Idiot-Proofing Desperately Needed

In Korea, contact lenses are sold over the counter. As in, you go to an eye-glass shop, show your previous box of contacts, and voila - your new contacts are handed to you. For an extra $7 you can even get colored contacts. (But for those like Mark with blue eyes, you're out of luck. You have a choice of brown, brown, or brown.) But it's really nice not to have to schedule an appointment with an eye-doctor and pay for a whole exam when you can see just fine with your current prescription and all you need are new contacts.

HOWEVER, when you buy contacts in the States, they come in clearly marked bags with your name on them. Also, the eye-doctor's office mark's each box with a color-coded "right" or "left" sticker. Not the case here...

I put in my new contacts, went to school and couldn't read the board. Mark wore his contacts for several days and had a splitting headache each time. Initially, we got kind of mad at the man that sold us the contacts and planned to go back and demand a switch/refund... "He gave us the wrong prescriptions!" But then we realized that 1) I was wearing Mark's contacts and 2) Mark was wearing his contacts in the wrong eyes. After we figured both of these issues we were fine.

Uh yeah, not the proudest moment for the Johnsons.

Another adoptee in Seoul

Funny how random people seem to stumble across this little blog that was created just to keep the people back home updated about our lives in Korea. Recently, we had an opportunity to meet a really interesting and sweet adoptee named Anne who was visiting Korea. Anne actually lived in Sung Ae Won Orphanage for awhile. You know, the one Kevin lived at and we visited? Anne was going to Busan to see the orphanage and wanted some advice about who to contact, how to get there, etc.

So we met Anne and her husband on a dreary, rainy day in Seoul for some 갈국수 and 만두 in Myeongdong. I love this restaurant, it's famous for the handcut noodles and kimchi. Mmmm....

Here's the group:

Anne was actually adopted to France, but her husband is a Canadian-American. (I think?) They're planning to move to NYC when they return to North America. They also talk about coming to live in Korea for a year or so eventually. Such an international couple! It's always fun getting to meet new people. Thanks for contacting us, Anne!

Happy Chuseok!

Tomorrow is the start of Chuseok here in Korea. Chuseok is basically the equivalent of American Thanksgiving, but it lasts for 3 days. Birth Father will be flying in for the festivities, so I'm expecting lots of delicious food. And maybe this time around if I get to meet extended family, I'll be able to communicate... even just a little! Here's hoping!

Sogang Level 2

So here we are, several weeks into Sogang Korean classes, but at the frenetic level 2 pace. Back in the day, I blogged about how difficult Level 1 was... and now I find myself longing for those days. Yeah, level 2 definitely kicked it up a notch (or 10). The teachers don't spoon feed the information to us as much, definitely speak a lot faster, we don't get to practice new grammar and vocabulary nearly as much. They kind of teach us what we need to know and assume we'll learn/memorize it on our own.

This semester, Mark and I got put in different classes. At first I was kind of nervous to be in class without my support system. But as time goes on, I can see that it's definitely better for both of us, as it forces us to meet and mingle more with our classmates. Plus, we have the opportunity to make twice as many friends.

Speaking of classmates, our classes are still pretty diverse. Mark has South African, Malaysian, German, Turkish, Thai, and Japanese students in his class. I've got a far less diverse class, with half of the class coming from Japan.

One thing I've noticed this semester is that our classmates can speak SO much better this time around. A lot of them didn't attend Level 1 at Sogang, so came in with varying abilities. I know I can be overly modest at times, but I am dead serious when I say this time around I'm without a doubt at the bottom of the heap when it comes to speaking ability and vocabulary.

The semester is going okay, but it requires even more studying this time, which I didn't even know was possible. There are many days that I honestly feel like I'm barely treading water. But I'm not complaining. I came back to Korea to learn the language and it's not a pretty process, but that's what's happening.

More pictures next time. And now back to the never-ending task of vocabulary memorization.

Introducing my step-brother

I met my Korean step-brother, Kim Ju-Yu, today. Here we are together!

The typhoon strikes

Well, the typhoon ended up being a lot of hype over nothing. In the morning, there were some pretty heavy (loud) winds, but it definitely wasn't as bad as the word "typhoon" sounds. We still had school and now I can proudly say that I attended class come hell, high water, or even typhoons.

On the way to the subway, there was a bit of chaos as a huge neon sign was dangling from one corner in the wind. There were policemen and ajummas directing the traffic lest anyone have a sign land on their head.

Also, we saw this... beware of flying telephone booths.

Telephone booths are pretty much everywhere, which is so weird to me since cell phones are basically like another appendage on Koreans. When you buy a phone, they provide you with a back-up battery. And if that's not enough, if you ever find yourself with a dead phone, you can pay about $1 at a convenience store for them to charge it up for you. And honestly, I've never actually SEEN anyone use a pay phone... Guess that's one Korean mystery I'll never figure out.

Typhoon?

Email from the US Embassy... Hmmm... It IS awfully windy and rainy... Hope I don't blow away on my way to school.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is transmitting the following information through the Embassy's Warden System as a public service to all U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message broadly to U.S. citizens.

This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing or traveling in the Republic of Korea that the Korea Meteorological Administration has issued alerts for a Category 3 storm, Typhoon Kompasu. As of 1230 (local time) on Wednesday, September 1, Typhoon Kompasu was located approximately 263 kilometers or 163 miles southwest of Cheju island and traveling north at 33 km/h (20 mph). It is expected to turn in a northeast direction and pass very near Seoul at approximately 1500 (local time) on Thursday, September 2.

The Korea Meteorological Administration reports that the maximum sustained wind speed in the storm is 157 km/h (98 mph). While Typhoon Kompasu’s winds are expected to decrease over the next 36 hours, sustained maximum winds when the storm reaches Seoul are still predicted to be as high as 150 Km/h (93 mph).