We have had so much going on within the past month that we (I) apologize for neglecting to post sooner! I'm going to try and just give a huge overview and then, now that things are hopefully becoming more steady, I can post more on a regular basis!
Our first day we opened up a bank account here in Korea! Mis Yi helped us out and she was just precious. It really didn't matter what we said- she thought we were hilarious. She would giggle through all her responses and would often interject how much she wanted us to be good friends with her and hang out. I think that's a really great PR for a bank! After opening the accounts, she gave us our gratitude gift of three shot glasses. We thought it was such a funny "Thank you for opening up a bank account with us" gift. She insisted that we really needed to all get a picture with them...so we did! Little did WE know...these are the typical sizes of most cups here.
 |
| Mis Yi, Becca and Jake with our gratitude shot glasses. |
For two weeks we resided in a Hotel in downtown Daegu. It is called the Novotel and it was wonderful! They were very endearing to us and spoiled us daily! Even little things like opening the door for us at the main entrance, doing our laundry or writing in Korean scripts so we could hand the paper to the taxi drivers to get from Point A to Point B. If you're in the area (well, you better be staying with us) but...if for some reason you need a hotel- this place was wonderful!! We felt like Annie living with Daddy Warbucks! The Novotel staff even brought me a present for my birthday! Seriously? Who does that?!
 |
| My nice birthday card from the hotel and present! |
 |
| Surprise! It's a pen. |
 |
| View out of our hotel room. We were on the 14th floor. |
 |
| A dark duo portrait |
 |
| We were so excited that we found Harry Potter in Korean! Jake watched the whole movie in this position while eating his Korean cake. |
 |
| Pretty park outside our hotel |
 |
| If it's not an umbrella, it's a parasol. A must in Korea during typhoon season. |
 |
The children's orchestra we listened to in the park! I wouldn't be surprised if these kids end up on Oprah- they were amazing!
One of the parks outside of the hotel often has different concerts. We took a walk one day and just enjoyed the beautiful orchestra sounds. Even when we are just hanging out and listening to music in the park, we get approached by the people here. Sometimes they want to "practice their english" and ask us questions. Sometimes they just want to greet us. On this particular trip a young girl (maybe 19?) came up to me with her boyfriend and told me how pretty my eyes were and asked if we could be friends. Isn't that too cute? Jake, on an oddly frequent basis, has older women approach him and rub his red beard. They LOVE it! Sometimes they say things in Korean, rub his face and then just walk off. Other times, they might take his hand like they are pretending to take him home. We went shopping for shoes the other day and the man who was helping me lifted up Jake's hat and said, "Oh! SO handsome!" I was in the market a few days ago and a little girl kept telling her dad that I was Cinderella and pointed furiously! It's funny. We get stared at. A LOT! We are hoping for many reasons this ceases after awhile. If not, we might pull a celebrity move and get the dark sunglasses and the baseball caps to hide behind. |
 |
| Home Sweet Novotel! |
The food: it's different. It really is very tasty but it is a taste worth taking your time getting used to. Things are very spicy and can throw you for an emergency run to the toilet if you're not ready! We have also decided Asians are so little because 1) Those chopsticks just don't allow you to eat a lot and 2) Whatever you do manage to eat...well, it doesn't take long to "digest". No long trips without facilities nearby if you get my 'drift.' And while we're on the subject of "facilities"... we call them "Squatters." Ladies, the best advice I can give you is to work on your leg muscle strength! Guys don't have too much of an issue except for the massive back splash. Just sayin'...
 |
| This is a bathroom for boys and girls. |
While we were living in the Novotel, we saw a documentary on an Indian man living in Daegu who was married to a Korean woman (ps-if you find anything spoken in English on TV...you watch it regardless!). He opened up an Indian food resturant here with the desire to bring Indian cuisine to the people of Korea. The man, Prakash, is unbelievably talented. His desire is to bring cultures together through food. He has many people come to his resturant just so he can interpret for them to their spouses!!! I know we have all heard of marriages in various countries which husbands and wives cannot speak the same language...but come on...this is the 21st century! I didn't realize just how prevalent it still is! Prakash speaks 5...yes, 5...different languages fluently. He loves to help people who might be struggling and then he likes to feed them! We decided we would be bold and try to find this place. It took a couple days of hunting scary alleyways but we were so excited to try out his restaurant! When we located 'Maya', we got the biggest surprise of all! Prakash was there!! He was our celebrity! He served us his food and sat with us and talked for awhile! He told us how if we ever needed anything to call him, he gave us his number, and he would translate for us and help however he could. That was an awesome sacrifice to do for strangers. It really touched Jake and me and reminded us of how we should love others ...even strangers. (Side note: The food is our favorite Indian food we've ever tried!)
 |
| Mmmmmm! |
 |
| Our new friend, Prakash. |
We love to go out with our friends! We find ourselves just pointing to something on the menu and being risk takers when it comes to our dietary needs. It's a hit and miss game, really. We've been gutsy each time and have tried things from green meat (I don't know if I want to know what this orginated from) to sweet fish jerky!
No comments:
Post a Comment