Meeting, eating, dressing

I've met people! I met 2 guys in the subway station, one was Hungarian (Tamas) and the other was Russian--from Moscow (Ilya). Figured they spoke english so it'd be safe to go to the Korean War Memorial Museum with them, so I did, and there I met a Canadian, South Carolinian, and Australian. They were all just like you'd expect, the Aussy had a cool accent and the Canadian said "eh" all over the place. I also met Andrew, who is just down the hall from me in the hotel and will be teaching in the same school as me. He's from Utah, went to Westminster College as a history major, is Korean American and handy to have around b/c he speaks enough to ask questions and be semi-specific. There's Amy, who is next door, also Korean American though grew up in Queens, and speaks some, went to Cornell as a communications major, just left the Peace Corps (where she was in Uzbekistan for a year and a half as a health volunteer) to come here. Andy and I went to eat yesterday (I went hardcore Korean w/ the food the day before, so I had to get American nourishment) and saw 2 missionaries who were definitely American. Of course we had to talk to them, and much to Andy's excitement, they were from Utah. (Side note: Did you know those guys PAY to do that work? $8-10k! They place you anywhere in the world and you are stuck there for 2 years! No sort of payment, just spending money for food, no visitors allowed) So they gave us their business card and suggested we hang out. Now, I'm all about going to new places with new people, but if they expect to convert me to LDS, ain't happenin'! I just wanted to speak anything but broken english to someone, and they were good candidates. Also, was walking into a building yesterday and saw a guy walking out. I asked if he was American (so many are European and Canadian) and he was from Texas!!! This is the first fellow southerner I've encountered- wahoo! (Hey, I know he's from Texas, but you have to make exceptions somewhere. I only see a few, MAYBE 3, Americans each day). I got a high five from him.

The food isn't bad, but it takes some getting used to. Rice comes with everything, no surprises there. But last night when I went w/ Amy and Andy to a Korean restaurant, one of the billion side dishes they bring out with your meal was this fish stuff. Looked like potato strings, but a little thinner and not all straight, but they had EYES! I couldn't try them. Amy and Andy grew up on them. I just couldn't eat something looking at me, even if it was cooked. Speaking of eating weird things, dog is delicacy here, and neither of my counterparts have ever had it-- so that's a relief.

Also got ripped off for the first time. I went to get a pedicure and they said it was $30,which is a bit up there even for the US, but I was like-- ok fine. When they were done, said it was $50! If I knew how to argue with them I would've at least said they should tell you that stuff... but c'est la vie I guess! Andy and I paid $2.50 for a freakin notebook, too. It probably has 50 pages that're 3/4 the size of a normal one. It was such an ordeal to find it that we just went ahead and paid. No luck on an address book either as they all have Korean characters rather than our alphabet, so I had to get a smaller blank notebook and make my own.

Oh! Not that many of you care to hear the story of my undergarments, but I thought this was interesting. Well, I brought white pants to wear to training. Which indicates you wear undies that don't leave a panty line. Andy informed me that anyone wearing a thong is considered a hoochie, but that I should go ahead b/c white girls are hoochies anyway. Well, what a relief that is. Hmph.

Anywho, it's 430am here, so I need to get back to sleep (I went to bed at 9) and get ready for training tomorrow! Hope all is well back in the USofA!

PS- Jacques, check your GMail, I sent you my dad's #.


Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed