FINALLY HERE!

So I'm officially in Korea! Got here Saturday night which was Friday night for you guys. It was a long but great flight. I really wanted to sleep, but there were a lot of good movies so that didn't happen until the end. This was seriously luxury flying! We were given slippers, toothbrushes, and the worst part-wine. For dinner that was all you could have! I asked for water and they said no water for dinner, so I was really thirsty instead. Apparently there is something about it being bad to drink water while you eat. This makes it difficult when I'm eating food I don't really like, and I can't even wash it down with water! Haha. We had a short layover in Tokyo which was fun since I've had Japanese exchange students before and got to see some of the souvenirs that they've bought for me and my family in the past.

When we got to Seoul we still had to drive two hours to the camp. It was raining since it is monsoon season, but also since it is Korea it was SOOOOO humid! I think Korea looks a lot like Oregon with all of the green trees and hills. There are quite a few big bugs, and I dont know what they are which only makes it worse. Often we find them dead on the ground randomly, not even squished so I don't know what happened...creepy. We are out in the country surrounded by a graveyard, and fields of rice, and even a few cows and chickens. It is really peaceful though. Apparently, most people who live in the country are well off, but they are still looked down upon. The campus is very big and beautiful with even a turf soccer field, a cafe, a fitness center, and more. We are staying in the newest dorm building, with air conditioning and WiFi! We have people to do our laundry several times a week which is great since its so warm here that I'll go through my clothes pretty quickly. The food here isn't my favorite; there is a lot of fish, and vegetables that I do not recognize. I pretty much eat rice at every meal, and the broth from soups with spinach and seaweed.

Today is orientation for camp. Our students get here at 4:30pm and we will play some games and get to know each other. Yesterday we had to clean classrooms, organize everything, and meet the other teachers. It is interesting to be teaching English with Korean college students who can barely speak English themselves! They are all very nice though, and helpful as well. It will be fun getting to know them during the next four weeks of school. I have 39 students that are separated into three different classes. So I have three periods each day with breaks in between. These are students who have been accepted to the school in the fall, but cannot speak English well enough to survive in their classes.

So I decided something this morning. And don't take it personally...but America might not be as smart or advanced as Korea. I keep seeing these really cool cars that we don't have-even Samsung and LG have cars here. Also, MP3 players are wayyy better. I saw one where the headphones were the mp3 player, and there was nothing attached so it was a lot smaller than what we have. I am constantly amazed by what I see and I keep thinking "why didn't we think of that?"

WELL, I need to go to some meetings and stuff like that so I'm going to go now, but again thank you for your prayers, and check my facebook if you want to see some pictures!