No One Seems To Care May 22, 2005 6:40 pm Mood: curious, 1586 Views I don't know why I keep a blog. Why do ya'll keep your blogs? They are rather addicting. Everyday I check to see if someone has left a message on mine. I get all excited when I have one. Is this because I'm lonely? 7 Comments

Where did I go?!?!?!?!? May 19, 2005 5:44 am Mood: satisfied, 1732 Views Missed me? I sure did! Let's see... a lot has been happening. I got side-swiped by a man. Shoulda seen it coming. I've kindof been in a man-hating/denial period for about a year now. So this guy comes along... says the right things, does the right things... and then... VOILA!!! He does the stupid man trick and disappears. Arrrggghhh!!!! So, I'm man-hating again. Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 21. Again. I've been turning 21 for 10 years now. It's nice to be so young. I leave Korea in 1 1/2 weeks. I'm rather sad. I'm also very happy. It will be nice to return to a lifestyle that I'm used to. I will definitely miss the food. (The ladies at my favorite restaurant will miss my money!) I will miss the travel and sights in Korea too. I will miss all of the friends that I have made. I will definitely miss Korea!!!! Top 10 things that I will not miss: 1. Pushing and shoving 2. Complete disregard for driving laws 3. Lack of customer service and the belief that the customer is always right 4. Lack of situational awareness 5. Toilets that can't handle toilet paper 6. Inability of standing in line 7. People who pretend to not understand me when I speak Korean 8. Pedestrians who are unafraid of large moving vehicles 9. Not being able to order 1 serving of kalbi 10. Being rudely stared at because I'm bigger and whiter than everyone else. However, I've taken all these things in stride. Korea is just different than my home. I'm sure a Korean who comes to America has just as many gripes about the US because it's different than their home... no biggie. Differences are what make the world go round. Well, if you've read this far... sorry for wasting your time. 4 Comments

I'm a 2+/2+!!!!! May 3, 2005 5:00 am Mood: satisfied, 2040 Views Bet you didn't know that, huh? 2+/2+ is actually my score on the DLPT (Defense Language Proficiency Test). I have to take this test annually in order to be certified as a Korean linguist for the US Army. IT IS A REALLY HARD EXAM!!! So the first test is in listening... 65 questions and 2 hours later... my head hurts!!! The questions are everything from shopping to food to weather to news to politics. The 2nd part is reading... 65 questions and 2 1/2 hours later... my brain is fried. I'm not talking fill in the blanks or anything easy like that. These questions are articles from newspapers... tough tough tough. Anyway, the scale goes 1, 1+, 2, 2+, 3. Native Korean speakers and those who learned Korean at a young age score 3. So, I was really happy to get 2+/2+!!!! It means my Korean abilities have improved since coming to Korea... hahaha and now I'm leaving at the end of May.... ironic. Well, thanks for listening! Your reward for putting up with this boring blog is another great and exciting picture of me in Chinhae. Yippee 5 Comments

Changwon / Chinhae May 2, 2005 5:30 am Mood: calm, 1601 Views This week I visited Changwon and Chinhae. The whole weekend was overcast. Most people would consider this bad.... but I love the rain and the clouds! I saw some of the most beautiful sights! I have never seen such dense cloud cover so low over mountains before! The drive home was spectacular. I tried to get photos... but come on! We all know that pictures never do real life justice. Anyway, I met some really nice Korean guys in a bar.... funny how I always meet Korean guys in a bar. I will not go into extreme detail about the reason I went to Changwon. But let's just say that it was a date gone bad. However, I'm sure that there will be many more dates gone bad in the future before I finally have the right one! 0 Comments

Task Force Smith Apr 27, 2005 11:33 pm Mood: adventurous, 1952 Views Tomorrow I am going to learn about Task Force Smith. Even though I've already been to the battle site, this time will be different. I will be included in a group of officers who will be guided by the Eight US Army historian. I'm pretty excited. Until I started learning about the Korean war, war history never interested me. However, I find the Korean War to be a fascinating piece of study. Task Force Smith is the first group of American Soldiers to fight in the Korean War. The first American casualty happened at the Battle of Osan. Check it out! Also, here is another picture of my trip to Seorak San... YOU MUST GO THERE!!! 3 Comments

Seorak San Apr 26, 2005 1:14 am Mood: cheerful, 1977 Views This weekend was a blast! I went to Seorak San with my friend, Jessica. YOU MUST GO TO SEORAK SAN!!!!! Such a beautiful place! I live in Pyongtaek... not so beautiful. But the air is so fresh in Seorak San... not so in Pyongtaek. I come from South Dakota. Have you been there? It is a beautiful place, too. However, it is mostly flat and full of farmland. So, when I see mountains, I feel as if I could die happily. They are so amazing. If you go, take the cable car to the top of the mountain. But be careful... they cram FIFTY people into the little car. And as we all know, Korean people do not understand organization of public areas, so as you could imagine... it was total chaos boarding, riding, and exiting the cable car. But it was worth the craziness.... except on the way down. I had a spot by the window and some jerk of a Korean man just pushed me out of the way. I really mean COMPLETELY PUSHED ME. Like hands on my arm and pushed!!!! I couldn't believe it. hahahaha... oh well. However, I met many friendly Korean people who would take pics of Jessica and me. So, go see Seorak San... but go with your patience and alertness intact... or you will get pushed off the mountain. 4 Comments

Wonju!!!!! Apr 25, 2005 12:27 am Mood: satisfied, 1830 Views I went to Seorak San this weekend... on the way, I stopped in Wonju. I was hoping to get away from foreigners... but wouldn't you know it!!!! We have a military base (american) near Wonju. Sigh. So, my friend and I had to deal with drunk Americans. Now before all of you respond about how terrible drunk American Soldiers are.... REMEMBER THAT I AM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER!!!!!!! Anyway, we did go to the bars. We did get drunk. We met some Korean men. We argued with the waitress about our bill. And we generally had a great time. I hope to visit Wonju again so that I can hang out with my new friends. Unfortunately, I leave in one month. Stay tuned... tomorrow will be a picture of Seorak San (and me).... 6 Comments

So the answer is... Apr 21, 2005 1:31 am Mood: adventurous, 1829 Views Okay, I emailed KFF regarding my last post and the frustration over the posting of pictures. What do I get? Some generic email with the same information that is already on their site regarding pics. Does it address the questions that I ask in the email? NO!!!! On a lighter note, my friend, Jessica, and I will be going to Mt Seorak (서락산 ) this weekend... in the red sports car! Hopefully we will find more friendly people than I found last weekend. And maybe, just maybe, we will meet some really cute nice guys!!! 3 Comments

Okay, I'm really tired of this... Apr 18, 2005 4:54 am Mood: confused, 1819 Views What is the point of allowing me to post a photograph if KFF KEEPS DELETING THEM? It's not like I'm posting anything disgusting or rude. I try posting a pic of the lake that I took a picture of this weekend...GONE!!!!! I tried posting pics of my loveable huggable smoochable cat, Mr Smoochers.... GONE!!!!! But they allow me to post a picture of Korean food????????!!!!!!??????? What in the world is going on? This is a test... I'm posting a pic of the Korean Flags at the Independance Museum Memorial... let's see if it stays..... 4 Comments

My Exciting Weekend Gone Bad... Apr 17, 2005 4:43 am Mood: disappointed, 1818 Views Okay, so I had this brilliant idea that I would rent a car and just start driving this weekend. Started out great!!! I got a bright red Tuscani... Vrooom Vrroom!!!! Much more fun than my 10 year old Scoupe. I went down to the Independance Hall/Museum/Memorial. That was great. But sightseeing just isn't fun by yourself. Then I decided to drive and drive and drive until it got dark, stop at the nearest big town, get dinner, go out to a bar, have lots and lots and lots of fun, meet some cool Koreans, and then go to bed.' It went like this: 1. Drove through some beautiful country. Couldn't enjoy it because Koreans don't observe speed limits. Therefore, I spent the whole drive either with some rude driver honking at me to drive faster or driving 20KPH over the posted limit so I didn't have someone on my rear end. I managed to get some pictures THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF THE CAR. 2. After awhile, everything looked the same... same villages, same cars, same houses, same restaurants, same farms, etc. 3. I spent the night in Yeongju... spent one hour driving around looking for a hotel with a parking lot. Everytime I saw one... again the rude driver on my rear who wouldn't let me turn left into it. 4. Finally got a hotel room. Went walking around the town. Only got strange looks. I don't think Yeongju people have ever seen a white person. Only heard, "Omma! Waegukin!!!!" from about 10 different kids. Even the adults couldn't control themselves. 5. I did have some extremely good Daenjang jeegae, though. 6. I felt too freaky to find a bar. I don't think I would have been warmly welcomed. I find that women do not go to bars by themselves in Korea... it's "unacceptable". 7. In bed by 10pm. Left early the next morning. The drive back went faster because I took a different path. Analysis: In the future, I will visit towns that have seen foreigners before. I will always rent the Tuscani. I will take a friend with me. I will never fit in. 3 Comments

 sunniegirl

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