Leaving is Always the Hardest, Adjusting is as Well.

As I write this I have been back in the US for a few months. Being back here is weird. I am loving being back with my family, but I am really starting to miss my friends and life back in Korea. it does not really help that I see them talking over social media about thing and realizing that I am no longer apart of it, that there is nothing I can do about feeling left out (because I am not there obviously), but it still stings.
It is like there is a constant ache in my chest that I am slowly learning to live with. Everything can relate back to Korea. All the differences between my two countries is glaringly obvious, but at the same time interesting.

Food: American food is blander and does not have as much flavor in some regards to Korean food. I guess it is more like the Korean food has the tastes of the individual flavors, but they all blend with the taste of the dish in general, where as American food really is mono-flavored but has notes of flavors, like the tangy-ness of mayo or the creaminess of cheese. Korean food is also fresher and more colorful.

People: Not going to lie, the first things that I thought of when I landed in Dallas was that the people here in America were bigger. Now I am not saying bigger in the sense of weight (even though Americans are a little heftier than their Korean counterparts) but rather the people were bigger in the sense that there was more diversity. Different skin tone, hair, clothes, facial structures. Everyone was so tan and so laid back and casual than the people that I saw in Incheon. There was so much diversity that when I looked at a crowd of people, everyone stood out and screamed for my eyes to look at them. Where  as in Seoul, even though everyone was different, they wore similar pallets, the dark hair kind of blurred together in a soft calming way that was not as "harsh" on the eyes.
But the main thing that I realized was small talk. In Seoul, I did not have many strangers talk to me. Usually it was just a person trying to practice their English, but it only really lasted for a few seconds and then we went back to our own little worlds.

Social Interaction: One thing that I have had to deal with, now that I am back at school is that my way of interacting with others has changed. I am very aware of age and experience levels of everyone that I come in contact with, be it professors, fellow students, workers, etc.  I have always been very polite person (in my own opinion), but after being in Korea for so long, I can now actively see myself changing my behavior depending on who I am interacting with.
Also the whole "small talk" thing is still a little weird for me. With sorority recruitment coming up, I guess I am going to need to practice with that, but I think I have gotten more shy about talking with people that I don't really now. I guess it comes from the fact that I am not really sure what to talk about; all of my American pop culture knowledge comes form two years ago, my school has changed and teachers that I took my sophomore year are teaching different courses or on sabbatical.


But despite theses differences, I am still glad that I was gone for the year. It really gave me insight to a culture and world that most people don't get to experience with a semester long exchange. I got to see all the seasons of Korea, got to experience all the major holidays. Would I change my mind about going for a year had I known that I would be having difficulty readjusting back to the US and my university, no. I believe that I made the right choice and would do so again in a heart beat.

My Last Days

So to make my last day in Seoul special. My friend Stephanie accompanied me for the day. We got to go to all of my favorite places.

After having free lunch with a friend of a mutual friend, we went to "Real SM" building and then explored the area to go find our way to CUBE Cafe. It was really fun to go there and hang out at the place where all m Kpop adventures really seemed to start.

After we finished going to the agencies, we got on the subway and made our way up the orange line to Dongguk University station to take the bus to Namsan Tower. It had always been one of my dreams to go to Namsan at night so I could look out at my city at night and see all the lights that Seoul had to show off.

I am no going to lie, I was tearing up on the road up to the tower. it was weird to think that this was going to be mu last night in the city. I was able to hold in the tears, but they threatened to spill when I was up in the tower. Seoul during the day is so vibrant and lively, but Seoul at night is breathe taking. Looking out over the Han is so hauntingly beautiful; the highways illuminated red and white, like veins pumping the life blood of the city even late into the night. I was struggling to hold in the tears while I was trying to say my goodbyes.

The next morning, the day I was going to fly out. I moved my things into Stephanie's room after I checked out and we went to Alice Cafe with our mutual friend Abby (see lunch from above) and got cupcakes and drinks for breakfast. Afterwards Stephanie helped me bring my things to the bus stop and waited with me until my shuttle arrived.

It may not have been the most glitzy and high rolling way to leave the country like some of my friends, but I would not have changed anything. It was perfect, it was just like my personality while I was there in Seoul. And hopefully am able to go back one day and visit all these magical places again ^^

AYP Coastal Trip Part 2

Ok, I last left off at the first night of the AYP trip, so let's start with day 2:

We had to wake up pretty early since we had a big day planned. So at 0800 we got up and since breakfast was still being made, we walked around the fields and even visited a privately own temple. Truthfully I kind of wanted to sleep more, since breakfast was not for another hour or so, but I rolled out of bed and put on my tennis shoes and went out side. I am so glad that I went^^

Baby birds outside of our room

Fresh mountain berries that our host picked for us so we could have a snack before we did our hike

On our way to the shrine

The shrines and the surrounding area was amazing!

Rice field and the drainage ditch off to the side that helps regulate the water levels

An old women working in the fields

Part of the Shrine. There is an older women that lives on the grounds. It is stylized at a representation of Buddhist Heaven. 

View of the valley and part of the compound that we were staying on  ( Right Side through the trees) form the Temple Grounds. 

I loved walking around and seeing all the fields and the people out in them picking and weeding. It really reminded me of my family farm out in Alabama. All the people up early working in the fields until later in the day when they would come in for breakfast and just hang out and shoot the breeze until is was time to work again.  I felt at home because it reminded me of my family there. Everything was just so peaceful. After walking around we can back to the MT/ factory that we were staying at and ate breakfast. It was so good. Even though the ingredients were simple and it was not fancy, everything was so fresh and perfectly seasoned that it was just absolutely wonderful and I could have eaten everything in sight had  that not been socially unacceptable/ time constraints.

Super delicious breakfast. Really considered bringing the 할머니 back home to Seoul with us so we could have all of her wonderful meals everyday^^

After breakfast, we drove to our next destination. It was a far drive (about an hour and a half) but all of us crashed in the van, so it seemed like no time at all when we arrived at the town next to Sorak-do for lunch. Now  one thing about CIEE excursions, is that you get fed very well (almost too much).

For lunch we got another seafood spread that was really good, even though I did not eat that much since I am not a huge seafood fan/ try to stay away from shell fish as much as possible. But it was really good all that same ^^

ALL THE FOOD!!

Again more crabs from all the marsh lands

After the huge dinner, we went out to Sorrak-do to tour the island. Sorrak-do is interesting because it has only been open to the public for about 15 years or so. Before that it was closed as a private hospital residence for the remaining patients that had opted to remain on the island  so that the government would continue to take care of them even though their treatments were complete.

I realize that I am writing all this history without telling you what the residences where suffering from. Sorrak-do was established as a leper colony during the Japanese colonization. Even after the Japanese left, the Koreans still used the island as a colony for the infirm. Even at the present, there are still patients that are there, but we were told that they were done with treatment, not that we were going to be around them anyway. The main reason that we went there was not only because it is one of the relatively "untouched" tourist places in Korea, but because it is well known for the garden that residents created themselves over the years. All the stones, all the flowers, even down to the upkeep was done by the leper patients, and it was gorgeous. Everything was in bloom and it was so pretty!

Sorrak can be roughly translated into "Little Deer" so there was this mural of a deer that was absolutely beautiful. At first I was not sure what it was, but once I got right in front of it, I could see the deer.

This was the room where the Japanese soldiers would do autopsies on the Leper prisoners that they had on the island (sometimes when they were still alive!!). Really felt like I should have been on an episode of Ghost Hunters International. 

What the island looks like from the air. See why they named it little deer

After Sorrak, we went to the grocery store to get food to take with us to the next island, because there was not going to be any types of food stores there, so  we needed to bring everything that we could think we would need. In the end we ended up getting too much food, but that is not always a bad thing; rather too much, then not enough.

After getting the food, we drove to the pension that we were going to be staying at for the night. It was right on the beach and really beautiful. We were the only guests there besides a group of businessmen, but we did not really see them all that much except for when we were grilling dinner while they were eating as well.

the girl's shopping list

Super good ice cream that you need to let melt a little so it tastes like a milkshake. Perfect on a hot day

Our pension where we were staying. The girls' room was the farthest on the left.

The A-frames that our program leader was staying in.

 After we settled in and relaxed some, all of us AYPs went down to the beach with our program director and just chilled for an hour before we started dinner. The beach was so cool, because there was really no sand, but rather the beach was made out of smooth rocks. We played around in the small area that was sand (making sand castles, playing in the water, etc) and just bonded until we all got hungry and decided to make dinner (삼겹살 again ^^)!

View of the beach from the back lawn of the pension

Drawings that someone had made on the rocks

Our finished sand castle

More meat for dinner

After dinner, some people went off to bed, while the rest of us hung out in the girls' cabin and played charades and just hung out and talked. The next morning we had to pack up and drive back to Suncheon to catch our train back to Seoul.

AYP Coastal Trip Part 1

 So this semester, all us AYP (Academic Year Participants) were given our own excursion. Last semester, we went to Busan. So this semester, the 9 of us and one of the program leaders when to the countryside and also two islands.
So we left Seoul bright and early on one of the express trains here in Korea (KTX) and made it down to Suncheon right around lunch time. Man was it hot out! In Seoul there was still a slight spring chill in the air, at least at the time that we left for the station, but once we arrived down South, it was a different story. It was sunny and bright out. The air seemed lighter and cleaner. The heat from he sun felt amazing on my arms and legs. The whole vibe of the town felt like Florida to me, all I was missing wast the palm trees and the coconut sunscreen lotion.

We got in to the rented van that we were going to use for the weekend and drove to the restaurant that we were going to eat at. There was so much sea food that I had no idea what to do with myself. We were given a regional specialty that was a form of sea food 비빔밥 (mixed rice and hot pepper paste). it was actually really good because the mix that we put in the rice was a mixture of bean sprouts, green onions, mussels, and other shredded vegetables. 

Our spread! The big red bunch of veggies to the right is the mixture I was talking about. We also had other types of fried sea food and other veggies as 반찬

crabs that still had the shells on that you could eat whole

barbecued squid on a stick with hot pepper paste and sesame seeds

  

After lunch, we crossed the street and went to the Saltwater Marshland Conservatory. it was so pretty out and the salt breeze that was coming off the marshlands was absolutely amazing! I felt like I was at the marsh lands in Florida and really started to get a little homesick. 

 

There were crabs and mud skippers in the mud. All of them were clear to see because it was low tide when we were there! 

View off of the mountains in the distance

The main information center

While we walked around, we were able to take a boat ride. It was amazing being back on a boat after so long. The sea-salt breeze blowing in my hair, the noise and vibrations coming from the inboard motor, and the smell of boat fuel was just a huge welcome. It was weird, but it was not until then that I realized that my time here was limited. I kept getting flash backs to family boating trips to Fort George and Bird Island, down in Florida. 

We got to ride a boat to see the marshes and to hear about what was being done to conserve them. 

View of the mountains while on the boat.

After we went to the marshes, we drove for a little while to get to the place where we were going to be eating dinner and spending the night. Where we were going was out in the countryside on a 두부 farm (tofu) where they fermented 김치(Kimchi), made 뒨장 (Fermented soy sauce), and also teach visiting students the process of making tofu. And yes, that means that we also made tofu!

We got to separate the grains, grind the soaked beans, and then got to press the boiled curd into the blocks that we all know and love! And afterwards, like with in minutes we were eating fresh, warm tofu. Omo guys, I am not sure how much you know I like tofu, but coming from a tofu lover who lived off it for 8 years, it was freaking amazing! Like it was the best I have ever eaten. In fact that night was the best night food wise for me since I have been here in Korea. It was a relativity simple dish and one that I have eaten a lot while here in Korea. But everything was so much better. All the vegetables were super fresh and the Kimchi was fermented for a long time, so there was some heat to it, but not enough to kill a person and the flavors and seasonings were just perfect.  And don't even get me started on the dwenjang (fermented soy sauce). It was absolutely the best thing in the world.  I swear I ate about half of the container that they had out to feed all of us!!

My homemade Tofu!!

Dinner for the night^^

MEAT!

After dinner we got to walk around in the fields and then went back to our rooms to get ready for the night since we had an early day the next day. A few of us actually stayed up later and ate delivery fried chicken and played charades. 

since this post was a little long, and it is getting kind of late, I am splitting our trip into two parts^^

So until part 2~