1 Week Down, 51 to Go?

Wow, I can't believe I've been here for a week already. I know it doesn't feel that way. I keep thinking I've only been here a few days. I mean, in the long run, 1 week is just a small portion of my year here, but being on my own in another country for 1 week is huge. All of my other foreign travels have been with fX, so I was with a group of people, all the time. And while it's a little unbelievable to know that a week has passed, I take it as a good sign. Time flies when you're having fun right? And yeah, I'm having a lot of fun here. I mean, I haven't done too much, in terms of stuff you would expect a tourist to do, but I've been completely enjoying my time here in Korea. If I haven't mentioned it before, Korea is already feeling like home to me. I can walk to the store and get what I need, without having to think about using a translator, I'm comfortable with going out and exploring the city on my own.



Today after work, I decided to take a walk, instead of going straight home. So I walked past my apartment building, and explored the street on which I live. I walked about 10-15 minutes, before turning around and heading back home. It was cool, cause I ended up in a shopping district. There were clothing stores all around me, some of them were pretty fashionable stuff. At one point, I felt a bit underdressed just to be walking in that area of the shops, even though we were outside. :P Oh, and I came across a little cafe, with a great sign that I had to take a picture of:

I wonder if they serve their sand in a bowl or platter?

Anyway, it was nice to just walk around. Oh, so on another walk I took today (to the store) I saw the first American (besides myself) that I've seen in Anseong. It was cool to see her, just because I had recently mentioned how I thought I was the only American in my area. Ironically though, as much as I was happy to see someone who spoke English fluently, a fit of shyness hit me, so I merely said hello to her as I passed, instead of stopping her and chatting, as I wanted to do so much. Yeah, I've talked to other Americans since I've been here, but they all live around my aunt and uncle. This was actually someone I could talk to and not have to travel 30 minutes to do so. Of course, that's all in the past now. Maybe I'll see her again sometime.

And something else has been bugging me for the past two days, that I guess should have let hit me before that. You see, this weekend, I knew of two people back in the States who passed away. My great-grandmother died on Saturday, at the age of 91. Then early Sunday morning, in the aftermath of a Halloween party dispute, Aaron Brice, someone who worked at Camp Sonshine this summer, was shot and killed by a guy who decided to shoot a gun 21 times into a crowd of people. Aaron was only 19.

Now, I didn't know these two people well enough for their deaths to have a huge overwhelming response to me. I had only met my great-grandmother a few times, and really I knew Aaron by face recognition. We had talked a couple of times over the summer, but we worked in two different programs, so it wasn't like I even saw him everyday. So I went on with life after hearing the news

But I soon realized that even though I wasn't directly effected by these incidents, people who I cared about a lot back home were. My family of course, was hurt by my great-grandmother's passing. She was my mother's last living grandparent. And then I have many friends from camp who were pretty close with Aaron, so they were hurting pretty bad at the news.

And I guess I felt kinda guilty, that I'm having a great time here in Korea, while so many people I know back home are in pain and mourning for their losses. I mean, there's nothing I can do to help the situation, but it almost seems unfair that I should feel so blessed when others are hurting. But I think this was perhaps God's way of protecting me, shielding me from the hurt. Because the fact doens't change that I was already in Korea. If I would have been so depressed from these passings, it would have definitely had an effect on how well I adapted to the country during my first week. And I needed to adjust well, I needed to feel like I fit in here, if I was going to hope to thrive for a whole year.

And I know that things are going to be great for me here. I have no complaints as of yet. And now that I'm adjusted and over my jet lag (took less than a week, yay!), I can start becoming more involved in the community, meeting more people, and doing some more exploring. I've actually been invited to spend a day in Suwon with someone from my school who is here, and a bunch of people I don't know, of course. Hopefully it works out and I can go, it would be a good break.

Aight, now I have to go and try to figure out how to work my washing machine (which is in Korean, of course)

1 Week done, and at least 51 more to go....maybe more?