A post from our 3rd day in Korea that I forgot about...

There is so much to say!

I have stories floating around in my head from our last days in CO
...oil paints on huge 4'x5' canvases
...crippled dogs mysteriously appearing in our bedroom
...Valentine's Day
...body-skiing down snowy mountainsides
...the 3 fabulous days we spent in San Francisco
...walking our legs off as we soaked up the sun and took in the sights
...Getting Adam's visa (hooray!) but not mine (dagnabbit!)
...our 12-hour plane flight to Korea
...waiting in the airport
...the 3 hour bus ride to Jeunju
...spending time with Adam's good friends, the Lees
...learning that nothing was going to be what we expected at our school
...trying to read the Korean alphabet
...being treated to Korean food in restaurants every day and wrestling with my chopsticks (actually, I'm getting good pretty quickly!)
...rice and kimchi for breakfast, and missing cereal something fierce
...our temporary room with the single-size bed and executive office furniture
...and oh-so much more!

I want to write all about it, but frankly I haven't the energy. 9pm is close at hand, which is when Adam and I shut down for 8 hours straight - this is some serious jetlag! It's getting better: the first two nights I popped awake at 2am, my body telling me it was time to wake up in the USA. :)

Overall, I am happy and excited and nervous. And missing real breakfasts almost as much as I miss my family and friends.

Mr. Volle has returned to Korea!

Being in Korea with Adam is like walking around with a celebrity. The Koreans are unfailingly amazed and impressed with him: he speaks polite phrases in Korean (they smile, laugh and clap him on the back), he loves Korean food (they think he's being polite, but are pleased that he is polite), his favorite dish here is kimchi, the strong-smelling, fermented cabbage flavored with red, mouth-burning spices (their jaws drop, and their eyes pop as wide as Asian-ly possible), and he was in Korea for a whole year once before, and decided to return. It's usually at this point that they say, "Ha ha, ADAM - you ARE Korean!"

He even liked the jimjilbang (Korean sauna), and gamely submitted to scrubbing the back of one of his former bosses after going from hot tub to hot tub.

The teasing he received about this event has been rather merciless. :)

My affection for the Korean saunas runs much deeper than my husband's. I go every weekend. (This isn't really saying much, since I've only had one weekend so far to practice this habit). Here's why I love it:

• It's the only bathtub I have here
• and I love bathtubs because you can be totally completely WARM, and in wintertime, I find this luxury practically necessary
• nudity can be healthy! once I got past the initial awkwardness/embarrassment of being in a room full of Korean ladies with no clothes on (the men and women have separate sides), I began to reflect on why this was a good thing: mothers and daughters go to the sauna together, beginning at infant-hood, and so Korean girls grow up having a truthful concept of what the female body actually looks like. They know that all bodies are different, and that no one actually looks like the airbrushed models or actresses they see in the media. And the same goes for the boys accompanying their fathers, too.
  
• it's cheap - you can stay as long as you like for about $5-8. Massages, meals, snacks and other extras will cost a little more, but even going without all that, I can spend a good 2 hours lounging around in saunas and hot tubs and be very very happy.
• they provide you with little shirts and shorts to wear in the common area (men and women). Both Adam and I agree that the shorts (capri-length) in particular are pretty comfy.
• You could spend all day there and have e v e r ything you need. Yes, please!