Day 2: Sooya in Seoul

6/8/10 4:37pm

Hello from the future! I'm 14 hours ahead of everyone...just to let you know Tuesday is a great day haha ;)

Today we woke up at 4am, but luckily I fell back asleep until 7! Then we went to a coffee shop and had a latte and a bagel for breakfast. After that we decided to visit the Namdaemun Market. So we hopped on the metro (thanks to Molly who knew exactly where to go) and were there in about 30 min. The market was fascinating with anything you could want, purses, scarves, clothes, food etc. Including silk worm larvae....which my friend Jenna was brave enough to eat! haha After wandering around the streets for a few hours we went to Kimbap Cheongguk for lunch.

Being a vegetarian seems like it will be a bit difficult, seeing how everything had either fish or meat. I ended up finding vegetable kimbap which looks like sushi, it's rice and vegetable wrapped in seaweed. Even this had I believe ham? in it, so after using the translation book and Molly's help I asked for it without the ham! AND I used chopsticks...a few drops of rice, but I did it!

We then moved onto visit a Buddhist Temple, Jogeysa. It was breathtaking! We arrived just at the time that the monks were entering for a worship service. I talked to a man who informed me that they worship three times a day for an hour and a half, and there are opportunities to do a "Temple Stay" where you can spend a weekend at a temple and meditate and follow the buddhist tradition.

Now we're back at the hostel resting for a bit before we meet one of Molly's students for dinner and a norebong (Karaoke room!)

After 24 hours of being in South Korea I've learned so many phrases and words already! It's exciting and I can't wait to learn more!

So far: (with my own pronunciation!)

Thankyou- Kamsamnida

I want beer- Meguk ju say o

How much?- O my o

No meat- Gogi bago

No fish- Sangsong bago

Teacher- Songsang

Numbers 1-10 ill, e, sam, sa o0, juk, chill, paul, ku, ship!

Confusion of the day: (1) The loud speaker that announces things in Korean makes it sound like bombs are dropping...is actually just a vehicle selling fruit! No need to hide haha Thanks Molly for clearing that up for us.