Korean Adventures and Pork Dumplings

Last Wednesday, I left Union and headed toward Nashville.  That night, I went to bed eager to wake up a short two hours later and board a plane for Dallas, Texas.  In Dallas, I would meet up with several other college students who were participating in the CIEE South Korea Scholarship Program.  Now, this was first trip outside of the United States, and I had no idea what to expect.  Now that I've been here for a few days, I have few insights to offer accompanied by some stories of the goings-on of the program.  Let's jump in.

First day consisted of getting to know people.  Asking and being asked the same five awkward questions is terrible except that you meet really cool people.  This group is so diverse both ethnically, academically, and any other -cally you can imagine.  "Where are you from? Oh my gosh, do you know so-and-so. No? Ok. What's your major? Oh do you speak foreign languages?  You do?  Awesome me too." Everyone here is incredible.  Really.

Next, Korean language lessons, which in reality means that we covered the alphabet and learned to say "Hello"and "Thank you."  Needless to say, it's been difficult attempting to make it around the city.  Lots of body language is used.  I have also learned that saying things in an Asian accent is surprisingly effective.  Politically correct?  Probably not, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Along with seeing the city, we have had tons of lectures on relations between Korea (both North and South) and everyone else you can imagine.  It's really interesting to see the perspective of another nation.  Their idea of the Korean War was completely different from my visions of what happened, so it was really cool to hear their side of the story.

That brings me to today.  We went to visit the Demilitarized Zone.  I linked it the Wiki just in case you want to learn more.  Basically, it serves as a buffer between North and South Korea.  There are so many strict rules and procedures for being here.  You have to follow a dress code and there are certain areas in which you aren't allowed to take photographs.  It's crazy.  Through this visit, I technically stepped foot in North Korea.  Again, crazy.



Later that night, Taekwondo lessons.  That's right I can both speak Korean and do some sick martial arts.  Neither of those is true.

The next day, we traveled to a city south of Seoul for a little excursion.  We saw a traditional Korean village, which was interesting, but what was better was the large handful of Korean school girls who were literally crying over all of the American boys.  I felt like a celebrity as they begged all of us to take pictures with them.  Talking to them was really cool.  Naturally, their English was far better than any of my Korean.  Sad.

Now, on to the pork dumplings.  Monday night, I went out to dinner with a friend's mom who lives in the city.  She took me to this little restaurant, which she had never been to either.  We ordered in our broken Korean and were looking forward to the large amount of pork dumplings we were about to consume - one of the coolest things to me about Korean food is that they share everything, so it's easy to order in groups.  I ate, and it was wonderful.  I then went home, said goodbye to my friends mom, and all but stumbled to my room. I fell asleep for a few hours, and then I woke up as I was running to the bathroom.  I proceeded to puke my guts up for about the next fifteen minutes.  Needless to say, I will never again eat a pork dumpling.  Korean food is great...the first time.  It is currently Wednesday, and I'm still not at 100%.  Gross.

Though the trip isn't yet over, I have had an incredible time.  The people I'm spending this week with are all insanely intelligent, and they are definitely all going places.  I'm really honored to be among them.  I'm so thankful for this opportunity to have experienced a culture that is so different from my own.  It's exactly what I needed for this spring break.  Two more short days here, and then it's back to the United States.