9:14PM 12/06/2014

Just a quick post today. Sorry about being MIA for over a month... had too much fun and no care to do a post... Can't believe I leave in 2 weeks... I don't want to leave... I've had more fun here than I have any place in my entire life.

Still no news on my aunt and cousins.. I have a good idea that I'm going to leave without even meeting them at this point... But it is what it is, what am I supposed to do?

I love all of you, and hope you all have had fun...

Now after a few pictures, it's time for me to get back to studying for my finals.

10:35PM 10/11/2014

I have been to tons of Korean national treasures so, I have tutored easily more than 30 people, I have met easily over 200 people since I landed. I just... I have done so much and had so much fun and yet Yet I feel I haven't even been able to break the surface on what there is to do here yet.

Korea may be an insanely small country, the size of Indiana, but there is easily 100 times more things to do than the entire midwestern part of the USA has to do. It's incredible. I wish I could have more time here, but I could spend 5 years here and still not have done half of what wanted to accomplish.

I know this is a bad comparison, but it reminds me much of the two "Everybody Loves Raymond" episodes that he filmed in Italy. At the end of the second episode I remember he saids "I was just starting to understand it over here and it's over already." While I am happy that I understand it early enough, I only have 2 months and 9 days left. I feel like it's going to end so soon... And every minute I waste is time I could be planning and doing my next event... so I got to spend my time wisely, I don't want to miss this opportunity. 

I also like to note on here that While I was in Jinju with Sean Green last weekend, I was able to go to Haeundae Beach in Busan. It was my very first time at a beach and so I put my feet in the water and sand... It was absolutely wonderful even with the wind blowing the way it was that day. 

Yesterday I went to Jongmyo palace and it was pretty damn awesome. They've done a fairly good job preserving the history there. and the teacher that took us there is definitely pretty awesome. Young Hoon Kim actually did a year sabbatical in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. So it has definitely been fun getting to know him. 

Also as part of that class I am in a group that has to give a presentation on the Suwon Hwaseon Fortress... I have met 3 other gals as part of the group project and for once I feel like the group project will get done as a group effort. They all have good work ethics, from what I've seen, and seem like really relatable and sociable people. Anyways, today I went to Suwon Fortress as well to get a good understanding of what it looks like and it was very fun. 

Finally, I went to Itaewan today to see the Cultural festival. It was pretty awesome. Shout out to my friends in the Army, it made me proud to see the US Army led the cultural parade!!! So that should answer all your questions about how much respect Koreans have for the American military... They led the parade and the Korean Military was right behind them. definitely a heartwarming sight for me, Being a a Korean American seeing the respect that is held between the countries!!! U-S-A!!! haha. 

I have a ton more to say and plenty of picture I like to post, but at 11:15PM on a Saturday night, I should probably get a shower and call it a night. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow in the AM. 

ALSO, Colts are 4-2!!! 4 game winning streak and 10 inter-divisional game streak!!! GO COLTS!!!!

4:11PM 10/06/2014

Talk about the worst sequence of events I have ever gone through during my time here in Korea...

I was in Jinju for the last holiday weekend and I got to see my best friend this weekend that lives in Jinju, His name is Sean Green and I'm sure many of my friends reading this will know who I'm talking about.

Anyways, it was great up until my last 20 minutes there... I was about to leave and the bus station had fucked something up with my ticket so I ended up having to get a new ticket. To add insult to injury, I had to pay additional money, so of course what do I do, I leave my wallet on the counter taking my ticket... my wallet that has my passport, multiple forms of ID, almost an equivalent of $200, 3 credit cards, and 2 bank cards... needless to say, I absolutely freak the fuck out as soon as I realize it's gone. Forget the money, whoever finds it can have all the money that is in it, If I don't have that, as far as the Korean gov't is concerned, I'm an illegal alien, and that is scarier to me than being broke....

So I call a few people and sure enough they find it right there and everything is still in it. I'm overjoyed and feel 100 times better needless to say. They are going to send it by overnight mail tonight. Hopefully overnight mail is 100 times more reliable here in Korean that it is at USPS...

Nonetheless, I still had an awesome time and look forward to the mail tomorrow.

10/11/2014 10:34PM UPDATE:

I got my wallet back as expected and all is well :)

09/28/2014 3:11PM

So I got to see the police in full action today. I have been waiting to see this for some time now cause I really want to compare the differences between American and Korean cops. What would end up happening is something I will never forget and I hope to teach to future generations forever.

This black girl barely gets tapped by a cab driver today and she immediately reacts like a ghetto ratchet mess. "You fucking gook, learn how to drive, I think my hip might be bruised forever now," now getting louder, "SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE, I HAVE BEEN HIT AND NEED AN AMBULANCE" This is all happening while she is still standing up

The cab driver gets out of the car and starts calling her what I assume to be a number of profanities and calls the police himself. not even two minutes elapse and suddenly the police are there, but they end up having to call an interpretor in, and not even 3 more minutes elapse before an interpretor is on the scene (Amazingly fast compared to America). The cop starts asking the cab driver questions all while the woman continues to yell nonsense.

The cop then (When the interpretor arrives) begins questioning the woman. She is wanting to go to the hospital and everything else when the cops saids "We can't do anything for you lady, you were the one that instigated the problem and we have camera footage *Points at cameras* showing you walking where there is no intersection (AKA: J-walking)"

She is shocked to hear this and starts yelling "But that gook needs to be put away. He called me a nigg*r and where I come from, that is a national hate crime"

What the cop said will forever stay with me because he is 100% right, and I wish we could do this in America. "First of all, you called him a gook, a word that is mainly used towards the Vietnamese, but it also hurtful to Koreans around the world, including me. Second, you are the only person I have heard use nigg*r since we got on the scene, so by that logic, you should be the one in jail, not him. Finally, The reason I am not arresting you is simple, We get called derogatory names all the time by the Russians, Japanese, and Chinese, and admittedly we call them names as well but you don't see us starting wars with other countries over that, we work through it and have political and business partnerships with tons of people and companies in those countries, as well as the rest of the world. I recommend you change your thinking strategies quickly before you end up getting sent home to your divided country!"

I really enjoy this country even more than I have at any other moment. Equality and working together is a huge aspect of this country, and for whatever reason it works. Even with all of the wars they have had and so much of the older opposition, they still find a way to work together. I am proud of my motherland more today than I have been in my entire life. I wish we could get this through to the cops and the people of the US. It would make the US such a better homeland.

I think that's all I wanted to post today... But I will add, I went to the farm experience yesterday, talk about feeling like I'm right at home. I got to harvest my own chestnuts and sweet potatoes, got to go rafting, and got to make "poprice", rice cake (In Jeol Mi), rice wine (Makgeolli) and Korean pancakes (Jeon)... all of which were delicious. I should have pictures up in my next post. The landscape was picturesque EVERYWHERE!!!

6:09 PM 09/22/2014

Colts won their first game today... Couldn't have been happier... till..........

Today I absolutely have to vent real fast. This Belgian gal was one of the first people I met when I came here, so me and her became really good friends till I realized she is a partier. Every other night she wants to go party, but who am I to tell her how to run her life. 

Last night she finally convinces me to go drinking with her again, against my better judgement. But after last night I'm not going drinking with her anymore. I absolutely wanted to push her off the edge of the roof at that roof party last night ... I tell her, like I tell all girls I go drinking with, to message me in the AM before I leave. She then proceeds to tell me that "I don't need you to watch out for me, there are all these guys here that can easily defend me. Sides, I wouldn't want help from a gun-wielding American anyways, it shows how weak you fools are, Real Belgians fight with fists, not guns " 

After she said that I left cause I know half of it is the alcohol and half of it is the ignorance of gun laws. So this morning I go to check on her to make sure she made it back OK. We talk for a little bit and I'm thinking things are fine ... then suddenly a message on facebook 3 hours later "Please do not come to my room without telling me or my room mate in advance, I will report you and all your of American buddies next time you come in my room un announced " 

What? I came there to check on you and you make a comment like that... I am done with her... for good... I hope she gets hurt by one of those "Real Belgians" one day and realizes that Americans really ain't as ignorant as she thinks we are. My tolerance with bullshit has reached it's end for her, I seriously need to stay away from her for a few days cause otherwise I know my anger will get the best of me otherwise. 

Oh well, at least I met a few other people today that definitely made that go over with less than a singe. Maybe the day can be less filled with dumb Chinese/Belgian women and more with smart Korean/American women! 

Regardless, I just wanted to post on her to let people know that I am actually studying. Yes, I know, Max and study are NEVER in the same sentence, but it is this time around. Studying for my first quiz in Korean language course tomorrow... wish me luck, cause I just ain't feeling good about this korean language course at all... 

09/17/2014 9:06 PM

Officially 3 weeks and it's definitely been a fun 3 weeks... My language course is definitely hitting me hard, but I never expected learning a foreign language would be easy... lol. I did suddenly wonder what happened to Mr. Mackey, the French teacher from High School. I remember hearing he went to another school. Not surprised. It's hard to be a gay teacher in a relatively conservative town. I was hoping to thank him for teaching me the 3 semesters of French I had taken. It has helped me a ton with the French people I've met here, I don't know how I remember half of it, but then again, there are alot of strange things I remember that I have no idea how I remember. 

Also, while I'm on the language subject, I am teaching people English while I'm here at the English lounge. I love it. I thought it was funny though. The TA is a really old women and she came up to me and told me 2 things today, 1: "Word got out quickly that you have a southern accent, so you have been booked for the next 3 weeks" and 2: "I don't care what you do with the people you help outside of this lounge, that isn't my business, but keep in mind it took you 2 days in here for word to get out that you are a good tutor, know that your 'activities' will get out even faster" OK... I didn't think I had a southern accent, and I have no idea where that "activities" comment is coming from, but whatever... 

So far the one and only cultural thing I am having a huge conflict with is the Kpop... I can't stand that Kpop sensation, I had every intention of NEVER EVER listening to it. I had intentionally downloaded almost 80gb of music so I would not have to hear this crap they call music... but everywhere I go I hear more and more of it. And I don't know how I ever got hooked into going to a Kpop concert... but you'll never guess who is going to a Kpop concert tomorrow... I told my friends I'll give them one hour, if after the first hour I don't like it, I'm leaving... sides it's a free show, whats could I really lose? 

With that, I shall end it for now. 

09/08/2014 6:13PM

First thing is first, I have VERY QUICKLY come to find out that my "American Arrogance" is weighing on everyone... I have heard multiple people tell me from all countries, including an American, that I am too confident, to the point that I am arrogant.


Whether that is true or not, that is part of the reason I went to study abroad, so I can learn how to interact with people of all races, nationalities, sexes, sexual preferences, colors, shapes, sizes, languages, and mentalities. Simply put, I apologize to anyone and everyone I may have offended. My intentions were not to offend, they were simply to interact and learn.

On to another subject, We went to the Han River the other day. It's wonderful and incredible. But it's also scary at the same time. According to some people, there are explosives on every single bridge that crosses the Han River, that way if North Korea was to invade, they could immediately divide the only way for them to cross quickly. How much truth there is to that statement is another story for another day, but nonetheless it is still amazing seeing such a vast river with so much history become such a centerpiece for the country.

Finally, I like to say real quickly for my Hautian friends, I got the hell out of Terre Haute fully expecting to get away from trains... I can't believe I got railroaded the other day on a bus. It was a subway train, so it only lasted like 90 seconds, but I can't seem to get away from trains no matter where I go. What a drag.