June 10 - Welcome to Sookmyung Women's University!

Deahnna and I arrived safely in Seoul last weekend and are attending the pre-summer session culture and language classes being offered by Sookmyung Women’s University. I think our jet lag has just about subsided but it is difficult getting used to the 13 hour time difference. In our Korean culture class, we are learning about Korean life including how to get around Seoul and Korea, family structure, customs, favorite leisure activities and superstitions. In our Korean language class we are learning the Hangeul alphabet and how to read, write and speak Korean. It is a very different language from English and we are both diligent about completing our homework every night.

Although we have some basic Korean phrases down, we still seem to be using many gestures and pointing. When we went to lunch at a Korean restaurant one day this week, nothing was written in English so we just pointed to pictures of things on the wall that looked good. I took a take-out menu back to class the next day to ask our instructor what we had eaten (Deahnna had a chicken curry and I had a pumpkin soup). It has been fun exploring the city and trying new foods!