Kamsa'ameeda

Wow, it's been an eventful few days. First, Seoul: that was amazing. We were inundated with the culture of S Korea, visiting their national palace, their "blue house," which is like our white house, and even navigated the subway system a few times. For a culture that doesnt open doors for each other, the subway system was an interesting experience, like playing musical chairs; if a person older than you got on, you had to get up. Hierarchy by age is a huge thing here, greetings differ based upon your age in relation to another person. "Anyo" is ok for friends close to you in age (within two years) and "anyo haseyo" must be used for anyone older than that.

My biggest adventure in the last few days, though, I hope will illustrate the competency of this program and the people therein. After one sleepless night at our homestay (where I met my roomate JaeEun's parents, very nice), I fell into bed at the dorms, feeling woozy. I woke up with a 103 fever, at which point my roomate called the staff, who, despite my delirious protestations, took me to the hospital. After one painless shot and much pill popping, I am now feeling quite well. Even better than that, the insurance AUM purchased covered everything, even the ambulance ride to the hospital (which I deemed quite unecessary, but I wasnt in a position to argue much at the time). We even, in typical Asian style, got pictures of me in the ambulance. Dont look too close; I wasnt wearing any makeup. But today I am, I have to make my eyes up good, because for the next two days I have to wear a germ-deterring face mask so all one can see of my face is my eyes.

We also went to a wonderful play that exhibited some neat street dancing moves, legs and arms spinning everywhere! It's a pretty popular play here; "B-boys," something like that. And no, the fingers V are not a gang sign, it's the essENtial pose for taking a photo.

Well, I am off to start on my paper that is due next weekend. Luckily, we get to write it in English. Something interesting I learned is that the Korean students have to write their papers in English too...not just for this program, but through all four years of college. That's real education.