Week I: Lost in Translation

My first week in Seoul has been eventful and interesting. I am training regularly in the morning and evening and going to language class in the afternoon. The language is very hard to learn and use because there are different words and endings depending on the levels of respect you need to show the person. However, I think I will be semi proficient in communicating essential things by the end of my travels. I hiked to the top of Namsan Mountain on Friday and could see the whole city. It is so huge, highrises and buildings as far as the eye can see, more then 10 million people all surrounded by majestic tree covered rocky mountains. It takes about 2 and a half hours to get from one side of the city to the other by subway. Luckily everything I need to go to is realatively close, less than 40 min. It has been frustrating to not be able to communicate or understand people. Even those who speak english do not understand me unless I talk slowly and half the time I don't know what they are talking about. The Sa Bom who teaches the evening class is the hardest to understand and speaks very little english, it is always a guessing game trying to figure out what he wants me to do or change. I have learned how to say "don't do that" "stop it" and "be quiet!" in Korean which has made the kids class a little better. It has been fun training with the other foreigners (that is what they call us over here like we are aliens) and helping them with their material. On Friday night I went out to the bars/clubs with some American friends in this district with a lot of Universities, it was crazy, so many people and over 150 bars. There was a live band playing raegge/funk in the park. "No woman no cry" in Korean it was awesome. Always thinking of everyone who has touched my life back home and I miss you all.