After a long weekend

I've been here 3 weeks in Seoul. The second week of teaching went well. Koreans celebrated Chusok on the 13th. It's like Thanksgiving for Americans. It is a very old harvest celebration, and many people will dress up in traditional Chusok costumes. Last Tuesday all the little kindergarteners dressed up, and it was really cute.

The kids are pretty much....well kids. Sometimes I think they are the most adorable creatures ever born, and sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but overall I feel very lucky to be working here.

Mandy arrived! She was thrown right into teaching on the first day, and she is doing a great job. She is very cool, and I liked her instantly. I think we are both happy to have each other here. This weekend was a long weekend for us because of Chusok. Her friend, Lisa is visiting here to see her boyfriend, who is stationed in the Army over here. So we all went to a baseball game on Sunday. It was a blast. On Sunday we went to the impressive Gyeongbokgung Palace in a popular area of Seoul, close to City Hall. The area was very nice with beautiful cobblestone alleys, and trees lining down the sides of streets. It felt very European.

I also had a new friend, Gaby, come and visit from Ansan about 40min. from Seoul. I had met her in Houston where we were both interviewing with the Korean consulate that day. We exchanged emails and she got in touch and came up for the Holiday weekend. When she visited my neighborhood she mentioned that I lived in a very "Korean" area of Seoul. I guess the market by my apartment with fish laying out everywhere, and huge buckets of spices out, old women selling fruit in stands on the sides of streets, and people walking out of the hospital with their iv bags beside them were more than she was experiencing in her neck of the woods. I started to envy her a little at first, wishing for an existence that did not include the stench of fish everytime I left my apartment, but when I think of the interesting culture I am absorbing I realized I wouldn't give this up for anything else.

In the evenings the elders of the area like to gather outside of small restaurants and convenience stores and have a bite to eat and a little chit chat. I see so many "grandmothers" that walk by hunched over, because when they were young they carried so much on their backs. They dont stand up straight any longer. Its an odd site to see so many of them walking around, but they seem to go about their business as if it was a minor thing.

The palace was beautiful, and not a far visit from my neighborhood. I think I will visit there often. There were also some beautiful mountains in the background. I look forward to hiking, and I think I will get a chance to visit Gaby and do that. She mentioned that there are mountains in her region, and lots of hiking.

I hope everyone is doing well in the States. I miss and love you all. I will try to keep this blog updated more often! It may not be flashy news I bring you, but just a little at a time to let you know my present state of mind :)

Love, Katie