My turn....

Well, it seems as if I haven't posted here in quite sometime. Could anyone tell by Gilad's subtle messages that he seems to think that its my turn to offer an update? Well if for some reason you couldn't, he has been on my ass to put something up...anything.....the truth is, is that i'm a) computer illiterate...posts are so much more interesting with pictures and videos - 2 things I have no idea how to include.....b) I'm not one to really record my thoughts. I occassionally will write down what I am feeling/thinking if it is really persistent in my head, otherwise I usually just have someone to talk out my thoughts with.

Anyways enough of the explanations, lets see what I can muster up here:

Gilad and I have felt a mix of emotions here. We feel so very lucky to have this opportunity to travel to another country while being able to pay off our loan...we love when we are thrown into an authentic cultural experience, and our desires for our future pursuits have become so much more clear for us. That being said we do miss home. We miss our families and our friends. We have only been here for 2 months, and we hope to create some lasting bonds here, but sometimes I get worried that people here are just constantly passing through. The foreigner scene for us is not so appealing. The obsession with Jazz (the foreigner bar) only makes me want to go a different direction completely. I've never been one to do what everyone else is doing, and it seems like EVERYONE must ALWAYS go to Jazz. Don't ask me why, all I know is that it is not helping us get friendly with the foreign crowd. That is ok though, we really feel our purpose in our short time here is to get to know the people of the culture we came to be apart of. At work there seems to be some sort of divide between the Korean teachers and the Foreign ones. The thing is, is that it is a really great work atmosphere. Everyone gets along well and there are minimal to no problems. This is why Gilad and I think we must bridge this gap. We are starting this Friday by going out for live octopus! A few of the Korean teachers are coming, most of the Foreign ones, and even our boss! Gilad and I tried once to have a social and no one came (of the Korean teachers, because they were too shy)...but we will only keep trying!

As of late we have been experiencing some of the kindness from Korean strangers and friends alike. The fact that you can come to another country, not understand their language or customs can be a little scary at first. It's weird that I just said that because I don't think I ever felt scared. Nonetheless, there are times where I just really don't know what to do and someone out of the blue will just show us the way. Here are a few examples:

1) While we are desperatly trying to figure out to get to the beach on the subway a worker comes up and helps us find our way, through his limited means with english. It was confusing and awkward but we persevered through the language barrier and he helped us find our way.

2) Our boss has this handy man who has come over a few times to fix a few things in our apartment and each time instead of just coming over, looking at what he was asked to, he does that and more. He scans the place in its entirety and fixes any little thing that he can. He has no english, but he tries to communicate as best he can with what it is he is trying to say. I had the pleasure of him helping us this morning and I am still trying to figure out what he meant with the recycling. We cannot figure out what to do with it for the life of us.

3) When we went to go watch fireworks a few weeks ago there were literally a million/millions of people there. Korea has this habit of keeping as many crabs as they can in one tank, to the point where they can't move and they are just piled up upon one another. That is what I felt like. Anyways, we were awkwardly trying to find somewhere to sit, stand, kneel, anything. And this family, already squished in their tight space makes room for three of us to sit on their warm mat. We were in the perfect spot to watch the fireworks.

These are only just a few of the examples. The teachers at work are more than friendly and have offered their help numerous times. Each Korean friend we have met seems to have gone out of their way to show us a good time. The other day we were sitting outside the grocery store and there was a little boy with his mom. They had two oranges and she whispered something to him. He then came over and offered us the oranges and proceeded back to his mom giggling at what perhaps may have been our funny sounding Kamsamnida (thank you). I'm obviously not a foriegner in Canada, so I would never notice something like that, but do people get offered gifts like that? Or do they get lost in the Multiculturalism.

Anyways this post is much longer than I anticipated. To wrap things up, Gilad and I have experienced many good things in our time here. We feel blessed with our experience, but sometimes we, or maybe just I, feel guilty if I don't like everything. But I don't have to like everything here, I just have to feel privelaged to be able to come to know whether or not I do like it. This could never happen if I stayed in Canada.

____Dawna____