I'll begin with last week, which was quite awesome. Both of my courses continue to be very interesting, which means I'm certainly glad I chose the YISS program. My professors are great and the students are a happy mix of studious and a "Yahoo! It's summer and we're in Seoul!" I've enjoyed hanging out with people, as well as, working in class and on my research project (which I have scheduled my first interview for, things are picking up steam on that front). I finished my first paper in Global Health on Thursday, which means I only have a measly 14 pages left to write and a few exams in the next three and a half weeks (if I say it like that it sounds less scary right?).
Speaking of Thursday, my friends and I decided that it was high time to eat at an all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurant called Mammoth. The meal cost $11 per person, so, in order to maximize dinner we came up with a two-tiered strategy. Eat meat. Eat fruit. As a table, it is likely that we beat the house thanks to the huge appetites of my friend Beto and my roommate Yuto (who is an awesome and considerate roommate). Let's just say we were grilling meat for over an hour, haha.
After sleeping soundly on Thursday night, I woke up ready to embark on a long journey. For those of you who don't know, I've been following two years behind the footsteps of a friend since high school. Daniel Williams and I ran track together in high school, attended WKU together for a couple years, we've both done voyages on Semester at Sea, and now I've finally caught up to him in Korea. Daniel is teaching English at a school in Gumi (which is near the city of Daegu) for the year. After a long, peaceful train ride (if you've talked to me about public transportation since SAS you know I'm in love) and a confusing guessing game of a bus ride (is this the stop?) I finally reached Cheonsaeng Elementary School. I basically ambushed Daniel in his classroom while he was trying to be productive and plan Monday classes. Here is a picture from my weekend in Gumi!
That night we went hiking (awesome breeze and view at the top) and Daniel took me to his favorite Korean restaurant which serves Jimdok (glass noodles, vegetables, and chicken in a savory broth). The Jimdok was Americanized through a liberal application of cheese, which is something I have missed very dearly in Korea along with pie. It was freaking delicious! The "this might be one of my favorite meals ever" kind of delicious...oh, man. Afterwards I met some of Daniel's friends from church who also teach English on the east side of Gumi (at 400,000 people this isn't a small town).
Spoiler Alert: Oreo lovers read the next sentence at peril of jealousy.
The next morning I enjoyed a bowl of OreO's cereal. As I'm sure you are all aware (because apparently everyone I've talked to here already knew this) OreO's are only produced and sold in South Korea. Anyways, the real highlight of Saturday was a visit to the beach. The water was cold, but the company made the trip. Daniel's church arranged the beach trip as an outreach ministry for foreign attenders of their service and I met quite a few cool people from the US and East Asia. A family of young boys in particular made the day a lot of fun. Baskin Robbins, which rivals Dunkin' Donuts in its insane number of locations in Korea, was the cherry on top at the end of the day.
On Sunday, I spent a relaxed morning watching Ghostbusters 2 and then went to church with Daniel. Afterwards I was kicked to the curb and forced to hitchhike my way to the train station all the way across Gumi (read: they called a taxi for me and the church paid my fare back to Gumi Station). Talk about kindness and generosity. Shout to Gumi Jeil church and also a shout to Daniel! Though our difference in age has kept us from interacting a ton, Daniel has always looked out for me and had great advice to give for my travels. He's a great role model as a man of faith, I look up to you man!
I returned to Seoul quite content, mainly because I was carrying a bag of 18 plums which had cost me $2. If you read my last blog post, then you know THIS IS A BIG DEAL! So big, I'm even giving it a paragraph in my blog. Eighteen plums!!! Between eating at Mammoth and the plums my yearning for fruit has been sated. These are plums...they are delicious manna from heaven.
The rest of my week has been fairly tame. I did go for a run tonight and I finally reached the top of the mountain Yonsei sits below. There is a replica there of the old Korean signal fires used to relay messages about problems on the country's northern border. Because life is awesome, a Korean struck up a conversation with me and we talked for an hour and a half. Topics may or may not have included our life stories, our parents' families' countries of origin, superheroes, the fulfillment or losing of dreams, war, job insecurity, and the movie 500 Days of Summer. You know normal things...it was an amazing, thought provoking, broken English discussion that I am still digesting.
Our conversation resonated with me and humbled me. I tend to fall on the optimistic side of many issues (though this has changed some in college), but I realize this may have to do with the rich blessings in my life. I've been forced to change my plans before, but I have never had a dream stolen from me. When I started talking about how I want to help others, I was reminded that no one is perfect. I can also hurt people despite my good intentions. A few years ago, talking with another person about these things would have terrified me. Now, after a few tries I've come to deeply appreciate these conversations about the human condition. So there's something to think about from Seoul...
