End of the Week

I have officially finished my first week of Korean language classes. Apparently I can now read Hangul (the Korean Alphabet) very slowly, so this weekend I will have to work on my speed while learning greetings and occupations. Class is interesting and thankfully the teachers are extremely patient and Jenny and I are struggling through together which makes it all more bearable. I feel a little incompetent though because we have students in our class from China, Turkey, India, and Bangladesh and the class is taught in a mix of Korean and English and I can't imagine trying to take Korean lessons in Spanish.

To celebrate our first week of language classes being behind us, Jenny, Becky and I went downtown to explore one of the sites in our Daejeon guide book. Daejeon has solved their lack of space by creating a mall under ground. For blocks above the subway but under the street there is shop after shop. One of the more interesting aspects of the underground mall was the sheer mass of shoe, socks, and umbrella shops. We walked up and down looking at all the stores none much bigger than my room and felt as though life here really wasn't much different from the States. On our way back to the train station we found a more traditional market with vendors selling fresh baked goods, spices, fish, fruits and a few clothes stores thrown in for good measure. It is really interesting to see how Daejeon has mixed Western culture and traditional Korean culture.

Early this week we visited all the cites we will be working at this year. There are many opportunities for us so it will be a matter of balancing our schedules. Right now we are focusing on learning the culture and the language. I know we are all anxious to start working, but it is good to take sometime to gain the right perspectives before getting to work.

Tomorrow we are going to Jeonju to visit some of the original Presbyterian missionary cites. I promise pictures soon!!