First Day in Korea

So I've been in Korea a couple of days now. The first day I had some funny experiences. I wrote them down on Friday, but I didn't post them until now. So I hope you enjoy.

OK, so this is another one of those posts where Allie is too tired to do a lot of editing to her writing and fill it with fanciful figures of speech, but rather gives you the poorly written (but usually funnier, though not always) upchuck version of what’s been going on in her life.

So I flew out of Singapore last night at about eleven o’clock. Saying goodbye to Miguel and Paulo was super hard (Ruth was back in Timor so I already said goodbye to her). I cried big Allie-gator tears. So did Miguel. We were both also super tired because we’d been staying up late previous nights. So I’m sure that affected things.

I got into Korea this morning at 6:00 AM. Since this morning, I’ve had some very interesting and slightly humorous experiences. Getting through customs was very easy. I went to Jamba Juice for breakfast. However, before I could buy my smoothie and croissant, I had to exchange my American money for Korean. I went to the counter that said, “Currency Exchange” and asked the dude if I could exchange my money. As he was doing his thing, he asked me where I was from. I told him that I was from the States. Then he said something that kind of threw me off for a second. He said something along the lines of, “Ah. Very cute.”

Me: “Huh?”

Him: “You’re very cute, very pretty.”

Me: “Oh, thank you [or something like that].”

Yeah, I was thinking, “This guy is old. I’ve just gotten off a plane and I look horrible. I haven’t even brushed my teeth this morning. How can he think I’m cute?” Yeah, so that was the first funny thing.

I took a bus to a city near Hannah and David’s house. Then Hannah and her mother met me at the bus stop. It was raining cats and dogs the whole morning. So I was really happy to see Hannah; I love that girl.

We got to her house. I was going to take a shower, but I decided I should have my devotions first. However, I did need to go to the bathroom. So I went in and did my thing. Then the time came to flush. However, I was baffled as to what to do because I looked down and saw there were approximately 73.29 different buttons on side of the toilette seat. I didn’t know which one to push. Hmmm… So I looked the purple one that looked like it was depicting a flushing motion and decided to give it a whirl (no pun intended). Out from the back of the toilette seat comes this little white stick. Then, with no warning whatsoever, I was violently attacked by a stream of water shooting up at a 45 ° angle, with power similar to that of Niagara Falls.

I couldn’t keep in my laughter. “Hannah, can you show me how to use your toilette?”

David: “Are you all right in there?”

Then we ate a wonderful lunch of Korean food. I actually used chopsticks a little too.

David, Hannah, and I hung out and talked about Fountainview. Eventually I packed my little bag with stuff to go to Sharon’s place (Hannah informed me this morning that I was leaving her house that afternoon to go to Sharon’s place).

I was on the train for about two and a half hours. Korea has some beautiful country. It’s very lush and green, although it’s been foggy, cloudy, and rainy all day today no matter where I travel. L

So Sharon met me at the train station. We grabbed a taxi and she took me to a Korean street market where I proceeded to photograph all the crazy things people eat here (otherwise you wouldn’t believe me if I told you). We walked around for a while. Sharon bought me a couple of things to try eating. Some were interesting. Some were tasty.

Then we got a bus to head to the hospital where Sharon’s mom works. I was feeling tired from walking and traveling, etc. So Sharon suggested that I lie down on her camera bag, which was on her lap. After a few minutes I felt a hand touch my shirtsleeve and then begin to rub my shoulder.

“Oh, Sharon, it’s been so long since I’ve had a back massage.”

“Um…Allie, I’m not massaging your back. This old lady is.”

At first I thought she was just joking (that would something Sharon would do), but to my utter horror, I look up to see that in fact, the complete stranger I was sitting next to, an elderly-ish lady, was rubbing my back. The bizarre back rubber just laughed and lightly patted my back, trying to get me to lie back down again. I did as I began to laugh quietly. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen to me before. Needless to say, I thought it was a little strange and very hilarious. Sharon suggested we move seats. I hope she wasn’t offended.

So, now Sharon and I are in the hospital where we’ll be staying (I know you could make a lot of jokes about that). They’re having a vespers service now. I think they’re just having song service right now. I think I should shower though before I make an appearance.

So, I’m going to end this now. I hope you maybe got some chuckles from my adventures in Korea. I know I have, but I think it’s partly because I’m also very tired. That tends to affect me a lot.