Just got back from Korea

I literally just got back from korea today. I must say it was fantastic! I just wished I had more time---time sure does fly. Basically this entry is going to be highlights of korea so it might be a tad long. While I was there, I met up with one of my best friends (we were childhood friends) Monique aka Dami. I also got to see Pastor Paul!

So Dami...if you're reading this..haha. If any of you know her or her mom, i think they have been trying to set me up with someone since probably forever or have my whole dating life planned out. I love them for it though! While I was in the states, all the ah jum mahs got together and talked. Of course, Dami's mom asked about my boyfriend status which is zero. Therefore, she said that when i visited Korea she would make sure I had fun--fun meaning there would be boys. When I got to Korea and met up with Dami, we went to Lotte World and of course two of her guy friends were invited. They were very very nice! Monique, thank you for always helping me out ;D. However, I can get awkward especially when there's like a "set-up" and also when I can't speak Korean very well. Thankfully, after riding Dungeon drop I let go of my inhibitions and was more normal and not just a quiet hermit. HAHAHA But the guys were extremely nice given the situation and Monique I had a blast!!!!

On my trip, I also got to meet Pastor Paul and hang out with his family. My have Will and Faith grown so much---they're ridiculousy cute. They all took me out to eat bi bim bap (bc its my fave) and it was delicious. The restaurant was well known b/c they give you like 21 side dishes to put into your bi bim bap. Then afterwards we hiked up to a temple on a mountain which was beautiful. I wish Texas had mountains but we only got plains. ANyways, on this mountain i ate bun de gi (an insect) which was ...eating a bug. I thought it was unique. Of course PP on the other hand loved it sooo much and was drinking the juice it was cooked in. I literally put it in my mouth, chewed a little to see what it tasted like, it was lil weird, and then swallowed. Surprisingly, little Faith loved the little insects --like Father like daughter. I think Faith's personality is like Pastor Paul's but she definitely looks like Mrs. Lee. Will is soo funny...actually i take that back. Will is like Pastor Paul--loves to eat and is sooo outgoing and has no limits in a great way! Gosh when I see them again, it's going to be shocking b/c theyre going to be soo big. But seeing Pastor Paul and the entire family was so much of a blessing from God. Just to be surrounded by good people and realize how much we all love each other---I have been and am so blessed.

The latter half of my stay in Korea was at a Unification camp. Basically students from all over the world: Australia, Mexico, USA, Germany, Russia, and native Koreans came together to learn about Korean unification as well as Korean culture. I had the best time ever! I know mentally that of course Koreans live all over the world but talking with Koreans who are born in Germany or Russia or Australis was so neat. I learned so much and you know the amazing thing was everyone really meshed well. I had worries b/c you tend to see cliques form between English speakers and Korean speakers. But despite my lack of Korean speaking skills, I met great unnis and friends who are native Koreans as well as friends from other areas. God really just works in ways even when they might not be "church-related". I feel that he really showed me to love those who are not Christians instead of judging so quickly. I really felt that for the first time I could hang out and love those around me without my tendency to judge them--which felt freeing.

One of the major highlights of the trip was visiting the JSA area and the Korean marine corps aka ROK. First, JSA was so scary and tense! They made me change my clothes. JSA is the area where we share joint security with N. Korea. It is literally there is the Korean building then right across like 30m is the North Korea building with its own soldiers. The Korean soldiers are all intense and they all wear sun glasses and stand legs apart and fists tight. They just stand and stare straight ahead. Of course, all the girls were fawning over them b/c must say they look pretty good in uniform. (hahahahah!) It was funny b/c they would go take pictures with them and the guards dont move, smile, or anything. They are statues. One of our guards who was our guide had alot of hype among the girls. The unnis loved his hands saying they were soo beautiful and stared at him while he wrote down our passport numbers. He was handsome but kind of pale. (This is embarassing writing that)

Next we were off to the Korean Marine corps. The reason why they took us there was to show us how hard the military is working to protect the Korean people and the country from another invasion by the north. It was eye-opening. I wondered why it was necessary (the mandatory 2yr service) especially when I heard from people that it just was pointless. But the whole trip showed that the military does have an important role regardless whether we are pro-war or not. It's set up to be a precaution in case we do have another attack. I learned back in 1950 when the Krn war broke out, we didn't have the means to fight the North. We didn't have a military force to defend ourselves and what ended up happening was a lot of student volunteers younger than me ended up dying to protect the country. Some of these people were high schoolers with no training---and they all knew that in a sense that they had no real fighting chance. When I went to the war memorial museum later, it really broke me to think about all these people dying both north and south. War is so detached from me even though we are in a war in Afghanistan. I cannot understand loss and sacrifice. And on top of that, the Korean war never ended. There is no real peace but it is a stand still. I felt very grateful to the military. I always thought they were "jarheads", people who just fought with their muscles instead of their brains. People who were too quick and too eager to kill--but that's not the case. More than we may know, the military do value their soldiers.

Well so at the marine corps camp (ROK), we were in for a ride. We got up at 5:30 washed up and ate. Eating has never been so stressful. You are not allowed to waste any food--you have to eat EVERYTHING on your plate. This is to teach the soldiers thankfulness since all the costs are paid by Korean taxpayers. Therefore absolutely no wasting. I was soo scared I woudn't be able to finish my food that I ate very little. Plus b/c we only had a certain amount of time to eat, I ate like it was a race--no chewing involved. It was good for me too b/c I do waste food without a second thought. Next we were off to training. OMG physical training (PT) was so hard and intense! I have a lot of energy but I hated PT. The actual movements are doable but the repetitions are unbearable. You think 10 rep is not that bad, but that's 10 reps and everyone (all 80 ppl) must do it. So 10 reps was really 20 or more b/c people would be hurting and stop so then we would all have to keep doing it until all of us completed them. We were jumping and squating and doing push-ups and all sorts of stuff while wearing full military uniform so long pants and sleeves. I really wished they just made us run miles. It was funny b/c we would all be in lines and then all of a sudden, we're dropping like flies. Even the boys were falling, I tried to do as much as I could but the squat jumping killed me. After we finished going clockwise, I could not go counter clockwise--my legs just could not get up so I just bobbed my head up and down to make it look like I was at least jumping and giving effort. Then afterwards we did rope stuff: rope climbing, rope jumping. The soldiers who demonstrated were wow! They could do some amazing things and here we all are dying. One of the guys was born in 1990--he's James's age and I now James could not do what he did. On a funny note, I have never seen sooo many soldier men in my life at one time. Again, all the girls cooed and awed when they did the rope jumping and basically we were mesmerized. After watching them, I definitely was like " man, I need to marry an army man" :D They were so rugged and really cool! HAHAHAHA It was soo much fun but the students who have been to the army already in Korea said everything we did was really nothing compared to real army. We were doing child's play--and I was like whoa---b/c we were dying. The next day everyone walked all weird up and down the stairs. Some guys said their "lower area" hurt from crawling across the tight rope. hehe It was really funny.

This was a really long note but I loved Korea. I learned so much and also met this great unni--Karen Unni who I really got to get close to and share about my future qualms and also about God. She is also Christian and just was a great guidance. Soon I'll be off to China so pray for me that I hold on to God.

Packing up my life

I'm almost done packing...phew. Even though I had a list to follow, the more i follow the list, the more stuff I pack in addition to everything on the list. Packing takes a toll...it's hard to think about taking everything you might need for 2 years.

Yesterday I went to my grandma's to see her and my grandpa before I leave. She taught me how to make kimchi :D haha It was the easy ready-to-eat kimchi that doesn't need to be fermented. It was really good. She is such a good cook--I only wish I had the talent and smarts to cook. Then my aunt came and we talked about the movie Leap Year again. Then naturally she started getting excited that I will go to China and madly fall in love with someone and then get married there. It was really cute...yet highly highly highly unrealistic and improbable. :D I am going to miss Pearland so much.

On a more positive note, I'm super excited about going to Korea on Monday! Yay I get to go see the blood red fury in all its glory for the World Cup. I also get to see my family which I haven't seen for years and just Korea in general is so different and fun. But at the same time, once Monday hits...it's going to be a whirlwind.

The start of something new

I finally decided on what to name my blog after googling how to think of catchy names. I think my name is actually corny but oh well, that's the best I got after 3 days. I hope this blog will be useful for me to update friends on what's going on with me in China with the Peace Corps. I heard they have banned facebook so yeah.

More to come when I can think of what to write~

P.S. I'm not good at writing online or "talking" online so my blog may not be very good. Like the title says, it's the start of something new.