some English, but not enough for us to be left alone for who knows how long. Luckily, music saved the day. Since they sat down they kept making jokes that one of the boys was a famous guitarist. The boys played drums and guitar in the church band, so one of them told the other to play me a song. After a few of us started cheering him on, he went and got his guitar and a couple more friends. He starts strumming and all of a sudden, I start singing the song! What!! He was playing Jason Maraz I'm Yours! English!!! It was so awesome! So we all sing the song together and when it's over he tells me that Jason Maraz is very popular over here. Who knew?! He also told me that he didn't like Korean pop music, only American music! From there, he played, more Jason Maraz, a little Maroon 5, some k-pop and even an acoustic version of Gangnam Style! He was a very talented boy! Leave it up to the American in the room to get us all in trouble though! I got my camera out to start recording him playing 'Sunday Morning' by Maroon 5 because that's my favorite song by them and everyone starting going 'Ohhhhhhh!!' and laughing and clapping really loud. The next thing you know, a Korean lady in the next room pokes her head in and says a lot of things in Korean and everyone is silent. About 30 seconds later, Hyungyoung says we were being too loud and we had to go upstairs. Oops.. Luckily, she also said that everyone at church really liked me and that any time I stay in Gunsan for the weekend, I'm welcome to go to church with her. It was a really good day and I'm glad I got to meet all of those nice people! I know I've said it a 100 times, but Koreans are so welcoming and nice!
Stay tuned for a Seoul adventure! Have a good week America! Love you all!
-Kyla
Before I begin, I wanted to mention that this weeks accomplishments include me figuring out the bus system! Score! It's so much cheaper than a taxi, especially since the taxi fares went up last Monday. I rode the bus several times back and forth between mine and Emilee's and didn't get lost once. Knock on wood. haha
Let me preface these next story with a little definition. In the TaLK program, most TaLK teachers have a co-teacher. A co-teacher is usually a Korean university student in or near the town you live in who either wants to be a teacher or can speak English pretty well. The co-teacher comes a couple of times a week to help you in your classroom. In my case, my co-teacher is actually a private English teacher who goes to the homes of children and teaches them English, so she is very busy and can only come to my class on Fridays. She is very kind and helps me communicate with my students and mentor teacher, as well as helping me with other things I need while I'm here. She also gives me a ride home every Friday and I tell her about my weekend plans and ask for advice about what to do when I go to these places. This week she asked me what I was doing this weekend and I told her my plans were to stay here in Gunsan. She got really excited and asked me if I wanted to go to church with her on Sunday! Of course, I said yes, and told her I would see her Sunday. After I got home, I relaxed a little and found out that my settlement money had made it to my bank. What better way to celebrate than meeting Lizzie and Emilee for some pizza. It was good, as always! It was also followed up by some Baskin Robbins, as always. haha After that, we walked around a little, but it was chilly outside so we called it a night pretty early.
Saturday started off with some sleeping in, which is still my favorite activity. Then Laura, Emilee and I decided we wanted to find the seaside of Gunsan. Emilee knew how to get us there, so off we went! We took a bus to Emilee's school and then headed in the direction of the water. About 20 minutes later we were there! It was a little windy, but there were a lot of people out walking around. We took some pictures of the water and went to the Jinpo Maritime Theme Park where we got to walk around inside an old war ship and learn a little about a Korean victory over Japan. The words 'theme park' in Korea don't mean the same thing as they do in America. A theme park in Korea is exactly what it sounds like..a park that has a theme to it. There are all sorts of theme parks, as well as amusement parks in Korea. Going to an amusement park is on my Korea bucket list, so hopefully I can cross that one off before I leave!
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| I'm a sucker for pretty lavender and sky blue walls, even if it is super windy outside! |
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| We found the water!!! |
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| Flags! there were more, but I couldn't get them all and still make it look cool! |
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| Water, boats and mountains! |
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| More boats and more water! |
We decided we were getting hungry and Laura and Emilee knew we were on the right side of town for the Lee Sung Dang Bakery, so we started searching. There are bakeries and coffee shops on every corner of Korea, but what makes this one so special is that it's the oldest bakery in Korea, and it just so happens to be about 10 minutes from my house. Speaking of theme parks, this one resembled an American theme park in the sense that the line wrapped around the building. This place was packed! It's a very popular bakery, and it did not disappoint, except for the long line. After about 20 minutes in line, we pile our trays full of pastries and eat so much bread we can't move! Eventually, we got up and continued walking, finding the old town center and a bunch of clothing shops. It was a good time, but we were tired and came back to Emilee's to decide what was next. We ended up sitting around forever, Laura went home, Emilee and I had some delicious mandu, then I successfully used the bus to get home! haha
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| The famous Lee Sung Dang Bakery!! |
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| The big ole line...WHAT! |
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| Finally made it inside, which means...Myspace mirror pic time! |
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| More lines...and Korean twins..ah! |
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| This was what greeted me once I reached the door. So. Many. People. |
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| They wouldn't let us just get one...so we got multiples. hahaha oh Korea! |
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| So much bread! |
Today I woke up to a text from my co-teacher saying that she had to practice choir before church, so her mom would come pick me up. Surprise! haha Older Koreans don't normally know English, so I was a little nervous about how things would go. We made small talk with the few English words she knew and she was very kind to me. It wasn't near as bad as I was expecting. Once we got to church, we walked in to find Hyungyoung-my co-teahcer- standing in the entry way. I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. The ride there wasn't bad, I just didn't realize how comforting it would be to see her! Picture this: you're in a car with a stranger. You don't speak the same language. You don't know where you're going. You don't know how many people are going to be there (although you already assume you'll be the only waygook around). You don't know when you'll get to see the person you know (whom you don't even actually know anyway because you've only met her three times.) You know food is a large part of the Korean culture and assume you'll be fed while you're gone, but you're nervous about the scary food they might make you try. All of these things were running through my head, so when I saw her, I was instantly relieved. Hyungyoung took me to a little room where she introduced me to a few people before we went to find out seats. The whole service was in Korean, so I didn't really know what was going on at all, but it was a cool experience. I was the only white girl for miles, but I already expected that, so I wasn't that surprised. What got me though, was my outfit. Being my sparkle loving self, I wore some nude sparkly flats with a flowery dress and a pink cardigan. Much to my surprise, basically everyone in that church was wearing navy, black or gray. As if I didn't stick out enough already with my blonde hair and blue eyes, here I am in the brightest outfit I could find. After the service was over, the preacher introduce some lady in the back left hand corner. I started thinking, "Oh crap! What if I'm next!?" Sure enough, the preacher looks in my direction, starts speaking in Korean and I hear him say one of the few Korean words I know, meguk (American). Everyone started laughing, so I'm not really sure what he said, but he followed it up with, "Thank you for coming, stand up." So I stand up and do an awkward half bow/half wave thing, say thank you for having me, and sit back down. Luckily, my red face matched my bright outfit. haha
After all of that awkwardness, Hyunyoung's sister and brother come over and introduce themselves to me, as well as the preacher and a few other people at the church. They were all so nice! Hyungyoung asked if I was hungry, and of course I said yes. (Even though I was a little nervous about the food.) We went into another room of the church and loaded our plates up. Apparently I had sliced squid..? I prefer fried, but it was okay. The soup was amazing and I got complimented on my use of chopsticks 5 times! Mark me down for two accomplishments this week! Turns out, Hyungyoung teaches English to the little kids at 1:10, so she tells me to stay there and wait. More awkwardness. While we ate, two high school boys joined us and we all talked with the help of translation from Hyungyoung. They knew some English, but not enough for us to be left alone for who knows how long. Luckily, music saved the day. Since they sat down they kept making jokes that one of the boys was a famous guitarist. The boys played drums and guitar in the church band, so one of them told the other to play me a song. After a few of us started cheering him on, he went and got his guitar and a couple more friends. He starts strumming and all of a sudden, I start singing the song! What!! He was playing Jason Maraz I'm Yours! English!!! It was so awesome! So we all sing the song together and when it's over he tells me that Jason Maraz is very popular over here. Who knew?! He also told me that he didn't like Korean pop music, only American music! From there, he played, more Jason Maraz, a little Maroon 5, some k-pop and even an acoustic version of Gangnam Style! He was a very talented boy! Leave it up to the American in the room to get us all in trouble though! I got my camera out to start recording him playing 'Sunday Morning' by Maroon 5 because that's my favorite song by them and everyone starting going 'Ohhhhhhh!!' and laughing and clapping really loud. The next thing you know, a Korean lady in the next room pokes her head in and says a lot of things in Korean and everyone is silent. About 30 seconds later, Hyungyoung says we were being too loud and we had to go upstairs. Oops.. Luckily, she also said that everyone at church really liked me and that any time I stay in Gunsan for the weekend, I'm welcome to go to church with her. It was a really good day and I'm glad I got to meet all of those nice people! I know I've said it a 100 times, but Koreans are so welcoming and nice!
Stay tuned for a Seoul adventure! Have a good week America! Love you all!
-Kyla
2013년 3월 18일 월요일
Daegu Trip...Success!
It's been a busy few days here in South Korea! I'll do my best to keep it short, but a lot happened, so no promises. One of our friends from orientation had a birthday last week, so we all made plans to meet up in Daegu on Saturday at a place called the Traveler's Bar. It's was like a tiny room of American goodness!! There were burgers, cheese fries, fried pickles, Dr. Pepper, American liquor and so many more American things, plus darts, pool tables and shuffle board!! And believe it or not, I haven't even said the best part yet...American music...any place with Dr. Pepper, Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift is a place for this girl! But let me start with Friday first, because as always, something weird happened to me. Oh Korea...
Friday:
I knew it would be a great weekend when I was leaving school for the weekend and my co-teacher said, "Oh, you have a package!" I was SO excited and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After a few minutes of frantic searching, we found it! It was the wonderful care package my mom sent me! It was full of everything wonderful...see for yourself.
We were supposed to go to Jeonju and meet up with Brittney, but those plans changed and I decided to get dinner with Emilee and Kiyana. We found a little place called New York, New York! Sounds American enough, right? Wrong... I found a picture of lasagna and was pumped! It looked so good and this pasta lover has been missing out for almost two months now... I should have known it was too good to be true. In the picture it looked JUST like lasagna. But what I got was this crap...
Yeah, that's 'lasagna' in Korea! haha A lot of Korean things have a hint of sweet to it, but not normally things you'd want to be sweet. For example, Korean chocolate...not great...very bland and not sweet. Korean lasagna...sweet. So strange. So after taking off the two maraschino cherries that adorned the top of my pasta, I dug in. The first bite was a little sweet and there was not spaghetti sauce, so I kept digging. The next bite had what I thought was a bean, but turned out to be raisins. The next bite? You guessed it...SPAM! Little pepperoni like Spam. They love that stuff here. I'm like, well this is odd, but I'm hungry so I'll keep going and see what else is hiding in my pasta. Next up...sweet potato! Yuck! I love sweet potato fries, but sweet potato as substitute for spaghetti sauce, no thanks. So I keep going, but eventually just give up. Luckily, I treated myself to some ice cream, so all was right again. lol
Saturday:
I wake up entirely too early and head the bus terminal to catch my 8am bus to Daegu. One nap, one Red Bull, and a four hour bus ride later, we make it!! From the bus station, we catch a subway and follow directions to the Traveler's Bar. We're still in that stage where if we can successfully complete all of those steps, we're pumped. And we were! I was so proud of us! So there we are, meeting up with all of our friends from orientation and enjoying Danielle's birthday with some good ole American cheeseburgers. They were amazing! Nothing sweet about them...my stomach was overjoyed!
After hanging out for a little bit, our friend Jay took us to find somewhere to stay for the night. We found a tiny motel and drop our things off, and were off to explore the city of Daegu. It's the 3rd largest city in Korea! It was basically the best day I've had in a while. I love Daegu and can't wait to go back! We walked around the "Time Square" area for a little bit and went in and out of stores, fantasizing about what we were going to buy with our first paycheck next week! There were people everywhere, obviously, but it still blows my mind how many people are everywhere here. We met back up at Traveler's bar later on that afternoon and hung out some more. There were so many TaLK Scholars there, it was amazing! I feel like I hadn't seen them in years, when in reality, I have only known these people for a month and a half. lol So weird! It was an awesome reunion though!
We decided we would split off with a smaller group and go find a Korean bar that's a little more low key. Traveler's Bar was SO crowded and loud, you basically had to yell at the person you were trying to talk to. After searching for close to an hour, we finally find one that has enough room for all of us. Emilee, Colt and I are the first ones there, so while we're waiting for everyone else, we watch groups of Korean girls get up and dance on the tiny dance floor area. After a few minutes, I decide I have to join them. They were so cute and looked like they were having a blast. About that time, one of them comes over and grabs us! It was the greatest moment and we were off! There is a good chance I burned a million calories that night. I danced for so long! They all had on these flashing headband bow things, which I luckily got later on so I would fit in with all my new Korean friends. They were so nice and welcoming to us. We were the only waygooks (foreigners) in there, but they didn't care at all!
Time for the awkward story of the night: I don't know how to say, "You guys are so awesome! I like you guys so much!" in Korean, plus it was really loud in there, so I just did what I thought would best convey that message. I kept making a heart with my hand and saying, "I love you guys!!!" and pointing to all the girls I was dancing with. I was trying to show them how much fun they were and say thanks for letting me dance with them! Finally, a slower song came on and we all took a little break so I again said, "I love you guys!", one of the girls said, "Oh, no... I like boys." hahaha I was like, "Ohhh, no, no, no! So do I!! I'm just saying, I like dancing with you guys!" She just kind of awkwardly laughed, so I'm not sure she understood, but oh well! lol Language barrier-134 Kyla-0...still. They kept dancing with me though, so they weren't too scared of me I guess. haha After that, Emilee and I made our way home and crashed! It was such a good night! It doesn't sound as awesome when I write it down. Guess it was a 'had to be there' moment, and I wish you were all there, because it rocked.
I also had quite possibly the coolest moment of my life happen at this bar. Apparently it was a 90s music Korean bar, but there was no Spice Girls or Nsync, so I didn't know the difference between 90s and 2013 Korean music. And then, just like a little music angel from heaven, a song came on that I recognized. It's a newer song, so I guess they play a mix? Okay, so picture this, here I am dancing with all these Korean guys and girls and a song comes on that I know. Not only do I know this song, but at orientation, my awesome friend Nick taught us the dance to the music video for our Group 4 video blog. I was beyond ecstatic and couldn't wait for my part to come on and show these Korean people how cool I was. Finally, my part comes on and I do my little dance to it and they were all cheering for me and very impressed by it. No big deal... jk...it rocked and I was so happy. haha It's the little things.
Sunday:
Sunday rolled around and we set out for Mexican food! (I told you Daegu was amazing!) We find a mexican restaurant and dig in! It was SO good! After that, we found a famous park in Daegu called Dalseong Park. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be awesome. It was a huge, beautiful park full of people (and yes...I was still amazed at how many people were there. haha), benches, space to run and.....a miniature zoo!!! That's right, my failed monkey school trip last weekend was totally cancelled out when we accidentally found this mini zoo! In fact, I took this awesome video for you guys!
Awesome, right? There were quite a few animals, so we walked around there forever, burning off all of our Mexican food calories from lunch. We eventually head back to the bus station and check bus times back to ole Gunsan. We had an hour to kill and walked around in an outdoor market. These things amaze me so much. I wish I knew how to cook some of the stuff they sell there. My pictures don't really do justice, but I'll show you anyways. So many fish, fruits and vegetables everywhere!
I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's day, and have a great week!
-Kyla
Friday:
I knew it would be a great weekend when I was leaving school for the weekend and my co-teacher said, "Oh, you have a package!" I was SO excited and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After a few minutes of frantic searching, we found it! It was the wonderful care package my mom sent me! It was full of everything wonderful...see for yourself.
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| All of my favorite things! |
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| I forgot to take a picture until it was almost gone, but here it is! |
Saturday:
I wake up entirely too early and head the bus terminal to catch my 8am bus to Daegu. One nap, one Red Bull, and a four hour bus ride later, we make it!! From the bus station, we catch a subway and follow directions to the Traveler's Bar. We're still in that stage where if we can successfully complete all of those steps, we're pumped. And we were! I was so proud of us! So there we are, meeting up with all of our friends from orientation and enjoying Danielle's birthday with some good ole American cheeseburgers. They were amazing! Nothing sweet about them...my stomach was overjoyed!
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| I look ill, the lighting was really bad...or I was so happy I was about to faint, I'm not sure which? haha |
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| RANCH DRESSINGGGGG!!!! |
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| So happy! |
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| Just playing some darts! |
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| This is us trying to decide what kind of food to get...so many choices! |
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| Searching for some street food and a place to go! |
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| Street food waffles, omg. |
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| this happened... |
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| Friends and blinking bows! |
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| In the streets of Daegu |
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| Street food! |
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| bad pictures...good friends! |
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| Yay! She loved me! haha |
I also had quite possibly the coolest moment of my life happen at this bar. Apparently it was a 90s music Korean bar, but there was no Spice Girls or Nsync, so I didn't know the difference between 90s and 2013 Korean music. And then, just like a little music angel from heaven, a song came on that I recognized. It's a newer song, so I guess they play a mix? Okay, so picture this, here I am dancing with all these Korean guys and girls and a song comes on that I know. Not only do I know this song, but at orientation, my awesome friend Nick taught us the dance to the music video for our Group 4 video blog. I was beyond ecstatic and couldn't wait for my part to come on and show these Korean people how cool I was. Finally, my part comes on and I do my little dance to it and they were all cheering for me and very impressed by it. No big deal... jk...it rocked and I was so happy. haha It's the little things.
Sunday:
Sunday rolled around and we set out for Mexican food! (I told you Daegu was amazing!) We find a mexican restaurant and dig in! It was SO good! After that, we found a famous park in Daegu called Dalseong Park. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be awesome. It was a huge, beautiful park full of people (and yes...I was still amazed at how many people were there. haha), benches, space to run and.....a miniature zoo!!! That's right, my failed monkey school trip last weekend was totally cancelled out when we accidentally found this mini zoo! In fact, I took this awesome video for you guys!
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| Caliente Mexican restaurant! |
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| Amazing chimichangas! |
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| Dalseong Park Entrance |
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| My pictures don't do this place justice. It was so pretty! |
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| Again, not near as pretty as it was! |
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| Dalseong Park |
Awesome, right? There were quite a few animals, so we walked around there forever, burning off all of our Mexican food calories from lunch. We eventually head back to the bus station and check bus times back to ole Gunsan. We had an hour to kill and walked around in an outdoor market. These things amaze me so much. I wish I knew how to cook some of the stuff they sell there. My pictures don't really do justice, but I'll show you anyways. So many fish, fruits and vegetables everywhere!
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| Eels for sale! |
I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's day, and have a great week!
-Kyla
2013년 3월 14일 목요일
White Day and other Korean Holidays
Happy White Day!! Today is white day in Korea, so I'm going to give you a little holiday lesson!
Korea celebrates Valentine's Day on February 14th, just like America. The actual celebration is a little bit different though. It's the first in a three part series of romantic holidays. Valentine's Day in Korea is for the guys. The girls give the guys chocolates. The guy can accept the chocolates and then he has a month to decide if he likes her or not.
This brings us to our next Korean holiday...White Day! That's today, March 14th. So all the ladies who gave out gifts a month ago on Valentine's Day are patiently waiting for chocolates and a more expensive gift in return. If the guy gives you a gift, he's totally into you. If you get nothing in return then...womp womp. Don't worry though, there's still another day for all the single ladies. Cue Beyonce.
The third holiday is Black Day. This day is April 14th, a month after White Day. So...if you were the unlucky lady who did not receive a gift back on White Day, or you just didn't find a Valentine this year, this day is all about you! On this day, all the single people get together and eat jajangmyeon, or noodles with black bean sauce. Eating these noodles is supposed to signify the fact that you're single and hopefully a beautiful boy will walk into the restaurant you're in and see you eating your noodles, and fall in love with you. That brings us to the end of our three part romantic holiday, but there's more!
The final romantic holiday that's not really linked to the previous three is Pepero Day. (Except it's really not even the final romantic holiday. Even Christmas is a couples holiday here. These people love love.) Pepero Day is on November 11th every year. Pepero sticks are little cookie thing that have been dipped in chocolate. This day is on 11/11 because the pepero sticks resemble the number 1. It's basically like a miniature Valentine's Day where you give your significant others Pepero Sticks.
Korea celebrates Valentine's Day on February 14th, just like America. The actual celebration is a little bit different though. It's the first in a three part series of romantic holidays. Valentine's Day in Korea is for the guys. The girls give the guys chocolates. The guy can accept the chocolates and then he has a month to decide if he likes her or not.
This brings us to our next Korean holiday...White Day! That's today, March 14th. So all the ladies who gave out gifts a month ago on Valentine's Day are patiently waiting for chocolates and a more expensive gift in return. If the guy gives you a gift, he's totally into you. If you get nothing in return then...womp womp. Don't worry though, there's still another day for all the single ladies. Cue Beyonce.
The third holiday is Black Day. This day is April 14th, a month after White Day. So...if you were the unlucky lady who did not receive a gift back on White Day, or you just didn't find a Valentine this year, this day is all about you! On this day, all the single people get together and eat jajangmyeon, or noodles with black bean sauce. Eating these noodles is supposed to signify the fact that you're single and hopefully a beautiful boy will walk into the restaurant you're in and see you eating your noodles, and fall in love with you. That brings us to the end of our three part romantic holiday, but there's more!
The final romantic holiday that's not really linked to the previous three is Pepero Day. (Except it's really not even the final romantic holiday. Even Christmas is a couples holiday here. These people love love.) Pepero Day is on November 11th every year. Pepero sticks are little cookie thing that have been dipped in chocolate. This day is on 11/11 because the pepero sticks resemble the number 1. It's basically like a miniature Valentine's Day where you give your significant others Pepero Sticks.
It was great being in Lotte Mart on Tuesday watching all of the guys in line with their chocolates and huge gift baskets prepare for White Day! Boys are the same all over the world, they wait until the very last minute to buy the gifts! haha
Today, some of my little angel students even gave me candy! They sure do know the way to my heart! Those precious little angels! They were also all hyped up on sugar. Holy cow. I thought they were wild on normal days. Note to self: Never EVER try to be a nice teacher and give them candy. This will backfire so fast!
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| Candy from White Day! I had more, but I ate it before I took a picture. |
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| This is actually from a few days ago. I made them say something they liked. Two of these little |
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| And this happened in between classes! |
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| And this... |
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| And this...in honor of White Day! |
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| my sweet 5/6 graders! |
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| They loved this! They were laughing for a good 5 mins after this! |
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| Haha! They said, "Teacher!! No!!! Ugly!!" |
And to top it all off, on my walk home there was a group of 4 high school boys walking by. One said, "Hello, nice to meet you!" and the other one said, "You are pretty!" haha These kids. I think English teachers come over here and only teach them two phrases, because that's all I've ever heard these kids say. haha My new goal is to teach them a phrase other than 'nice to meet you' and 'you are pretty.' We'll see how that goes!
Happy White Day, America!
-Kyla
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