Korea ...

Any time I've travelled between Cambodia and America, I've always had a layover in Korea. (Most people call South Korea,"Korea." The "south" is known.) In February two of my Cambodian friends moved to Korea to get their masters degrees. I found this to be a great opportunity to visit them!

Overview


Limited space for parking                       1000 won = $1 ish


McDonalds delivers!                                               Hmmm, I wonder if it's the same as Chick-Fil-A

Water fountain at Seoul Tower                               Writing on the street in Korean

Upon Arrival
 
I took a subway from the airport to Seoul Station where I met up with my two friends. From there we took the subway (changing lines a few times) to my friend's room, where we left my luggage.
I think she said the room costs about $350/month and it is TINY! She has a twin size bed, a small dresser, and a desk. All of that with a tiny pathway next to the bed. Her bathroom is maybe 3'x4' with the sink, toilet and shower head all in one. Then she shares the kitchen and washer and dryer with maybe 5 other girls.
- I forget how awesome Cambodians are ... when I met up with them, Pisey gave me a card that he'd already put money on for the subway! Then he wouldn't let me pay for anything the whole time I was there. (He has a scholarship while he's there, but I still don't think he's "well off" by any means.)

Lunch

We walked to lunch ... the place they wanted to                                                                                        go was a little over an hour away, and it started to rain, so we stopped and got drinks!

We also took a lot of pictures along the way!

Finally we made it!
- Koreans eat and drink their stuff really hot

Seoul Tower
After lunch we walked, rode the subway, walked, then rode the bus to Seoul Tower.


We ate ice cream                                                      took a lot of pictures

and watched this!

- While we were hanging out my friend kept apologizing because he didn't think I was having a good time and I was tired. I told him, yes I'm tired, but I really am having fun.
- Our faces and attitudes generally show when we're tired, which comes off negatively. Some people know you're just tired, but others just think you're a grouch. Sometimes we're tired because of circumstances beyond our control (time change, illness, having a newborn baby...) & other times it's our own faults (we stay up too late hanging out, watching TV / a movie, we procrastinate ...). In this situation, I'm not really sure that there was anything I could've done differently, but it was a good reminder that we are responsible for our behavior, tired or not!

Cambodia in Korea
After all of that we took a subway to the other side of town where they go to Cambodian church. We ate dinner at the church, then they all studied Korean, then we walked around the market, then stayed the night at the church.
On this side of town is where the factories are so there are few Koreans and a lot of Cambodians, Vietnamese, Singaporians ...

This looks more like Cambodia than the parts of Korea that I saw.

Cambodian church                                                   Lunch at the church

These are all new brothers who went to the sea right                Group picture of everyone!                      after that pic to be baptized!
-As you can see most of the members are guys. That is because most of them came to Korea to work in the factories to earn more money to send to their families in Cambodia. It's great that Cambodians are coming to know Christ in Korea! It was a great reminder that we don't have to travel to reach the nations, because they're coming to us too!
- The people here were so nice and welcoming!

Subway System
You don't have to have a car to live in Korea, you just need to know how to read a map! The subway system in Seoul is CRAZY because there are so many different lines (subway routes). You have to know when to get off, which line to transfer to, and which direction to go!
    

- Koreans appear to be very rude ... not very many people smile & on the subway, they don't acknowledge other people (whether you bump into them or they bump into you, it's as if it never happened) In reality, I'm from Oklahoma where it's not very crowded, but I think everywhere it's super crowded people get used to the bumping instead of saying, "I'm sorry" a million times on one subway ride.

Street Food
  
Cocoons (I didn't try this)          ??? covered in spicy sauce and fish cakes (both are very common)
- I get full a lot faster when I don't want to eat something

Coffee
There were coffee shops EVERYWHERE, so half way through the day I decided to take a picture of each company ... there were multiple Starbucks, Holly Coffee, Angel-in-me, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf ...
- Koreans must love coffee

Left: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf     Mid: Both <-->               Right: Starbucks
Across the street: Angel-in-us Coffee

Others:

     

Korean Airport
I left America Thursday night (Fri morning, Korean time) travelled until Saturday morning, walked all day Saturday, slept at the church Saturday night (so we didn't take a shower, but wiped down with baby wipes), dragged my suitcase (with a broken wheel) to the subway (this means I sweated A LOT), then rode the subway to the airport. I checked in and headed to the showers! Did I mention it was Sunday night? 3 whole days without a shower. That was one of the best showers I'd ever taken! I even showered two times in one! :-)
 
WOW! Gotta love the Incheon International Airport! This shower is bigger than my whole bathroom!
 After the wonderful shower(s), I finally got a Chai Tea Latte!

Back in Cambodia

View of Phnom Penh from the plane.

The first two days back were a little difficult, just because I was getting used to the time change. Now all is good and normal ... well, except my feet which will take a couple months to get used to the heat and not swell at night!

We have testing Monday and Tuesday, then classes will begin on Wednesday the 7th!