Things that can only happen to me...

The last couple of weeks my friends and I have been having a good time-too good of a time-that's up for debate, but a good time nonetheless. We've been hanging out in Hongdae and enjoying the nite life. Unfortunately I was the victim of a credit card robbery and have had to deal with the inconvenient consequences of said robbery. All I'll say in regards to that is that we should all be thankful for the banks and their policies in the States-it isn't the same here. While this experience was completely unfortunate I have ventured back out since.

As many of my friends and family know, I tend to get into weird situations or meet very interesting people and this past weekend was not exception. Friday nite started out like any other Friday nite, out with the girls...we arrived in Hongdae and immediately started dancing and enjoying the beautiful nite. At some point during the evening I met the most interesting guy-Ryan- who had just arrived in Korea the day before. He's younger than I am but has lived a life that I would love to live. He's really quite inspirational. After having spent some time with him over the weekend I want to go travel the world and have my entire life down to a backpack. If I hadn't met him this last Friday I probably wouldn't have met this other guy. Actually this other guy I'd kind of met prior to our meeting on Sunday evening....I'm not going to mention his name but I was at dinner with him, my new friend Ryan, another teacher they work with and my friend Tammy joined us. Dinner was entertaining to say the least, especially after I determined and "guy with no name", confirmed that he was in fact the dude who had stripped down and showered at the outdoor shower at the Hamilton Hotel, a week or two before. The same guy who approached my table, in the bar area, and asked the people I was with for a cigarette. The moment I realized and he confirmed was priceless. His one friend was completely unaware of the incident and I think, "guy with no name", didn't want his friend to know but once the cat was out of the bag it was sooooo funny. He told me that he showered naked, on a dare. Throughout the evening we would all be talking and then all of the sudden one of us would say, "I can't believe you were at the Hamilton Hotel that day", or "I can't believe that was you, at the Hamilton Hotel that day". It was pretty bizarre and only something that could happen to me-I mean, while there are a good amount of foreigners in Seoul, Seoul is a large city and the odds of running into someone again are kind of slim-I guess it really is a small world. Regardless, the weekend was crazy fun and completely out of the blue.

Catching Up

The month of June is already half over and already the summer is off to a bang! I've experienced one of the mildest Junes ever (in my life) and really love having four distinct seasons. Life in Seoul is good...I've been enjoying the nite life and making new friends. The one thing I'm not enjoying is the fact that there are only a couple of pools open, in the Seoul area, and the others have yet to open (maybe in the next week or two..?). A couple of weeks ago I ventured back to Itaewon (even though I insist that I'm never going back there) to lay out at the pool at the Hamilton Hotel. I had been told by many foreigners that the public was allowed use of pool and so on the the first sunny Saturday, I had available, I made my way to the pool. I arrived at the pool, mid-afternoon, not quite sure what to expect, but when I arrived at the pool it was nothing I ever expected. It was packed with foreigners and Koreans alike, all in pursuit of the perfect tan and socialization with other foreigners and English speakers (and lets not forget the rum...no pool or beach experience would be complete without it). I arrived too late in the day to find a chair to lay out on, but was lucky enough to run into an acquaintance that I had met a few weeks previously. He was nice enough to offer me a seat with his group and I enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon with him and his friends. I had a great time but in true "Jenn's Life" fashion, the craziest thing occurred a few feet away from us... All throughout the day, as the Korean swimmers finished their day at the pool, they would come and shower off in the outdoor shower, located near us, in the bar area. It wasn't so weird that they were lathering up, in their bathing suits, after being at the pool, all day, what was weird was the last guy who showered that afternoon that decided he was going to shower completely naked, in public, in the bar area, with not a care in the world. At first, I was the only one of my group that noticed this man, just feet from us, showering naked, and then I looked at my friend and he looked at me and he and I just looked at each other with very perplexed looks on our faces. The dude showering was completely unaware of how inappropriate his actions were and if he was, he didn't care-very ballsy. As his shower ends and he's drying off (and not in a hurry at all) one of the bartenders approaches him and tells him that it's inappropriate for him to naked in public, in the bar, at the pool and both then ensue in a banter over whose "package" is bigger and better. This conversation between both men continued with the Korean bartender telling the man, who by the way was an American, that if he compared his package to the American's, the American would be upset and cry; meanwhile the American is calling out the Korean bartender and telling him he needs to just whip it out. It was hilarious! As if that wasn't enough, the American decided to come over and ask one of the members of the group I was with for a cigarette. He was denied on the sheer fact that he wasn't wearing any pants-it was the principle of the matter. Several minutes later, he approached us again and we finally obliged him with one, but only because he was wearing pants this time. This kind of stuff only happens around me. My life is entertaining to say the least. Since then I have not been back to the Hamilton Hotel pool; not because of the naked guy but unfortunately, the weather on the weekends hasn't been ideal pool weather.

My two close friends Amanda and Tammy and I have been spending a lot of time in Hongdae, enjoying the nite life and dancing-gotta love the summer time! School is going well, the children are speaking more and more English everyday and we're having a great time outside, enjoying the nice weather before it's too rainy to be outside.

Homesick

It's June! I can't believe it! Four months has flown by and it's finally the Summer time. I've made it through a quarter of the year so the rest should be easy....!? I'm not sure if it's the fact that I made the trip home, in early May, or if it's because it's the Summer time (and I love the Summer time-being with friends/family) but I'm severly homesick. I miss my family so much and I miss my nephew and hanging at the pool with Laura and Jaydon and Danielle and going to Mafiozzas, with Carrie, on Tuesdays and seeing my parents and all of the kids I babysit...oh and going to the lake-I have way too much fun at the lake with the Cornelius', Gags, Moores and Rossi families! I don't regret going home when I did-it was great seeing everyone, I was able to see, but I can't help but feeling like I'm missing out on my life, in Nashville. I told my mom, the other day, that I miss home so much, that I can't even listen to country music, right now. It's almost painful talking to my parents and sister and nephew. I want to tell them everything that's going on here and hear about what's going on there but it's hard. Seoul is great and I'm still enjoying it...the weather's been beautiful so it's allowed me and my friends here to get out more and enjoy the city. I'm hoping to take a few trips to SouthEast Asia, over the next several months (before I leave) and make the most of my time here. School is going well and the children are starting to show signs of improvement and growth-it's always encouraging to see that you're making a difference!
Monsoon season is approaching...I'm not quite sure what to expect, other than torrential down pours! I hope my wellies are on their way...(mother)? As I write this I'm hearing thunder-the first of which I've heard since I arrived here, in January. Spring and Summer in Seoul are proving to be wonderful time-It's been a while since I've experienced real seasons, as oppossed to the back and forth that Nashville experiences during the Winter/Spring time. In my neighborhood there are open markets everyday and everyone is out until late at nite; enjoying as much as they can of the beautiful weather, before it becomes so humid, it's unbearable. The humidity, here, is supposed to be much worse than what I'm even used to, having come from the South! Wherever there's an open market, there are mounds and mounds of garlic. I've never seen so many stalks/cloves of garlic before-it's crazy! And since the warm weather is here, I've been wearing my Summer clothes, which have prompted more stares, than I was receiving before. It's not that they don't approve of my apperal (although, they may not be used to the bright colors I wear) but rather they love my white skin. It's really weird. Koreans love white skin and all I can think about is how I'm going to lay out the first opportunity I get. My Korean friend has told me that I shouldn't lay out, because my white skin is so beautiful. Thanks, but I'd rather get my tan, during the Summer. Here in Korea, and I may have explained this before, white skin is associated with wealth; whereas tan skin is associated with the working (farming) class. They put whitening cream in everything here, so they can appear lighter skinned than they really are.
I can honestly say that I feel completely adjusted to Korea. I've found so many foreign markets that I can buy imported (western) foods. I've even discovered that one of the foreign bookstores here, will allow you to subscribe to American magazines, so they can be delivered to my address here! The other foreign teachers, and myself, disoverd an EMart (like Target) just down the road from us, that doesn't require us to take a bus and can be easily walked to and the cab ride there/back is super cheap! Life is good, but I miss everyone at home terribly! Anyone up for a trip to S. Korea?