NSLI-Y 친구
So came the day that I had to leave the unpleasant hostel for my host family’s home. I was feeling happy but nervous at the same time. I had already met the girl that I was going to share my host family with, Audra- in fact, we met at Columbia University during our NYC Orientation.
Some thoughts about Audra: Well, at the time, I didn’t know what to expect out of our relationship. The year before, I ended up not liking my roommate on the CIEE trip… I didn’t want a repeat of that since I was going to live with Audra for a longer period of time this year. I tried to keep my distance from her… I guess because I was a little afraid of having a bad relationship with someone that I was going to be sharing a home with, a family with, and the ride to school with. But she seemed really nice and wanted to have a good connection with me and our host family. It was difficult for me to decipher what kind of person she was… I really wanted to believe that she was a good person and unlike my roommate from last year… but the thought of things going sour so soon kept popping into my head. I mean, I wasn’t mean to her. I talked to her, but at the same time, I kept my distance. And that day, I sensed how nervous she was to meet our host family. As families came to pick up their students one by one, we both got more and more nervous. She was even shaking at times. And as we waited, I’ll be honest, I tried to decipher her character again. I started thinking about what we had in common, what we didn’t have in common, and just her as a person. Well, to start things off, there are a lot of ironies between us. Her last name… is my first name. Also, she lived very close to me for the last couple of years. AND, she knew some people from my school… Coincidence that we were placed with the same host family? I think not. And her character. To be honest, she seemed really funny and fun to be around. She really tried to get along with me from the beginning… and I’m glad that she did that. 🙂
Back to waiting for our host family- when they finally arrived… I swear… they were the hippest host family to show up that day. The cool dad strolled in with his sunglasses and a cute little 6 year old son (who may I add, looks like Pororo) running beside him. Behind him, was the beautiful wife with the adorable little 3 year old girl in hand. The moment that they all walked in, a big “AWWWWWW” echoed throughout the room. Oh yea, everyone was jealous of our host family. 😉
On the ride home from the hostel, the car was filled with laughter and … well… Korean. hahah~ But I soon found out that not only was our host family a cute little family, but also a very funny family. I was really glad that Audra and I were blessed with such a family for our 6 week stay in Korea.
As it turned out, our family also had a farm. It was one of the first places that they took us to (in fact, after we unpacked at home we went to the farm). It was certainly an experience being there, but I also got tons of mosquito bites on my legs… 😦
삼촌 working those farm hands!
도연~
성현 a.k.a. 해리 포터 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Later that night, we went to a family friend’s apartment for dinner. Dinner was going to be spaghetti- 한국 style! Audra and I were both really excited. When we arrived at their apartment, we met the cutest little boy (besides our host brother)! His name was Jiwon and he was the same age as Doyeon, our host sister. He is so so so so so cute! He looks like a mini-Taeyang!
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The next day, our host family took us to 서강대학교 Sogang University to look at our school for the next 6 weeks. Unfortunately… it was pouring outside. In fact, it had been raining since we arrived- it was monsoon season. 😦
After visiting Sogang, we had lunch at a Nepali restaurant in 신촌 Sinchon. My host father, or 삼촌 Samchon to me, is very interested in Nepali culture so he wanted to introduce Audra and me to the culture as well. It was my first time eating Nepali food, but I must say, the food was quite delicious, or 맛있 었어요!
After lunch, we headed to the Gwangmyeong Cycling Stadium. It was nice to be there- there was a children’s area and it was funny because I was using the children books to teach myself some Korean. ^^
It was also when we first got to this stadium that our Samchon encountered a Busan man- as it turned out, our Samchon is a Busan man! Audra and I were ecstatic about this fact because we both love Busan and really wanted to go there. Hearing this, our Samchon decided to take us on a family vacation to Busan during our stay in Korea (you’ll be reading about this in a later post). 🙂
What can I say… things were starting off great at my new home. I really loved my Korean family… like A LOT. I knew that the next 6 weeks were going to be amazing.~
ღ Blank Doodles ღ 