It's really hard to believe that I've already been here for 3 weeks. In some ways, the time has really flown by. I feel that I've learned a LOT of Korean in this short amount of time. But on the other hand, other things have been slower to come. I haven't really made too many friends here yet and I still feel so weird and not at all myself. It's like I'm a college freshman again...or at least, that's the atmosphere. I am definitely looking forward to moving to my homestay and getting to know "real" Korea!
Last night I had my first Chinese food ever (excluding Frary's Sunday night special, which I feel doesn't count because I seriously doubt Mexicans can make authentic Chinese). It was good food, but an interesting experience because we had trouble deciphering the menu. I knew what I wanted, fortunately (this noodle dish with black bean sauce--see right), because it's hard to find vegetarian options and guessing probably would have been disasterous! I went with my friend Jai, who speaks Chinese. But nothing on the menu was in Chinese! She ended up with squid, which is actually quite common in dishes here.
Later, we went to the jujubang (public bathhouse) again, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There's nothing like soaking in nonchlorinated, refreshing water for several hours to rejuvinate you, in my opinion. My favorite are the saunas, but they were really really hot this time, so I didn't go into them often. The one with the salt exfoliant (which is my fav) was 85C!!! I could hardly manage to spend 5 minutes in there.
Today I spent the morning with Camp Fulbright campers, doing what was supposed to be "Sports Day," but was actually more like forced fun. It was okay, I guess, but I felt bad for the campers, being forced to do things all the time. Speaking constantly in another language is tough enough--they should get a lot more down time than they do!
I went shopping this afternoon. I was under the impression that I wouldn't need many clothes during my stay here, but I was wrong. I am so sick of wearing my 5 outfits that I had to get some more. Not to mention that Koreans are much more fashionable than I anticipated, and I was feeling frumpy. Shopping was pretty fun, but it definitely lightened my wallet more than I would have liked!
Tonight I'm going to explore the Chuncheon "night life" a bit. There's nothing too wild around here, but enough to entertain me for now.