Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: What a weekend!

So Saturday I got up early to have breakfast with my host family, even though it was my day to sleep in. That means I got up at 6:30. :-( What a shame. I was soo tired! But hopefully the host parents appreciated that I got up early to have breakfast with them. I laid back down afterward, but everyone was up and at it, so it was noisy and I didn't get much sleep. I pretty much just lounged around all day Saturday, in the morning with the host brothers. The parents both had to teach today (there is school every other Saturday -- what a horrible idea! The students are already overworked during the week with school from 7:50am-10pm Mon-Fri). I went to the park with the host brothers while they trained for the 5k "marathon" and I read my book. I did laundry, yoga, and spent lots of time Skyping with Ike. He was helping me with some stuff for my lesson plans (aka, trying to *unsuccessfully* download Friends episodes for my teacher workshop, finding comic books online, etc). Lesson planning takes a lot of time!! We also debated whether I should get an external harddrive or not, and we decided no since they seem to not last more than 2-3 years, and I will be getting a new computer after this year. So I've been going through my computer and deleting old documents and old pictures that I do not want to keep -- very tedious work!

At 5 I went with Mr. Im and his daughters Angela (10) and April (14) to watch the Dragons, the soccer team from this province. Soccer is definitely a middle class sport here! Tickets were only $7 a person, and you can bring in your own drinks/food/snacks. Going to sporting events is much more expensive in America! The Dragons lost, 0-1, but I still enjoyed the game even though it was a bit boring. The Koreans are crazy when it comes to sports. Every time one of their players kicked the ball within 30 feet of the goal the crowd went wild screaming "Yeah!!!" Don't they understand that "close" doesn't score you points? You must get it in the goal!! I think in America when players shoot for a goal and nearly miss, the crowd sighs loudly "Awwww", but here they were excited about it! Something I probably will never understand...

We ordered Chinese food for delivery for a late lunch (2pm) and then Mr. Im also took me to a Chinese restaurant before the game at 5:30. And of course I had the same thing both times -- so I got my fill of Chinese noodles for a while! ^^ On the way home I asked Mr. Im to drive me by the church so I know where it is (after hinting many times and asking questions about the Catholic church -- since I knew his family was Catholic-- trying to get him to offer to show me the church like he told me he would last week). He said it would be too confusing and that he would take me in the morning.

So, Sunday morning I woke up at 8 from loud noises outside, did my workout, and we had breakfast around 9. We had either sweet potato or pumpkin soup -- my family called it both even though those are 2 different vegetables!! ^^ Here is the "recipe"

Boil the sweet potato/pumpkin, and blend it with butter
Also saute finely chopped onion in butter
Add milk and water to the potato/pumpkin mixture
Mix all together with salt and pepper on stove
Serve with some cream poured on top

I thought the soup was decent, but apparently my host father hated it.

I met Mr. Im at 10:05 to show me how to walk to church. When I told my host family they were very confused and I had to repeat all the details several times -- they understand English but must not listen very well sometimes! I said, "Mr. Im is meeting me to show me how to walk to church, which starts at 10:30" and then they of course asked "What time is church?" "Why are you leaving so early? It doesn't start for another half hour?" "Do you know how to get there?" To which I responded -- 10:30, I am walking, and Mr. Im is showing me!! Ay yi yi. They are so worrysome it seems. I think they forget that I am 22 and have lived abroad before and am an adult!! They often say things like "Be careful crossing the street!" -- That should only be said to 5 year olds -- not 22 year olds! I know that they mean well, but I do not want to be treated as a child for this whole year.

Church was...odd. I didn't get hardly anything out of it. I will bring my bible next time, but church is very different here even though it is supposively the same mass. Women all wear white veils over their heads, they constantly bow, there were kneelers this time, but they were not used. One thing I got a kick out of was that the priest said "Body of Christ" to me in English when I went to get communion!! ^^ They have separate services for children and adults -- so much for religion being a family thing. There was a second collection today, I don't know for what, but they played "It's a Small World" during it, which I found SO ODD! Also, my host father seems to think that Catholicisim is different from Christianity. I explained to him that Catholics are Christians, but that Christians encompasses both Catholics and Protestants.

After walking back home my host mom's mother was here. We were supposed to go to her house today, but for some reason the plans changed and she came here. I was disappointed because I wanted to see the rural village she lives in. Maybe some other time we'll go. Anyway, the first thing she said to me (in Korean of course -- for some reason she thinks I can understand her when she's speaking Korean to me?) was something along the lines of "You will have problems eating Korean food because it is very strange." I've gotten this before. At school in thea cafeteria one of the teachers apparently "feels sorry for you because the food must be very strange." My host father always asks me if things are too spicey. It has started to get annoying -- obviously I'm not starving here and I actually think most of the food is delicious!! I almost lost my temper today at lunch when I was eating and the grandma and my host parents were continuously telling me to eat the side dishes. I kept nodding and saying yes, and they kept on saying "EAT!" So finally I sighed and said "I am eating!" I don't understand why they kept telling me to eat when I was eating. Maybe they are losing their vision? ^^

I've started getting more strange looks and "hellos". Particularly at the baseball game last night young children would just walk by and STARE at me -- sometimes even stopping in their tracks. I don't know what my reaction should be to this, so usually I just stare back at them. I've had random people coming up to me and saying "hello" -- a young girl at a bus stop, a family in the park, small children while I was buying ice cream, and a mother at church. Most of the time they say it creepily -- like "hello!?!?!" -- kind of like, why didn't you say "hello" to us already, even though I don't think they mean it like that, I think they just are using incorrect intonation and it comes off creepily.

Almost every day my host father asks me, "You slept with your window open in your room? Aren't you cold?" To which I respond, "no". It does get chilly at night but 1. My curtains don't let much of the cool air in, 2. I like to sleep with my room cool, and 3. I'm a big girl -- if I am cold I will shut my window.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get a nap in, even though the grandma is still here. I guess my host mom's sister's family is coming later and we are going out for dinner. I should get some rest now!! ^^