"If you drink well, they are going to LOVE you!"

This is what our lecturer said today!

Drinking is VERY IMPORTANT in Korean culture! He said that if we are asked to go to dinner with a Korean friend or co-worker, it will start with the meal, lead to drinking, and will ALWAYS end at a norebang! (Kareokee) One of the girls in our class asked, “Can we say, “”No Thank you”” when they offer us soju (Korean liquor).” His answer was, “No, no… you don’t say no. It’s very rude!” He also said that In Korea, your shot glass WILL be refilled within 3 seconds if it’s empty!

As far as school policy on drinking goes, THERE IS NONE! Teachers drink alcohol during the school day! No joke! Not only that, there is a school budget for teacher dinner and drink outings!

Looks like I better find a Korean drink I like... and FAST!

Funny stuff!

We were in our 2nd lecture this morning, which happened to be all about songs and chants for elementary students! We had a Korean teacher who was talking about a dance she does to one of the songs she sings with her students. She was showing us the motions and said, “At this part, you need to use your spiritual fingers!" (translation: spirit fingers!) Hilarious!

Josie!

Kevin and I sat down for breakfast next to a darling girl from England. She introduced herself as “Josie.” After a couple minutes, Kevin looked down at her name tag and said, “Oh my gosh! You have the same name as my grandma. Her maiden name was Josephine Miller!” Kevin’s grandma was an AMAZING woman that was loved by all! Seeing her name again made us both smile!

I love field trips!

Today was our big field trip to the Korean Folk Village! We all loaded onto a greyhound type bus and off we went!  2 tangerines, and 1 hour later, we arrived!  We were each grouped with a tour guide that was supposed to take us around and explain what everything was, but our tour guide spoke sooooo slowly, my impatience got the best of me, and before I knew it, I was wandering all about the park without the official group! (I know, I was a bad girl!) Here are some pictures from the day! ENJOY

This was called the "Wild Flower Garden"

This was some some sort of honey/nut candy!   We watched the guy hand make it within 1 minute.   He took a huge chunk of solid honey and started stretching it out and dipping it in flour and then folding it, and refolding it, over and over and over again until wala... it became this stringy white candy! He then took a spoon full of the nut mixture, poured it onto the candy, folded that over a couple times, and this is what we got! It tasted sooo good and apparently has been a famous Korean candy enjoyed by Kings for years and years.


I loved this! It was a very, very large stone that had rope tied around it.  Attached to the rope, people had written, on small pieces of paper, their hopes and wishes for their family or friends.

Kevin's wish...

Kevin tying his wish to the wall.


This picture is for our nephew Caeden, who for some reason keeps asking Kevin's sister and husband if we've seen the animals on our "vacation" yet!   Yep, Caeden, we have seen the animals!   :)

This is a replica of an ancient farmer's home. Each room is entered from the outside of the home. (Kevin and I, Colin, Carlos (Mayo) and his wife Jessica)

I'm not totally sure what the purpose of these sticks were, but I tried it using them none the less. The woman in the picture below was super excited to help me! What you don't see in this picture are the 75 + people watching! It was quite the spectacle! You know how I love to be the center of attention! :)



I felt like I was famous, because the lady who helped me with the sticks wanted me to take a picture with her family!  haha!


Just some cute little HAPPY piggies that were hand made in the village.


Kevin has (had) an Obama pin that he had pinned to his bag. Our EPIK team leader, Yong, REALLY liked it, so he gave it to her today!  She was so excited about the gift, and immediately attached it to her name tag, which we have to wear at ALL TIMES!


Me and Kevers, randomly throughout the park.




In ancient days, Koreans would mush their rice this way!  I'm not sure what the mushed rice was/is used for, but it was fun to mush it none the less!  I happened to be in the right place at the right time and was offered a chance to try!  That darn thing was SOOO heavy!


I found this little girl and had to take a picture with her... we had MATCHING SHOES for goodness sake!



Some of our new friends on the stepping stones in the river that ran through the park. (Carlos, Colin, Rob, Me, Kate, Daniel, and Kevin)


This was an AWESOME traditional drum/dance performance! Check out the guys doing crazy flips in the air!

I think this picture was the official "We are tourists" picture for the day!

How adorable is this guy, and how funny is his hat?!


The Teeter-Tawter / See-Saw performance!  The park also had a tight rope walking performance, and some guys who did crazy tricks on horses, but I don't have pictures... Sorry!)


I do have pictures of my jump roping extravaganza though!  Who knew Koreans liked jump roping in ancient days!  I hadn't jump roped since 5th grade, but I was pleasantly surprised at my abilities!  I think I might have been a crowd pleaser!   haha

Our new friend Carlos (Mayo) and I showing everyone how it's done!



I'll leave you with these funny anecdotes that I think you'll like. 

1) One of our new friends, Jessica, is allergic to shellfish, so one of the EPIK leaders typed this note for her to laminate and take with her to restaurants while she is living in Korea to tell them what she cannot eat.   Check out the 5th one down! :)

2) We just got another announcement over the PA system that "Sunday worship will be SERVED at 7:30pm in the cafeteria tonight!"  

I LOVE THIS PLACE... what more can I say?!

We officially LIVE in Korea now!

Last night we went out into the downtown area of Cheonan for some drinks with some people we met from our class yesterday. The downtown areas of nearly all Korean towns look like Time Square, with flashing lights and billboards covering the buildings from top to bottom! It’s a beautiful sight!

We started off our night by trying to catch a taxi... which was not an easy task. We were apparently on too small of a road for taxis, and ended up walking at least 1 mile in the freezing cold before flagging one down. The best part about our taxi ride, other than that we were finally in a warm place, was the fact it was only 1800 WON, which is equivalent to approximately $1.20. What a deal huh?!

Once we arrived in the downtown area, we walked towards a bar called the Cizi Club that was recommended to us by some local Koreans. There was a major language barrier at the downstairs lobby, and we were finally loaded into a tiny elevator and sent to fend for ourselves.

When the doors opened, we were shocked to find a HUGE, beautiful, and fairly ritzy club... that was completely empty! Apparently we were too early for the party, so we explained to the emploiyees that we would be back at 10pm by flashing all 10 of our fingers and using the best Korean we knew!

We then headed over to a restaurant down the street. The boys all ordered soju, which is the most commonly drunk liquor in S.K. With their soju, we were given free soup, seaweed and a bowl of snails! We all cringed at the snails, but by the time we left, they were nearly all gone.

You have to actually suck them out of the shell, and then they look like little snakes, about 2-3 cm long and are VERY slimy! Kind of disgusting... but we were feeling adventurous!

When we were done there, we walked the streets some more and stumbled upon this restaurant...

Yep, you read it right, "Boobi Boob." Unfortunately there wasn't enough room for all 9 of us, but we took a group picture by the other sign, just to commemorate the moment!

Just steps outside that restaurant, we ran into some Korean college age guys who were sooooo excited to see us!

They wanted to practice all the English they knew, which was actually quite a bit, and play host, like most Koreans do! :) They invited us to go to a restaurant with them, so we followed... and the rest is history! We ate pig intestine, which was super chewy! We had to chew it at least 2 minutes before it could be swallowed...


...cheered a lot!

... talked on the phone to their family and friends...

... fed each other (which is what they do when they feel close with friends! We knew at this point, they loved us! Instead of saying, "I want to feed you," though, they would say "I want to eat you!" It was hilarious!

.... and ultimately had an awesome night meeting new Korean friends and American and Canadian friends, who are luckily going to be in Pusan with us!!