1st Week of School

No I have no idea what all of that stuff says.... But it's my school!

The first week of classes happened in a blur. We came in and we got started. Thrown to the wolves, sink or swim, etc. etc. We received a “Time Table” of our classes and when we would be having them. The Time Table also included the names of the students in each of the classes (for the most part) and which set of textbooks we would be using with them.

We arrived at the school looking spiffy because we would be meeting our kids for the first time, and we went up to our rooms. We had shown up an extra half hour before we were suppose to in order to organize ourselves, our new materials, and to sweep the rooms. As you walk into the room the first thing you want to do is turn on the lights, hit the A/C button, and switch on that fan. Cooling down the room is key to everyone’s happiness.

I was really nervous but so ready to start. I had my plan for the day and knew I was going to be doing a similar introduction with all of my students. Mr. Kim came to both Sean and I a couple minutes before our first class was going to start and told us we would not be having our first class… Well that gave us an extra fifty minutes to anticipate our true first class.

Time flew by and before we knew it the classes had begun and they came at us faster than a gunshot.

My plan for the day was to introduce myself as well as find out a bit about each student. I wrote my name on the board and helped each class with the difficult pronunciation. They all got to guess my age, the older kids seemed impressed that I had graduated from a university already but this was one of many cultural differences I would encounter and will encounter with my students.

I borrowed a world map from my co-worker and had my class guess where I lived before I had come to Korea. U.S.A. ended up being either their first or second guess but it did take them longer to find Florida on the map. Some of the kids who were basketball fans loved that I was from Miami. I thought about fibbing and saying that I was friends with the Heat personally.

After the class found Florida on the map I moved on to learning a bit about them. We went one by one and everyone told me their names, their ages, and, for the younger kids, what their favorite animal was. The older kids had the more exciting question of what super power would you have. This question is normally a big hit with kids but it was lost in translation most of the time. Some of the kids were adamant that they did not have a super power, how could they possibly answer the question. Others insisted they wanted to be Batman, Superman, Spiderman, or the Hulk… Again my explanation only went so far. This was ok because if they answered even marginally relative to my question I was impressed.

My name tag! I learned that "Bob" means rice... They all thought it was hilarious my wolf's name was Bob.

After the class had all introduced themselves we moved on to making nametags. On the nametag the students would write their names, draw a boy or a girl, and draw their favorite animal. I thought this would be an appealing activity but many of the kids were in distress that I was not simply giving them free time… Slackers.

Some of them choose English names and make my life much easier!

I passed out markers that I had bought for them and gave them some time to work on the nametags. These activities usually took the entire class time and it for the most part went smoothly. My largest class (all of 11 students) is my most difficult class to control. I see them every other day and even on the first day I knew they would be the reason I would follow in so many teachers’ footsteps and begin affectionately referring to my naughty students as “Little Shits”.

I have seven class periods in a day, and three of those periods are my “every other day” students. My first class really only consists of one student (who happens to be the boss’s youngest daughter). His middle daughter is in my second-class period and I see her every other day. My last class is only one student as well who again just happens to be my boss’s eldest daughter. “So, you have all three of your boss’s daughters in your classes? Feeling some pressure?” “Yeah, a bit.”

I was taken aback buy some of the disobedience my students exhibited having been told numerous times I would not have disciplinary issues with my students.  I realized that coming in and being the nice English teacher was not the best way to go about introducing myself to my problem class. I am going to need to take a page out of my Sea Base manual and establish dominance before any leniency can be shown.

One of their drawings, I'm a fan

The first couple days went by quickly and my classes’ personalities quickly revealed themselves. I have close to 80 students in total and they all have names like “Da-Hyeon” (dah hee – yuhn) and “Eon So” (on – sew). Although I always pass out my kids’ nametags it rarely helps with me being able to say their names. Alas… I do what I can.

This is a picture of Tofu red soup, it's not so bad!

I have dinner by myself (Sean and Liz have dinner the class period after I do) and I found that in the first week I enjoy a moment of peace away from people in general. I know that my love for alone-ness will shortly be overcome by my desire for intellectual ENGLISH conversation but for now I am content. Dinner is a welcome time to slow down but not a happy time for my stomach.

My first night eating alone I walked up to the lounge and opened the pot to look at the soup. It looked very much like it had the night before. BUT when I went to stir the soup to see what was at the bottom I realized this soup had shrimp in it… Whole Shrimp. Shrimp that were now staring at me by the dozens. I slammed the lid and enjoyed a nice bowl of white rice for dinner.

White rice... Consistently served with every meal so far

The next night I found that the soup was another red soup (potentially filled with staring shrimp) so I chickened out and did not even mix it up. The night after that I opened the pot and to my surprise the soup was not red it was a white brown broth. My stomach was in knots. I had psyched myself out with this  mystery soup and my sense of adventure has never involved what I eat. The brown broth looked an awful lot like chicken soup and I could not resist wanting to just check if the soup was edible. I mixed the soup up and chicken surfaced, along with potatoes and assorted veggies. Still cautious I lifted the ladle to my nose and smelled, “Yum”, it was indeed chicken soup. I will have you know of the ten days we have eaten at the school this soup was the only dish I went back for seconds on.

On Fridays here at the Academy there is movie day! Every teacher’s first class has movie day. But of the classes that follow only a certain teacher’s students get to attend. My classes all had movie day the first week we started =] Hooray movie day! Or at least that’s what I thought until movie day actually began.

Movie day consists of you sitting with your back to a projector screen playing shoddy clips of overplayed movies to a room full of highly distractible students. I thought Movie Day would actually involve playing a movie, even if it was just for fifty minutes but nope, I was wrong. You choose a movie from the computer’s selection and play the movie in 3 to 5 minute clips. At the end of each clip you pull up a page with lines from the script on it. This page can have three lines or fifteen lines on it, you never know. Anyways, you have to read a line of script to the class and then the class repeats what you said…. This is what ruins movie day. The kids won’t always participate or won’t stay awake but there’s an upside to it all, at least you don’t have to teach!!!

 Another blog is on its way! Thanks for having patience and keeping up with my adventure!

P.S. for those of you familiar with the "Secret Llama" I wanted to let you know, yes he is in Korea =]

Ahem. OUR ADDRESS.

Hello to all of my family and friends!

I have dedicated a blog post to answer what seems to be the most pertinent question from all of you, what is our address? It is a bit long and complicated. Pronouncing it is as difficult as it appears to be (=p) and sending love to us is a bit on the expensive side if you expect it to get here any time soon. Well here it is:

Oe Dae Language Institute
Attention: Catherine Given
175-52, Song-Cheon-Dong 2-Ga, Deokjin-Gu
Jeon-ju City, Jeon-Buk, South Korea

Should you want to send anything to Sean just switch who the "attention" is directed to. Sean and I both would like to let you know that we are adjusting to Korean life. We are constantly frustrated by numerous things but completely enthralled by twice as much.

Koreans are impatient and always on the go. Our poor attempts at Korean seem to be over looked by most of the natives but admired by a few so we persevere. We have a grasp on numbers (for money, there's a different set for counting apparently) and our chopstick skills have improved dramatically (because that is the only utensil besides the long handled spoon). I have not necessarily enjoyed all of the foods I have been introduced to but no worries, I am not starving.

They have lots of friend rice! They have coffees and teas (they do not have Earl Grey Tea =[ I miss my Earl Grey Twinings already) and juices (lots of apple juice!). We actually found a little bit of lunch meat although cheeses are few and far between. I miss my favorite obnoxiously strong cheeses already! They have breads and pastries, pastas and fries. Beef is expensive and uncommon, but pork and chicken are all over the place. They have cheese and pepperoni pizza (as well as fried egg, pork strips, fish, potato and honey mustard, and other strange things. Not going to lie, the things I miss the most are lettuce (like in a salad) and Kraft mac and cheese...

I have yet to find my blue Herbal Essences Shampoo and Conditioner (no Herbal Essences at all actually = / ) They do NOT HAVE REESES (nor does it appear that anyone has heard of this candy bar). We have found Hershey's and Snickers though so not all hope is lost. They eat ice cream and believe in making everything spicy (which is ok with us). Currently we are on a mission for things to decorate our walls and apartment with to make it more homey. We are trying to find a happy balance of Korean style and our style.

Sean's birthday is in a few weeks (August 14th, August 13th your time because we are living in the future =D). And I am on a mission to find a few essential items to make it wonderful. I know it will be different to celebrate a birthday away from almost everyone you know although he doesn't seem to be bothered by it (I know I would be!!! I'd miss all the love from my friends and family). But we will make an adventure out of it, which we try to do for everything.

The friends we have met are nice, exciting, and upbeat. We are going to do a lot of traveling around the country and the city during our time here as well. We both want to learn Korean as fast as possible and not be overlooked because of our accents. I am going to try and find some piano lessons and Sean wants to start playing soccer. We also found out it actually snows for real instead of just every other year flurries like we originally thought... We will both experience some serious cold come the winter months. We will be adventuring to go skiing/ snow boarding on the weekends then as well.

We want to go swimming in the three bodies of water that surround us (East Sea, Korean Strait, Yellow Sea). We want to summit a mountain (there happen to be a few close by), go horseback riding, and I want to try out a few of the country's amusement parks =] Funds will of course be limited but there's so much to do and try, it is difficult to hold back at all.

We walk everywhere and try and snap pictures as we rush along. Another blog will be posted shortly, sorry I have fallen behind with the adventure, just so much has happened! Miss everyone a lot, and I send you big hugs and happy thoughts.

Observations

In Korea making a good first impression is very important. Your appearance is a big part of how you are perceived by the people around you. Liz had told us that the dress code was casual but we still wanted to look good on our first day.

After spending too much time figuring out what to wear we both settled on business casual. Collared shirts and nice bottoms, Sean wore slacks and I wore a business skirt that was secretly shorts =]

The day was hot as usual and apparently central air is not something any of the buildings have including our school. We walked to work with Liz about ten minutes before we needed to be at school. I was of course anxious that we were running late even though she informed me numerous times that it would take less than ten minutes to get there. And what do you know? She was right.

The name of my school is the Oedae English Language School. It is located on the second and third floor of a large building relatively close to our apartment building. It is not the most appealing looking school but I barely noticed as we came up the stairs and into the main room.

The floor is a shiny tile and there is a large counter directly in front of you as you come up the stairs. Behind that counter sits a woman named Mrs. Park (a sister in law of our boss’s family). The kids refer to her as “Counter Teacher”. Not that I knew it at the time but she is who you are suppose to threaten the children with if they misbehave. We met her and although she does not speak English very well, she was very kind and exuded a put together and in control woman.

Next we walked back and saw Liz’s classroom. This is when we realized that we would be getting our very own classrooms! We would not have to share with anybody. Liz’s classroom is across the hall from where our boss, Mr. Kim, teaches, and from where we found out Sean would be teaching. My classroom is located down a different hallway on the other side of our small academy. At first I think I was disappointed to not be near the other English speaking teachers. It did not take me long to realize that it would not matter in the slightest where I was to be teaching.

Again the air conditioning in this building comes from units not from central air. There is a big unit in the main room and a little unit in each of the rooms. It did not take either of us long to realize that the A/C was absolutely useless. Liz had secured a fan for herself in her classroom and it was a good thing she did or else it would have been gross! As she was showing us her room and books our boss, Mr. Kim, came in and we met face to face for the first time.

 Little A/C

He is a skinny man with a wide smile. He does a lot of nodding and speaks English decently. Unfortunately he had bad news to tell us right off of the bat. We had been warned previously that Koreans do not like confrontation or giving bad news. They tend to mumble and look at their feet, maybe not say anything and sheepishly offer a weak smile. This is exactly what he did.

Something I failed to mention in my earlier blogs was that Sean and I were suppose to have a big apartment for two people to share. It is one of the many reasons we took this job. Unfortunately the night before we were to go over to Korea we were called and told that this would not be the case. The housing arrangement had fallen through and it would take some time to find a new apartment. This was at first devastating. I was already so anxious about leaving home and not knowing what to expect that upon hearing this I did do a bit of falling apart.

Anyways I got myself together and came over to Korea only to find that the situation would not be remedied. In fact they had only had one plan and when that went out the window they did not have another. This is what we were told by our boss the first time we met him. Needless to say I wasn’t his biggest fan.

We would be observing Liz’s classes today an throughout the course of the afternoon and evening, I managed to come to my senses and willed myself to make the best of things. Sean and I would be able to share the bigger of the two single apartments we would be living in and use the other to store things or for whatever. I configured a way in my head to set up the apartment that would make us both happy and in general felt better about the whole situation.

Now besides getting told the bad news our boss personally showed us each to our rooms and showed us our textbooks we would be using for each of our classes. There were a lot! Thankfully my predecessor had done me a huge favor of writing out notes about each class and leaving them in each of the sets of books. She also wrote down exactly what pages each class was on and how many pages to do a day.

At the time I did not realize that this would be the only guidance I really received about where I was in the books and how much was “normal” to cover in each class. Mr. Kim pointed and waved a bit when I asked about how fast each class should be moving. He said “The kids would know.” Great. I am going to ask a bunch of punk 8 year olds what page they were on and they are going to tell me the truth? Sure…

The day is split up into 50-minute periods between 3:00pm to 9:50pm with a ten minute gap for everyone at 4:40pm to 4:50pm. The strange thing is that the classes begin and end at the same time. So my first class goes until 3:50 and the second one starts at 3:50. This was going to be different.

We learned that we need to be at school at 2:30pm to set up for the day. We are suppose to turn on all the lights, the A/C, and our fans (yes, thank goodness, we do have fans!). We also need to find a broom and dustpan and sweep everything up off of the floor from our classes beforehand.

  <--- The fan that is suppose to save you

Again I will stop my story to include a tidbit of information I find highly intriguing. In all of Korea I do not believe there to be one full sized broom. I sincerely mean it. We have been to a number of stores and have not seen one yet. They have brooms… Just with half a handle on them, never a full handle. This is exactly why older women are hunched and humpback. They do not have carpets or rugs; they prefer tile or hardwood. Because of this they must sweep everyday or every other day. They don’t like long handled broomsticks so they must hunch and everyone develops some sort of back problem. -___- That’s just not going to work out for me.

Getting back to the day, we sat in the back of Liz’s class once the day began and watched how things were done. It appeared that most of the classes used a set of four different colored books. Two of the books required you to use a C.D. and play audio clips off of the computer. The other two books the students generally could complete on their own, maybe you had them read certain things aloud but it was self-explanatory.

I found myself lost in thought quickly about the similarities between this teaching setup and the FCAT. The students were trained to go from book to book and repeat upon command. Freethinking was restricted and the teacher’s ability to vary the lesson seemed limited. It was both a relief and a let down. It appeared we really couldn’t mess things up but it looked like it was going to get boring fast.

Our “lunch” break was at 7:20pm but Liz did not have class for whatever reasons the block right before it. We went to the break room and Liz showed us where we could eat dinner if we would like. The room was relatively plain but thankfully cool after sitting in the back of Liz’s classroom for a couple hours. There was a small pot on a heater sitting on the floor and a rice cooker on a little table up against a wall.

Watching the pot on the floor, with the lid propped open by the ladle inside, I couldn’t help but wonder if they have bug problems in Korea or just ignore them. I have yet to see a roach but that does not mean they do not exist here. (There are most definitely mosquitos and gnats; I can confirm that from firsthand experience.)

There was a little basket of bowls and a little box with chopsticks and spoons. The chopsticks are flat and the spoons have ridiculously long handles used for sharing. Nonetheless they are useable, just foreign. (Or rather I am the foreign one) The soup that night was very similar to the soup we had the night before and it was enjoyable. In the fridge there was also Tupperware containers with little side dishes for everyone to eat. I did not care for the choice of sides that night and so skipped them.

After we had dinner we had plenty of time to kill and so we left the school to adventure to a nearby coffee shop. I learned a new word for the day, “Hong Cha”. This means Black Tea. I had a Hong Cha Latte, which was phenomenal. It was a sugary frothy black tea latte that really hit the spot. It was a little pricey so I won’t be having it often but it was good.

We returned to the school and finished up our observing with Liz’s last classes of the day. Before we left for the night, Mrs. Park had scheduled a 10:30pm appointment to have our internet fixed that night which was a relief. It was not so much not having internet but not having another way to communicate with home.

On the way home we stopped by a little office supply store where I bought some colored paper and markers. I was very excited for the next day and to begin teaching! As a final note I would like to share how good of a sport Sean was about moving the furniture around for three hours after work. I wanted to move everything around so that we could begin to unpack and settle in properly instead of feeling like we were living in someone else’s room. We moved couches and beds, bookshelves and chairs. We were shifting things down the hallway to the other apartment if we didn’t want them. But it worked out perfectly after a bit of effort.

Pictures of the final layout will be up once we have managed to clean the room =D   

Toto, I've a feeling we aren't in Kansas anymore

Here is the picture, albeit blurry, of their "sneaky" cell phone towers.

And here is an outside view of our apartment building. We will have pictures of the inside once we have managed to clean it up a bit and finish the unpacking.

So to put it simply, I immediately switched from playing Apples to Apples and watching Fourth of July fireworks to playing “Guess that food” and watching Sean consume silk worm pupae… To say the least it has been quite the exciting transition!

The first day we were in Korea we woke up too early and found upon a quick outdoor excursion that apparently Korea is not awake at 9 in the morning. Our internet had not worked when we got to the apartment and we wanted some concrete contact with our parents. We set off on an adventure to have lunch and find wifi.

Walking outside it fooled you. The sun was out, there were roads and cars and people; everything appeared normal. It was not until you looked twice that you realized “Toto, I've a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore”. The signs are all written in Hangul, the people (every last one of them) are Korean, and the cars have no stoplights or stop signs directing them unless they are in at least four lanes of traffic. I thought I had been adjusting well to the transition, very little crying, no buying a plane ticket home, and no returning to old habits. So we treated ourselves with some good old-fashioned McDonald’s for lunch.

Yes, I admit it. We caved. Mostly just me, let’s not lie. I had not had fast food for over 7 months, no soda since last fall, and I wanted to indulge just this once. A Big Mac and a Coke later I was feeling good, a little American in this hectic foreign world. But ordering was almost beyond my miming skills, no fear we did indeed pull it off. To all you out there who fear I will forever eat at McDonald’s until I am back state side, do not worry because I will try all that my weak stomach will allow here in Korea.

We could not get on to the Internet at Mickey D’s because of their internet being in Hangul and not supporting Macs. We tried to go upstairs to something called a PC Bang where they play on computers but it was completely full and the dude there just stared at us while we tried to communicate to him. Our fellow teacher Liz suggested we sit in a coffee shop so that is exactly what we did.

We shot off a couple emails, checked up on Facebook and attempted to post blogs before my computer ran out of battery. We had been invited to go out to dinner that night with Liz and a couple of her friends and so we headed back to the apartment to shower and relax before going out.

The hot water becomes hot when you turn on the hot water heater. The hot water heater looks like a funky thermostat all in Hangul. That morning I had stared at the water heater, pressed every button on it, and even yelled a bit but could not get the hot water to run. I tried again before we went out to dinner and well this time I turned it on and let it set for awhile. It worked!

Something to explain, now that I have my hot water working there is a little trick to Korean showers. Your bathroom is your shower. There is a toilet, a sink, and a showerhead that you can pull off the wall and use to clean yourself. There is a drain on the floor and a metal shield over your toilet paper and you are just suppose to turn it on and go crazy.

I stop my story again to ask if you have ever felt the need to veer off the road, step off a tall building, push over a precariously balanced vase, or touch a hot stove? Using the shower is vindicating, freeing, and odd.

You stand there and just shower while water falls to the floor, spills over the toilet lid, and wets the outside portion of your sink. It runs down your body and flows to the drain puddle-ing gently on your bathroom floor. It puddles just enough that you feel the need to wipe it up as if you had spilled a glass of water but you don’t. You resist the urge to mop up your bathroom and the mess you have made the entire time you shower. When you finish the bathroom, wet and all, simply becomes a bathroom again. It is quite the experience!

After showering I changed into clean clothes and we met downstairs with Liz and her two friends. They were all great! Every one of them has been in the country for over three years and loves it. They are from England and South Africa, and they have experienced quite a bit of Korea and the surrounding areas. Their stories ranged from the Public bathhouses to the nearby ski slopes. Their stories flowed from them throughout all of dinner. A couple of the stories revolved around eating the legs off of a live octopus as it slowly dies in front of you or eating a squid that has just been boiled in front of you. A bit barbaric but I am sure some of the things we do in America reflect similarly on the Koreans...

Anyways,we had the pleasure of having them order for us and explain what came to the table. Apparently in Korea it is customary to give quite a few side dishes as appetizers for free. We had pickled radish, corn salad, spicy soup, and (gross me out) silkworm pupae/ larva. One of the girls offered it to me coyly but just looking at the fried crispy larvae made me want to retch. Sean immediately gobbled one up upon being offered it. We all laughed and cringed (and by laughed I mean I just cringed) as he consumed the crunchy treat. I can safely say I will jump out of a perfectly good airplane relying on only a piece of cloth to safe me but I will not, cannot eat bugs. Sean was all about embracing culture and odd foods, good for him =]

Dinner was pork in the form of inch and a half thick bacon/ pork belly. They put it right in front of you on your personal table stove and you cook it yourself. They bring out tongs and scissors, and when you are almost done you can cut it up and everyone will reach for pieces off of the stove. There are no plates per se, you just pick up a flat piece of lettuce, place your meat, radish, onion, etc into it. Then you kind of ball it together, dip it in the spicy sauce, and chow down. I really liked it!

We learned that when you pour for someone it is proper to use two hands. You hold the bottle with one hand and then place your other hand on your pouring arm in varying distances from the bottle when properly pouring. If you are pouring for a stranger maybe you will place your second hand on your forearm close to your wrist. When you pour for your boss you place that second hand all the way up by your armpit to show respect. Also you cannot pour for yourself, someone should pour for you and then you for them.

The dinner ended with us sharing oversized bottles of Korean beer (Cass beer) and we sampled a deceptively strong liquor whose name I cannot currently remember. Everything went down smoothly and we had all enjoyed a luxurious night out for dinner for 10,000 won (less than nine dollars a piece!) 

We walked around outside while one of the girls had a smoke break, just sharing stories and having them point out useful things around our house. It was refreshing to speak with a group of people in English without worrying about them not being able to understand if you talk to fast or rather if you talk at all. I found myself slipping heavily into a British accident and did my best to speak normally. But their accents sounded wonderful. They were fast and crude, clipped and had texture. I felt like my own voice was boring and lacked pizazz.

We left them to go back home and do a little unpacking. We had classes the next day and wanted to make sure that everything was in order for it. I was only mildly nervous about the next day because we were not going to be teaching, we were to be observing Liz’s classes for the day. I was excited to finally see where we would be working and what we would be doing. Sean and I both were ready to begin but please don’t think our readiness meant we weren’t nervous.

My final note that I will leave you with is the Koreans’ obsession and intrigue with foreigners. At dinner, in the roads, everywhere, Koreans flocked to get a good view of us. They wanted to shout hellos and then proceed to squeal in delight when we responded in same. The children called out “Me Gook? Me Gook?” aka “American? American?” It was amusing to see them do this but Sean and I both agree that it will get old quick. I am highly considering yelling back “Korean! Korean!” and then laughing at whatever response I get in return…

 P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I forgot my camera at home for the night out to dinner = /

Time Travelers

(Pictures will be posted at a later date)

Leaving home was very difficult. I was saying good-bye to my home, my family, and my pets as well as my familiar pattern and way of doing my everyday life. I was saying good-bye to more things than I could know at that time.

We got up really early, and we had a quick shower and breakfast. I wanted to be able to have time to say good-bye and get ready. We were waking up from literally an hour nap. We were up packing and sorting and worrying the night before.  I have to admit that leaving my family has always been difficult for me. People wouldn’t think so because I am always the one to sign up for the adventures that take me away from home and away from communication. But I really hate leaving them, and I really hate not being able to see them. Leaving for a year was going to hurt. And mostly because I have no sense of time and cannot wrap my mind around how long or short a year actually is.

My doggies were together on  the floor in the living room when I was ready to leave. I knelt down next to them murmuring their names. Jackie and Riley both gave me happy wags and leaned into the feel of my hands running the length of their bodies. I wanted to hold onto them forever, I wanted to better explain what was happening, I wanted to not leave the most right at that moment.

I am so scared that my good-bye to Jackie will be my last. She’s my best friend and I still don’t feel like I’ve thanked her enough for all she’s does for me, for all she’s done. Riley and I lived together in Tallahassee and it breaks my heart to leave him for a year. We bonded so well that I hate leaving him for the weekend let alone for this long. Lucky for me my dog and father are sneaks and cheats, and have managed to find themselves very close. I am so jealous and yet completely reassured by this development.

Walking out of the house I knew I would be back for my doggies and did my best not to look at them while they watched me leave. My family has tried to reassure me that I will be able to see my dogs over Skype, but they can’t visually recognize me through the screen nor can they hear me seeing as how they are both going deaf. I miss them so much already.

Our goodbyes, going through security, and getting on the plane happened so fast. It seems a blur looking back at it. I slept the majority of the first two flights and part of the long one. My eyes ached from the crying I had done. My mind strained to imprint the faces of my family so I wouldn’t miss them so much.

The long plane ride we had over the Pacific was almost 11 and a half hours. We each had our own screens on the seat in front of us. We had free socks and tooth brushes! The food was phenomenal and we had two full meals. The first one that I had was a fried rice dish with beef and kimchi. It came with bread and cheese and dessert., to say the least I was very impressed. The second meal that we had was the Indian food. I couldn’t tell you exactly what we ate but it had peas and curry, it was served on a bed of rice, and was again delicious!

I struggled to sit still for so long. I switched seats with Sean and managed to sleep for a little bit. I watched the movie “How to Train Your Dragon” which is one of my favorite movies ever =] I watched episodes from the Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and the New Girl. I also managed tot each myself how to count from zero to twenty in Korean!  This was a great accomplishment for me. Believe it or not I found that part of their music selection included Adele… Let’s not lie I listened to that a couple times. It was not as rewarding because I couldn’t belt it out loud but it was still really good to hear something familiar.

Getting off the plane in Seoul was as much a relief as it was nerve wrecking. We had been on the plane for over 11 hours and we were ready to stretch our legs but I was not quite sure if taking on everything new was worth the room to move.

We left the plane taking with us of course the free pillow and blanket. We walked up the gangplank and… into an airport. It looked just like an airport, like all the airports I had been to. The only difference was the language and the people. The signs had some English on them and we were able to get onto the train and off at the baggage claim.

As aforementioned things going from West to East seem to be free or free-er. Another example is the cart we acquired to help carry all of our luggage. Besides being poorly designed it was just like the carts we use in the States but this time it was free!  We balanced our luggage on the cart and had a momentary celebration that everything we brought made it to its final destination.

Our next little stop would be to buy bus tickets to get from Incheon to Jeonju. We found a little information desk, the woman spoke some English and she told us where we wanted to go and where to get the tickets for it. While Sean waited in line I ran over to use the bathroom. I was for some reason mildly shocked that the bathroom looked normal. I don’t know what I was expecting! But I do not think it was for everything to look normal.

I made it back to Sean just as he was ready to buy the tickets. We got our tickets and had maybe fifteen minutes to spare before the bus left. I made my way over to a pay phone and finally figured out how to use it. It looked like the pay phone I had used in the States but did not act like one. I feel like this one was more expensive as well -___-

I called both the recruiter and the girl who would be meeting us at the Jeonju bus stop. They both were excited that we had made it with no hiccups and that we were going to be on our way soon. We left the pay phones and went out to where our bus was already waiting. We showed our tickets to the guy and he seemed to agree that we were in the right place by pointing to the underbelly of the bus. This was another difference from America, the drivers are usually kind of enough to help you/ they want you to tip them well so they help you. This guy just stood there… Thanks bud.

The first half of the bus ride went by in a hurry. We got on the bus, there was once again no ability to get any Wifi to communicate with my family back home and I felt a twinge of sorrow. I did what I could to shake it and started to look around me. The bus was leaving the airport and everything looked so normal but not quite the same all at once. There were so many Koreans and nobody else.

The bus had a television that played loud enough for the whole bus to hear. This was unfortunate because of what was playing on the TV. Some sort of Korean Sister Show to American Idol/ America’s Got Talent was playing. I thought it was amusing at first and then quickly became annoyed with it. None of them could sing! Some of the contestants could not even carry a proper tune!

Keep in mind that it was still light out at this time and we did direct our attention intermittently from the television to what was outside. We passed over a number of suspension bridges, and saw many cabled decorative upraised walkways and building tops. We saw a few areas with numerous high rises but they looked funny. It did not take me long to realize that the reason they looked funny was because they all looked the same. The buildings seem to vary slightly which was a different feel completely then any city skyline in the United States.

Another odd thing  was their cell phone towers. They seemed to have wanted to disguise them instead of having them stand there. They were all much shorter than our towers, not as shiny, and were a dark metal. The towers each had two layers of “branches” protruding from its sides… I believe they were trying to blend them in but I’ll have you know there was no fooling me =]

I did my best to look around and see what we were passing but sleep soon overcame me. I once again delved into a deep catnap. The bus switching off and everyone getting off for the break woke me quite suddenly. The bus driver was out the door and headed towards the rest area by the time we had stood up out of our seats. We had no idea how long we had to find food and restrooms or even where we were suppose to go. Frustrated we headed towards the main building and found what we were looking for.

Nothing was in English. Pictures and Korean names represented all the foods; nothing looked familiar and nothing sounded appetizing. Sean quickly chose a dish as I agonized over my food choice. I eventually picked something with a name too long to remember that looked vaguely like what I had eaten at the Korean restaurant in Tallahassee. It was a bit of a cop out but I couldn’t help it!

We got our food and began eating. Sean wolfed down what he wanted and then went in search of bottled water. I sat with my food in front of me struggling with the chopsticks. I know how to use chopsticks but I am no pro. Not to mention that the chopsticks I am use to are round where as these chopsticks are flat. Flat! I had the hardest time trying to restrain my rice noodles and bring them up to my mouth.

I was intimidated by all the people, the different food, and the lost feeling of knowing I could probably not get back to the bus on my own without directions. I must of looked pretty sorry because the ladies behind the counter came up to me with a fork and an encouraging smile. Smiling back I felt like crying, what a nice gesture.

It was a good thing that she was so nice because within 2 minutes of her being really thoughtful our bus driver showed up in a total huff. He was blabbing away in Korean about how the whole bus was waiting for us, we were suppose to be back, blah blah blah. This guy was so rude. He didn’t even tell us when to be back on the bus and we had not even been off the bus for 30 minutes! What a jerk. No worries, I did not let him phase me! We politely apologized and then apologized to our bus as we got on. The bus driver was the only one who seemed even remotely bent out of shape.

I watched a little more on the Korean T.V. and then went back to sleep for the duration of the bus ride. We got off safely at the Core Hotel in Jeonju and immediately found Liz, and her friend Marsha. We all made our quick introductions and then they noticed how much stuff we had with us… They were pretty surprised we had been allowed to bring so much with us.

It took two cabs to get us and all the stuff over to where we live. It was at this point in the night we found out we live on the third floor of a building with no elevator. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It seems to be a reoccurring pattern in my life. We all pitched in and got it upstairs pretty quick. Liz and Marsha left us to our rooms and we were going to meet up the next night.

First things first I found the sheets to the bed and how to work the A/C. We had enough pillows and enough sheets to make a complete bed. It was almost midnight by the time we had finished putting the sheets on the bed and I knew that it was time for us to retire. Sean was beat from not having slept most of the day but I still wanted to be up for just awhile longer.

Taking a quick shot of Nyquil and settling down with my book “Eat, Pray, Love”. I got in some good reading but it really wasn’t all too long before my eyes started to close. I couldn’t believe we had actually made it! The excitement was the last thing I thought of as sleep claimed me.

We Meet Again

The sight of the water coming over the bridge made me breathe a little easier, it had been too long since I laid eyes on it. I had slept most of the drive to Sanibel, my heart hurt after leaving my friend.

My sorrow was pushed aside for a wonderful weekend trip with my family. We started it off with a delicious brunch at one of the local joints. Good food and good service was the right way to start off this mini vacation.

We were going to be staying at an amazing place right on the beach! We checked into the hotel and immediately went out to the beach. I couldn't help myself, memories from being here as a kid washed over me the minute my eyes found the beach and the shells!

We all got changed and proceeded to spend the rest of the day looking for shells on the beach and on the sandbars. The pickings were slim as the day was drawing to an end but I think walking out there with my parents strategically covering as much ground as possible while moving at a snail's pace.

Father's Day had officially come and gone while I was out on my road trip so we had a celebration now that we were all together. We spent the evening playing Shang-hai and Apples to Apples. My mom had brought tons of food and even the ingredients for a little cake for my papa.

We woke up the next morning and had a wonderful feast for breakfast! Eggs, Sausage, cheeses and breads, fruit, and potatoes, yum! It was great to sit around the table with my family and enjoy a wonderful meal together.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach throwing frisbee, visiting the lighthouse, and driving through the nature preserve. We just relaxed and hung out.

My family is beautiful. We have our ups and downs, we cry and laugh and can sincerely enjoy one another. We fight bitterly and love completely. They mean the world to me.

From an outsiders point of view you can only see the big picture. It looks good, and it looks normal. It looks like everyone else's. The details are so hard to make out.

But when you take a closer look there is nothing in our picture but us. We stand together unevenly and nonconforming. We have each other through everything in our lives, including all the problems and disappointments we bring to one another. Nothing is ever perfect but our family is perfectly flawed.

I love you guys and could never thank you enough for all you do, for all you have done.

Peace, Love, and Family.