Aja Aja Fighting!!: All I Do is Sweat! Surprised Much?

Hey Everyone!

So sorry it took so long to get going on this blog-- Fulbright has been keeping us ETA's (English Teaching Assistants) very busy!  Today was our first day of Korean class and I have "surprisingly" been placed in the beginning level aka section 1D (there are like...6 sections of beginner haha) the D is not for diploma; however it is for Demolition because I say it is.  ^___^  Just kidding...anyways I am sitting here in my room with my roommate Colleen, or who likes to be called CoCo.  She totally looks like Chanel and is super sweet!  I have been eating kimchi every meal which is the delicious fermented cabbage and national dish of Korea.  Yes, Ted. Even breakfast.  Watch out stomach....here comes a nice treat.

No but really I do love kimchi.  The health benefits are amazing even though it can sometimes smell like feet, but you get over that really quickly once you learn how to pair it with things like rice, seaweed, soup, everything else under the sun....

Okay so the past few days have been amazing.  I feel so privileged to have this opportunity.  There are 88 of us ETAs here in the small town of Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.  In the past few days I have met some incredible people; two whom have the same birthday as me! No joke- it's super weird, because my friend Kirby who I sat next to on the plane for like 12 hours pretty much leads the same life as I do and we just found out we have the same birthday!  Bah!....crazy... But the Fulbrighters are an awesome bunch and I look forward to hanging out with them even more this summer.

The first day we arrived at Seoul Incheon International Airport at about 4:45 a.m. We waited around for another 3 hours for the buses to take us on another 3 hour bus ride to Goesan and Jungwon University where we are living for the summer.  And all it did was rain.  Jungwon is basically a humongous block of marble.  The building is massive and shiny.  That's right....I said building. The whole university is ONE building.  Interesting, ne? (ne = yes in Korean).  The landscaping is beautiful and there are mountains all around.  The first day we all were practically dying from jet lag, but basically had to push through it for which I am now grateful.  I feel much better now, but still get sleepy around 5/6/7pm.

The second day in Goesan was all about going into town 3 times.  The little city is about a 15 minute walk from the university that is on the hill, but it is tiring to go down there multiple times in a day...especially when you are sweating balls and the sun is threating to dry your brains out.  One time it was of my own accord as well as a few other ETA's that we go exploring during a break we had between Fulbright meetings.  The town is very interesting- filled with a bunch of shops that are filled with clutter, old ladies, and working men.  Oh yeah, and also the bull's head and feet that we saw sitting on a platter outside a meat shop....O.o.... Then we had to go on a scavenger hunt downtown and do some weird stuff and a bunch of us decided to go out on the town last night for some festivities.

The people here in Korea are so nice.  Whenever you greet them or do insa, they do the same back.  Whenever you smile at them they smile back.  For those of you who I have talked to about my Japan trip a while ago, this is certainly not the case for Japan....But I'm in Korea!  A land that smiles back at a foreigner who is trying to get a long in the world.

Okay, this might be lame, but I will have to update you all later on my night out and what it has been like here so far....I am laying in bed doing this right now and have just fallen asleep more than 4 times....:It's a sign! Look for more in this post tomorrow!

AjaAja!

~Ashlee