Happy Thanksgiving!

The title pretty much says it all. Today’s the one day I’m allowing myself to be really American. Had a chili dog for lunch, drank a coke and Green Apple -ade (because I couldn’t find lemonade conveniently), and going to TGI Fridays for dinner. It’s about as American as I get here.

So, looking at this year, I think there’s quite a bit to be thankful for. First and foremost, I’m in Korea, my parents allowed me to go to Korea, and I’m loving it here. I’ve made some really great friends, both Korean and European. Our team won the Seoul Championships. My granddad had a successful surgery. Definitely a year to be thankful for.

In slightly less positive news, the team lost its first playoff game 6-7. We lead for all except the last 2 or 3 minutes, but unfortunately in football these things happen. So now the season is over and I have a lot of extra time.

Still single, despite thinking for a little while I might not be. Thankfully, being a foreigner it’s incredibly easy to meet new people, and there’s nothing holding me back from traveling, meeting new people, or anything else.

This weekend, we’re going to go to Namsan and Seoul Tower, followed by Ilsan on Saturday. Sunday no real plans yet, but I’m sure I’ll get something soon enough. One presentation on Monday and then I’m done with school work until final exams. The placement test for Korean language is the 13th of December, so I need to start preparing myself for that. I think I’ll do well enough to get level 2.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Go Cowboys!

Kang Chon, MT, and a general update

As I mentioned in the last post, I was going to an experience known as MT. It was held in a city called Kang Chon, which is very famous locally for MT. MT stands for not only membership training, but also a phrase in Korean that basically means drinking and puking. While not my experience, I imagine it is pretty accurate for a fair amount. The night basically consisted of eating and drinking, followed by drinking games. From 7 or 8pm to around 4 in the morning. I decided to stop pretty early, luckily. We then woke up around 9 in the morning, and headed home around noon.

I’ll be honest, it was enjoyable but not as much as I was expecting.

The trip to Kyeong ju was cancelled, at least for this weekend. This isn’t a bad thing though, because this weekend is going to be fairly busy anyways. Tomorrow I have football practice, Saturday I’m headed to Kang Nam, and Sunday is football practice in Suwon. I’m really looking forward to going to Kang Nam Saturday. I haven’t been to that part of Seoul yet, and we’re going to go to a place for a Tarot card reading, followed by going to a place called Doctor Fish. I guess at Doctor Fish you put your feet into an aquarium and fish eat the dead skin off your feet while you eat your meal. Should do wonders for my feet, especially after football. We’ve been joking that my feet are going to be so bad all the fish die.  Also looking forward to it because it’s with some very pretty girls.

Next week, I’ve got a blind date (I think, it has been set up under the pretense of being a language exchange) on Tuesday, and I’m going to a “hand bell choir” performance on Friday. Unfortunately, going to the performance means that I won’t be able to attend practice on Friday, which is especially bad considering that’s the practice before our game. Saturday we’ll be playing a team from Busan in the first round of the national tournament.

That’s it for news. I’m continuing to learn lots about the culture, the language, and everything else that I came for, but if you asked me to name things I’ve learned off the top of my head, I think I would struggle. So much of it is just done while living daily life. I still make lots of mistakes, but luckily a lot of them are forgiven just because I’m a foreigner, and every mistake teaches me a little more.

Small shout out for my granddad, who had a successful surgery recently. Thinking of you in Seoul!