Korean Culture

So yesterday (Friday) we were at the church where we will be teaching helping with international recruiting for NNU. We met the pastor and others in the church that will help Krista and I throughout the summer. However, they informed us that they were not expecting us for about two more weeks (one of the challenges with communicating with different cultures). So, for this first week they are paying for us to stay in the hotel and then next week they will have a small apartment ready at the church for us to live in. After the two weeks we will move in with our host families. I was hoping to move in with our families sooner than that because I am ready to get better settled. Krista and I were hoping to have some of our English teaching materials so that we could prepare a little bit but we are learning that that is not how Korean culture works. :) On the bright side we get 2 weeks to tour Yangsan, Busan or go back to Seoul for a day!!

In between recruiting sessions yesterday we went to a market in downtown Yangsan and walked around. We went in some shoe stores and I was tempted to buy some!! We also went to a restaurant the had swings for chairs at the tables! We had a dessert called Pop Bing Su. It was ice shavings, with milk, ice cream on top and then you could choose your toppings. Justin got fresh sliced watermelon. Josh, Krista, Hyesu and Jae got a variety of fruit and I got coffee! Mine was coffee and corn flake toppings. It was served in a glass bowl like cereal and it was VERY good! I like trying some of these different Korean treats!

Today all of the NNU representatives left so now it is just Josh, Justin, Krista and me. Though Josh and Justin leave for Taiwan on June 1st. So Krista and I are not completely on our own yet. It was raining today but we walked a couple miles to the EMart (WalMart equivalent). By the time we got back to the hotel we were drenched! At 6pm the secretary, and her daughter, from the church came and got us and took us to dinner. She took us out to McDonalds! Nice that it was a bit more familiar; the culture shock of the completely different food is becoming a bit more overwhelming! Neither the secretary, nor her daughter, could speak very much English. So Krista and I had quite the time understanding them. But through body language and a lot of pointing we had quite an enjoyable dinner! It is amazing how we are able to find a commonality even when we can barely share a single phrase. I really enjoyed this experience! I am sure there will be many more of these to come!