Why I love Korea

Why do I love Korea? It's not so much that there is awesome stuff to see (which there is), or that there are a lot of cultural things to do (which there are) - but I love Korea because of the people. I get to hang out and work with some of the coolest, kindest, funnest people out there. They have made my move and transition into Korea as smooth as could possibly be. From my school director and manager who furnished my apartment and always ask me if there's anything else I need, to my Korean live saver Joanne who's helped with so many things they're too innumerable to count, to Haejin and Chris - Korean friends that I knew in the States and are still my friends, to all the singles in the English ward who befriended me without question. These people are amazing and without them I probably would have been huddled in the fetal position in a corner of my small apartment crying. But I'm not - instead I'm loving life and having a blast. So to all of them - 감사합니다 - or in other words thank you!

Haejin and I at Olympic Park


Chris Kim!


When you hang out with cool people, they tend to do cool things - like putting on "Bob's House of Blues" where lovely and talented people can perform. This is Bob's girlfriend, Young Joo playing a traditional Korean instrument.

BSB = Awesome

That's right folks - in the heart of Seoul my lovely friends and I ventured to a Backstreet Boys concert. And it was awesome. It brought back so many memories to hear all the old classics, and it made me fall in love with them all over again. It helped that the venue was small and we were seriously, and I'm talking seriously, twenty feet from the stage. Some of you may mock me, some may think I'm lame, some may judge me, but I don't care because I had a freakin' wonderful time.


Amber and I waiting with excitement.

This Korean guy came to the concert by himself so we befriended him. His name is Jin-Hon. Mark is in the middle.


BSB!!!


Howie


Brian


AJ


Nick

Teaching quirks

I had to post this because it made me laugh out loud - right in my teachers' office. I laughed because it is so true. My students say the exact same thing...

Korean men in short shorts

And really, what more could you want besides that? Don't worry, the men's short shorts aren't a fashion on the street (at least not yet anyway, it is still winter). Instead it was fashion on the volleyball court. Jess, Cindy, Sarah, and I watched professional men's volleyball on Saturday - the Wooricapital Dream 6 vs. the Samsung Bluefangs. We were rooting for Dream 6 because they were the home team, but unfortunately they lost. Total bummer. But the game was fun to watch, and the cheering was extreme - especially from Cindy. And those guys have some major hops. Please enjoy the photo evidence of the day.


The men in their shorts.


Me giving the thumbs up to Korean professional volleyball - and the shorts.


The Samsung Bluefangs after they won - see number 12, the one that's a head taller than everyone else? That would be the one white guy on their team.


And just for good measure we had to take a picture with the whole team of Dream 6. Because they lost they needed some cheering up so I gave them some smooches.

I think I'm turning Korean...kind of

On Wednesday after work, Joanne and I decided to de-stress so we headed to the Jimjilbang - aka sauna. They give you shorts and a t-shirt to change into, then we headed to the locker room. In the locker room I saw A LOT of naked Korean women. After sweating in the sauna they all take showers, and seeing as how Korea doesn't believe in full sized towels, everyone just walks around naked. They are completely unselfconscious about it. Part of me wished I could be like that, but I'm most definitely not. After changing, Joanne and I headed upstairs. The sauna is huge - there's a big main room that's nice and cozy warm, then there are a ton of smaller rooms that are hot; like the mud room (there wasn't really mud in there, just brown, brick walls), the salt room (there were actually little salt rocks in that one), the oxygen room (I'm guessing they pump in oxygen), and the silver cave room (everything was painted, you guessed, silver). The mud and salt rooms were 61 degrees Celsius, i.e. 140 degrees Fahrenheit,and the silver cave was 118 degrees. It felt nice to go in and sweat everything out. The other rooms were nice and comfy temps. It was a relaxing day. I think I'm a fan of the Jimjilbang.

Tonight I went to meet my friend Chris (Seong-Cheon) for dinner. On the metro ride over a Korean guy actually said hi to me. It was just too bad he happened to be kind of old and balding. Then when I was in the metro stop waiting for Chris this really tall (for a Korean, he was probably 6'1"), cute guy smiled at me! I smiled back - I was in heaven for about 30 seconds before his girlfriend showed up. Chris came and said he wanted to eat spaghetti, but I didn't feel like spaghetti. When I told Chris that he said, "Good, I was just saying that for you. I thought you didn't like Korean food." But because I love Korean food (well, some of it)we had a nice dinner of Sam Gip Some - grilled pork with lots of side dishes. It was a nice evening with a friend and good food. What more can I ask for?

The fun just keeps on coming

I've had another fun filled weekend, and this one was even better because I had Monday off for Lunar New Year. It all started late Friday night when we got a bonus at work - some cash and a gift set with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and like six tubes of toothpaste. I'll never have to buy toothpaste again during my stay in Korea.

Saturday we had a singles activity. The first part was a photo scavenger hunt. It was fun running around Seoul with our group taking random pictures of odd things and strangers. Like this guy:


After the scavenger hunt we had pizza, and then it was dance time! There wasn't a huge group but it was still a ton of fun. Everyone was dancing and goofing off and just enjoying themselves.

With having Monday off a couple of friends and I decided to explore some Korean culture. We headed to the National Folk Museum where they had tents for crafts and such. I refrained from making anything seeing as how the tents were crammed with Korean kids. But they also had drum performances outside as well. Like this:




After watching some drumming and even some break dancing we headed into the palace museum called Gyeongbokgung. It is really huge with a lot of buildings all over. Some parts look like this:




After awhile at the palace we had pretty much turned to popsicles because it was freezing. So we went to the bookstore and then to Starbucks for some hot chocolate. It was a lovely if freezing day. And I even found a boyfriend! Check him out, he's very tall...

More great experiences

On Saturday I went to the Seoul Temple to do baptisms for the dead. I'd been to the Seoul temple when I was on my mission and had to do a visa run to Korea, so it was neat to be able to go back. And of course the temple is always a great place to go. Afterward, Sarah, Jessica and I all went to eat at a Mexican place called On the Border. It was actually pretty good and we had the most adorable waiter who whispered English to us and was probably all of 19 years old. Then we headed to the Seoul Arts Center to see an art exhibit titled From Monet to Picasso. There was some amazing paintings there. And I'll tell you that being 6' tall came in handy when I didn't want to stand in line; instead I just looked at the art over all of the Koreans heads.

Sunday was a very long day at church but it was worth it. We got to hear Elder Oaks speak at a fireside in our church building. It was amazing to see a sea of Korean members packed into the church to hear Elder Oaks, even though he didn't speak their language (but of course there was translation). It just goes to show the power of the gospel and the great blessing we have to have apostles. It was a very good day.


Me and Joanne - my Korean life savior.


Jessica and Sarah in front of the temple.


View of Seoul from the temple.

One Month Mark

I've been in Korea for one month, and I can hardly believe it. The time has flown by, and it's been great and exciting and tiring and hard and fun. I'm so glad I came here and get to teach English to a bunch of middle schoolers (punks that they may be) and experience all this crazy stuff that is foreign and wonderful to me.

Things I'm grateful for here in Korea:

- Joanne: my coworker and friend and basic savior when it comes to all things Korean.

- The Church and the crazy group of singles that I get to hang out with.

- Korean food. Some of it is weird, but for the most part I really like it.

- The Burger King that is right by my work (because as much as I like Korean food, I must admit that sometimes I just feel like a burger).

- The metro system: it may be huge but it's super convienent and clean.

- Korean shopping: I like to shop and you can pretty much shop anywhere here in Seoul. Korea gets an A+ for their accesories. They have awesome earrings, rings, headbands, and hair clips. If I'm not careful I could overrun my tiny apartment with them.

- My tiny apartment: the fact that I have a warm place to live and I get to live there by myself. And even if it's tiny it makes it easier to clean.

- Kpop: I'm a converted fan of Korean music. In fact I just bought two CDs today, 2AM and CNBLUE. Check them out if you have a chance.

- Tall, cute Korean guys. The tall ones perhaps are few and far between but they do exist, and I love me some eye candy in the form of a well dressed Korean guy. And even though I can't actually talk to them, the looking is enough for me at the moment.

- The internet. I can write this blog and keep in contact with all my friends back in the dear US of A.

Kpop

Korea has a musical phenomenon called Kpop, basically Korean pop music. Right now the "in" thing are groups - boy groups and girl groups. The more members, the younger and prettier they are the better. There is one boy group called Super Junior that has 13 members. 13!!! That's just crazy. Seeing as how I teach teenagers I thought it was important to learn about Kpop, and I have to admit that I kind of like it.

Right now, my favorite song is by a group called 2AM. It's called Can't Let You Go, Even If I Die. I have no idea what they are saying, but it is very pretty, and they are very pretty too.



There is another group called 2PM (yes that's right, one called 2AM the other 2PM), that has this song called Heartbeat. Their hair is really weird, but I like their dance moves.