A Rainy day in Suwon

Today me and my friend went shopping in Dongdeamun on a rainy day which wasn't the best day at all to go shopping since we had to take the bus and subway to get there. By the time we got there, our feet were sooo wet and we were so tired that we didn't even have the energy to look around a lot. I brought a couple of things but the funniest thing that happened was on the way to dongdeamun. Me and my friend got off the subway and we were looking for our connecting train and me and my friend were kind of lost (but just a little, I think my onni had an idea of where we were going) but this Korean guy comes up to us and asks us in English " Were are you trying to go" I was so surprised because this was the first time a Korean actually spoke English to me and tried to help. However, the funny part is that my friend speaks Korean and he was going on speaking in English when my friend Hyemi could understand him in Korean LOL!! When he finally asked what station we were from and Hyemi answered in Korean he was like "oh you speak Korean??" (in Korean) and me and Hyemi just started laughing since it was so funny, make it so bad, Hyemi had the same phone function to look at the subway map on her phone as the guy did LOL!!! but he was really nice and we took a picture together to remember his kindness !^_^!

First week in South Korea

Well, I finally made it to South Korea and I have to say I think it's one of the scariest things I've done in my life!! Traveling alone can have some perks because you only have to worry about yourself but for the most part it's scary and I would rather have had someone travel with me...make it so bad this was my first time on a plane too so it was like double the scary LOL!! On the first plane I took which was a connecting flight to Atlanta, I must have had the craziest look on my face when we took off because the lady sitting next to me was like "honey are you okay?" LOL!!! and then I answered her in the most shaky of voices "This is my first time" LOL!!! Now that I think back on it I can laugh!! When I got here though, it was still a hassle because I only speak a little Korean so when I was on my own until I could find my friend it was rough. When I was at the passport check the guy was asking me short worded questions (which were in English) that I really didn't understand like " Do you have sponsor?" I was like "what, a sponsor...no I'm staying with a friend and I don't know her address"....which I think he understood that but then I think he was asking what port or something I came out of and really didn't understand so I said " Sorry I don't know what you mean" and he just look at me with this blank stare and wrote something down LOL!!!!

When I found my friend though after running around like a chicken with its head chopped off it was O.K!!I owe so much to my onni, with out her this trip would have been a disaster!! I can't thank her and her parents enough for being so kind to me. When I found her at the airport she was with her cousins holding pretty signs with my name on them...they were soooooo cute, I wish I took a picture of them but I was so tired I just wanted to sit down and go to the bathroom!! I was sitting in a window sit on the plane and both the people siting next to me would have had to get up if I had gone to the bathroom on the plane. On of the people I was sittitng next to though was an American guy that was going in the army and I guess he was stationed over in South Korea. Anyways, the signs that my friend and her cousins were holding up were cute and I could kick myself because when we were riding the bus to go to her Aunt's house, I left them there on the bus -___-; My friends' family were the nicest people I've ever met!! Her aunt, her uncle and her mom and dad, her grandma everyone was so nice to me I just felt like I belonged in their family and I wasn't just some foreigner from America. My friends' dad though is the FUNNIEST person I've met in Korea so far. He doesn't know English that well, you can say his English is as good as my Korean so I had the greatest time trying to figure out what he was saying!! 

I'll never forgot some of the English phrases he put together like "My body heating!!" when we was trying to say he was angry LOL!!!! Let's see, oh yeah "No fighting!!" when he was trying to say that he and his wife weren't arguing, the list goes on and on but my onni's dad is like my second dad now!! My friends mom though is so pretty and looks so young, she spoke better English than her husband and it was so much fun getting to know her, I can see where my friend gets her personality and pretty looks from LOL!!!

For the first day I was in Korea, I slept over my friends' aunt's house and the next morning my friend, her parents and I would go to their hometown which is Ulsan. Ulsan is the town of the whale and it's a very beautiful city. I really enjoyed my stay there and hope I can go back again some time. When I was there we went the friends family and I went to the Ulsan park which was VERY beautiful and I went to the public bath!!! I loved that!!

It was sooo nice especially the hot sauna room I could stay in there forever LOL!!! We went to see historical landmarks and I met my friends dad's side of the family. Now when I was doing all this stuff don't think that I fit in oh so perfectly because if I counted how many time everybody and I mean EVERYBODY stopped and stared at me I think I would be rich right now. I swear,everybody stops and does double takes when I walk on the street LOL!! but I just smile and some of them smile back while other's just have a face of amazement or sometimes disgust...it might have been fatigue too but I'm not sure.