Okay, so I'm 3 days behind

It is 10:15 p.m. February 26th. I've been in Korea since the 24th and yet this is the first time I have time to myself. And so I'm going to recap everything (yes, EVERYTHING) that has happened since setting foot in my birth city.

February 24th

Was on the plane for a little over 13 hours. Although the stiff chairs and the man beside me who decided to invade my space made sleeping highly difficult, the time went by really fast; and it was all thanks to the absence of my phone and watch.... until I landed in Seoul at 5:30 p.m. I didn't end up leaving until 7:00.

Why you say? Let me give you the play by play:

5:30- I'm walking out the doors to greet my aunt and uncle all happy and smush.
5:34- I realize I can't find them.
5:35- I also realize I don't have a phone, korean money, my family's phone numbers AND I don't know their names. (*Note* I only call them by 'big uncle' 'small uncle' etc.)
5:45- I get mad at myself and sit down and sulk all by my lonesome. 6:30- I finally get over it, exchange some money into Korean Wons. Buy a phone card. Call my mom and whine to her. 6:40- She tells me my aunt and uncle went to the wrong terminal and to go look for them.

6:50- .... I find them with a sign with my Korean name 라니 and then their spelling of my American name "Rani" (Actually spelling -> Lonny)

6:55- We make out way out to dinner to meet the rest of my family. I do have to say the best part of the day was meeting the rest of my family, my grandma, in particular. She was just like any other grandma who hasn't seen her grandkid in a while. She hugged the hell out of me and kept on pinching my cheeks (keep in mind that I'm 20 years old and still getting this treatment). And then when everyone started talking about me going to Yonsei (Yun-seh) University, she started saying that she wished she could have learned English so she could teach me Korean. (Awwwwww, that's so sweet because I didn't think she cared that much.) But the most thrilling part of the day was when were eating. my grandma farted twice. Not once, but twice; and everyong acted as if nothing happened (which made it even more funny). Hilarious if I do say so myself.

February 25th

Today I woke up at exactly 7:00 a.m.. not cool at all. What does one do at 7 in the morning? Well I ate 2 Red Vines and then played with my aunt's dog until it was time to get dressed. My grandma then proceeded to give me 100,000 Won; my aunt followed with 50,000 Won, and then my uncle topped it off with some shoes- flats to be exact. I got to Yonsei International House , or I-House, at around 5:20, barely unpacked my stuff in my room and then was on my way out with the rest of the new students to an ice-breaker. That Ice breaker proved to be very informative experience, for I learned that in Korea I am 22 years old (I'm 20) because 1) you are automatically one when you are born and 2) because my birthday hasn't yet occurred during the new year I add on another year. It sounds confusing, but it's kind of hard to explain. I also learned that drinking is the number one past time in Korea. Seriously. I read somewhere that the legal drinking age was 19, but I'm thinking it's more like 18 or whenever you graduate from high school. who cares: as long as i'm legal that's all that matters right? Funny thing is, I'm not a drinker (boo). But I did try flavored soju, which basically tasted like juice. It was delish all the same. After drinking our arses off, we ended the night with karaoke. Definite highlight of the night was "Gay Bar". That should be the official karaoke song. awesomeness, which is why I recorded it for you guys. I know, I'm awesome.

February 26th

Take a looksy at what I woke up to today (at 7 o'clock again-ughhhh). 눈!! Or for you Americans Snow!!

Given that it was around 27 degrees, it was sooo worth it. I haven't seen actual snow in about a couple of years. After all, I do live in central Texas.

Internet is still not working (fyi- since I had no internet, I was hand writing this all down). gay. So now I'm downstairs in the computer lounge checking my email and stuff. Today is a busy day. 10:00 is the general orientation and 12:45 til the end of the day is the CIEE (my study abroad program) orientation. Before our first orientation a bunch of us went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast; silly me forgot that Korean food is served morning, noon, and night. So I ended up getting kimbop and soy milk. Sounds delicious right?

At first the other CIEE people and I were a little peeved our director, Suzanne, scheduled our orientation to coincide with the other school club things, but it ended up being fun. We went downtown to check out a new apartment place for us to live in. It's called Casaville and it's fantastic! Atleast compared to where I'm staying now. They're doing construction on our dorm and are about start bringing in the big machines (i.e. bulldozer). Because of all the dust and noise that's gonna happen our director found us an on campus place to live in. Be jealous.

Afterwards we just walked around the downtown area, and I have to say that it looks fantastic. I can't wait to try out my elemetary Korean on the street vendors. Here's A pic. Next time I'll start taking more pics so this blog isn't so blahhhh. anyhoo, so after 10 plus hours of not eating (no time to eat lunch) we finally went to this restaurant to eat a bunch of Korean food- we had soft tofu soup(<--- T.lee, doesn't that sound nasty?), bulgogi, and a bunch of sides dishes. Well we didn't finish it but it was delish nonetheless.

P.S. Korea has superb spelling, don't you think?