Day 7 in South Korea | Things I'm Thinking About

1. I forgot to put the memory card in back in my camera, so I don't have any photos from our trip to Seoul today, even though I was hoping to take a lot. So here, you can just Google map it instead, and pretend you can see me there.

2. My roommate is South African, and after living with her for nearly a week now, my inner monologue has an accent. And sometimes things I say out loud.

3. I'm really concerned about how I can't get the hair on the top of my head/along my hairline to look anything but flat and scraggly when I pull it back. Other girls make it look so nice and fluffy, but I just can't.

4. On the bus on the way into Seoul this morning, all the girls at the front of the bus suddenly started squealing and shrieking and giggling. Kpop idol? Actor? No. A row of tiny preschoolers in matching t-shirts and holding hands. #adorbs

5. I'm getting really annoyed with myself for never using Korean, even when it would be super-easy to say even "안녕하세요" (hello) or "감사합니다" (thank you). But especially annoying was when, after some friends and I were kicked off a badminton court for not wearing proper badminton attire (oops), the man asked us "어디에 왔어요?" and even though I knew exactly what he said ("Where are you from?") and I knew exactly how to respond ("저는 미국 사람입니다."), as we had just gone over that in Korean class not even 30 minutes before, I just kind of mumbled, "I think he asked us where we're from," to my friends and let them answer him. So then, when I went to a Starbucks today in Seoul (why we picked Starbucks when there were Korean options like Caffe Bene, Tom N Toms Coffee, and Hollys Coffee on the same block, I don't know), I was determined to use Korean. And then the cashier just talked to me in English anyway.

6. Everybody is older than I think they are. I assumed that most people would be about the same age as me, but then I'll start talking to someone, and they'll tell me about their five years of teaching in their home country, plus two years teaching abroad, and maybe even their masters degree they just earned, and I realize that they're nowhere near 23 after all. I'm starting to feel like a baby.

7. I've been trying not to talk about Kpop, because when people start talking about it, it can weird and obsessive really fast. And also because it seems that everybody loves Big Bang and G-Dragon most, and I really don't care about them/him. But I did take part in a few reasonable conversations today, in which it was discovered that between two new friends and I, we each preferred a different one of the "Big Three" companies. (Record labels/entertainment companies are a Big Deal in Kpop.) This was somewhat amusing.

Me (SMEnt), Priscilla (JYP), and Janell (YG).
Also, I totally stole this photo from Janell's Facebook without her permission. 

8. Orientation feels pretty much exactly like college. But I really don't mind sitting in classes and lectures all day long. I could do this forever. How can I make a career of this?

9. Going to bed early and getting up early wasn't so bad the first few days when I was still jet-lagged and waking up at 5:30 a.m. anyway. But now it's becoming far less pleasant. I'm really worried to see how my year of sleeping in all the time has ruined me for getting up early daily. But for now, I'm just annoyed that breakfast will be served in 8 hours and I'm still awake.

10. Some people have been getting emails from their schools with information about their location, co-teachers, classes, apartment, etc. But I still haven't heard anything. Which is normal, and I'm fine with waiting until Monday when most of us will finally find out these things anyway. But then I do start getting really anxious and nervous because I REALLY WANT TO KNOW. And then I think about how in just a few days, I'll be standing in front of a room full of children, and I'll be expected to productively engage them for an entire 40 minutes. And then again and again and again and again and again. And I can't even remember the last time I spoke to a child. But I used to hang out with kids all the time. So everything will be ok, right?