bang bang bang!

It was a torrential weekend in Namyangju but we jues made the most of it. It started out with watching a little boy on the sidewalk play with his newly purchased toy gun. Though guns are illegal here, they certainly try to make up for that with their children's toys. This 5 year old's gun was hardly a hot pink, plastic water pistol. Instead, it was AK-47 replica, just shy of his height, that had rather realistic sound effects. Little did I know at that time that I would soon be pulling the trigger on my own firearm.

We spent that night jumping around a Nori Bang. In Korea you have the delightful option of renting your own private room with your friends to sing karaoke for hours and hours. They take it very seriously...as did we.

The next day we went to an imitation Disney theme park called Lotte World. All of the girls (and a sizable number of guys) were wearing animal ears or big sparkly bow headbands which we immediately adopted. Korean girls really seem to love super sparkly, pretty, silky little outfits and accessories. I can't wait to see what my wardrobe looks like at the end of the year. 

We spent the day going on rides, eating whipped cream and honey waffle sandwiches, going through a haunted house where I ran into some Korean Texans, and exploring the world's largest indoor theme park. 

We stumbled into an area which appeared to be some sort of exploration center for the kids. There were aquariums filled with ugly fish, a tank full of crickets and only crickets, a few sticks covered with giant beetles, a pit where the kids could play with giant maggots, and (what, by that point, seemed very out of place) a cage with baby bunnies and ducklings. The gift shop was primarily filled giant beetles for purchase.

We ended the day at the Lotte World shooting range where I got to shoot my first hand gun, a revolver, ten times with 90% accuracy. Ow ow!

Now it's time to start planning my trip to Japan....that I leave for in six days.... What this is really about is me just trying to live up to my senior favorites title of "Most Spontaneous."

Three Ladies in White

So I left school this afternoon, scoffing at how absurd it was that I still hadn't found a map of Nmayangju, and headed out a journey to any shop that might have had what I was looking for. I wound up at the post office. I asked the man behind the desk, "Do you have a map of Namyangju? If you don't, where can i find one?" I was more than able to say all of this in Korean, but far less than able to understand his response. Just when I had finished listening to enough of his jibber jabber, I heard from behind me, like the ethereal notes of a golden harp, in crisp clear english, "Yeah, maps are hard to come by in these parts." I whipped around to greet my instant friend.

So it turns out that there is another American girl living in my apartment plaza. Her name is Shane and she introduced me to her kiwi pal, Theresa, who also lives right by me. Tonight I gained two new friends, hiking buddies, an invaluable resource, and a bike to boot.

Welcome Weekend in Hongdae, Seoul

After a week in various forms of isolation, the majority of the GEPIK kids met up in Seoul to experience the electricity that Hongik University area had to offer.

Korean Street Art

Karaoke House

Joined a Drum Circle on the Way Home

Time Never Feels Slower Than When You Are Waiting for Hello Kitty Waffles

Japanese Food...Finally

Tinpan Alley Table Dancing

Everywhere we go in Korea We're Surrounded by these Misty Mountains

 Our People

Neon Churches & 31 Flavors

Living in Seoulitude
One year Texas, the next South Korea. Unlikely as it may seem, my experience in Texas has truly prepared me for my new life in the Orient. It was just a stepping stone into an even more confusing world...that world being Namyangju, South Korea (45 minutes outside of Seoul). Though I knew that I would be living alone, I had no idea that I would be about an hour's bus ride from any other people in my program. I discovered this information while I was in a smokey PC Baang (similar to an internet cafe) when a chubby Korean boy took a break from playing StarCraft (Korean's new national sport) to show me on the map where I was located. He looked a bit terrified when the tears started rolling BUT! Things are on the up and up!


Mime Fest
There have been so many times during the past year when I have exclaimed to others that "I need to figure out my LIFE!" None of those instances compare to this experience. The biggest challenge is that people here really don't know any English. As an English teacher, I feel like my presence is desperately needed. I'm learning Korean as fast as possible which has been incentivised by the fact that anything I say to my Korean friends in Korean is greeted with clapping and cheers. I'm fairly certain that I am the only white person in my city, so when I am walking down the street, I am constantly greeted with "Hello!"s (the only word Koreans seem to know) followed by a barrel of giggles.

Neon Churches & 31 Flavors
Now that I am coming to figure out how to survive in this little land, I've started to appreciate how hilarious and jam packed full of intrigue Korea is. I was reminded of a time when I was standing in the city center of Stockholm when I could see five H&Ms from my vantage point. The same thing happened to me here except it was glowing red neon church steeples. There are big differences, like the food (bibimbap, raw cuttlefish, live octopus, kimchi, kimchi, kimchi), but the little differences are fun to pick out (there's shampoo that "prevents hair fall," the electric current is so powerful my phone charges in 10 minutes, they take your heart rate by putting clamps on your wrists and ankles and putting suction cups all over your breasts, school is delayed for a typhoon, you smile "kimchi" when you take a picture, all of the face wash has bleach in it, most kids are adorned with Mickey Mouse but not one of them can name a Disney movie, all Korean women are on diets, they think taking birth control makes you want to steal). There is one important thing that is the same as in the states and that's Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors...badda bing badda boom!