KOREA

 Okay, so I've been pretty busy since I got here. Also overwhelmed. Not in a bad way, just in a "oh my gosh, there's so much to see!!!" kind of way. I need to practice taking my camera out to take pictures more often, but I also don't want to feel like a tourist, you know? Gawking and taking pictures of everything I see, which all looks totally normal to anyone actually living here. I promise to take more pictures though. These are just a small fraction of the things I've been seeing and experiencing.

The photo above is the view from my apartment. I live in Bucheon which is outside of Seoul, so there aren't a lot of foreigners like me. I did meet one other foreign lady who lives in my apartment building; I believe is from the UK based off her accent. Maybe when I run into her again, she can show me around or introduce me to some other foreigners. There are also not a lot of English speaking Koreans. Some know a little bit, like the basics. I've learned "hello", "my name is Anna", "teacher" and the most formal form of "thank you". It's hard to try and pick up on the subtleties in the Korean language. I'm often watching my co-teacher's, Elly, mouth to try and pick out the sounds that I don't recognize or can't hear clearly. It's only my third day, so I'm getting better...

By the way, it's 5:30 pm here... and 2:30 am back at home. So weird! I've managed to call my family and Cole a few times, but I've already maxed out my prepaid cellphone minutes. I won't get internet in my apartment for some time (right now I'm at Elly's house and she has wireless). It's Korean holiday honoring an independence movement the Korean people made against the Japanese rule. I'm not sure how long ago.... So Elly invited me over for dinner.

Ahhh!! There's so much more to say! But I should go for now as we're getting ready to eat. More to come!!

 So if you saw the pictures I had when I was home in the states, you will notice they are not the same as the ones here. I am in the same building, but in a much smaller room. But it's alright. I knew the other one was too good to be true. I'll get it looking like home soon enough. These are from the night I moved in, so the place is a mess.

A shopping center Elly took me to to get food and supplies. It's huge! There were so many levels for all types of things. Like a giant mall you could take a shopping cart all around.


That's it for now!

Anna