Korea Update

More observations I have made these last few days:

1. There are a lot of foreigners in Korea. A lot. I see a bunch of people who do not look Korean in the metro everyday.
2. There are signs that I've seen that use the military time. I thought that was interesting since military time is not really used in America.
3. I used a lot of Konglish back at home that now that I have to speak full Korean sentences, it's kind of hard to remember Korean words to form full sentences.
4. There are shopping places everywhere. It feels like at every major subway station there's a shopping mall. There are also a lot of vendors that sell things like earrings, socks, shoes, fruits, facial products, phone cases, etc.
5. Everyone dresses up in Seoul. Even though they have to walk a lot, girls wear really high heels. And here I am with my tshirt, shorts, and sneakers.
6. Almost everybody on the metro are on their phones texting, watching tv, or listening to music.
7. The proportions at restaurants are much smaller and cheaper too. As my friend described it - "They're just right."

What I've done the last few days:

1. On Monday I saw Superman with my cousin and went to the palace place (pictures on the last post).
2. I watched two movies with my cousins on a rainy day - "Mama," which was supposed to be a scary movie but wasn't at all (well, I fell asleep halfway, haha), and this Japanese movie with Korean subtitles. The second movie was better but harder to follow because as I tried to read the Korean subtitles, I would only get to read it halfway before the words disappeared.
3. I visited my cousins that I have never met before because they were born while I was living in Korea. Their names are "Oo-joo" and "Ha-neul" which means "Universe" and "Sky." Oojoo is five years old, I believe, and he is so adorable! He can talk really well. He reminded me of Samantha in the way that he could talk so well for his age.
4. I got a hair cut yesterday! My hair was getting too long for me.
5. Eating. I've been eating a lot of food and snacks. However every time I get Korean snacks or something I am reminded how I still ate Korean snacks and food back at home, haha.
6. The family I am staying with are Christians (not UBF though) and my aunt goes to church often. So I've been tagging along to Wednesday services, prayer meetings, and fellowship meetings. I've been learning a lot by just listening and watching them such as what it means to pray. Spending time with God is the best!

It's surprising how family still feels like family even though you haven't seen them for a decade. I thought it might have been awkward to meet my cousins after ten years, but it wasn't awkward at all! Being away from home also makes me appreciate home so much. My parents do so much more than I ever realized. I didn't realize this, but my mom cooks variety of foods. Every time someone is like "Did you ever eat this before? You probably haven't." I'm like "Oh, I think my mom made this before." I've eaten all kinds of "banchan" so nothing really shocking here.

Right now I am at Yejee & Luke's dad's doctors office waiting for him to finish working.

Every day is unexpected. I never know what I'm going to do the next day, but it's been fun! I don't know when I'll ever come back to Korea so I want to enjoy it while I can.