Cheap Bananas!

June 24th...

Well, my first day started off a bit rocky to say the least. I was about two hours away from arrival in Seoul when I started feeling sick to my stomach. So, I'm in a plane 37,000 feet in the air, I haven't slept in 2 nights, and I think I'm going to vomit. A few moments later I was doing just that in the nasty airplane toilets. Believe me folks, it was one of my finest moments. So badly I just wished I could curl up in a bed and go to sleep! But...Seoul was coming, like it or not, and they are just beginning their day. Perk up, Allison!

I arrived at my dorm, and I live on the 7th floor again, with an amazing view of the mountains! The tutor who picked me up from the airport walked with me to a nearby grocery store and I was very pleased to buy 5 bananas for only 1500KRW! That's just over $1, and about 3 times less than Finland! Woohoo! I love bananas! Maybe this really will work out...

I thought I was in culture shock while I was in Finland, trying to read labels and street signs, etc. HA! Culture shock?! THAT was culture shock?! That is absolutely nothing compared to being here! If there isn't a picture of something underneath a sign or label, then I am clueless. Reading street signs, building names, or....anything, is completely beyond my abilities at this point...as a girl with no experience in the Korean language. Finland, while different than what I am used to, is still European and therefore something I could find somewhat familiar. The people pretty much all looked the same as I did, and I had a pretty good chance that most of them could speak even a little english. Well, I certainly don't have that anymore, not on the surface anyways. I guess I just assumed that many people here would at least know some english, or just enough so that I could get around. I assumed wrong! I wandered around for an hour and a half yesterday just trying to get to the library. I walked around with a small black and white map, asking others for help by pointing to the picture. They were so very friendly, although we couldn't understand each other well. Two of them even asked to take a picture with me. I don't know if that's a good thing or not...but I smile, laugh, and nod and go on my way! The whole saying..."just smile and nod" really does go a long way here!