Homesick

So to be honest, I have been here in Bucheon for more than a month now, and haven't been homesick yet... until now.

It's 추석 (Chuseok) tomorrow here in Korea. Chuseok falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and simply put, it's the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving (without the Native Americans and turkey). Chinese also celebrate this holiday as the Moon Festival (think moon cake!). Many Koreans travel back to their hometowns to pay respect to ancestors, and the streets are strangely quiet. Last year, my dad and I had a long layover at Incheon Airport on our way back to the states from Hong Kong, and Asiana Airlines provided a complimentary tour of Seoul. I remember the streets were deserted and quiet, as if no one even lived here! And that's what it will be like tomorrow...

Thanksgiving is a time spent with family and friends, and enjoying each others' company (and of course, the good food, hehe I love food)! So I wish I could do that this weekend. The Korean people I know have all headed back to their hometowns and many of the expats I know are out of the country (because of the three to five day weekend). I opted to stay in Bucheon this holiday for a few reasons. First, Momma also has a layover from HK on Sunday, and I will be going to the airport to pick up/give her some stuff. Secondly, I only have a three day weekend, and plane tickets are god-awfully expensive. Lastly, and probably most importantly, is that the first part of my dreaded GRE test is on Tuesday. I figured it would give me some time to study (read: cram) for my test. Luckily, this is only the writing portion of the test (two essays in two hours); and besides, I don't think there is much one can do to prepare for writing essays. I'm just going to look over some previous examples, the types of essay required, some practical tools (thanks to Kaplan), and hope that my undergrad writing experience from being a Psych major and History minor is enough to help me get a good score!

Anywho, my weekend has been going well so far despite the minor homesickness. Today, I went out to Seoul to find the test site, just to make sure I knew where it was, to ensure that I wouldn't get lost on Tuesday morning before my test! I came back home, cleaned a little, and walked over to HomEver to buy some food! Bought some lettuce, bananas, rice, and snacks. Tomorrow, I plan to study, meet my mom at the airport, and then go to Korean class at night. Monday, take it easy - get in a good jog at the nearby park, and mentally prepare myself for this stupid standardized test!

To make a long story short, I'm fine, you guys don't have to worry about me - just wanted to be with the ones I love the mostest this weekend, eating moon cake and other yummy food, but we'll have to save that for some other time! I'd better get back to "studying" - talk to you guys soon!

XOXO

By the way, pictures are up from Momma's visit last weekend (warning: there are a lot) and I added a few pictures to the September folder. There is a link (PICTURES!) on the left side of this blog.

Is there CHLAMYDIA in that pancake?

So today my mom and I spent the day with some relatives in Seoul; we went all over the city, hit up a lot of famous sights. A lot. I'll write more about it and upload pictures later. I'm so exhausted right now, but just wanted to share something with you all.

We were at dinner and ordered Octopus Pancake (something along those lines). Anyways, my mom was asking me if it was green onions or chives in the pancake, and I wasn't sure so I was asking my distant cousin if it was green onions or chives. She didn't really understand what I was saying, so I took her cell phone and started typing in "chive" into her English-Korean dictionary. I typed in chive, clicked enter, showed her the phone, and asked her if that was in the pancake. She looks at her phone and just bursts into laughter... I look at the phone, and it translated CHLAMYDIA! The word chive was not in her dictionary and so it went to the next word in the dictionary, which just so happened to be chlamydia. Hilarious!!!

Three Weeks Already

Me: Awww, Larry, Andrew's leaving and I won't see him for a long, long time...
Larry: You will miss him, yes?
Me: Yes, a lot.
Larry: Awww, Jessie, that's okay (gives me a hug). But you have me, yes? You forgot, yes?

Man, I miss the little monster, but thank goodness for webcams! I've been lucky enough to chat and webcam with everyone back at home, and it's made my transition to Korea so much easier. I'm so grateful for my family and friends. Can you believe that I've been here for three weeks already?! Today, Tuesday, marks exactly three weeks.

Random things I've observed/experienced:
- people get into the front seat of the taxi (me too now!)
- almost everyone sleeps on the subway
- they don't say "bless you" - my kids laugh at me when I say it
- the bus stopped at a gas station to fill up in the middle of the route!
- when seated, girls don't cross their legs (I've seen more guys than girls cross their legs)
- you have to pay for plastic bags from the supermarket (which I think is a good idea)
- garbage: you have to buy specific garbage bags and then just dump your garbage onto the sidewalk
- Koreans drink so much! they stay out until 4 or 5 am in the morning every night and then during the day, it's dead quiet because they're all at work! maybe that's why they're all sleeping in the subway...

Anyways, there's a lot more, I made all these mental notes, but it's not coming to me right now. My work schedule is tiring - working afternoons and nights. I'm not a morning person but I would much rather work the normal nine to five. There's so many things to do though - study for GREs, graduate school applications, running - that I'm sure I won't have any trouble keeping myself occupied during the day.

More another time, toodles!