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!

YeJin, Last day of School. 

Ski area near Chungju

Playing screen golf with my host family, cousin, aunt and uncle. I am horrible.

Night view from the top of Namsan Tower

 

메리크리스마스, 새해복 많이 받으세요!

Has it been a month already since my last post? I say this every time, but time passes by quickly. I am at the four month mark of my exchange year. Christmas has passed and I move onto my next family on Saturday. I am so sad to leave my host family. They have been so wonderful and loving. I have made so many great memories over the last four months with this family that can never be replaced. I do look forward to making new memories with my next family and building a relationship with them. I'm sure it will not be the same as it is with my first family, but that is what exchange is about right? 

나는 따나게 되서 매우 슬프고 진짜 그리울 거에!

I have not been very busy this last month. I have spent a lot of time in my room reading and watching movies. School is wrapping up and the last two weeks have been filled with a lot of naps on my desk and watching korean movies with my classmates and teachers. I was able to go into Seoul a few times to do some exploring and had some korean friends show me to some really popular tourist spots. Seoul is a very beautiful city with traditional buildings mixed in with modern architecture, and a TON of people. With the population reaching almost twelve million, streets, buses and trains are always crowded. I have the next two months off of school, which will give me more time to explore and hang out with friends. 

My host parents took me on a trip to Jeju Island (제주도) for Christmas. It is off the southern coast of South Korea and is GORGEOUS. It was snowy and rainy most of the weekend so it was almost impossible to see the volcano/mountain but with a few minutes of sunshine I was able to snap a few shots through the palm trees. We did all of the touristy things you can do on an Island. I ate some great seafood, went to some cool museums and watched dolphins swimming off the coast on Christmas morning. My aunt, and both grandmothers went along as well. I had such an amazing time. It was so great to get away from my daily schedule for a few days. It was chilly all weekend and I almost had a white Christmas but we were too far down the mountain, so the snow melted. I will be going back to Jeju in march on a trip with Rotary. I look forward to spending a few days with some great friends in such a beautiful place. 

Camellia Hill

 It really did not feel like Christmas at all. Christmas is not celebrated as it is back home. No presents or decorations. No special meals or Santa. Most people celebrate this holiday as couples, and it is said that if you are single, this holiday is one to sit at home and be lonely (sort of like Valentine's day but even less celebrated). Many Koreans are Christian and some celebrate Christmas but New Years is THE holiday to celebrate. I was able to Skype with my family back home when I returned from my trip Christmas day night for me and Christmas morning for them. It was so great to hear everyone's voices and catch up. 

Sunset on Jeju

Not having the Christmas I am accustomed to really helped put my exchange year in perspective. Being away from family for so long and in such a different culture is very difficult. Although I have made so many great memories and met so many wonderful people, there are struggles everyday that I have to work through. This Christmas, I spent an amazing three days with my host family and it made me feel so welcome and loved. I realized that this year of exchange is for a limited time only and I really need to embrace every second of it a little bit more. I looked past the material parts of Christmas, all the gifts and food and set my mind to being thankful for the family I have here in Korea and opened my heart a little bit more to the idea that this is my life right now. A year on exchange is about learning a new culture. We all have to remember that not every culture celebrates the same holidays or in the same way and that is what makes the experience so great. It gives us a chance to learn other ways of life and appreciate things that really matter. I can not explain how appreciative I am to be put through these struggles everyday, they are worth it for the reward of each happy, fun and exciting moment of my year. 

So to all of the future outbounds in Northfield and around the world who received their letters a few days ago, embrace every second you can while you are away next year and don't allow the struggles to overpower your experience. Enjoy the little things and lock them away in your memory because they will stay with you forever as some of the greatest moments of your life. I know each and every one of you will have an amazing time and I wish you all the luck in the world. It feels like just yesterday that I received my letter, it has already been a full year since that day. Time passes quickly. Get ready outbounds of 2013, the time of your life is just around the Corner!! 

                                                          새해복 많이 받으세요! 

In and around Seoul

Street art in Hongdae, Seoul 

Brrrrr. Jeju on Christmas morning

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year  to everyone!!

Taking Candy From Strangers

University, getting Korean Names mine is 나래 sounds like 'NaRae'

I am 1/3 of my way through my exchange year. I am having mixed emotions about it. On one hand, I am three months into my wonderful exchange year and I have learned so much. On the other hand, I only have six months left an that doesn't feel like enough time to learn everything I want to. And As for the title, Korea is one of the safest places I have ever been to. I sometimes forget this. The other day on the bus, the bus driver came up to me with some candy and offered me a piece, at first I said no thank you, no thank you, but he kept insisting. Then I remembered "oh right, this is Korea, he isn't going to hurt me by giving me some candy, just take it!" Then the bus driver went around the bus to everyone else and gave them candy as well. I had to laugh at myself a little bit for forgetting how nice people are here.

I haven't posted in a month, but the last month has been pretty steady with almost the same schedule every week. At the beginning of the month, I went on another Rotary bus trip to Busan, a city on the southern tip of South Korea. It is the second largest city in the country but is significantly smaller than Seoul's 10,000,000+ residence. I am sad to report that on my first day in Busan my camera died on the first tour we took and I was not able to take any pictures but I will post some of the other exchanger's pictures. Also on that trip, my adaptor broke so I had no way to charge my camera for a while. Luckily South Korea is a pretty hoppin' place when it comes to technology so it was not hard to find an adaptor at the local Home Plus store. This store has almost everything. From designer clothes, shoes and a food court to a grocery store in the basement and a complete kids level dedicated to baby clothes and room accessories. The place is HUGE but isn't a mall...

A small sliver of Busan 

A few other things I have done this month:

Introducing ourselves

 I danced with the other exchange students at our district conference. I only messed up a few times. We performed the dances we have been learning at our K-pop class we take at Sungkyul University. We also had to introduce ourselves in Korean. It took a lot of practice to memorize those few sentences but it turned out alright!

3rd grade (seniors) took the biggest test of their lives in mid-November. This test is their one chance to prove how smart they are. This test determines their future. Talking to the kids in my class (2nd grade), they are already nervous for this test and they still have a year before they have to take it. Streets and business's around the school are shut down to remove any possible distraction for the students. And if a student is running late? They can call the police for a quick ride to school.

Watching the elections for a different country was strange to say the least. I am sad to say this I did not get my absentee ballot in, but I think if the results were different I would feel even worse. Koreans all seem to love Obama. Everyone I talked to was so excited that Obama won. It made me realize though that it seems every other country in the world knows what is going on in the U.S. but we, as Americans, rarely know what is going on in other countries. That made me take a small step back and reevaluate how I see the world and how I need to be more observant of the world around me. But to say the least, this election made me very proud to be an American and Minnesotan with Vote No.

Korean Class

My Korean is coming along a little better than last month. I can now communicate more easily and am understanding much more. Listening is much easier than speaking and reading. Writing has become fairly easy when I know how to spell the words correctly but so many sounds seem the same so it is easy to mix up ㅔwith ㅐandㅓ with  ㅗ.

This coming week will be my last week at Sungkyul University. I am a little sad that my time there is already over. It was usually the part of the day I looked forward to most. I really enjoyed spending time with the other exchange students and meeting some of the korean students that helped out in our classes or would randomly come up to me to ask me questions in English because they wanted to practice speaking. Next semester, after a two month break in Jan. and Feb. I will hopefully be taking another Korean class at a University or local YMCA. I look forward to learning even more korean!

With Thanksgiving just a few days ago and Christmas/New Years just around the corner I thought I would feel a little more homesick but I am doing great. This could change with the snap of a finger but as of now, I am feeling very comfortable here with my family and with the culture. I do miss my family and friends back home but they will all be there when I get back in June. This is the time to live in the now and take in every second of this year. But I do really miss our yearly round of lefse and chocolate cutouts. (hint hint Grandma...;)

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to everyone back home!

Busan- The Coast

Can't think of a clever title, so I'm sticking with... TWO MONTHS?!!

    

Some other temple... East coast! 

I can't believe it either... I have been here for roughly two months already and time has flown by. I am finally feel like I am settling into my daily schedule of school and riding the bus to a fro. These last two weeks have been pretty buy with my visit to Sokcho, the school festival and a wedding. I can't express properly with words how it feels to be an exchange student. The only way to truly understand is to experience it yourself. It has become on of the most gratifying experiences in my life so far. I am so thankful for this opportunity and even though it has only been two short months since I have been here I feel as though I have learned so much about life and about myself. I think experiencing other cultures first hand is one of the most important parts of life. Learning the ways of different cultures opens the mind to new ideas and acceptance of things outside of your comfort zone. So many people go through life only experiencing one culture, thinking that one way is the only way to live, but I think life is so much for than that. Life is about experiencing things, about growing and finding ways to be happy.

 I recently started reading a book called The Happiness Project, recommended to me by Avery Nelson. I am only about half way through the book but I recommend it to everyone. It is about making your life happier even if it is already in a good, stable place. I think there is always be a way to make yourself happier. I took this as a message to fully embrace the culture that I am living in and make it my world %100 for the next year. This goal will hopefully make this year THE best year of my life and completely unforgettable. 

Anyways... moving on from my inner-monologue. I promised in my last post that I would tell you about the school festival and my trip to the mountains, which really turned out to be the east coast which has mountains right next to it. I also attended a wedding and went to a park that holds the graves of a past prince and princess. 

View from hotel room

Two weekends ago, my host parents and I headed out early Saturday morning for what I thought was going to be the mountains. The drive was only about four hours and that put us on the opposite side of the country, next to the sea and sitting right outside of the mountains in Sokcho. It was so beautiful! We stayed at a resort on a golf course. My parents played a few rounds of golf with some old friends the first day and early the second morning. Then me and my host mom headed out to do some sight seeing. We were planning on going to Soeraksan, one of Korea's national parks but the line just to park took about 30 minutes and the walk back to the entrance of the park was even longer. I have never seen so many people, outfitted in hiking clothes, waiting in lines to take the bus to the entrance. Koreans really do take their hiking attire seriously, walking sticks and all. We ended up skipping that excursion and went to a Buddhist temple called Naksansa instead. It was right on the east coast, settled up on a cliff with blue-green waves crashing below. We did some more site seeing that day then headed back home. Even though I did spend quite some time sitting in the hotel, it was definitely worth it so see the wonderful views of ocean and mountain. 

The school festival was much like a talent show with everyone crammed into the gym watching students sing, dance, play music, Etc. Some students from the Osan American High School came for the day to watch and hang out with a group of students from my school. It was great getting to know some of them and learn about living life on a military base for their whole lives. One of our own exchange students from France danced to a few K-pop songs and she did awesome! She is an amazing dancer and plans on dancing as a profession I believe. She is now the most popular girl in school. It is pretty funny hearing all of the boys yelling "I love you!!" to her from down the hallway. There are so many talented kids in our school that dance, sing and play piano. It was quite an enjoyable event. 

I guess this post is a little longer than I wanted it to be but I only have a few more things to share! This last weekend I went to a wedding of some relative (not really sure who though). The venue was gorgeous. The inside of the building had an old, villa kind of look with white drapery and old chandeliers. The ceremony itself was only about fifteen minutes with lunch right afterwards. Korean weddings are not as long as American weddings. With no reception after, accept for a quick lunch buffet, we were only at the wedding a total of one and a half hours. Short and sweet! 

Koren life has become pretty second nature to me. I have gotten used to the social rule of no cleavage, but show as much leg as you want and talking to those older than me with words in the polite form. I have figured out the ways of my school uniform. Knowing how to fold the skirt a little to make it a tiny bit shorter and not tucking my white button up in, instead letting it hang down from under my sweater-vest to make it not look so awkward. These school uniforms were definitely made for girls that are of the stick skinny variety. My chopstick skills have improved to the point where it feels weird to use a fork and I can successfully eat ramen noodles with chopsticks. 

That is all for now! This weekend will be pretty busy hanging out with friends and exchange students which is a good things I think! Means I'm settling in right? If there is anything you are particularly interested in or have questions just leave a message and I will try and answer them as best I can! Until next time!! xoxo

P.S. I had an amazing meal of roast duck at a local restaurant, I have a feeling this is a meal that Connor  Rohwer would appreciate very much (: 

                                                     Pictures from trips and parks below!!

Omma and I at Naksansa

Drive to Soeraksan

Naksansa

Naksansa

Naksansa

Naksansa beach!

A park near my town 

a lovely fall day with everyone out and about!

                                         

 

A little shopping with a side of shopping

This last weekend the twenty-some of us exchangers from my district packed up a bus and headed to Seoul (only really about 45 min away).   We started off meeting at a train station a few towns away from where I live. About 1/3 of us met there and got on the bus for the drove into Seoul. The rest of the group took the subway all the way in (because of the locations of their "hometowns") and had no idea where to go... but we all made it safe and sound. Once we met up as a big group we were given our schedule for the weekend.

View from bottom of the tower

Upon first glance we were all super excited! We were going to go to the Blue House (SK's White House),  Some palaces, museums, shopping districts, Namsan Tower, and a temple. Unfortunately we were not able to actually go inside the Blue House and Namsan was too crowded to make it to the top that night. But I did have a great time hanging out with everyone and spent ALL of my monthly allowance. We got glimpses of some fireworks going off around Seoul from the oh-so-crowded Namsan tour area and saw a few female monks while tasting some of the best tea I have ever had. My host parents promised to take me to Namsan Tower soon so I can see what Seoul looks like from the top.

My favorite place on this "tour" was The buddhist temple we visited. It was located somewhere in Gangnam across from a huge mall/ conference center called COEX. For being in the center of a bustling city it was one of the most peaceful places I have been to in a long time. The building were gorgeous and it seemed like the perfect escape. There were people praying in the various temples that scattered confined area and a huge Buddha statue stood towards the back of the whole temple area. There was a tea booth set up with three types of teas. I tried two of the three and they were both amazingingly fresh. It had never crossed my mind before that a female could be a monk but apparently so! All I have ever seen or heard of about monks has been from books of movies and they have never depicted them as women. It makes me feel like women are stepping up in the world even more!

I finally stayed in my first hotel in Korea and had my first experience of eating fast food hamburgers for breakfast from Lotteria (think McD's but a little worse). I cease to be amazed at the things I come across here. It was a short three days and I was already back at school today. My legs are still a little sore from all the wandering around markets and malls and I look forward to the 6 day weekend coming. Mid terms are amongst the students of my school and I swear I can feel the pressure in the air. Next week is a festival to celebrate being done with mid-terms and the school wants us to perform something... we decided to elect two of the six of us to represent the exchange students. I will let you know how that goes! Also, This coming weekend I am going to the mountains and I am super excited!!

Here are some pictures from The weekend! 

Namsan Tower

COEX, Smaller than MOA but still a pretty big

Dongdaemun Market

Dongdaemun, take this x10 and you have how many hats there were. 

My fellow American Natalie

Buddhist temple

연꽃차 Lotus Tea

lantern convered ceiling at temple

                                                                        Until next time!!

It's been a while!

I feel like I have been horrible at blogging. My last blog was about three weeks ago already. Time has been moving very fast here. I am already about 6 weeks into my exchange year!  I am staying busy with school, meeting new friends and celebrating holidays! This past weekend was Chuseok. Sort of like Thanksgiving but it lasts 4 days. We started the celebrations on saturday. my Abba's family came over to our apartment to spend the night. We made tons a rice cakes and other foods which we used for the alter that was set up for my host father's father. I wasn't allowed to participate but it was a really cool experience to watch how they pray for their loved ones that have passed.  The next day we headed to my mother's side of the family's house out in a smaller town and spent two full days eating, hunting for pam (a sort of nut, super yummy) and watching lots of TV. I also went to my first norebang! It is like karoake only you go into a little room with your small group and sing...or scream... I had a super fun time, and it doesn't matter how bad of a singer you are either.

Now lets jump back, two weekends ago I went to the ING conference (International next-generation global leaders conference). That's a mouth full. It was 5 nights and 6 days of mostly speaking english. I met some pretty amazing people while I was there. Some were rotex who were on exchange  2-6 years ago, some were locals and some were just there because their english was really good and from places around the world like Malaysia, Germany and Russia. During the conference we did a whole bunch of interesting things. We were split into 3 groups. I was in the Environment and Science group. The two other groups were human right/politics and culture/art. Each group was told to create a presentation that would be given at the end of the week on a subject that fit within our topics. My group ended up talking about alternative energy and the future. I was elected to talk because my english was the best out of the 6 or so of us that worked on 5 of the 15 slides. I am not the best public speaker, my knees like to shake... but I made it through alive. Some of the other things we did were touristy. We went to a traditional "castle" in Suwon, then went shopping. I got some super cute socks with giraffes on them! We also went to Seoul for an evening. Given free reign we ended up staying in Gangnam the whole time to do some more shopping and sticker sajin (a shop dedicated to little photobooths with different themes and editing options that make your eyes huge and your skin lighter). I had sooo much fun. And I danced to Gangnam Style in Gangman station... No biggy or anything... Let's see, what else did we do? Oh yeah,   I saw North Korea. We didn't get to go to the actual DMZ because of time limits but we went to another place where you can see NK over a river. I think I will get another chance to go to the DMZ later this year on a Rotary trip. We spent one day listening to some speakers talk about different subjects. I got a few naps in that day. All in all it was super fun and nice to meet some new faces from all over the world! Who knew that Canadians could be so cool?? I also learned all of the faces that korean girls make in pictures... I'm sure they will pop up in a lot of my pictures through out the year.

                                                               
My host family has been wonderful. They are so caring and treat me like their daughter. We eat almost every meal together, even breakfast before I go to school. My omma wakes up with me and sits at the table with me while I eat my cornflakes. I want to tell her to not wake up so early but I think she feels like she has to, just to make sure I have everything I need and that I make it out the door in time. They are very protective, even with their own kids they are very protective. Omma always watches me when I am trying what she made for dinner to make sure it tastes okay. It seems like we are always eating something new when she cooks and she always watches me take my first bite to see if I like it or not. Sometimes I usually say "oh yummy!" but other times she can tell by my face that it isn't my favorite. I would say that 50% of my meals are at home and the other 50% are out at restaurants. I think I have eaten out enough in the last 6 weeks to last me a year. Korean meals are very different from American meals. There is always kimchi and usually some other little plates of bean sprouts, or other varieties of kimchi , of course rice, and then one big plate or bowl in the middle that we all eat off of.  Usually when we eat out or if  a lot of family are over we eat sitting on the floor by a low table. I am still getting used to sitting crossed legged for so long but I am sure by the end of the year it will be easy as pie!

A few weeks ago I went to my first rotary club meeting. My rotary club is mostly made up of men, with one woman and the district governor who is also a woman, came to this particular meeting. I gave my  introduction in korean. (My Omma helped my write it). Then the questions started, in broken english; Do you have a boyfriend? What are your hobbies? Do you like Korea? Do you like eel?. That last one confused me quite a bit until I realized when we pulled up to the restaurant after the meeting that we were having eel for dinner.  I was a bit nervous to try it, I thought it would be close to the texture of octopus but it was actually pretty tasty! It is pretty expensive to eat so this may have been the only time I eat it. If you ever have it sitting in front of you for a meal don't be scared to try it! I had a great time talking to the men that sat around me. One of them, and older gentleman who is a doctor, is learning english. He worked very hard at putting together sentences. He was so cute and he said some really hilarious things! I think his favorite is "bottoms up!", which he said every time he and the other rotarians would drink.

What else haven't I talked about? The weather here is getting cooler but the leaves haven't changed color yet. I miss all of the oranges, reds and yellows of the leaves back home but I am sure they will start to change here soon. I am getting so happy that it is getting cooler, any one that knows me knows I love winter!! I met a boy at school who lived in the US for 6 years up until last year and he skis and an english teacher at my school told me that there are "ski clubs" that go skiing every weekend. Maybe I can get in on that? I will have to see how much it costs.  Hopefully I can make at least one or two trips out to the mountains to ski... I don't know what I will do if I don't get to ski this year!!

In the next few weeks I only have a few days of school. I don't have school until Thursday this week, then Friday I leave for a rotary but trip to Seoul. SOOO EXCITED!!  Back to school monday and tuesday then mid terms start wednesday and we aren't "allowed" to go to school while they are testing, so no school until the next tuesday. I will still have University in the afternoons but I will have lots of down time and will blog again after I spend the weekend in Seoul and the next weekend out in the mountains with my host family who are playing in a golf tournament. All in all I am having a wonderful time and learning so much about myself and how this new culture operates. I can't wait to see how this year pans out.  Until next time!

                                      My cousins thought photo booth was the coolest thing ever!

                                           NORTH KOREA!!!

Making rice cakes!

eating kimchi pancakes with my little cousins! and of course watch Kdrama!

                                         We squeezed almost 10 people around this little table.