Like sand through the hourglass ... so are the days of our lives

So. Much. Has. Happened.
I apologize for not blogging in a while ... blame it on my faulty Interweb connection in my new room, or the fact that I have been busy playing Uno with my new host family while trying to de-awkward and somewhat Korean-ize myself. Regardless here it is, my life for the past 8 days.
My life has changed drastically (trying not to sound too dramatic, but it's really pretty true). I have moved out of Chuncheon, spent last weekend in Seoul, and have recently moved to Hwasun and in with my new host family whom I will be living with for the next 11 months. Craziness.
I don't know exactly what it is (maybe the constant moving around, the fact that I'm finally realizing I'm in Korea of all places, or the fact that I haven't eaten Mexican food - which I am desperately craving - in what seems like forever) but I feel as if my thoughts are really scattered and displaced at the moment. So I will give you a semi-bullet-pointed rundown of my life in the past week.

• I moved out of Chuncheon. At exactly 8:30 am last Friday morning (that's not true ... we left around 8:45) however, I was definitely on the bus at 8:30 as our counselors exclaimed that "we will leave people! We have done it before and we will do it again!” False. Anyways I spent last weekend in Seoul and had a glorious time with my fellow ETAs before we all moved away to our respective towns. Friday afternoon was filled with lectures and pool-parties (oh, the life of a Fulbrighter). After arriving we were all shuttled to the Fulbright headquarters in Seoul and were given a talk by an American / Korean doctor. He was pretty legit - the only doctor in the whole world to be certified to practice medicine in both Korea and the US. After giving us a good 20 minute rundown about what to do when we inevitably all get diarrhea (he strongly advised us to get rid of any Imodium we packed because it could cause our insides to explode - sorry Mom, that's a good 8 dollars down the drain – ha ha potty joke) he gave us various phone numbers and ways to contact him if: we break our leg, are attacked by killer bees, accidentally eat poison, or if everyone in Korea dies in a horrible car crash and we are the only survivor. So I'm pretty sure I'm safe.
• Following the rousing doctor talk we all headed over to the US Ambassador's residence in Seoul and attended her annual Fulbright pool party. Arriving fashionably late (about 2 hours) the ambassador arrived wearing a beautiful black skirt and shawl - don't worry she's a chick. We were treated to an amazing spread of American food (burgers and hot dogs, and veggie burgers!) and ate under red, white, and blue umbrellas … it was the 4^th of July that I never had. Toby Keith would have been proud. Though I didn't swim in her pool, I realize in hindsight I totally should have. Oh well. Next time.
• Friday night, after the diarrhea talk and ambassador schmoozing, a group of us went out for a night on the town in Seoul. I had a great time and it was nice to spend the last couple days in Seoul with some of my ETA friends. We actually were able to score VIP seats in a pretty nice club. One of the other ETAs has friends in Korea who apparently are well connected to Seoul nightlife. And thank god, because the club where we were was so insanely crowded there was literally no standing room. Koreans have little respect for fire codes.
• Saturday and Sunday I spent just walking around the city, taking in the sights, and frantically trying to buy appropriate gifts for my host family, co-teacher, principal, and vice principal. I managed to score some sweet gifts that I'm pretty sure they all have/will like, and managed to find my way around the city successfully. Success.
• This past Monday was what Fulbright dubs "Yonsei Day" - the most important day ever. EVER. Says our orientation counselors. It was a pretty fancy shindig. We all dressed up in super nice clothes and met our principals and co-teachers for the first time. It was somewhat awkward and very nerve-wracking, but all in all I think it went smoothly. We all filed into a small auditorium where we stood against the walls (kind of like a firing squad) but instead we were faced with about 200 strange Korean faces who were giving us the up and down like it was their job, each trying to figure out which American they would "get" for the year. Each one of the ETA's names was read aloud and we had to step forward and give our best ensa (fancy Korean bow) and wave to our principal and co-teacher as our school was announced to the crowd. When my name was called I gave my best bow and was met with my male principal and female co-teacher standing amongst the crowd. My co-teacher let out a really loud "wheeee!" assuring me that she would be a ton of fun throughout the year.
• After everyone was announced we all scrambled to exit the auditorium and find our principals and co-teachers so we could head to lunch and finally introduce ourselves and get to know them better. (both my principal and co-teacher spoke English very well, so there was really no language problems throughout lunch, which was absolutely glorious) I met up with them and soon discovered that my co-teacher is about half the size of me. I swear she's literally 4 feet tall. I guess that would make me 8 feet tall, which is not necessarily true, but I, in heels, felt like the white female version of Shaq - with significantly less baller skills. Yes, I wore heels and looking back on it, it was probably a poor decision because the first 10 minutes or so upon meeting my principal and co-teacher was spent by them asking me how tall I was and exclaiming "giant Rauren!". We then sat down for lunch and had a good hour long conversation about school, my life in Korea and at home, Indiana, Korean food, corn, and things of the like. I think I made a fairly good impression ... they seemed to be impressed with my ability to eat spicy things and say certain Korean phrases like "I like rice" and "It is hot outside". Although I did manage to drop my chopsticks on the floor as soon as I picked them up ... so there was a good 5 minute conversation where they worried if I would actually be able to feed myself during my time in Korea. I assured them I can function and have the ability to bring food to my mouth, so they then let me eat.
• After lunch and a final farewell to the other ETAs, we all grabbed our luggage and headed out in our separate directions to meet our home stay families. I drove to Hwasun with my co-teacher and her husband (a good 5 or so hour drive) and arrived at my home stay around 9 pm Monday night.
• My co-teacher dropped me off at my home stay and after talking with my host mom for about 20 minutes she left me to fend for myself. Oh man. I was then left in the living to start living.
• After staying with my host family for about 5 days, I have come to find that they are: absolutely adorable, super super accommodating, determined to better their English language skills, very curious about American culture and my life, extremely hard workers, hardly ever idle, and extremely excited that I am here to live with them. I am very, very happy that I was placed in such a great home stay and am very much looking forward to living with them this year. A quick rundown of my host family:
• The mother - Probably the cutest thing on the entire planet. She is a housewife and stays home pretty much all day cooking, cleaning, watching Korean soap operas, designing dresses, and scurrying about the house. I don't think she ever really walks somewhere ... I have only seen her shuffle her feet at an extremely fast pace to get from point A to point B ... kind of like a hover craft or something. (I don't know if that's an accurate description, but hopefully you all get the point) She is absolutely wonderful and goes to great lengths to make me feel at home. She is fascinated that she is the same age as my mom, and often exclaims that she is the Korean version of my "mommy". She is super concerned about my diet and always makes sure that I eat enough good, vegetarian food. A couple days ago, in attempts to please me she poured tomato sauce over all of my meal because she knew that Americans love tomato sauce. An extremely nice gesture that led to an interesting meal. She speaks little English, but is absolutely determined to learn all that she can. The few phrases and words that she does know she repeats over and over and is so pleased with herself. It is absolutely priceless. Whenever I go outside she always exclaims that I am going "sightseeing", as I taught her that word a couple days ago. Hilarious.
• The father - He is a garden architect/landscaper with his own business that he runs out of his home in Hwasun and Gwangju area. He isn't around much during the day because he is busy with work (planting trees and mowing lawns, I assume) He speaks almost no English and is hesitant to speak with me, for fear that he will appear unintelligent. Although he has told his daughter (who then translates for me) that he likes that I smile all the time and that he thinks I am a nice girl. I attempt to speak to him in Korean and that gets me somewhere, though not very far.
• The youngest daughter - My new and closest friend. She is a second grader in the high school where I will teach (17 years old) and speaks English extremely well. She serves as the translator between me and the rest of the family and does an amazing job. Well, I guess she does ... for all I know she could be telling them that I smell badly and wear weird clothes. Although, she was wearing a Vanilla Ice t-shirt yesterday. (When I asked her if she knew who he was she had no idea but thought it was "cool". I suppose the time difference is greater than I first thought. Apparently it's 1990 over here in Korea). She devotes the majority of her time to studying (about 8 hours a day) math, Korean, English, and science, because she has the high hopes of attending one of Korea’s finest science universities that is taught solely in English. I feel kind of sorry for her when she is stuck in her study for countless hours on end, but she really doesn’t seem to mind. She does, however, often take breaks where we talk together, eat ice cream, and play Uno, which she adores.
• The oldest daughter – She is currently working as an assistant to an art professor at a local university and plans to secure a teaching job there next January. Though she is 27 years old she still lives at home, but is seldom here. All Korean girls continue to live at home until they are married. But with her mother’s strict curfew it doesn’t appear like that will be anytime soon. Though I did spend a day with her and her boyfriend (who speaks English fluently) and we traveled down to the South Sea to watch the launching of the very first South Korean rocket ship. She doesn’t speak much English, but we have agreed to try to teach each other language throughout the year. Also … I’m pretty sure she weighs about 50 pounds.
• The brother – He also lives at home and is 21 years old. He attends Joson University (the same university where the oldest daughter works) and is an art student. He is not home very often … I’m assuming he’s usually at school, but the parent’s don’t really keep a close eye on him so he could be a part of the Korean mafia for all I know. And judging by the way he dresses and the “bling” around his neck I wouldn’t put it past him. He speaks little to no English, and often complains of a headache every time I speak …. but he is hoping to improve his English throughout the year and is happy that I am here.
• So that’s the family … their house is absolutely beautiful (I have added pictures to both Facebook and my picture website so you can see). I was given my own cutesy, little room and often hang out there or in the living room. Although the family apparently doesn’t believe in chairs so I sit on the floor pretty much all the time.
• I have yet to start teaching … the first day of school back from their 3 week summer vacation is next Monday. I was able to visit my school earlier this week and meet the principal (again), the vice-principal, and other teachers at the school. I also was given a tour … the high school is massive … about 900 kids total … and became acquainted with my desk/workspace. I have to navigate around the school and switch classrooms each period, so was given a desk and a computer to work during my off time. I was also given my schedule – I teach 17 classes a week (each class is about an hour), but will see each class only once a week. I end up working only 17 hours a week, which right now seems like a pretty sweet deal.
• I also recently received a Korean cell phone or a “hand phone” (such a better name for it) and a Korean bank account. I now think it’s pretty neat to say that I have an “off shores bank account” … I think it makes me sound more official and legit.
• Anyways … I have been enjoying my first week here in Hwasun, although because school hasn’t started and the rest of the family is usually pretty busy I have found myself with a lot of down time. Hopefully I will become busier in the coming weeks as school starts, and then be able to reminisce about the glorious couple days I had with copious amounts of free time.
• To sum up, I’ve had a successful first week in Hwasun, and I now leave you all with a short list of some “highlights” / awkward moments / general observations about my first week away from Orientation and living in real Korea:
• One of my host mother’s hobbies is designing dresses for her oldest daughter. She explained to me that once you graduate high school she will then start making you dresses. As her younger daughter looks on longingly, she offers to make me a dress that she has already designed. Extremely flattered, I accept and then see what I will be wearing … something that I can only describe to be a mix between a cream colored wedding gown and an 80s prom dress. It’s pretty spectacular. So one of her friends (some dude that sews the dresses that she designs) came over to the house to take my measurements today. This process was extremely awkward as he spoke no English and just started measuring various parts of my body. And I’m almost positive I heard him snicker after he measured my waist. The dresses that he usually makes for Asian women who are literally the size of a small toothpick. Meh. At least I’ll get a sweet all white, lacy, sleeved dress out of the deal.
• I was recently told by both my host sister and my host mother that I was “beautiful like an elf”. If that doesn’t boost one’s self-confidence, I don’t know what will.
• When I visited my school for the first day I tried to show off when attempting to talk to one of the other teachers and said about three sentences in Korean. He then took it that I was fluent and began to ramble for about 2 or 3 minutes. Reminder: don’t do that again.
• I recently gave my host father a small bottle of Scotch as a thank you for welcoming me into his family. Please note that before this I have heard him say not one single English word. But after he opened it and was seemingly quite pleased with my gesture he looked at me and with a sly grin said “yeah, Scotch”. I don’t really know what this means … but I’m pretty sure he likes me just a little bit more now.
• My host brother was late for dinner last night; however the parents didn’t seem too concerned. I asked my host sister why he was late and she said he just got back from driving himself to the hospital because he had shoulder surgery. Apparently it’s an out-patient procedure in Korea and is extremely effective.
• One of the most well known brands of chocolate in Korea is “Crunky”. My host father recently bought me and my host sister a bar for us to share. While devouring the chocolate my host sister asked me what it means to be crunk. I then was able to school her on the finer art of American crunkness.
• In addition to learning what it is to be crunk, I was also able to impart upon my host sister what it means to be a fascist. During the measurement-taking debacle earlier today my host sister to me how her other sister was so “fascist” … meaning, of course, fashionable. It took a great deal of strength to contain my laughter. In a similar vein my host mother, in an attempt to explain to me all the festivals they have in Korea, continued to state that there are many, many “cannibals” in Korea and that we can go to many “cannibals” during the year. Priceless.
• I have started reading Harry Potter (about 5 pages each night) with my host sister who is determined to understand it in English. Cultural ambassadorship at its finest.
• In my oodles and oodles of free time over the past couple days I have started and finished The History of Love … a book Jess gave me to read before I left. It was outstanding. I am now in love with Leo Gursky.
• Korean water equates to green tea. They do not drink water (at least in my home stay), only tea, “for healthy”. The first couple days I was drinking what they called “water” – a light brown liquid - without knowing it was actually tea. Oh how thankful I was to realize it wasn’t dirt water.
• In attempts not to be fat or get fatter, my home stay family takes a walk after about each meal. This walk is actually 5 to 10 minutes of marching in place, in the living room, or jumping rope so they no longer feel full and thus fat. I have partaken in such “walks”, and plan to market this revolutionary exercise routine as soon as I return to the states.
• The bugs here are pretty intense. My room had a couple of mosquitoes a few nights ago and I wound up with some itchy bites. When my host father noticed this he went into my room, plugged in some type of contraption, shut the door, and told me not to go in for at least an hour. Apparently he set off a bug bomb – which has worked great, as I am currently mosquito free. However, last night my host sister came into my room and frantically unplugged this contraption and warned me that if we left it on for too much longer it would turn into poison and kill me. Good to know.
• The first night at my home stay, my home stay family was anxious to know about my American hobbies. As I don’t really have a solid list of hobbies, I told them I played volleyball and basketball in high school and very much enjoyed doing so. They now assume I am a stellar athlete who loves to workout. This stereotype is only intensified by my desire to wear athletic clothes around the house. I’m pretty sure they are starting to question why I don’t exercise regularly or go for runs as they expect I should.
• As I mentioned earlier, I went to the South Sea this week to witness the first ever launch of a South Korean rocket. The rocket was designed to go into space and measure weather patterns, and then return with important information. After a 2 hour car ride to the sea, we arrived 5 minutes late … and soon discovered that the rocket launch was a failure because the engine became too hot and thus could not achieve lift off. I was surprised to see that all the people who came to watch the launch did not seem too disappointed. The general consensus was “eh, it’s ok … let’s have a beer and play in the ocean”. I’ve been told they are going to attempt to launch it again soon. Hopefully this time they will remember to turn on the air conditioning.
• In addition to the Crunky chocolate, Korea also has 2 lines (is line the right word here?) of chocolate – one designed specifically for men and the other for women. Today after lunch I was given a square of Chocolate for Women, in a fancy pink package. After inquiring the difference between chocolate for men and chocolate for women, I was met with blank stares and told that no one knows. When I asked to try some chocolate for men those blank stares turned into frightened looks and I was soon told that women never eat man chocolate.
• Shout out to Kacy – have a great time at DePauw this year, I will surely miss it.