Today was a busy day here in Korea, it started with an English lesson at Violet's house with Violet, Eric and Eugene. They are all so smart! Today we learned about helping verbs. Eric walked me to the building where he takes art classes, the son of his art teacher wants English lessons so I went to set up a time that we could study. He was really nice but he was so confused as to why I didn't want coffee or tea. He later told me that it is customary when someone comes over that you give them coffee or tea and cookies and it helps them to know that you are comfortable. so I guess he thought it was awkward. He got over it, he was a nice guy. Later the family and I went on the subway to find the church that I will go to. It is really close. A short walk then 2 stops on the train and another short walk. When we got to the church we ran into some American Missionaries, one was from Montana and the other was from Colorado maybe? I think Colorado. They were playing ping-pong in the church with an investigator. there were also four other Korean ladies there. They were so nice, one kept feeding me popcorn and pine nuts. I knew they were all talking about me because they would talk and point. Sometimes Jae Eun would translate but sometimes I just had to smile and nod. I have no idea what is going on when they speak Korean. luckily the missionaries speak English and they told me that there is a lady in the ward that speaks fluent English. The lady that kept feeding us has a daughter and son that live in Provo they go to BYU and are taking an English course. I think they will be back on Thursday, she wants her daughter and I to be friends and she wanted to know how I was doing with the food. Everyone is so concerned about what I am eating and if I like it. After we found the church we went and ate Chinese food at China Factory. It was a pretty cool place. I had dim sum Jae Eun just told me that they use to throw offerings to the sea in China and sometimes they would throw heads into the sea, one day people got smart and they used dim sum, they would use pork and meat and fill a bag to make it look like a head and throw that to the sea instead. So i guess I ate a tiny fake head. I liked a couple of them but one was aweful! We also had some smoked duck that you wrap in a tortilla with peppers and some sweet sauce. It was like a duck fajita, it was so good! We also had some shrimp noodle soup that you put on a plate and eat with chop sticks. . it was difficult and I guess Eun Young (Jae Eun's Husband) didn't like watching me struggle so he got me a fork, I was determined to use the stupid chopsticks! After dinner we walked home Jae Eun thought it would be a good idea because we had eaten so many calories, she was probably right. Oh earlier today before I went to teach I made scrambled eggs for breakfast. Minseo thought it was delicious :) and for lunch Jae Eun made soy sauce pork. Don't worry dad, I tried it!

Different.

They use burnt wood, Jae Eun says that it helps take harmful chemicals out of the air and helps filter out smells. So there is burnt wood in all the rooms. . So far, its not filtering any smells. Or maybe it is and they would be a lot stronger if we didn't have pieces of burnt wood in every room.

I guess there are no parking laws here. People pretty much park wherever they want. Including in the middle of the road and double parking.  i don't quite understand it.

They have a clothes washer but no dryer. Electricity and gas are expensive so they just hang dry things inside the apartment. the dishwasher is so tiny it fits right on the counter! We need one for the houseboat. They have a full stove but no oven and i haven't seen a microwave yet. .

Day Two

Today I attempted to eat breakfast. I woke up to the smell of curry. . I guess they eat curry for breakfast. Luckly Eric likes cereal sometimes. Jae Eun handed me a box of Kellog's Fruit Loops but they were called Fruit Rings. The box and design was exactly like the one in America. Brightly colored fruit loops in a bowl of milk. When I opened the box, however, this was NOT the case. It was filled with yellow, brown and yellowish brown. I poured myself a bowl and took a bite. Yep, just as I suspected, tastes like cardboard! I forced half of it down not even chewing most of it. It didn't kill me but it threatened to.
Finally, we made it to Costco. Pizza here I come. Don't worry, it tasted just like Costco pizza in America. I was the only foreigner in the Costco. We bought stuff to make Spaghetti which I made for dinner, stuff for tacos (carly suey would be proud) and Cheerios. Hopefully they're more like the real thing than Fruit Loops ha. I guess I'll find out when I decide to eat breakfast tomorrow.

The Costco was crazy. I should have taken pictures but I didn't. the Costco had escalators without the stairs for the carts because it was a 4 story Costco. it was intense!

First Day In Seoul

After a flight that took half my life from SLC, to Portland. Portland to Tokyo. Tokyo to Seoul.  When I arrived in Portland I decided I should probably get something American to eat. Sadly, Wendy's was the only thing I saw and it was gross but I ate it anyway because the next stop was Asia and I knew I'd be hard pressed to find anything American there. I was right. we even got hand rolls on the plane from Tokyo to Seoul which I didn't eat. . . they looked a little questionable.
When I arrived in Tokyo this American guy that is a teacher here he recognized me from the flight from Portland and helped me find the connecting flight to Seoul and when we got off the plane in Seoul he helped me through customs and through the Seoul airport. He told me some interesting things about Korea, like they have a Costco Wholesale! He also told me that Korea was the Mexico of Asia. I didn't quite understand it until I got into Jae Eun's car and we left the fancy new air port and started driving into Seoul. There are a lot of big buildings but Jae Eun was telling me that they don't fix anything. the just wait until its about to fall over then the rip it down and build an new building. The building that Jae Eun lives in is very old. She says you can tell by how tall the buildings are. The new ones are very tall the older ones are not.