The Second!

So the names will get more creative as we go...hopefully..

Anyways. Most of you probably already know that when going on a trip the planning starts wayyyyyy before you actually go. My planning for Korea went like this: i want to go, mom says no, i say yes, stress, money problems, miscommunication, issues, stress, money problems, excitement, more money issues, pack, leave.

BUTTT on the way here there were some issues. When Kim and I landed in Japan they didn't want to let Kim into the country because she had yet to make her visa (our school said it was fine) so we waited while they called Korea and they let us in! THENN in Korea they didn't want to let me in because when they made my visa they made a mistake. Instead of a 1 year visa, I had a 1 day visa... oops. I had to sit in the office while they fixed it and they were all laughing saying how funny it is. Then instead of giving it to me for 1 year they gave me a 6 month one, so I have to renew it. After that things went pretty smoothly.

Once here Kim and I went straight to our home. Our home is a 하숙집 (ha sook jip) which is a boarding house. A lady and her family owns a house and there are about 10 students who live here. She makes breakfast and dinner everyday for us (included in rent!!). We share our "apartment" with one other girl. Think of it as an apartment that you get into from the outside of the building. Once you open the door there is a mini kitchen and mini fridge. Then there are two rooms. Kim and I share one and the girl has the other one. We also share a bathroom. I've never actually met her. Every time I say hi (in Korean) she puts her head down and walks away :(

Now on to the good stuff: what I've done since I've gotten here!
The first couple days was unpacking, buying necessary items for the apartment(TP, Shampoo, etc) and meeting old friends. 이모  (owner of the house) pronounced "emo" took us to the market to buy stuff and it was hard. She speaks no English and kept asking us questions and pointing at things saying "you need to buy" but we had no idea what it was. We later figured out it was fabric softener and laundry detergent.  Kim and I met a lot of friends, ate delicious food and shopped a lot.

Story Time!!
 We went to a place called Dongdaemun and had a horrific run in with a sales clerk. Kim just pointed at this cute jacket so the sales clerk pulled her into the stall and made her try it on. They then made me try on something. They tried to get me to squat down and take my shirt off so I could see what it looked like without a shirt on underneath. Okay so let me explain, the shops at these "malls" are not like ours. They are about 6' wide and 3' deep. If you are at a department store they are like our malls but smaller, and more expensive. Any ways, I just tried it on over my shirt but didn't really like it. So they start putting the clothes in a bag, Kim and I look at each other like uhhhh???? We tell the lady "Sorry we don't like it, we arent going to buy it" and she goes ape shit. Starts yelling at us and grabbing us and wont let us leave. Kim and I literally ran while apologizing and avoided that part of the mall.

We started school last Wednesday and were placed into level 2. At first I was really nervous and didn't get what was going on but I'm doing okay now. The class is taught entirely in Korean, no English allowed. I have people in my class from Belgium, France, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. It's interesting trying to communicate with each other because none of us really share a common language, except Korean.


That's about the extent of what has happened so far..
The future post will be shorter, with pictures and kept up to date. This was a catch up post (which I did a horrible job on, sorry).

Until next time,
Stephanie