If it's Good for the Seoul: Third Time's a Charm

What it felt like.

What really happened.

....again.

I got my 1st ever "It's not you. It's us."

Let me just crawl under this rock and admit my failure.
I'm on homestay #3.

What it felt like.

What really happened.

Background info: For those of you who didn't know, I actually never had my own room at my second homestay house. Or my own bed. I had to share a bed with my older host sister.* Long story short, my youngest host sister decided to take the year off from college, so she moved home and the place got pretty crowded pretty fast. Especially when my host mom asked us all to just crash together.

(*For those future or potential Fulbright grantees who are reading this, know that your contract does guarantee you have a room and bed of your own at your homestay. There was an administrative oversight in my case, and so my 2nd host family was never given a homestay contract. After a month or two, I realized they were totally in the dark about the contract. So an additional word to the wise if you ever switch homestays: Make sure they get the contract first before any moving takes place. But in any situation, you will have to be a little flexible at times. Depending on your placement location, homestay families can be hard to find. I've been lucky in that my school has had several homestay family applicants. But that's not always the case. Remember that like with any relationship, it's all about compromise and understanding. But don't worry if you're the kind of person who needs your privacy - you'll never be asked to compromise your bed or your room. ^.^)

What it felt like.

What it was really like.

When my younger sister tried to counter this suggestion to sleep 3 in a bed, my host mom responded, "In the olden days, we used to fit five people in that bed."

Anyhow, that arrangement only lasted for a night.
Soon after, I was kindly asked to pack my things.

The best way to get over any kind of breakup?

Like Celine says, "Don't give up on faith. Love comes to those who believe it.

And THAT'S the way it is."

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Moving on, I went back and forth trying to decide whether I should give living with a third homestay family a try. Should I just get myself a studio apartment, I wondered. In the end, I took a leap of faith and I'm so happy I did. Getting to know my new host family has been one of those Where-have-you-been-all-my-life moments.

Without further adieu, I give you my new host family!

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Seongjun: My little brother (and 5th grade student)

1. Seongjun ON ROMANCE:

Seongjun: Teacher, do you think your brother is handsome?

Me: Well, sure.
Seongjun: 'Cause my sister doesn't think I am. I don't want a girlfriend now. But I'll get one soon.

2. Seongjun ON STUDYING:

"When I invent the time machine, I'll go back in history and keep people from discovering the idea of studying. Then we can play foreverrrrrr. Mwahahhaha"

3. Seongjun ON HIS MOM:

Me: I really like your mom. She's cool.

Seongjun: Yeah, I like her too. She's a cool mom. Sometimes scary, but cool.

4. Seongjun ON HIS FUTURE:

He's got an endless list. But one of my favorites was the following:
Seongjun: First I'll locate black holes in space. Then once I enter the other side, I'll collect all the information they have about the universe, and I'll bring it back to Earth. And I'll be a genius. And I can play forever.

5. Seongjun ON MOTION SICKNESS:
I only ever get it when I read English books in the car. Never Korean. I don't know why.

6. Seongjun GETTING IN THE CAR:

Seongjun: (Steps aside and holds the door open for me.) No, teacher. Ladies first. (In English...where on Earth did he learn that? Love it!)

7. ON INTRODUCING HIMSELF:

Seongjun: "Hi. My name is Seongjun. I am a genius. I am a God. I am 12 years old."

On my way to the post office, Seongjun offered to accompany me. And like a perfect gentleman, he insisted on carrying my box.

Eunbin!

Eunbin is 8 years old. In the U.S. I guess she'd be 7. She's a bundle of loveable and adorable.

Because she's a 1st grader, I don't get to teach her. Formal English instruction starts in 3rd grade. But that doesn't stop her from making appointments with me to visit my office hours after school. We discuss politics, the economy, and racial equality over cookies and a game of Guess Who.

She loves to crawl into my bed at night only to trick me into chatting and playing games with her. Who am I to resist that sweet smile?

"Teacher, 있잖아요. 그..."This is Eunbin's favorite phrase. It means "Teacher, you know, like..." She starts off every other sentence like this. It's a way of saying "Hey, listen to me. I don't quite know what I'm gonna say yet, but eyes on me."

Here are my homestay parents. Here's a quick and random summary: The dad's an accountant. The mom is an elementary school English teacher. I call her Rachel and him, he told me to call him "Seongjun's dad." I never learned his real name. But that is a thing in Korea. When addressing other people's parents. They love all the things I love: traveling, coffeeshops, cheese, cereal, family time, and games. They have a massage chair in the living room. Within the first week we had a wine night at home. Also random fact I learned last week when we went grocery shopping together: They have a VIP pass to the local, high-end department store/supermarket. That means we have access to the private VIP winery and coffeeshop. Unlimited free drinks! The coolest part is that both the winery and the coffeeshop are hidden to the naked eye. They look like just another part of the wall, but with the swift swipe of your VIP card, a secret door that reads "Employees only" opens. Every night Rachel makes a different kind of tea for us to share. Sometimes it's lemon honey. Sometimes burdock or plum. The kids like to read at night - Seongjun often opting for the English books. And because every family in Korea has a mini-library in the living room, I can read some children's books in Korean right alongside them. It's a linguist's paradise.

The weekend in 논산: 시월드와산낚지

We spent my first weekend with them in 논산 (NonSan). NonSan, y host dad's hometown, is a small village town down south. We visited his parents' house for his nephew's 100th day celebration. Apparently 100th birthdays aren't a big family event, but this was was special because if you remember from the last post, child order matters. The grandparents wanted to have a special celebration because their eldest son had a boy.

My host parents tell me there weren't any special 100th day celebrations for any other grandchildren's 100th day birthdays. For the older generation, having a son is a big deal, a thing to celebrate. Another example of how gender matters: the grandparents planted these beautiful, special trees in their front yard for the birth of their grandsons, but not for their granddaughters. My host mom laughs off these outdated, gender-centric, first-born centric traditions, but my host dad seems to be an advocate. Below is Seongjun with his tree.

Here's Eunbin and her cousins. I was surrounded by 8 little ones that weekend. They danced for me. We played games. I was on cloud nine. AND the grandparents just happen to be strawberry farmers, so the fruit was in no short supply. As it turns out, NonSan is now famous for its strawberry agriculture. Who were the first strawberry farmers in town? That's right!

So, I ate live octopus. I took a video of this, but it was so weird, I soon after deleted it. I'd heard about this, and had it on my "fake-back-burner-I'll-do-it-sometime" Korea Bucket list. But when I saw my host grandmother grab a live octopus with her bare hands, I knew it was on. Nevermind that it was suctioning on to her hands and squirming around, she slapped it onto the cutting board and hacked away. She dropped it onto a plate with some sesame oil and pepper paste sauce for dipping. And told me to eat a lot. This is a delicacy and it meant a lot for her to offer it to me. So, I braved the plate of chopped tentacles, which were still hopping around like Pop Rocks.

I put on my poker face and froze when I felt the quartered tentacle squirm around on its own in my mouth. Keeping it in my mouth was bad, but the thought of letting it slip down into my stomach was even worse. So I stayed in this uncomfortable limbo for a few seconds, which seemed like hours. Its taste? Not good. The texture? Not ideal. Final reaction? I'm glad I did it. The way I see it, I finally have a good answer for that "What's the weirdest thing you ever ate question?" icebreaker question.