I'm Practically Famous!

It’s time for…more Korean stories!!! I love story telling. I may need to implement this into my classroom so you guys aren’t my only outlet of storytelling! Until then though, here I go!

Everywhere we go, and I literally mean every single place, Koreans stop and tell Kiyana she’s beautiful! It is so funny and awesome! Her school even calls her Miss America…how great is that?! We were told several times in orientation that Koreans often see foreigners and compare them to movie stars and other famous people they're familiar with. It's just so funny to me! America is such a melting pot of people, we're not surprised at all when we see someone who looks different than we do, but here, if you don't look Asian, you stand out like a sore thumb!  Foreigners are often stared at, especially if you are extra ‘strange looking’ to these Koreans. Some things on the list of those ‘strange’ qualities are: Blonde hair and blue eyes…check and check! So I knew I was in for some staring, but honestly, it doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I love it. Haha If I see someone staring, I love to wave and give them a big hello! It’s the best when it’s a group of little girls or boys. It’s also funny when a group of little kids say hello to you when you’re walking by. You can tell that it was almost like a dare for them to talk to a foreigner. They all giggle and run away when you respond back. Korean children start formal English classes in third grade. Many of them start English lessons way earlier than that thanks to private English academies and programs such as the TaLK Program (the one I'm in). So these children are eager to speak English to anyone that looks like they can speak back.

With all that being said, I bet you can guess who I run to on the streets when I need directions. Yep, that's right...anyone that looks between the ages of 8 and 18. haha This brings me to my first Korean story of the day. The other day, I was desperate for some chicken fingers and french fries. The night before my chicken cravings I was in a cab on the way home and he was taking me a different way than I normally go. I noticed a Lotteria I had never seen, but knew I was getting close to home!  Lotteria is basically the McDonlads of Korea, except delicious!  My heart was overwhelmed with joy and now you know why I all of a sudden had a craving for those delicious chicken strips!! So I go home and make a plan to set out alone the next day to find those chicken strips while everyone else is at school. The next day I looked it up on my phone and see that it's not too far from home, so I set out with my phone map in hand. About 20 minutes later, I realize I can't read maps that are written in Korean. Language barrier-58 Kyla-0...still. haha (and before you think I'm an idiot for not being able to follow a blue line on a map, 1. Android maps are weird and 2. Korean roads are even weirder) So here I am again with that lost foreigner look on my face, standing patiently at the crosswalk waiting for it turn green. All of a sudden these two adorable little boys, one is probably 10, the other about 6, turn around and say, "Hello!!!" And just like that, it was like God wanted me to go to Lotteria for those chicken strips! So I obviously I jump on this opportunity like there's no tomorrow and say hello back. I follow that up with, "uh...lotteria...uh...ahdesayoh?"(Where is Lotteria?) After a couple of confused looks and attempts at speaking Korean again, we're all on the same page and I'm trying to get directions from this little heaven sent angel. He points and says straight and left. YES! I can do that! I'm bowing graciously and thanking them over and over when the older of the two boys says something to the younger one and he runs off. Then the older one motions me to follow him and walks me to Lotteria!!! Oh my gosh. These Koreans and their willingness to help this chicken loving white girl! I'm pretty sure I'm never going to stop being amazed at this.

Story number two... So Emilee was coming over to my house last Friday for the first time ever. Since we just learned that I can't read Korean maps and street names, I obviously couldn't tell her walking directions to my house. I can physically get you there from almost anywhere, but I can't tell you how to do it. haha So we had a plan to meet at a store called Diaso so I could help her find my house. On my walk to Diaso, these two girls in their school uniforms stop mid conversation to stare at me as I'm walking by. I notice this staring and wave to them and say hello. They excitedly wave back and say hello. After that, one of them shouts, "Your shoes are beautiful!!!" The second girl follows that up with, "And your face is beautiful!!!" Score!! Beautiful shoes AND face! I love Korea! So I'm on cloud nine for the rest of my walk to Diaso, I beat Emilee there and do a little shopping while I wait. On our way home we take the same path I was just on a few minutes before. I was secretly hoping those little girls would yell "You're beautiful!" at me again, but they did me one better! As we get closer and closer, they start waving again and I tell Emilee these are my friends I made on the way to Diaso. They run to us and ask to take a picture! So here we are, all four of us posing for a picture in the middle of the sidewalk in Gunsan! hahaha It was about as weird as it sounds and I loved every second of it! After two pictures, the girl gets a phone call, pausing our mini photo shoot. But it wasn't over because they told us to wait. We are all four awkwardly standing there while she ignores her brothers phone call, so we make small talk with these Korean girls. Turns out they were 17 years old. One asked if I had a Facebook, but the other one hit her and said no. Guess that wasn't a good question? haha I was down for new Facebook friends..maybe next time. hahaha After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, they ask us if we've seen the movie Taken 2 because they love the dad in the movie. Looks like Liam Neeson has a couple of 17 year old Korean girl fans! So random! After that, they said bye and ran off.  I guess the photo shoot was over? haha

The next day in Buan, our group of friends are at 7 Eleven getting some snacks. Emilee and I are standing towards the door, trying to get out of the way of the cash register. In a minute, a Korean boy, probably around our age, walks up to us and says, "Hello!" I say hello back and ask him, "How are you?" He shakes his head and says no English, laughs awkwardly and leaves. About 2 seconds later, he comes back in the store with his cell phone out saying, "Picture? Picture?" haha Of course, Emilee and I accept and take a few mirror pics in 7 Eleven with this random Korean guy, then he says bye and is on his way.

Oh, Korea! You just never know with this place. The randomness keeps me going and makes me want to stand out on the sidewalk all day just to see what people will say to me! Maybe I'll give it a try sometime. That's all for now! I miss you all and remember, Korea thinks you're beautiful!

This is just a little side note. I feel like pictures make blogs better, so here is your pictures of the day. Koreans are so obsessed with their looks and are always dressed to the nines. There are mirrors everywhere in Korea and these people don't hesitate to stop and check themselves out in the middle of a public place. In the very rare scenario that there are no mirrors around, these people use their cell phone cameras as mirrors. Today one of my sweet, quiet, angelic second graders was about 40 minutes early for class and I caught her checking herself out on her camera on her phone. After she caught me watching her, she wanted to take pictures, so here we are! She's so sweet!

They also do this thing with their hands. I've seen it in Kpop music videos, but I'm not sure the purpose. Maybe it's like a cooler version of a peace sign?

Silly hand thing..not really sure! 

Kyla Teacher's attempt at cute Korean girl pose...fail! Also, I'm not sure why she keeps doing that face..funny little girl!  

-Kyla

First Week of Class and Other Shenanigans

I finally started teaching! Almost everyone else I know started teaching on Monday last week. I was told to wait until Thursday to start, so I had a few extra days to let me nerves build. It finally happened though, Thursday came and I was ready! Or so I thought..  I went in around 10am on Thursday to get everything set up and make sure I was ready to go at 2:10 when my first students showed up. Everything was going great! I had my powerpoint set up, my desks arranged the way I wanted, and was youtubing 'hello' songs I could use for the class when they came in. All of a sudden my door to my classroom slid open. In comes two little Korean kids, "Hello Teacher!! Nice to meet you!!! Bye!!", and off they went. I just laughed and went back to my youtubing. A few minutes later, same thing. "Hello Teacher!! Where are you from? Bye!!" This continued all morning, little visitors so eager to speak English to me! Most of them didn't even give me enough time to reply before running out of the classroom and back down the hall. Finally, a group of three little Korean girls come in and just walk straight up behind my desk where I'm sitting and start watching what I'm doing. In a minute I feel one of them petting my hair. I slowly turn around and look at her and they all three start laughing and speaking in Korean. Then one of them says, "Teacher, yellow hair!", then they all three continue to touch my hair and say, "Teacher has yellow hair!" After they get bored of petting my hair, they run off. Silly kids! A little bit before lunch, my doors open again and two little boys come in and go straight to my broom closest, get two brooms and start sweeping my room. About 30 seconds later, a little girl comes in with her own broom and joins them. Child labor laws don't exist here, I guess? haha Just kidding, but apparently this is a common thing. So they sweep my room for a few minutes, put everything up and run off. Oh, Korea! 

Little angels, sweeping my room! 

Welcome to Miss Kyla's English class!!! 

Eventually, the time comes for class to start. I feel so prepared, but had no idea what kind of tornado these kids would be! They're wild little animals. So cute, but man they're crazy! I can see that it's going to be a challenge to get their attention, but I'm determined that I can do it. I had three classes back to back, 40 minutes a piece. I only taught two days last week and I was exhausted from trying to control them, teaching 4-5 days this week should be interesting. (I saw 4-5 because I'm still not sure what days I teach. haha I'm pretty sure I'm off Wednesday's, but I don't want to get too excited if it's not true.) Prayers are greatly appreciated. It's about a million times tougher/different than what I was expecting and from what I'm used to in the states, but challenge accepted! 

Here's one of my cute little 2nd graders! She's so smart! 

Finally, it was Friday and time for our first weekend getaway. We are going to try and make these weekend excursions a regular thing. Our first destination was in Buan, about an hour South by bus. Our friend Brittney, who lives in Jeonju, came to Gunsan Friday night and we all left Saturday morning. We successfully made it to the bus station, purchased our tickets to Buan and got on the bus just in the nick of time! Literally, as we were walking to our seats, the bus started pulling off. Phew! That was a close one! About an hour later, we arrived in Buan and our friend Justin greeted us at the bus terminal. From there we were off to the real adventure of the weekend...TRICK MONKEYS! There is a monkey school in Buan where monkeys do tricks. So fun! Once again, we successfully manage to find the bus needed to get to the monkeys. Little did we know this would be taking us to the middle of no where. We hop off the bus and walk in the direction of the Monkey School. Some old man kept saying, "No, no, no.", when we got off but it wasn't until a few minutes later that we realized what he meant. Laura spots the sign and we are pumped! We turn the corner and see gates and a "monkey school" that looks like an abandoned lot. :( NOOOO! So we keep walking and investigating, ignoring a huge sign. No such luck! Finally, Justin gets his translator app out and translates the sign...Closed. 

Laura found the Monkey School sign!

"Closed" ...who knew? I should have studied harder in Korean. 

This was the bus stop. This is what middle of nowhere bus stops look like...comfy!

So now we're in the middle of no where, the only bus just dropped us off and left, and now we know why the old man was yelling no at us when we got off the bus. haha Language barrier-1 Us-0 So we decide that since we're stuck here, might as well explore. We saw a sign for the Gaeamsa Temple, and head that way. About 2 miles later, we find a beautiful lake surrounded by trees and mountains! We stopped for some climbing and photo opts. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful yesterday. Unfortunately, I was dressed for monkey watching, not mountain climbing. But I pushed on, and about a mile later, we came across the Temple. It was so pretty, and gave us so many more picture opportunities! It was fun to explore, but we were getting hungry. After a little bit, we turn around and head back towards the bus station. We ate at a random Korean restaurant in the middle of no where and made it back in time for our bus back to Buan! 

Reminds me of Oklahoma! 

My little tree climbers! 

We played card games for a few hours, ordered a pizza and finally hit the hay! This morning we woke up and had an awesome breakfast, and set out for our second adventure, hoping it'd be much more successful than the monkeys. Fail! In true Oklahoma fashion, the beautiful 68 degree weather yesterday was quickly exchanged for 41 degrees today, and wind just like the Great Plains. We were determined to make it to our destination though, and ventured out! We were off to the Saemangeum Seawall. It is the worlds biggest seawall and it connects Buan to Gunsan over the Yellow Sea. Eventually it'll be a huge city, but for now it's just a seawall and an information center. We were successful yet again with the bus to the Seawall and got to walk around the information center for a while and read all about it! It's going to be pretty cool. Kinda creepy at how advanced and technological it'll be when it's finished, but it'll be awesome. We decided we better head back to Buan to catch our bus home, so after a few pictures and asking for instructions on what to do,  we go across the street and wait for a bus to come.

Breaking records! 

This is what it'll look like when it's finished.

Yellow Sea on a windy day! 

Seawall and Yellow Sea

So windy...so cold! 

 So here we are, six Waygooks (foreigners) on the side of a road...not even at a bus stop...in the middle of no where, waiting for a bus to come in this freezing, windy weather. We were so cold, and just hoping a bus would come. We waited and waited...and waited some more. It was miserable! Here is yet another example of how amazingly nice Koreans are: So we're waiting and looking pretty pathetic, all of these cars keep passing us but finally one stops. Out jumps this little Korean boy, probably 13 years old, with almost perfect English (praise English teachers!!! haha jk..but really..) He says, "Hi, my dad just drove by a few minutes ago and thought you guys could use some help, so he told us we should come and see if you were okay." We explain to him that we were told if we just stood here, the bus would come at 2:00 and so we were just waiting. He said, "Oh, okay, we just wanted to see if you needed any help with anything." How sweet! Koreans are the best! But we tell him we're fine and they leave. A few minutes later, our bus comes and we couldn't be more excited. We made it to the bus terminal just in time to get tickets back to Gunsan, going 4/4 this weekend in the bus situation! Score! Let's hope our record holds for the next 5 months! haha It was a crazy, weird weekend, but it was a blast! I can't wait to see what next weekend holds! Until then, I have to lesson plan and figure out what to teach these cute little kids! Have a good Sunday, America! We're one hour closer, thanks to ole daylight savings time. It doesn't exist over here, so we're 14 hours apart, rather than 15! Until next time! 


-Kyla

When in Doubt, Blog it Out.

As you probably guessed by the title, I'm a little bit confused. Luckily, this confused state of mind has become a norm over the past month, so I'm okay with it (for the most part).

Let me vent a little. I promise to add some funny pictures or something at the end so this isn't the most boring thing you've done all day. Hopefully you'll find it a little amusing though! So I have some gifts to send home to America. That sounds fun and awesome, especially to the people who are receiving them, but I don't know where a post office is! That's the biggest problem, but even if I did find a post office, I don't know how to speak to the people there, so who knows where my packages will end up! haha So even if I miraculously found a post office, and even more miraculously learned Korean before I got there, I don't know my address, so I can't send the packages anyway! haha It's funny...and annoying at the same time. I'm getting my address tomorrow though, so that'll be 1/3 off the battle!

Another funny thing that keeps happening is that every now and then I'm brave enough/forced to use my Korean. As I've mentioned before, my Korean sucks (I should be studying instead of writing this blog post) and there are probably one year old Korean babies with higher vocabulary content than me. But that doesn't stop me from trying..sometimes. When I do finally spit out a few words, the Korean person (usually a taxi driver) seems to think I'm a walking Korean dictionary and can understand everything. haha He should know by my dialect and lack of confidence that those three words I muttered to him is about all I have stored up in my brain. Then it just gets awkward and I usually just say, 'Nay', which means yes in Korean. This also terrifies me because I then start wondering, "What if I just told this man to take me somewhere completely different than the rehearsed lines I knew before getting into this taxi! Please still take me to the right place!!!" Fortunately enough, every single time I make it to my destination! And after a few moments of this nice Korean person speaking to me, I utter my other phrase I know by heart, which is "Hanguga chogam", which means "I know very little Korean." hahaha He then usually laughs, says a few more things, I repeat 'nay' a few more times, then we sit in awkward silence until I successfully arrive at my destination.

Although those things I just mentioned have me stumped, what really gets me is this: Koreans change their plans so last minute, it's unreal! It's just something I have to get used to. Example: Saturday my mentor teacher told me that I wouldn't teach on Monday, but that I still needed to come to the school and bring all my paperwork and just sit in my classroom and lesson plan. Sunday, I texted her and ask her something, and she calls to tell me that I don't need to come to school until Thursday. I wonder if she would have even told me that if I hadn't texted her? Anyway, so I've just been sitting around waiting for Thursday to get here. Today I text her again to ask about school supplies and what the kids will have tomorrow. Keep in mind, I still have no idea what grades I'm teaching or what days I'll be seeing the students. She calls me again and tells me that tomorrow I'll have grade 2, then grade 3 and 4 together and then grade 5 and 6 together. Since grade 5 and 6 has 22 students, I have to interview them and pick the top 15. WHAT! I'm panicking! Luckily, I found out today. If they would have shown up tomorrow and I thought I was supposed to do my introduction lesson with them, only to find out that's not the case, I would have had a heart attack. I'm going to have to get better at thinking on my feet! So I've been trying to prepare for that this afternoon with interview questions, but I honestly have no idea what level these kids are on since I've never seen 5th and 6th grade Koreans speak English. I feel like I'm in the dark! It'll all work out though, I suppose! I just hate having to weed them out. Poor little guys. Their education system is such a competition from day one. I just wanted my class to be one where they could come and have a good time and learn English, not have to worry about competing to be number one like the do every other class for their entire school lives.  Anyway, I'm sure in a week, I'll feel like I've been doing this for years and I won't be worried, but in the meantime, prayers are gladly accepted. I'm nervous about my first day teaching, and even more nervous about interviewing my 5th and 6th graders!

Thanks for reading my ranting, as promised, here are some pictures! Some are funny and some are just cultural differences! Enjoy!

If you want water with your meal, in most places you just get up and get it yourself. It's not common for them to drink a lot with their food. The cups for water are also SO tiny! I drink like 10 per sitting, and that's me trying to not look like a camel at dinner. haha 

Random, funny bathroom sign. I don't think I've seen anyone here that big or with that kind of hair, so I'm not sure where they got that idea from. haha

When they have a sale, the put the biggest number first, and a lot bigger. Clever! So this store was having a sale where things were 20-30% off, but they emphasized the 30%. Genius! 

Kiyana and I's initials are KMB and we keep finding them everywhere! This happens to be a bakery! 

This is a bar a few blocks from my house. Close...8:00 AM. Koreans know how to partaaaaayyyy!

Matching Korean couple. They love to match here when they're dating. It's hard to tell because I was trying to not be too creepy, but they had on the exact same Columbia jacket! Normally it's the entire outfit that couples choose to match, including underwear! So silly! I just can't see any boys in America being okay with that. 

This is an classic example of English translation gone wrong! I found this on a notebook in LotteMart. It says, "Where am I? Falling in love with someone now, who loves all of them is." hahaha I wanted to buy it so bad! 

This isn't funny, but i thought these fish were awesome. Kelsey-I wanted to send one to you for your half bday, but as you noticed, I can't find the post office. And I assume fish wouldn't ship well. :( 

This bakery/pizza place/chicken place is called, "Thank u mom" Some of the names of shops I see around her are so random! I love it so much! also while I was taking this picture, a cute Korean couple inside was staring at me. This usually goes one of two ways, they either just keep staring or wave. Luckily they waved real big!! haha

Anyways, that's all for now! Thanks for reading and praying for me! Happy Wednesday, America!

-Kyla

Differences Between My New and Old Home

This is going to be a little list of some differences I've noticed between Korea and America. Reminder: I'm not very cultured, so some of these might not be as odd as I find them to be, but this is the only place I've ever seen besides America, but some of them are so strange to me!

• There are no stop signs in Korea. None. At all. That's why people drive like crazy around here. The streets are tiny and there are ALWAYS people walking/biking on them but taxis and cars don't slow down or move over, they just honk. There are basically no driving rules. You just go! It makes me wish I had my car here! haha Pedestrians also do not have the right away. One day I'll remember that one. haha Also, red lights are just a suggestion. I've been in so many taxis here that run red lights, it's unreal. They just look both ways, don't slow down, and keep going! (Sorry mom, I'm still alive though!!) One taxi new we were scared and he ran a red light and made a funny noise showing that he knew we were scared. It was hilarious. Probably had to be there for that one though. I've also witnessed a long line of cars sitting at a red light and no other cars were coming from any direction and the cars behind the first ones were honking telling them to go. haha So weird. They also park anywhere. When I saw 'anywhere', that's an understatement. They'll just pull their car up on the sidewalk, get out and go. Oh, Korea! 

• Now on to a more positive note so my mom feels better for a second. Most Koreans are so, so, so incredibly nice. It might just be because we are foreigners and walk around with a confused look on our faces 99% of the time, but they are almost always willing to help. Here are some real life examples. When we were in Jeonju, we were at a coffee shop trying to warm up before we continued walking. Before you know it, these two older Korean men come up to us and start asking us where we're from, what we're doing in Korea, what we think of it so far. Their English was excellent. This isn't as common in older people unless they're businessmen or teachers usually. So he talks to us for few minutes and finds out we're all going to be living in Gunsan after orientation. He then gets out all of the business cards he has left and tells us that he lives in Jeonju, but if we ever need help with anything, give him a call because he was born and raised in Gunsan. How sweet, he could have easily just left. We'll never call the man, I'm sure, but it's the gesture that was so sweet. Here is another story that I heard in orientation from one of the previous English teachers. She and some friends were in Seoul and they wanted to go to a Dog Cafe. (This little beauty is exactly what it sounds like...unless you think it's a cafe that serves dogs. haha If you think that it's a cafe where you can buy a coffee and sit on the floor and play with about 30 dogs, then you're exactly right!) So it's a little slice of heaven for dog and coffee lovers, so naturally they wanted to go. They were standing on the street with this lost/confused foreigner look that's all too common around here, when a man asked if he could help. His English was limited but he knew they needed directions to the Dog Cafe. He tried and tried to look stuff up for them but couldn't get the directions across because of the language barrier. He then says, "Wait!", and calls someone. About five minutes later, a women with much better English pulls up, gets out of her car and tells the girls where the Dog Cafe is. They thanked the kind people and were turning around to go towards their destination when the lady decides to lead them there herself. She said it was about a ten minute walk, lead by this sweet Korean lady and she dropped them off at the Dog Cafe, they thanked her again and she made the long trek back to her car. Who knows what that sweet lady was doing before she got the call, but what ever it was, she dropped it and came to help these lost foreigners. So sweet! I can't get over it! I had more examples, I just can't remember them right now, but you get the point! 

• They recycle all trash, everywhere you go. McDonalds..separate trash for food waste, plastic and paper. Cafeteria..same thing. Your house...same exact thing. I have a tiny trashcan that is for food wastes and I'm supposed to be separating my trash as well. I'm not very good at it yet, but I better learn quick! I think this is why it's so hard to find a trash can on the streets. They're almost non-existant. But if you do find them, it's normally a tri-bin trash can and you have to try to read the Korean and figure out what goes where, or try to match the other trash that's already in it. 

• That's all I have time for today. I have more, but I'm about to meet my Mentor Teacher to see my school!!! Stay tuned for a post about that, I'm so excited! I'll leave you with one more "Great Inventions of Korea" before I go. You're welcome! (Disclaimer: I don't know if Korea actually made these things up, but I discovered them in Korea, so that's what I'm calling it.)

This, my friends, is jelly...

You bend the little container of jelly in half and squeeze...

And viola...no knifes, no mess, just jelly on your roll. Genius!

I hope you got as much joy out of that as I did! haha Have a great night, America! 

-Kyla

Gunsan Time! Apartment Edition

Let me start this blog by saying I have the best friends around! I already knew that, but as the days and weeks go by, I just keep realizing it even more. Kelsey made me the most amazing going away package full of things I didn't even think about needing. During orientation, the laundry detergent came in handy (and also made me pretty popular among the other scholars who didn't have any! haha) and today when I couldn't buy any cleaning supplies because I couldn't read the labels, I remembered that Kelsey also gave me packs of Clorox wipes! I used those things like there was no tomorrow! So Kelsey, thank you again..you've helped me so much the last few weeks and you didn't even know you were! My friends here in Korea are also amazing, keeping me from freaking out about all of the new things going on. I couldn't have come here without them.

This blog is actually about my new apartment though, I just wanted to give them a little shout out first! Yesterday I moved to Gunsan, which means I got my apartment! In Korea, my house is called a 'one room'. When you watch the video tour, you'll see that the name is very fitting. I met with my mentor teachers and co-teacher yesterday morning at the university in Jeonju and had delicious cafeteria food with them. Luckily, it was my last cafeteria meal!!! After finishing lunch and talking with them for a while, we crammed into my mentor teachers car and headed for Gunsan. I have a really bad habit of over packing. Example: If I go to Elgin for 1 day, it's likely that I'll bring 4 outfits and at least 4 pairs of shoes. It's stupid, I know, but it happens..every.single.time. So imagine me packing for 6 months. Yeah, it was bad. Now that you've pictured that, imagine me and three tiny Korean ladies trying to get two HUGE suitcases, a duffle bag and other miscellaneous things I've accumulated into this little 4 door Hyundai Sonata. Yes, it went just about as badly as you're picturing it! Anyway, after we finished playing Tetris with the suitcases, we were finally on the road to get my Alien Registration Card (ARC). This card is crucial to getting paid and getting my cell phone and internet set up. I applied yesterday, but it'll take 3 weeks to get. From there, we went to my apartment. This is where things got really bad, and I felt like the worst person on the planet for packing enough clothes for 5 girls to move away for life. Not only is it me and my three new tiny Korean friends/co-workers, my landlord is this elderly, sweet as can be, Korean man. He can't be more than five feet tall! He runs out as soon as we pull up and immediately grabs the heaviest suitcase I have. I kept trying to tell him I would get it, but he insisted he would do it (and also probably didn't know what I was saying). Everyone is struggling to get all of my crap out of the car when I find out that I live on the third floor. Yes..the third floor...and no elevators. And since Koreans have proved to be the nicest people on the planet, none of them will let me carry my suitcases. I felt so awful! They were all struggling so bad, and grunting and sweating and breathing heavy. It was the worst. So we finally make it upstairs and get into my humble abode (surprisingly everyone made it up in one piece!), and it's as small as it looked in the pictures I saw before I got here, so I wasn't that surprised. Now that I've put all of my things up and gotten situated, I like it a lot more! I've even hung up a few pictures that I accidentally brought with me! Score! So after all of that mess, I was left alone and wanted to meet up with all of my friends placed in Gunsan as well. Brittney is the only one of us from UCO that isn't in Gunsan. We miss her already but we can't wait to go visit her! She's about 40 minutes east of us, so it's not bad! Plus, her city rocks and it gives us a good excuse to go shopping and do fun things in Jeonju!

Some of us met up at Lotte Mart (It's like a giant Wal-Mart basically!) Side story: When I was on
my way to Gunsan with my mentor teachers, I asked if Gunsan was big. They all three laughed at me and said, "Oh no, no!! So small, so small!" Tell me if this looks like a store that would be in a small town:

hahaha no!! It's huge here! But I guess Korea is just so overpopulated that this is a "small town". I tried to explain Elgin to them but they didn't understand! The population is roughly 278 thousand. That's not the small town I had in mind! haha I want to bring them all to my "small town" and see what they think. lol 

Anyway, I digress, so we went shopping a little bit and had more pizza for dinner. It's really scary going into a Korean restaurant and not knowing how to order or what you'll get when you attempt to read the words. We need to learn how to get over that, but yesterday wasn't the day. If it makes it any better though, our pizza dough was seaweed based and had sweet potato in the crust? And we didn't go to a pizza place we have in America! Whoa..we're getting crazy! I got to see Kiyana and Laura's apartments. They live in the newer part of town with all of the coffee shops and shopping areas, so I'll be visiting often. I'm hoping I learn how to walk there but as of now, I just have to hail my own taxi (which I rock at) and tell them in Korean where I want to go (which I do not rock at, at all.) but somehow, it keeps working out for me! God is good, and with me everywhere I go in Korea! Kiyana and I decided a sleepover was in order, and made our way back to my house to get my stuff! 

Today (Thursday) Kiyana and I did a little exploring and ate Subway!!! For the record, Korea doesn't do the 'Februany' like America, but that didn't stop us from getting a footlong and saving the other half for dinner. hahaha I've been craving Subway since I left and yesterday I found one in between our houses! It can be our weekly (or biweekly if we ever learn how to eat Korean food) meet up spot for dinner! It tastes EXACTLY like home and it's possibly greater than Chicken Soda or heated floors. And to make everything better, the girls that worked there were so incredibly nice, and knew what we were saying when we ordered in English! It was magical! After that, we booked it home to meet my mentor teacher. She was coming to take me to get a cell phone and a bank account. Her English is limited and my Korean is non-existant (unless you want me to say hello, nice to meet you, goodbye, or I'm an American), so it was a little tricky at times, but she was SO sweet and we figured everything out! I wasn't supposed to be able to get a phone until my ARC card came in, but she made me a cell phone plan under her name and I'll just pay it! I am so excited! I feel connected to the world again. If anyone wants to text me, download an app called Kakao and look me up by my phone number. Message me on Facebook at I will message you my Korean number! It's free international texting. It seems unreal, but technology is amazing and allows me to stay connected. I love it! I finally made it home and cleaned my house and unpacked. I'm not living out of suitcases for the first time in a month and it feels great! I feel like I'm finally home! It's taking some getting used to, but I love it here! I have a roof over my head, an awesome floor heater that I think I've finally figured out, five amazing friends in my city and another one just 40 mins East and I get to start teaching on Monday I think! I couldn't be happier and I a appreciate all of the messages and comments I keep getting! I love you all and am thankful for everyone with me on this journey! 

Here is a reward of pictures for you if you've made it through that novel up there. Sorry it's so long, I'll try to not have such eventful days in the future! haha 

Kiyana is one of the most friendly people I've ever met, but today really proved it. She went with me to the bank and while I was doing my paper work, she made a new friend. Old Korean's are so tiny! Look at this little lady! I turn around to check on Kiyana and I see her showing this little lady pictures of babies on her phone! There was obviously a huge language barrier, so the lady probably though Kiyana had 10 kids because she kept showing her pictures of babies, but it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. So cute, in fact, I risked being that creepy girl to get this photo: 

The lady loved Kiyana and kept speaking to her in Korean and Kiyana just kept saying 'nay', which means yes in Korean. haha It was the greatest thing I've ever seen. So Kiyana left and got two waters from the 7 11 across the street and brought one back to the lady. Her tiny little face lit up and she came and sat beside Kiyana when she took care of all her banking business and talked to us for about 20 mins. Unfortunately it was all in Korean, but it was a great and awkward twenty mins! 

Kiyana and her new friend!

Pizza! I know you're probably sick of seeing pizza on this blog, but that is cheese filled crust bites with sweet potato (yellow stuff). 

This little beauty is the mural on my kitchen wall. Just what I was praying for!!!