Time is an interesting thing though. Especially time in Korea. In one way, I want to say "Wow, I've already been in Korea six months! I'm already half way done with my contract! I can't believe it!" But on the other hand I want to say "It's ONLY been six months! I'm ONLY half way done with my contract! I can't believe it!" In a way time flies and I can remember so vividly my first night in Korea and the feeling of being awe-struck by a new place. In another way, I feel like I have been here for years and I am so comfortable with this new way of life. It feels like it has been such a long time and I have become fairly comfortable with this way of life, that I have almost forgotten the differences from home. My philosophy is that time feels so slow because it was the winter season and I stayed home alot during the months of December-March. Now that spring is coming, I think I will venture out more and spend my weekends exploring new places in Korea. I have a list of all the things I need to do before leaving:
-Go to Busan. This is a very popular beach city in the very south of South Korea.
-Do a temple stay. You can actually go and spend the night in a temple!
-Go to Cheongdam Dong. High end shopping!
-Jang Heung Art Park.
-Han River boat tour.
-Lotte World. Korea's version of Disney World.
-The Peace Museum in Soyosan Mountain.
-Go to Jeju Island. An island between Korea and Japan.
The list will keep growing, but those are the things I need to do in six months! So far in Korea I have been to a palace, a folk village, the War Museum, Seoul Tower, and other places. I've got alot more exploring to do though!
Update on school: The graduation went very well. When it's all said and done, there isn't much to stress about. The hours leading up to graduation were chaos, but afterwards was calm and no one had a second thought about it. The wedding I attended the previous weekend was very cool and very different from home! We showed up to the wedding hall and it was just this big building that pumped out wedding after wedding. On five of the seven floors there was always a wedding going on and they were so well planned down the very minute. We showed up at 1:58 and the wedding started right at 2:00. The bride walked down the aisle, bowed to her groom, they listened to a guy speak for 10 minutes in Korean, then bowed to their parents, and walked back down the aisle. There was no exchanging of vows, exchanging of rings, or kiss at the end. As for the reception, it was not a private party with just the weddiing guests, but rather a public party with all the wedding guests of every wedding that happened at the hall that day. We walked into a massive banquet room with a very large buffet. We ate, drank a Pepsi, saw the bride and groom for a split second, and left by 4:00pm. The overall feeling of a Korean wedding is how impersonal it was. There were no video montages, no pictures of the bride and groom anywhere, no toasts from family members or friends...just nothing. It was sit and watch a man blabber in Korean, go eat from a very odd array of food, and leave. BOOM: In and Out of a wedding in 2 hours. I do have to say though, the bride looked absolutely beautiful and they had alot of family and friends who came to be apart of their special day.
I hope all is well at home with my family and friends. I hope the snow melts soon and you have nice spring weather in no time! Love, Mal
The Bride's Family - The poor groom only had three family members there!
The massive buffet!
The bride and groom came to thank everyone for coming in Korean traditional hanboks.
You have a lot of places to go still! You better get going girl!! The wedding info and pictures were interesting. Such a difference from here.
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