Game night! Korean style...

I forgot to tell you all about Thursday. Thursday our trip to DMZ got moved to August 18th because Dobong city hall has been SUPER busy with setting up for the science festival. Well Thursday all of us met up and we all went down town. This was a lot of fun! We tried out KFC here, and it was actually REALLY tasty! I found this store called “Art Box” and its my new favorite! The boys were with us and you could tell that they were not that interested so Krista, Judit, and I decided that we need to have a day where just the girls go shopping  It will be al lot better without them – so we can stay in there as long as we want without feeling guilty! Hahaha
Today we had the science festival again; it was so much fun making the slime! I especially liked getting to know all of the volunteers! Many Koreans when they become really good English speakers they receive an English name. Today this boy asked all of us what his English name should be. I thought that he looked like an Adrian, and everyone LOVE IT! So did he, so he stuck with it. About 5 mins later I was like, “hey what about us, can you give us a Korean name?” So they all named each of us!  My Korean name is, “Sumi” like SUE ME. Haha SO funny!
Tonight when I came home I was surprised with a brand-new umbrella from the father! It is a really really nice one! Today it rained pretty much all day, from when I woke up until I got home. My umbrella- well let’s just say it’s from Nevada and you can tell! Haha This one is the nicest one I have ever had! I was so happy because the father hasn’t said anything to me really, he is very quiet! But tonight he gave me that and then got out all of his photo albums and showed me the pictures! It was so nice bonding with him! I also taught the girls tonight how to do my bobby pin twist thing that I normally do with my hair. When I came home they all saw my hair and kept telling me how beautiful it looked!!  The oldest daughter she loves my color, when I said it was not dyed her mom says, “see all natural=beautiful” HAHAHA! They are too kind!
The after me, the mom, the twins, and their older sister played games. I learned this new Korean game and I was pretty good at it! Turns out at the end of the game (which I won 3 out of 4 games ;] haha) they bought the game for me to take home and share with my friends and family! I can’t wait to show you, it’s a lot of fun! I love my host family!  They are so good to me! We also played Jenga, and whoever knocks down the tower they have to bend down and everyone taps on their back and says, “indiannnnnnnn BOP BOP(2 big slaps) and and then high-yah! With your elbow, all on their back. Its pretty funny!!
Even today the mom brought me steamed potatoes for me and the other 5 to eat because we were working the booth all day! She is so thoughtful! Tomorrow we are going to church and I am pretty excited to see how it all goes!
Ps…I got some cute hello kitty sandals today at the lotte mart  its so rainy here and its nice t have some shoes to walk in the rain! 


<3 Stacy Rae

ROBOTS + SLIME = FUN!!

Today we worked the Dobong Science Festival! This was at the city hall here in Dobong. Our team had to man a City of Henderson booth. There we had a station to make SLIME! I have to say this was the coolest booth! Every kid came back because they wanted to make more slime!






I was really impressed at how well some of the students spoke English! A lot of them were the younger ones! There were so many fun things to do at th science festival: there was a 3D movie, but it was all in Korean, there were some really cool simulators for the kids and there was a TV screen in front of them so it was like they were flying a plane! IT WAS SO COOL! There was also a girl Robot that had a computer system installed and it walked around and people could touch the screen and read all about the festival. The 6 of us were talking about having the City do one of these! I really feel as if Dobong is very concerned with their students education and they think it is SO impportant! I wish our city could invite everyone from the community in and do a big science festival to promote learning!

Jawoon Elementary

Today we got to visit our Elementary schools. It was so funny because we have been playing the NA game and all these teachers started walking in and the last one to walk in after all the short Korean teachers was a 7 foot black man from Washington State. It was so funny because we thought that that we stuck out like sore thumbs!

He is the teacher that I will be teaching with. I asked him if he knew any Korean and he said nope, I have been here for a year and don't know anything except for a few phrases and random vocabulary. The kids seemed to love him and he said that they will all be excited to see/meet me! We start next week which will be pretty awesome!

Tomorrow we were supposed to visit DMZ but it got postponed because Dobong City Hall is too busy preparing for the huge science festival this Friday/Saturday. I am actually pretty excited for it because they are going to have robots and craft stations! I can't wait!

My host mom feeds me SO much! I told her I ate dinner and she brought me fruit to eat! HAHA! She said I have such a sweet voice and asked me if I sang. I was like OH NO!!!

Well tomorrow is exploring day! I am so excited!

Subway lesson well learned!

Today, Tuesday 7/13/10
I walked to Judits house, (about 5 mins away) We took the bus together. It was pretty simple- but for me being a white girl in the middle of Korea and only being here for less than 5 days I was pretty scared to go! Even though my host mom showed be the day before- I was doing it without her! Judit made me feel SO much better! She was excited to go! Well we made it there on time…actually 40mins early! HAHA!
Today we went to the Silver Center- an elderly home. Get it? Silver …gray hair?? HAHAHA!!
This was such a blast! All the men working there were doing their service of 2 years which in the Korean Military it is mandatory! I thought after working with them all day that they are amazing! All the guys were so welcoming, funny, and were SO interested in getting to know us! One actually found me on facebook today! Yippy! We got to do arts &crafts with the seniors, and we also had to help feed them! Me, Krista, and Zach were all sitting at the same table feeding. Well Zach had 2 people, one on each side. The lady on his left was well how do I put this nicely…she was like a mean toddler! She smacked the helpers in the head, their hands because she didn’t want to eat. She wanted to do it herself, but she really needed some assistance. Then the man on the right of him, he was sitting next to me. One of the soldiers told us that the man knows Spanish. So Zach goes, “hola, como estas?” the man started to say something and then started crying. Krista and I both started crying…it was so sad! He said that we reminded him of when he used to be an interpreter in the war. He would translate Korean/Spanish. Next thing you know we are crying and then the lady on the left of him smacks the worker…all in a matter of like 3 minutes Krista and I were laughing and crying!! It was an amazing time!
After Silver Center we all went to my host family’s house then she took me, Judit, and Zach to the center of Seoul! We took bus 101 all the way there. It took us about an hour but we had a blast! While we were there my mom called Sky’s mom and she put Sky on a bus by himself to meet up with us! We were laughing so hard because Sky was probably SO CONFUSED! I know we were trying to find him and tell him we were! While we were shopping we saw a lot of “foreigners” so Judit and I started playing slug bug…we hit each other and said NA, standing for not Asian! HAHA! All week we barley saw any foreigners and today we saw a ton! Now everyone is playing that game! Its pretty funny! Well after we found Sky it started to rain and we were going to take the bus but my mom said to take the subway and she would show us! HOLY CRAP, there was like a whole other world down there! I couldn’t believe it! The subway was pretty easy to navigate, however we went during rush hour at 7:30pmish, and NEVER again…it was SO packed! I mean I was touching 4 different people one on each side and one in front and in back….it got better once the doors opened and then MORE people got on! It was so much fun, but very hectic!
My 16 year old girl doesn’t get home every night until 10:30pm! I have been so scared, but here I guess that is normal…everyone is outside walking around late at night.




Well I am out for the night! <3

lots to take in!

Monday 7/12/10 we got to go to an all girls University, Duksang! They took us on a tour of their building! It was absolutely beautiful! They are really close to Dobong Mountain. They set up for us some meet and greet time with some of the students of the school. We all sat in a circle and talked about their lifestyles here and ours in America. Actually a few of them are going to be going to Universities in the US starting this fall. They are really excited and nervous for the transition so we got to talk to them all about that! After that we went back to the Dobong office and we got to dress up, learn some Korean, and traditional ways to speak/act toward the elderly. Monday my host family mother took Judit and I home with Sky…she showed us how to use the bus- unfortunately it was very difficult to understand what she was saying so she had to show me! It was so funny!
At the university there were some men cutting the grass…I think we were there for 3 hours right, well they were cutting it with a weed wacker, and when we were leaving they weren’t even half way done with the football field size area! It was so funny to me!


This morning I asked everyone about the bathrooms! My bathroom didn’t have a shower curtain and when I went in to the bathroom the floor was soaking wet. I was very confused! Then when I asked everyone …come to find out they take a shower standing up in the bathroom on the tile floor. Apparently the drain on the floor is for taking showers outside of the tub. I am not sure why they do this…why not just shower in the tub since you have it right? So I asked my girls about it and they said I can take it in the tub or outside….but either way the floor gets soaking wet! AND….the only towels that they have for your body/hair are the size of a hand towel. SO I found a wal*mart…AKA- Lotte Mart and bought a BIG beach towel. I guess you can say I am really really spoiled!!!
My host mom is best friends with all the moms, she has been showing us everything, feeding us ALL the time! She is so sweet! She took me and Judit to a market that was underground. It was like a grocery store, she let me pick out some of my favorite foods to eat and bought me cereal! Haha
OH…this would never happen in Vegas!
Everyone in the apartments which are like 16 stories, and about 8 in a pack- so you can imagine what the car situation would be like! There isn’t a lot of room for cars, not everyone has them because it is too much of a hassle, so they walk, take a bus, or subway. Well everyone here- if they park in front of someone they park in neutral…that way if someone needed to get out they just push the car out of the way! WHAT THE HECK….RIGHT??!! haha That would never fly in Vegas, that would be the start of grand theft auto! !
Poor Travis, he went to the hospital today- he had an intestine infection! Its weird how things work out, his host family…the dad is a Doctor! And when Travis went to the hospital the family just so happened to all be there getting a checkup. What are the odds of that? I am so glad that he is okay. Poor guy, hopefully no one else gets sick!
I am super tired! Night!

VIDEO TIME!

Gyeongju Saturday/Sunday

My computer seems to be working just fine now! Praise GOD!

Yesterday, Saturday was a rough start. We checked out of our first hotel room- which by the way had 3 beds, one for each of us girls sharing. (they were rock hard)- Traditional Korean beds. With a glass window bathroom door. Kind of akward for us, hahaha! So we put up a towel.
We met up with the host families children at the Dobong City Hall. Once we did we started our jouney to Gyeongju (pronounced, JOHN-JEW) about 20 minutes into this 5 hour drive to Gyeongju I started to get really car sick. Most of you know how L.A. drivers are right? Well Koreans are a lot like it! A lot of stop and go. So as I began to make my way to the front of the bus I looked at the lady with a sick face and put my hand over my mouth because I was about to throw up- without saying anything she grabbed a bag for me to throw up in, I threw up probably 5 times…SO nasty! You know that feeling that you get when you throw up and you are like, “oh man I want my mom”? haha! Well I wanted my mom but had 4 Korean moms huddling over me patting my back and making sure I was okay. It was so sweet! Its funny how there is a language barrier yet with my facial expression she knew I was in need of something. That is why I love sign language!
Any ways, we got to Gyeongju just fine and had Korean meal! It was good! LOTS and I mean LOTS of food is always on the tables! It’s like a feast! I think I might come back 10lbs heavier! Haha! We got to see lots of really cool things there like tombs that look like hills. Oh and the tour guide there could speak English- she was amazing! I think one of the coolest things I learned was about the Korean flag. If you don’t know the Korean flag has the ying yang along with lines that represent heaven, earth, fire, and water. The ying yang was picked red and blue to represent men and women. Men are red because they are very hot, and women are blue because they are very cold. Well now men wear blues or greens for their clothing because they need to cool down and women wear pinks and reds to warm up. So its all about balancing out each other. It was pretty cool to learn so much! The lily pads in the ponds there were amazing! I wish we had them in Vegas! After the night we got to stay in a really nice hotel room that overlooked part of Gyeongju. We even went on a little night tour; there were tons of people out for this event! Even the spiders! I couldn’t believe how big the spiders are there! The body was the size of like a .50 piece! Yes …the body!
Sunday morning we got to go to a breakfast buffet- they had lots of American food there! I was so happy! Its funny because none of the kids really liked any of the traditional Korean food. Maybe it was because they had us “Americans” with them. All they were talking to us about was hamburgers from McDonalds and how they wish they were able to get refills! Haha! They were so funny!
Today we went on a hike up a mountain it was pouring raining outside- probably one of my favorite parts of the day was breathing in all the fresh air and being surrounded by all the green! Once we got up the mountain we got to see the Buddha temple. It was built in 716 and there were people worshiping it/praying inside. There was a big sign that said no photos, so I took out the video camera to just record it, and one of the workers (an old lady) jumped up and said NO PHOTO!!!! I felt SO bad! I was thinking maybe no photos because of the flash. I learned my lesson well! Then another temple we went there were more Buddha’s. We learned about the past, present, and future Buddha. I was in shock when I saw what I know as the Nazi symbol all over the buildings there. Come to find out it is a Chinese symbol for Buddha. I was very shocked! My favorite thing there was a Korean tradition where they stacked rocks on top of each other. The rocks are people’s wishes. So each of us made wishes and stacked rocks. I made 5 
After this we went to McDonalds! It was so good and different tasting, but not in a bad way.
Once we got back to Dobong City Hall our host families picked us up. I got to meet Shin Hyang, YooJin and their father. They made a really cute welcome sign on their front door, and on my bed room door! They are SO sweet! Yoo Jin was so excited to see me! She couldn’t go to Gyeongju because she had a piano contest- which by the way she presented me with a welcome concert in my room by playing Beethoven #7. She is truly talented!
Well that’s it for today! Tomorrow is Monday and I am off to more tours!
Love you!