Well I have now been in South Korea for almost two weeks and haven't written a single post. Life is not terribly busy, so I really don't have a good excuse besides the confusion that arises from living in a new culture and adjusting to a completely new schedule. (and the really strange food that Koreans eat, like bracken and ginseng) Because I am so behind I will share a few, brief highlights from our adventure in the East.

1. Walking to the plane, Aaron and I met a girl from Vietnam who was taking the same flight. During our discussion she asked if Aaron and I were brother and sister. Of course I couldn't understand what she said until after I answered yes. She must have thought we were unusually affectionate siblings.

2. Korean Air is very classy - the stewardesses wear well-tailored pants and teal cardigans. They give you metal silverware and little packages with socks, sleeping masks, and toothbrushes. I watched three different movies, slept a little, and ate authentic Korean food.

3. We landed in Seoul and were met by Jin, a fellow teacher, and Mrs. Park, the director of our school. They took us to a Korean / Japanese restaurant where we sat on the floor and ate food cooked in a huge bowl of boiling water. Then they dragged us, jet-lagged as we were to a giant Korean version of Sam's Club, complete with about a million floors. It was slightly overwhelming.

4. On Monday Aaron and I became Christians. I know that many of you will be glad to hear that we have repented of our heathen ways. We went to the director's house for Chusok, the Korean Thanksgiving and the pastor of the church we visited on Sunday was there. We ate bracken, Korean pumpkin, lots of rice, and delicious apples and pears (apparently this year was very good for Korean agriculture because they keep offering us gigantic apples and pears that look like sumptuous fruit Lewis always talks about in Narnia) After dinner the pastor wanted to explain the mission of the church to us, at least that is what the translator told us. It turned out to be the gospel message and he had us pray a prayer of acceptance. So now everyone in Korea thinks we just became Christians and they are continually astonished by our prior knowledge of Biblical truths. Its pretty ironic.

5. The first week of classes was fairly exciting - I broke up my first classroom fight. One little boy, Alex, who is the most emo kindergartner I have ever met threw chalk at another boy, James. Naturally, James was highly offended and threw the chalk back. This infuriated Alex and he lept up and grabbed James by the shoulder. I managed to wrench the two apart and both boys were sent out of the classroom.

6. On Saturday Aaron and I went to Seoul and I finally saw the Koreans I had imagined- incredibly beautiful, slim, and fashionable. As I walked down the street admiring everyone's clothes I was seized with an almost overwhelming desire to replace my entire wardrobe right then. I have so many clothes, that are so two years ago.
We went to a huge mall attached to the aquarium. The aquarium was impressive - we saw a beaver, eels, seals, penguins, and adorable otters. I kind of wanted to take one home. I also got my haircut at the mall; earlier in the week I was flipping through a Korean fashion magazine, saw a style I liked, and snapped a picture. I showed the picture to the man at the salon and he did a great job. I look very Asian now :) On the way out we stopped at Cold Stone to buy good, old American icecream. Seoul has basically everything American- MacDonalds, 7-11, American Apparel, Outback, Burger King, Uno's. I love Seoul.

Hope that gives you all some idea of what Korea is like :)