Weekend update and Day 8

I know it's been three days since I updated! I think maybe I'll just update on weeknights. Weekends are too relaxed so I forget I have a schedule of posting.
This post will be a long one though, so you won't feel like you missed anything.

Saturday was our field trip, and it started out with me being rather....homesick? On the bus into the city, I was sitting next to a guy I didn't know, and he was way too close. I don't like touching strangers, so the fact that his arm was touching mine...*shudder*. I was just uncomfortable. And then when we were filling out our forms so we could be off campus, I didn't know what number to put for an emergency contact, since I don't have family in Korea and I wasn't sure of Jina's cell number. So when I told the guy this, he asked if I had any family or friends in Korea. I said no, and then he gave me a pity look. I wrote down my home phone number and then when he walked off, I tried not to cry, but I couldn't help it. I was just so tired and worn out from the whole first week and I really missed home and family and always knowing who I could call if I needed someone.

After we got into Seoul though, I brightened up. The guy sitting next to me, who I later found out is named John, started talking to me instead of the girls in front of us. I took a few pictures on the bus and overall, started to cheer up. I didn't really cheer up though until the Nanta performance. It was AMAZING! Everyone always told me it was like the Korean version of STOMP (they drum by hitting trashcans and scrap metal, things like that). I personally thought Nanta was way better! Nanta was using cooking materials, but they actually did some cutting and cooking. There was a story line and tons of funny parts. The characters all played their parts very well. I would definitely go see it again if I had the chance.

After the Nanta performance, we drove over to Insadong, a historic shopping street and surrounding area. It first, I was walking around by myself, and I started to get scared. I wasn't afraid something would happen to me, but I didn't like being alone in a new city where I don't speak the language. I really had to go to the bathroom and I don't know how to ask for that in Korean. Also, I was afraid it would be one of the public restrooms I've heard about that are basically just a hole in the ground with no toilet tissue or soap. I didn't have to go very far before I found a sign that said "Free: Water, Coffee, Tea, Open Toilets" leading off into an opening by some apartments. I turned in, and the first thing I saw was a giant metal robot thing staring back at me!
I then found some signs directing me to the bathrooms and they were all conveniently labeled in Korean and English. My only problem after that was trying to figure out how to flush the toilet, as it was a Bidet, labeled in Korean, and I didn't want to push the wrong button and have water come rushing out at me. After freaking out a bit more (I'd been freaked out all day because I felt alone), I found the button to flush the toilet. It was hiding behind the back of the toilet seat cover. Same spot as a normal toilet. @_@
As I was washing my hands, I looked at my face in the mirror, and I realized something. I didn't look as scared as I was feeling. In fact, I didn't look scared at all! That gave me a great boost of confidence.

After that confidence boost, I went back out into Insadong with a smile. I ran into a couple who are also in the TaLK program and we discussed where we were planning on going. None of us really had a plan, except that I knew that I wanted to try some pancake things I had seen the street vendors selling and that I had heard about. The other two didn't have anywhere to go, so we headed back towards where I had seen the pancake things. Along the way, we met up with another girl from the TaLK program and we all walked along together until we found the street vendor I was looking for. I ordered one of the pancakes, which I later found out were called Hoddeok. It's a sweet batter, similar but not the same as pancake batter. The lady made them into bowls, filled them with a powder mix (brown sugar and walnut bits) and then closed it up by pinching it all together. She then placed them on the hot skillet and put a weight over them so that they were pressed flat. In the heat, the brown sugar all melted. Hoddeok are delicious and I want to eat them again, but they are very very messy! And if you buy one fresh off the skillet, it's a good idea to not start eating it right away, as the inside will be very hot, and very runny, which hurts on your hands.

After eating the hoddeok, the group I was in migrated away from Insadong. We ended up walking by the old bell pavilion, and then we found the man-made stream they have in the middle of Seoul. It was a very neat place. There were so many families there when we were, and most of them were sitting under the bridge, where they had concrete steps leading down to the water. I took a few pictures there, but didn't stay long. I didn't really like being so far away from the area I was supposed to get back on the bus, so I left the group and went back the four or five blocks on my own.
When I got back to Insadong, I walked through a lot of the shops. I was looking at buying a small bag, because the only bags/purses I have are my two small cluch bags. I didn't end up finding a bag I liked and it was nearly time to head back on the buses, so I bought another hoddeok and sat down to eat it. As I was eating it, Nicole, a girl from Mizzou, came over and sat with me. As we were sitting there, the inside of my hoddeok started dripping all over my hands and my jeans. I was trying to stop it when Nicole says "Oh, look up! James is taking a picture!" James is the official TaLK photographer. T_T I had to look up and smile as hot sticky melted sugar was dripping all over my hands and pants. I think I did well though and didn't look too distracted.

On the bus ride back to the dorms, I was looking forward to getting to my room and taking a nap because I was so worn out. I didn't end up taking a nap, but I know I sure could have used one. I didn't really do much else that day but I went to bed early. My roommate came back around 2am. I thought she was going to stay in the city but I guess she couldn't find a place to stay. I heard from a lot of people that it was really hard finding anywhere that had rooms available.

Sunday, I woke up, talked with Max on gmail, wandered around Suwon until I found the HomePlus store, got a little lost on the way back to the university, and then spent the rest of the day talking with Max on gmail.
When I went to HomePlus, I just wandered around all the aisles, looking at the different foods. I realized when I was there that they do not have cheez-its. I miss them a ton. So I need them in my care packages. I had to content myself with cheddar goldfish. Not at all the same thing.
They also spell Fanta strangly in Korea. It's spelled "hwanta".
And I forgot to get the one thing I was going to HomePlus for: Laundry detergent! So....now I really need to wash my clothes but I don't want to walk back to HomePlus. Ji said I could borrow her detergent though so I might do my laundry tomorrow. If I don't, I won't have anything to wear! D:

I guess that brings me to today, Monday. I was a little slow this morning (not sure what was going on) so when I finished with breakfast, I didn't have time to return to my room to pick up my book for class. That was okay though, because I only really had one morning class because the second morning class was elections for class leader (for real this time) as well as signing up for the sports day events. I wasn't so stoked about the two people who were elected for class leader because I don't know either of them that well, but after our sporting event, I like both of them. Our leaders are Corinne and Warren. I ended up volunteering for both of the two activities where we only needed a few people. Everyone had to participate in dodgeball, but we only needed five people for the wacky relay race, and 20 people for the Human Rope. I'll go into more details about that a bit later.

After eating lunch with Ji, we headed to our next class, pottery, an hour early. We spent that time just hanging out and laughing and quoting movies. I wasn't looking forward to the pottery class because I don't like to get my hands dirty, but it was actually rather fun. We were supposed to make a simple cup. Not so hard, except that I'm worried my cup will break where I patched it together. If it doesn't it will be cute, but not as amazing as Ji's cup. On my cup, I etched a cute little chibi of Me, Max, and Jina. We're all cute, but I'm the cutest. Our translator asked if they were my students. I laughed and said "No, they're my two best friends."
Ji's cup was an amazing...I don't even know how to explain it! There were people in a cave, and a willow tree, and a log cabin and...I can't explain it. It was just amazing. If it turns out well when we get them back, I'll see if Ji will let me take a picture. I'm sure she won't mind.

Um, I'll skip talking about my last class, as it wasn't very eventful. We sang songs, acted like we were kids, the usual in all my TaLK classes.

Sports day...It was a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. I was very hesitant at first because I was wearing shorts, and I extremely dislike wearing shorts in front of guys. I had Bulgogi (basically beef strips and rice) but I didn't have time to eat as much as I wanted of it before they said we had to start playing Korean dodgeball. I crammed the last of my rice into my mouth and then ran out onto the playing field. We played three rounds. The first round, we were the best team, with 16 females left in the middle. The second round, we tied, had to do sudden death, and lost terribly. Third round was just girls playing and we lost pretty bad. The other team had some great players. After that, we had a break before we started the wacky relay. I was in the first position, and I had to spin around seven times and then run to the next guy, who would then give me a piggyback ride. I didnt' watch the other girls, but apparently, I was the best runner after spinning in a circle. Everyone said I didn't even look dizzy, and to be honest, I didn't feel dizzy. I slipped as I was jumping onto my partners back though, so that lost us a few seconds, which could have been a few seconds we needed to finish fourth instead of fifth. I dunno though. If we hadn't picked Greg to be our sprinter, we might have won again. I don't know why, but they (the rest of our relay team) wouldn't let the guy who was a sprinter in high school be our sprinter. So he had to be the guy to carry me. He was nice about it though.
In human rope...we all laid in the grass and streched as far as we could to touch the person in front of us. I got a leg cramp major bad, and I had bugs crawling all over my legs, biting me, because I was right under the spot light (we were doing all of this at 8pm). I don't know how long our team was, but we didn't win.
After that, my shoulder was really hurting from streching for so long (I was laying there for 10 minutes) so when Warren, our team leader saw me sort of rubbing my shoulder, he asked if I was okay. I mentioned my shoulder was hurting so he gave me a shoulder massage. It was amazing. If I wasn't so keen on the guy I'm liking right now, I could see myself having a crush on Warren. As it is though, not happening.

Well, that about brings me to now. We have our medical check up tomorrow morning at 11:20 so I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything until then. I'm very unhappy about that. They give us dinner, tell us to run around and spend all of our energy and then say we aren't allowed to eat for over 12 hours. I also have to meet with my POE (provincial office of education) supervisor tomorrow. I guess I had better get some sleep now.