It is hard to believe that I have allowed a week to pass without a single update. I know you have all been clinging to the hope that tales of my stupidity and cultural misfortunes would soon be broadcast across the world wide web. Wait no further my friends, the time is now and the place is here. Before I continue I should add that I have done a fair amount of reflection over the past week. I am concerned that some of my posts might come across as culturally insensitive or that I am belittling a custom. I want to clarify that this blog is my way of documenting my own mistakes and having an outline through which to laugh long down the road. That being said I will highlight to ups and downs and everything in between.
Rachel ended our last post on Friday night in Cheongju. She did not however mention all of the events of the evening.
We started our journey into Cheongju by hopping buses in Munbaek. It was on the bus from Munbaek to Cheongju that Andrew found a phone on the floor. Being the helpful people we are we decided to figure out whose it was. Here is Jeffrey speaking loudly and clearly to communicate where we would meet this person to return her phone. We took several pictures on her phone so that she could laugh at and remember us for a long time.
After returning the cell phone we took a break from the cold and allowed the ladies to do some shopping. WARNING: In Korea escalators come to a complete stop and need to be reset if you attempt to do the “ELF” stretch. I am proud/embarrassed to say that I can speak from personal experience on this one.
We ran from the mall after my misfortune with the escalator and headed to dinner. We had a really nice meal and were able to get to know some of our coworkers a lot better which has really helped with homesickness.
As Rachel stated we also did some grocery shopping. I will not linger on every detail but the workers in the grocery store and mall stop when a certain song comes on the overhead speakers and do a dance. I have a personal goal of learning to dance before our time in Korea is up.
We have found comfort in strange things since being in Korea. While shopping or searching the internet it brings a sense of relief to find even a single word in English. One thing that I am convinced in a global comfort are chocolate chip cookies. Andrew and Daphne (across the hall) have been so great to welcome us in for cookie night at their place. We have found ourselves joking, talking about work, going into deep conversations but usually it is laughing at the goofy things we have seen or done. One of my favorite things we were taught was the puffy cheek. Apparently many Koreans will stare at someone and when they are caught will make a puffy cheek face. We attempted to recreate as many puffy cheeks as we could. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Since last weekend we have spent a majority of our time preparing for the sessions that will start in January. It is an exciting time of year and we are looking forward to the many different things that will continue to surprise and stretch us. It is fun to get our feet wet in a whole new world. Speaking of getting wet. We have a toilet that has more functions than the new Iphone4S. Being that we are in Korea all of the words are in Korean. Our neighbors, being the kind people they are, shared with me that the toilet seat is heated. I decided late one night to put my great Korean to the test and start pushing buttons while kneeling by the toilet. There is a saying, “curiosity killed the cat”. Well in this situation the cat was not killed but he nearly got a mouth full of toilet water. You can see in this picture that one of the very helpful images is of a butt that looks quite toasty. It is not toasty because the seat was gingerly warmed. This butt is toasty because an alien like probe emerged from the depths of the toilet seat and sprayed warm water all over it. You can imagine my surprise I pushed the “butt warmer” and a pink probe shot out. I managed to close the toilet lid before too much of the bathroom was soaked. At this point I decided just to let the machine run its course before pushing another button. Apparently in Korea the bidet does not stop until you push the button again. At this point the bathroom floor, my feet, and a multitude of other things we covered in toilet water. A great way to spend the evening.
We are blessed beyond anything we deserve. I hope we can bring a smile to your face. It is always great to hear from you. I will try to update in the next few days but until that I will keep wearing my slippers, choking down kimchi and laughing at the incredibly cool life I have.
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