Hey there. The internet is pretty spotty at my uncle’s so here I am at 10:13am on May 28th, Korea time, typing this in notepad. I got here 2 days ago and it’s been neat so far. I think my body *just* got used to the time difference and the different virii and such in the water and food (the first couple of days, I couldn’t eat or drink much cuz my bod’s so used to NY’s germs… at least I think that’s why).

The first day I was here I went merchandise shopping with my dad after a few hours of naptime. (Btw I hate how flights to Korea are scheduled… You land around 4am at Incheon which is an hour away from Seoul. So you’re forced to wait, fatigued, till 6am for a bus to take you to wherever… C’mon, you know people land at 4am!! Make it earlier! Or make the flight later! Sheesh.)

Anyway. I must say, I do like the subway system here. It’s so efficient and clean.

(Cont on June 1st… yeah I got sidetracked) My uncle is a jovial, cheerful man with 3 kids. For the summer I’m supposed to talk to them only in English but the youngest (age 8) doesn’t know what I’m saying most of the time. I find the Koreans’ will and efforts to learn English and to do well in school fascinating. Most Korean kids will go to school, then go to hak-won (after school academy to learn even more), then come home and do their homework… Oftentimes they will literally be studying from early in the morning to late at night.

I said to my dad, thank GOD I didn’t grow up in Korea to be subjected to this. My uncle agrees — he said children should have playtime and not be studying all the time. But his kids come in last place on placement exams and grades in school so what choice does he have but to make them do the same thing. This is the first year he’s been pushing them really hard.

My oldest cousin who’s 15 has been sent to a Catholic school in Illinois for the purpose of learning English and to hopefully get admitted to a good college in the US. She’s home for the summer but has been in IL for 6 months previously and her English has improved a lot, but the hak-won director said her test scores were abysmal. (Really? It’s that bad, compared to kids that haven’t lived in the US? Wow.) I’m supposed to tutor her for 2 hours a day from Monday-Friday after working at my uncle’s.Looks like my summer will be plenty busy…