Korea - It's Daejeon! And I love it!

Finally, some pictures!! My internet is working now, so I have more time to do this. Here are some really great photos of my journey here…
The enormous plane we took from San Francisco to Incheon airport. It was SO BIG (TWSS). Look at all the seats! And it was really tall, too, and there is a little bit of room to stretch and do some lunges, which I did every hour or so.

I’m glad I asked for the vegetarian. If this is the vegetarian, I don’t even want to think about the other stuff. Customs forms you have to fill out and give to customs and to the police officers if you are declaring anything. The flight attendants hand these out to everyone mid-flight. I did not need to declare anything, but I filled out the forms just the same.

Craig, your company is here too! This was on the bus ride from Seoul to Daejeon, and I just had to get it. It made me think of you!

Somewhat apprehensive. I got a little scared.
Next are some pictures of my Dorm:

And here are some of my university:


Here is a traditional Korean lunch, hosted by the University in one of the local restaurants. The bowl below is called Kimpap. In the center of the table you see Kimchee, sweet potato, and some other little dishes that I wasn't sure about, but it was all delicious.

Apparently they sell people baking toast here. :)
Individually wrapped sushi at the local market

Trying a new hairstyle with my Uzbekistani friend Iroda Usman (Pakistani): An excellent distraction from missing people back home. ;)

This is my friend Shukhrat, he’s very good at speaking Korean, but he’s also from Uzbekistan. He teaches Korean to foreigners He speaks so well that when we ride in a taxi, the driver is surprised when he collects his fee and doesn’t see a Korean person, but a foreigner! He inspires me to become that fluent over the next year, hopefully. He approached me about helping teach English to other foreigners as a part-time job. I am definitely interested!
Above, right - Claudia is my new friend from Indonesia; she’s an amazing person with a really sweet nature. She enjoys cooking, and I’m hoping she teaches me a few things. She showed me that Indonesians like Facebook. Her favorite movie/ book is one of mine, After Sunset and Before Sunset. Something interesting we share…She showed me pictures from her blog, of an entire bus full of people from Indonesia, and explained that there are so many cultures, people have very significantly different physical features but are all Indonesian. She also says it’s like a melting pot, so that there is no culture anymore. If you look at Indonesia on a map, it’s made of many islands, so the differences in characteristics seem to make sense to me. This was the day my roommate finally came (Sunday)! Her name is Lobar, and she’s from Uzbekistan. I think this is a really good thing, because there are so many good-looking Uzbekistani guys here and she can help translate for me when we are hanging out! She’s incredibly friendly and really mischievous, just like me. Today I urged her to haggle for a shirt she wanted, because I read in one of my travel books that bargaining is acceptable. She was so surprised when the saleswoman gave her the shirt for half the price that she kissed me on the cheek! Then we started haggling everywhere we went, including at the amusement park next to the university. They wouldn’t let us ride the roller coaster for free though. Go figure!

This is just a picture of my snack, but look at all the pretty symbols! I have no idea what’s inside. MSG? who knows. High fructose corn syrup? Partially hydrogenated oil? Probably. I’m completely in the dark because of my inability to read Korean. These little cookies are just like those Koala Yummies that I love so much!! For all of you that said I would get skinny here, I highly doubt it. They have just as much junk food here, and if I understand it correctly, no one likes the cafeteria food enough to eat it. I am not surprised. For example, tonight I had a dinner of pizza. Although the Korean version of pizza is a little different from the states. For instance, they do not use marinara sauce. The toppings also consisted of cheese, potato wedges, onions (which I picked off), chicken, pineapple, and corn. Uh, yeah, actually it was really good.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed all of these pictures! The one interesting thing I've learned lately - the rest of the world is behind Obama for president. In fact, everyone here thinks he already is. Apparently the news says so. Isn't it interesting that no one outside of the US knows McCain at all, but everyone knows Obama? I find that very amusing.

I'm going to be adding plenty more pictures, so I hope you stay tuned. Coming up this week, I'll be having my formal school orientation, and we're visiting the shopping district where there is plenty to see. I love you all and miss you so much!!!!!!!