The Adventures of a Lifetime: More Than Halfway!

The last day of school before break. Class 2-1 <3

I have reached my five month mark. Only 4 more months before I return home and I already know that will come way sooner than I want and faster than I expect. So now is my time to live it up and enjoy every second I spend here even if that involves spending a few days hanging out at home not doing much at all. I am one month into my winter vacation and I have one month left. I have gotten a lot of reading done and I have been able to do a lot of exploring in Seoul.

Aren't they lovely?

This last month has consisted a lot of just hanging around and going to a few Rotary events, Ski trips and meeting me new family members. I moved in with my second host family right before the new year and spent the holiday at a relative's house. On New Years Eve I got my first chance of the year to go skiing at a small ski resort close to my host uncle's house. I had a great time skiing with my host cousin for a few hours. For those of you back home that ski, this ski hill had more vertical than Welch but as many runs as Buck Hill. We ended up spending most of the day on one run. I got my first experience skiing in rental gear as well. I got to wear some nice Rossignol boots that are older than I am and some skis that were in pretty rough shape. Surprisingly though, the skis and boots held up pretty well. In my last post, I mentioned that the new year was a pretty big holiday but I was wrong. It is actually the Solar New Year that is the big holiday here which is in a few weeks. So brining in the new year was very low key, just sitting around the table talking for a while then heading to bed pretty early. I think the Solar New Year will be much bigger and with a lot more family. We will be heading back to the same small town for the Solar New year that we spent New Year's at. I look forward to meeting more cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents!

My host cousin SangWook. A day of skiing!

My entertainment at RYLA while we listened to the Korean speakers

About two weeks ago I spent three days with all of the exchange students at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) along with about ninety Korean university students that are part of Rotaract. Most of the time was spent listening to speakers (all in Korean), working in groups to create a dance performance and playing team-building games. It was a great time. All of us exchange girls decided to cram into one room together, so that put about fourteen girls in one room about the size a regular hotel room but all sleeping on the floor (the traditional Korean way). It was a great three days and very exhausting.

The day after I got back from RYLA I went on another ski trip with an English teacher from my school and her son who speaks English very well. He spent a year of middle school in England and now attends an international middle school here in Korea. I had another great experience getting to ski for three days! The only downside was the first day of skiing I was on skis that were a little too short and had poles that were too short as well... but that night, the rental place was very generous and brought new skis and poles to our hotel room so I was able to exchange them. The next two days were much better and I could actually make some turns through the piles that built up throughout the day. Even though this ski resort was pretty small, the weekend was VERY busy. With a ton of crowds and a lot beginner/intermediate skiers, I found it nice that there were some harder runs that weren't as crowded. Our trip was originally meant to be just two days but we came to the conclusion that another half day of skiing would be worth it to have some runs to ourselves without the crazy mass of people from the weekend. Monday was a great day of skiing, although it was white-out conditions it was great to ski on some fresh snow. I spent that half day skiing by myself while my English teacher and her son took a snowboarding lesson. By the end of the day all of my clothes were soaking wet and frozen but it was so fun!! Those three days of skiing definitely showed me how out of shape I am... I miss the days when I had coaches telling me to train and get in shape for the ski season. I was supposed to go on another ski trip with my host mother's church a few days later but I couldn't find the energy to go skiing again that soon. That, and I was still fighting a pretty nasty cold that I picked up the week before.

the sunset over Seoul, the locks are at the base of Namsan,
the fences surrounding the tower are filled with locks like
the bridge in Paris.

Since then I haven't been up to a whole lot. I have gone to Seoul a few times to see some things I haven't gotten a chance to see like looking at Seoul from the top of Namsan Tower and spending time in Jonggak helping my host cousin work on his English.

Of course I am missing things from home like Hogan Brothers and my car... and my family, as always. But I know those things will still be there when I return in four months so the homesickness isn't too bad. One thing that is a big change here is the amount of independence I don't have. There are a lot more restrictions than I am used to but that is part of this culture and a part of being an exchange student. Although it has been hard, It has been a great lesson on taking a step back from what I am accustomed to and allowing myself to be taken care of so diligently by my host parents. That may not sound like a big accomplishment but as many people know, I am a very independent person and I like to do things for myself. My sister gave me a great reminder that I need to enjoy being taken care of while I can before I have to start living on my own and have the responsibilities of an adult. That put some great perspective on my situation.

I suppose that is all for now. Once the Solar New Year passes I will post another update on my life in Korea! I hope everyone's new year is going well!