Observations

I haven't been in Korea long enough to notice all the differences between Korea and America, but I have noticed some.
At gyms here, they provide the workout clothes. At the gym I'm going to join the girls get black with a red stripe down the sides and guys get black with a blue stripe down the side. I was a little weirded out by it at first, but I guess it's more convenient since all I have to bring is shoes and shower stuff...and I can even keep that in a locker. Nice.
When Koreans speak, it kind of sounds like they're whining. They end everything with "ehhhh" so even when they speak english, they turn it into konglish and words sound like: boxeh, exiteh, and so on. I kind of smirk everytime I hear it. Which may not be encouraging to my students....
Everyone here has the same color eyes (yes, I KNOW this is obvious, but I didn't really think about it until...) so when they saw my eyes were hazel, they were FASCINATED. In fact, some students looked at me and when they noticed my eyes, kind of jumped back with a shocked look on their face. Wow. Who knew I was so rare.
I never drink Nesquik in the states, but I kind of like it here.
I want to move into my own apartment.
Leave me some love.

First Day in Korea!

First full day in Korea!! Last night was a little sad because I don’t have internet where I’m staying and will not have internet until Friday or a little later. It was just very obvious I wasn’t at home and couldn’t communicate with anyone from home either.
The flight here was way too long and I watched at least 3 movies. Eventually, I got sick of movies because I don’t normally watch them and every movie had the same ending: the guy (no matter how much of an asshole) gets the perfect girl and they are in complete love and live happily ever after. My right butt cheek fell asleep and I had no idea how to wake it up without walking around. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall asleep and start cramping until descent so I was stuck wiggling around in my seat putting my legs in awkward positions up against the window to try and get it to feel better. Then, we drove 2 ½ hours to get to my city but I learned some interesting things. One of them being that if I do any illegal drugs in Korea I get deported but if I want, I can go to Thailand and it’s okay. Good to know.
So far, the only lonely part has been sleeping. Anyone that knows me well knows I like to talk before I fall asleep, but there’s definitely no one for that sort of thing here just yet. I don’t move into my apartment until Friday, so for now I’m staying with my boss. Falling asleep made me miss everyone back in the states and maybe one person especially much.
Time to observe class and see what I’ll be doing here for a year! I hope to talk to people back home VERY soon…if they would be online when I was!
Ashley

I live.

I honestly have no idea what to write. I started a blog because I thought it would be a great way to keep everyone I love up to date on my life as I replant myself in South Korea for a year. Just a year. I never thought a year sounded like very long, but it turns out saying goodbye to people you love--even if only for a year--can be really painful. I move on Saturday the 27, and am excited to get this adventure started as many other people are starting their post college adventures. Maybe when I get back I'll get into corporate America and rock it to its core, but for now I have to settle for learning how to live in Korea.
Going away and learning how to take care of myself in a country I've never been to will be an experience to remember. Even now I can't even begin to predict how anything will come about. Guess I'll just have to wait and see and take everything one day at a time.