Is it time to sleep or time to get up?

Well, I can't say that the last day and a half was that exciting. I keep missing meals due to the fact that I take too long of naps, and when I wake up the cafe is closed. My poor body is so confused right now. When it is time for me to sleep, my body wants to be awake and alert (it doesn't help that I never went to bed early when I was home anyway!). When I need to stay awake, my mind does nothing but throw pictures of a bed and soft pictures in front of my tired brain. I would have to say that the absolute hardest time to stay awake is between 3pm and 8 pm (2am and 7am Ohio time).

After I got up this morning, I found out that the water had been turned off. They were fixing a pipe, and they wouldn't be finished until 12. I was okay with that, I hadn't really wanted to drag myself outside and down the path to the cafe. Not having clean hair, I thought, was a good excuse. They finally got the water back up and running properly (instead of just randomly blowing out air!) around 1. I made myself take a shower (I had to remember to take the toilet paper off the roll and set it outside the bathroom, otherwise it would get soaked). By the time I my hair dried and I dragged myself down to the cafe...guess what! It was closed, again. I have the worst timing. So I went down to the little mart, bought some Cheetos and a Mountain Dew (just for Lela!) and took them back up to the cafe to sit and read. I was just trying to stay away from my room and out of my bed! The cafe has an absolutely gorgeous view, anyway, so that helped!

Me, trying not to look tired.

While sitting there, trying not to rest my head on the table (especially since everyone looks at the American. I have only seen one lady who didn't really look Asian since I have arrived in Daegu, which only makes the sixth person total) an older Korean lady came up and sat in the chair across from me. I was so afraid that she would go off about something in Korean, but she started talking to me in English. She comes to the campus every Saturday to help the students here find Christ. I was so happy to hear that, as I have been looking for somewhere to go to church. The only churches that have English, however, are over an hour away by bus (they are inside the city of Daegu) and I am not comfortable leaving the campus by myself yet.

Her husband introduced me to the assistant pastor of a church the actually picks up students (outside of my dorm!), takes them to church, and then takes them back. The service isn't in English, but he had a lady along with him that speaks pretty well English who said that she will help me. God is good, as this was something I was worried about.

Once they all left I went back to my room and...you guessed it! I took another short nap. The building manager informed me that another American (yay!) will be coming today or tomorrow and will have the room right next to mine. I must admit, that did make me a little excited. I am happy to be here, but it would be nice to have someone else in the same situation! Hopefully whoever it is speaks Korean better than I can, so that I can have someone help me!

That's pretty much it. Thank goodness it's just after 8:30, so I feel like I can go to bed now (or fairly soon!). I hope that everyone is doing well! I would love to hear from you guys!

I'm here!

Hello all!

I have finally found the time to actually post on here! It has only been two days since I left, but it feels like I have been gone forever (I wonder what it will feel like after 2 months!). I left Tuesday afternoon (on a 747!).

Thank goodness that I picked a seat in a row that ended up being empty, so I was able to lay down and stretch out! The flight took forever (14 hours!) and it didn't help that we had a delay due to maintenance before we even left, which made me even more nervous about that long of a flight! We chased the sun all the way to Korea, but the view was beautiful.

My friend, Jiyeon, picked me up at the airport and took me back to her house, which is in downtown Seoul (Anyone heard the song Gangnam style? Because that is the section of town that she lives in, Gangnam!). The street was lit up by neon signs. I wish I had taken some pictures, but at the time I was crazy tired. Oh well, there will be plenty of time! After taking an absolutely glorious shower (second only to the shower I took after coming home from Russia the first time!), we ate and went to bed.

      Yesterday, Thursday, Jiyeon and I met up with her friend and went to Coex, which is a giant underground mall. We had lunch at Mr. Pizza, which consisted of a salad bar and a pizza that was half veggies and shrimp (Which, to me, makes pineapple pizza sound relatively normal!) and half bacon/potato/corn. The crust was stuffed with guess what (No, not cheese!)...sweet potatoes. I must say that I have had strange pizzas compared to Americas, but this takes the cake (or the pizza?)!

After lunch we headed to to in-mall Aquarium.
It wasn't too different than any of our American Aquariums, but it was interesting to see all of the Korea signs and to spend time with my friend. They had a room that was a fish tank theme. There is many, many different types of very creative fish tanks!

After the Aquarium it was time to head out to the train station, where I was destined another 2 hour trip, which wasn't too bad, except for the fact that I had a hard time staying awake, and so I was worried that I would miss my stop! Mt coordinator picked me up at the station and brought me here to my dorm room in the International House on campus. I have a very nice, single room with a huge desk, plenty of closet space and even a TV.

The only thing that threw me of this morning (Friday), however, was the shower. The bathroom sits about two inches lower than the rest of the room, and the bathroom (toilet, sink and all!) is the shower.

So you just splash water where ever you want it then it drains out. I was surprised because everything in the bathroom dried out rather quickly!

     I made my first trip outside by myself today. Although all I did is walk down to the little store to buy something to drink and toilet paper! Now I am just resting. I am not required to do anything until Monday, so today, Saturday and Sunday I will just rest and explore (hopefully I won't get lost!). I am sitting here, feasting on my American snacks and Korea Pepsi while watching a Korean food show. I am too tired and not adventurous this morning to go to the cafe and try to order some food. It doesn't help that it is raining. Oh well. Maybe for lunch!

      Wow! Looking back this is quite a long post! I suppose a lot has happened in the last two days. I hope that all of you are doing well!

P.S. I am sorry about the layout of the pictures. They are showing up fine when I go in to edit them, but they are all over the place when I view the blog!

Almost time!

Wow! Five days and fifteen minutes until I leave. I can't believe how fast time flies by. It only seems like that cold day in March that I received the news about my going to South Korea was yesterday! Korea wasn't at the top of my list of the places that I wanted to go, but I am extremely excited. I know that God is preparing the way for me, though. Back in my senior year of high school I met a very sweet Korea girl at North West State Community college. Now, three years she will be picking me up at the airport, and she says that she will be happy to help me with any transition issues that I have.

Many people have asked me if I am excited or nervous--or both! My answer is both. I am so excited to learn another language, another culture. I am also excited at make new friends and eating new food. I am nervous because I am not sure where I am going, and I don't know much of the language. It doesn't help that I won't see my family or friends for four months! Thank goodness for all of our technology such as Skype, etc!

I am also grateful for all of the support and prayers from my friends and family. Well, I am down to 5 days, or 120 hours, or 7,200 minutes, or 432,000 seconds (make that 431,999, or...oh well!) until I leave! I have a lot to do for now, but I will posting pictures and videos (hopeful) as soon as I can after I get to Korea!