Korea

It has been a little over two months now since I arrived in S. Korea. It has been quite a journey. One of the most marvelous wonders of Korea are the mountains. It is quite a phenomenon because everywhere you look you see mountains. I am living in Guri, which is a little province right outside of Seoul. Seoul has a little over 10 million people and they say where I live is in the country, but for all intensive purposes, it is a city. On every corner, there is a shop or a restaurant. The interesting thing is that there are high rise apartments everywhere, but if you look in the background beyond the buildings you see the mountains. Since I have been here, I have had the opportunity to hike some. In a couple of weeks, I am going to Soraksan, which is the biggest mountain in Korea. I work a lot, so I always look forward to the weekends.

The culture here is very polite. In the States, we tend to show our affection through hugging, kissing, or shaking someone's hand. We are a very touchy feely culture. But, here they aren't. Our hand shake in the States, is a nod of the head or a bow here. Even driving in a car, if you let someone cut in front of you, they nod their head, whereas back home we wave our hand. Whenever you receive anything, you always take it with two hands or put your other hand on your wrist and take it.

It is a very trendy culture and while it is a polite culture, they are very into appearances and titles. Everyone has a title here. So, when you say someone's name, it is proper to say what they are with their name. Girls wear high heels and dresses or skirts everywhere. They always dress up for any occasion, even if it is hiking a mountain. People are very into taking pictures, and especially of themselves. If you walk by a mirror, you have to stop and check out the hair, and make sure it looks ok. It is kind of strange. Cell phones are huge. People will stop in the middle of an important speech to answer their phone. The second weekend I was here, I went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and we were all sitting down listening to this man give his DMZ talk, and in the middle of his speech his phone rang and he answered it and started having a conversation in front of a rather large group of people. From a foreigner's point of view, it seems to be a rather superficial culture. It is a mini America.

I go to a Korean language class once a week. On Sunday's I lead a small group Bible study made up of Koreans and Philipinos. The class will be useful, for the small group, and everywhere else because most people in Korea don't speak any English and the ones that do generally speak a limited amount of it. It has been a great group of people.

I live in an apartment, which is fairly spacious. Somehow, I got a two person apartment. I hang dry all of my clothes. The bathroom has a washer, shower and toilet. There are no curtains, so when you take a shower, everything gets wet. When I come back at the end of the day from work, everything is dry. Nonetheless, there are certain luxuries that I have missed in the States, and a drier is one of them.

At the end of December, we have our winter break. I'm going to Thailand with one of my coworkers and his wife. They just got married, and are having another wedding ceremony in Thailand. She is Thai and he is from Alabama. I am planning on flying there with them and visiting Bangkok for the first couple of days, and then leaving for the ladder part of the week to go to the beach. Their wedding is at the end of the week, and they asked me to be in it. So, I'm going to be wearing a traditional Thai dress, and be what's the equivalent of a bridesmade in the States. I can't wait for vacation!

Well I know that this is a lot, and I can't begin to sum up my entire experience so far, because there is so much to tell, but I hope you enjoy reading. Here are some pictures:)

Love,

Alexis