Traveling: It leaves you speechless and then turns you into a story teller.

Hello everyone! I feel like this is my contact with the American world! Many of you I get to stay in contact with personally but most of you who read this I really don't get to talk to! When you move to a foreign country you think about everyone you know at the strangest of times. The tiniest things trigger the memory of a person so know that you've been thought about and I appreciate the support of you reading my blog and staying "in touch".

This blog will cover two very different topics so bear with me! First, I want to talk about my weekend and all the experiences I've had just in the past couple of days and I'll finish up by talking about the scare with North Korea and our perspective and anticipation over here.

Last Friday night, we had our first Korean lesson!!!!!!!!! I'm so stoked to learn Korean. Before you know it, I'll basically be fluent and you guys will be amazed when you hear these foreign sounds coming out of my mouth!! I think it's important for foreigners to learn the language of the country they live in...at least at a basic level that they can communicate. To put this into perspective for people, think of me as a foreigner in the US. The people that you see who go grocery shopping, to restaurants, etc and can't speak English is the equivalent of what I am here in Korea. I am a foreigner and there's no way around that. I think it's respectful to the people and the culture to learn the language. Anyway, there is a guy who's lived here somewhere around 10 years who is teaching us for free. Five of us are taking lessons. Last week we covered the alphabet because learning to read is the first step. So, by the end of the week, my goal is to be able to read Korean. The sounds are different but when you sound the letters out, the words are English. I'm excited to see where this goes!

On Saturday, Asha, our friend Emma and I ventured to the Strawberry Festival in Nansan, Korea. We left our apartment at 6am and didn't return until 11pm. We took three taxis, two trains, two buses, and the subway to get there and back and it rained the entire day. It was wet and cold and as the day went on, it got colder. Festivals are a big deal in Korea, but this one was just on dirt. So, dirt plus a day of rain equals more mud than anyone knows what to do with. My feet were soaked in my boots within minutes and it was a game to maneuver my way through the mud without getting stuck. It sounds terrible...and I really was cold and chilled even throughout the day on Sunday, but we had fun! It was a good trip. Let me walk you through the series of events....

Notice all the mud....

We left at 6am and asha and I unknowingly hijacked a taxi. People can call taxis to meet them somewhere. Well, we were standing there waiting to cross the street and one pulled up to us so we got in. It wasn't until we were in motion that he asked if we were his call. At that point, there was no going back so naturally we said yes.

Next, we got to the train station and once we got to Daegu we had to travel to meet the bus we were on. My umbrella wouldn't close so after trying for a few minutes and further drawing attention to our ability to be foreign, we abandoned it on the sidewalk and got on the bus. Emma had to go to the bathroom 20 min into the bus ride so she asked about three times to stop and finally the bus driver was annoyed enough to stop...then he made fun of her the whole rest of the day. haha! When we were at the rest stop, a bunch of US military guys walked into the convenient store and 2 thoughts went through my mind: 1. "I feel so patriotic right now. Pride is welling up inside of me!" 2. "I haven't seen men this attractive to me in a loong time". I may have been smitten and I found out very quickly where the military bases are located in Korea....Keep your eyes out for the next blog!! You to me: "You joined the what!?!?" Me: "It seemed like such a good idea at the time!!!" bahaha i joke...i joke...

People in costumes freak me out...

We continued on to the festival. We were on the bus with about 50 other foreigners that all spoke english and I realized how much I talk here with the comfort of no one around me being able to understand what I'm saying. It was a very strange feeling to be around that many foreigners at once.

We walked around the festival for a couple of hours and finally discovered the "zoo". Koreans are pretty great people, but there's this part of their culture where they do not care about animals. It was a homemade zoo and the foreigners were freaking out. They had huge snakes in boxes on display where the snake was wrapped around itself with no place to move. A small monkey was in a small bird cage and a tortoise was in a box that was not big enough for him to take his head or arms out of his shell. There were bunnies, mice and hedgehogs in crates that people were carelessly picking up and throwing around. Tropical birds were in small cages, but it was freezing outside so all the animals were shivering. Koreans truly have no compassion when it comes to animals. There was a skunk in a tiny cage and it was pacing and scratching at the cage to get out. I had visions of me jumping the "fence" and setting it free....

...and Ladies and Gentlemen, that is how we almost stole a hedgehog. 'nuff said.

We continued the day by escaping to a coffee shop for a few hours, buying a new umbrella and continuing on to our home. Traveling in other countries is always quite the adventure. There's always the challenge with language and public transportation. It's so exciting and invigorating to me. After traveling abroad, traveling in the states is so anticlimactic to me because you have to be on your game to travel within another country. There's truly nothing like it...if you've never travelled, do it. It'll change your life.

Needless to say, the strawberry festival was loaded with priceless moments.

Speaking of strawberries, North Korea has threatened to first blow you (America) up and then to destroy and invade my new home. So, how  are we dealing with these threats over here?

Here's my perspective and some info for those of you who have not stayed informed:


About two weeks ago, North Korea cut the wire of communication with South Korea (The wire stays in tact pretty much no matter what but they have cut the wire before in previous threats). North Korea has moved missiles around and beefed up their military at the bored with threats to attack seoul and send a missile straight to America. Photos have been released of their five target cities within the states. Keep in mind that the new leader Kim Jung Un is a new leader, recently made dictator when his father died. He is about 27 years old so more or less my age who is actively trying to prove himself to the North Korean generals which I (and most Koreans) believe is what a lot of this can be chalked up to. It takes a nuclear missile 30 seconds to reach Seoul once launched and so South Korea has issued a statement saying that if there is solid evidence that North Korea will attack, they will attack first. South Korea sends money and materials including food to N Korea which basically keep their people alive. Their country is starving and cannot take care of itself on it's own. North Korea has more troops than what are present here with South Korean and American troops combined. Koreans around here are less than non chalant about the whole issue. They laugh at us when we bring it up because they are so used to hearing about threats from N Korea. This is the worst one so far. Koreans will tell you that 1. North Korea can't attack because all their people will die because South Korea takes care of them and 2. Their leader is trying to prove himself. The government is prepared for war but the people have not changed anything about their daily lives. Today a statement was issued saying that North Korea is preparing to move a medium sized missile to the east coast which could potentially be launched towards America, capable of hitting an American base in Guam. They have not said it was definitely going to happen, but gave a heads up just in case....again, more threats.

Last week, North Korea moved troops away from the border and backed down quite a bit because it was time for the troops to go and plant their crops hahah this cracks me up. It shows to me and to South Korea that they are not truly serious about war because they literally just sent their army back home. The more I research it, the more I feel confident that these are only threats. I feel safe, Koreans feel safe and the American Embassy issued a statement saying there was no reason to be alarmed at this time.

In case of an emergency, we have a plan and money to get a plane ticket away. I won't start freaking out until my Korean co workers start worrying. I think it's important for Americans to realize two things:

1. The American media hypes up the events going on over here. I read CNN and then look around me and they are serious contrasts. Don't believe the sense of anxiety or urgency that is attached to most of the American media you're fed. It's important to not underestimate this nation and to be prepared, but things just don't add up this time.

2. North Korea is readying to attack America first so be informed enough to know that your own country is slowly becoming the target for many nations around the world. At the same time, it is becoming weaker militarily, educationally, economically, and financially. That alone should cause you to feel the need to be educated on events around the world. The world as we know it is about to change.

It's different, invigorating, scary, and interesting being at the center of the biggest controversy/possible war...I'm so close to it that it just feels surreal sometimes to be a foreigner in this land. The Lord has asked me to be here. It's been made clear more times than I can count and so he protects those he calls. I have peace and faith and at the end of the day, that's all I need.

If you have any other questions or thoughts, shoot me an email! Enjoy your week folks!