The Countdown Begins

So this is it. Exactly 10 days before I leave for my future. :)

As I am writing this I am really thinking about who I am, where I am going, what I want to do with my life. I am to the point where I just want to go already! I am getting so impatient- the day feels like it will never come.

Work:
These past three weeks I have been working like crazy putting in 30-some odd hours a week. But I suppose hard work pays off. My check that I will be receiving Friday will be HUGE. Probably around 500-600 dollars. :) yippy!

Panda Express also opened a new store in Iowa on Wednesday and dozens of Panda peeps from the USA have flown in to help open the store. They call this Panda Support. I call it making the employees' ridiculously nervous. :) I have been working at Panda almost a complete year now- I have the most seniority at my location and yet I am the youngest worker- the baby of the group.

I absolutely love my coworkers. These people are some of the nicest and funniest people I have ever met in my entire life.

These are the original Panda Women at Store 1802.

(from left to right) Susie (Sujan), Lusia (my boss!), Me attacking Julie, and Jenny.

As you can tell, we're all really close. I am going to miss them when I leave for Korea. But they all have been encouraging me and helping me with my Korean along the way (Kpop fans in the house!).

School:

So I received my report card last week. All A's (even AP classes) AND a got an A in Chemistry! :) I worked so hard in that class and struggled time and time again throughout the year, starting off with a 4- and ending up with an A. Good things do happen to those who work for them. I do have to thank my chemistry teacher, however. He taught me a whole new way of thinking as weird as that sounds. I mean, you can learn something and memorize terms for the test, then forget about them. With chemistry you actually have to apply what you know into test problems.

Also, the ACT was this morning. I took the regular test as well as the writing portion. XP I suprisingly think I did better this time, but I guess we will have to wait and see. This actually brings me to my next topic- My host family.

Host Family

I love them. I honestly do. My Appa and I email on a regular basis and my oldest host brother (Tony/Donghee) talk on the phone/Skype a couple times a week. Which actually lead to the problem I had this morning. Oppa (Tony) called me last night around midnight. I almost didn't pick up the phone- I knew he was visiting family in Maryland and I didn't think I would be hearing from him and to my suprise it WAS him! Anyway, we ended up talking on the phone for FOUR hours. We didn't hang up until 4 am (5 am his time). I had to get up at 7am to get ready for the ACT. It probably was not my brightest move but whatever. It was totally worth it. We talked about everything under the sun and back. He is currently staying in Michigan as a host student and returns home exactly one week after I arrive. So I only get 6 weeks with him but oh well. You make the most with what you got! More on specifics on Korea later.

World Cup

I wish I could watch it. I work so much that I miss the games. But I will find a way to watch the match between Greece and Korea again. KOREA WON! Victory, Victory, Victory, KO-Re-A! :D (It's a song...) Anyway, I wish them the best of luck to their next match! :) If there is one thing that Koreans do have, it is National Pride. They breathe soccer the way Americans worship football. :)

I will be back at least two more times before I leave! :) And I PROMISE picture spams will be coming! :)

Saranghae

Flight Departure Information

Last week my official flight information came into the mail! :)

So here it is:

Tuesday, June 22nd:

-Depart Omaha: 4:45 pm
-Arrive Denver for immediate plane change [no time given]

-Depart Denver
-Arrive San Francisco: 8:27 pm

Total time: 5 hr. 43 min.

Stay Tuesday night at a hotel with a YFU rep due toflight scheduling conflicts

Wednesday, June 23rd:

-Depart San Francisco: 11:08 am

Thursday, June 24th:

-Arrive Seoul at Incheon International Airport: 3:05 pm

Total time: 11 hr 57 min.

There ya go! :)
Oh! And I have a little under 14 days left before I leave!!!

YFU Pre-Departure Orientation

Anneyeong!

So today was the Lincoln/Omaha area pre-departure orientation meeting in Lincoln Nebraska at Lincoln's area reps' house, Jeff.
There was, not suprisingly, only seven, yes SEVEN outbound (USA students LEAVING the country) students at this session: three Germany year students, two Japan summer students, one France year student and me, that Korean girl.

I thought it was going to be very awkward and uncomfortable but I was pleasantly suprised. Almost immediately upon arriving at Jeff's house, I was wrapped in the conversation about countries and cultures that I didn't know it was already time to start!

We started off with the usual get-to-know-each-other warmup activity that brought on a bunch of awkward glacnces and giggles.

Then we got down to business.

One of the rep's told this amazing story about sunglasses and culture. Basically she talked about how you leave your home country wearing yellow sunglasses and arrive in a country wearing blue sunglasses and what happened was, when the girl came back, she told her friends she saw in green. The problem was, however, that she carried some of her own beliefs and cultural bias so she couldn't fully experience the other culture. The moral of the story was that you must first remove your own yellow sunglasses before wearing the foreign, blue sunglasses to fully experience the culture.

After that intense session, we took a ten minute break where Lida, Summer Japan, won a YFU hat. Then we had lunch- Eating Subway! Oh! I have found a new love: Italian Dressing and Cheese Croutons! :D

Then we talked about what to expect, culture shock, as well as "facing the critics" in your host country about America. My partner, Samuel and I totally kicked butt with our reasoning! :D I found this stuff enlightening but I already had a general idea as to what to expect.

I honestly do not feel, at least at this point, that I will receive much culture shock primarily because I already know so much about the culture. I have researched it and I know the social norms. I have yet to live it, however. But I am not going into South Korea cold turkey- I specifically chose this country for a reason. And I also keep in regular contact with my host brothers- Tony called me yesterday and we had a very fun conversation for over an hour!

Then we had another raffle after "facing those darned critics" and I won! I received a nifty little YFU computer bag- it was black and blue! :D

Overall, spending those six hours, yes six! With those seven students- no, friends, has made me even more excited for my trip. I learned a lot with spending the day from them. It is not just me who is confused and maybe a little intimidated, and we all learned something new today.

And as we each part for our own different journey we are each connected in a way that we weren't before- We share a bond- We are each about to embark on a journey of a lifetime.

Nicole, Cassey, Erin, Lida, Charla, & Samuel

Saranghae,
Me.

Host Family Information

"...And then you realize just how small the world really is."

So in case you don't know me, I'm a very impatient person. Waiting one month to find out who my family is, is extraordinarily painful; I can't do it.
My mother shares my pain.
We got an offer with YFU for a year subscription of Rosetta Stone: Korea for only $75!! That is an EXTREMELY low price, considering each language is 400-500 dollars each. So my mom placed a phonecall to the head office asking about specifics and just randomly asked about my host family, not really expecting a response. To my mother's utter shock, I DID have a family! And the lady was putting in my information but was very reluntant to tell my mother, mainly becuase I think she wanted it to be a suprise. The only thing we got out of her was my host father's name, his email address, the province, and how many siblings I have.
Turns out I will be living in the Gyeonggi-do province and I would have 3 siblings: 1 girl (12) and 2 boys (17 and 18)!
Well, ya'll know me, the first thing I did was try to find everything I can about them! I had absolutely no luck until I went to Facebook and unthinkingly looked up my host father. Turns out he has a Facebook! And he had 3 children: 1 girl, 2 boys- 1 of which was currently on exchange!
A couple days earlier I asked a question on YFU-Korea about what to expect, and befriended a guy who had spent a year in South Korea and really explained a lot to me. Turns out, this guy KNOWS my host brother before I even knew it was my host brother!! So I added my host brother thinking he probably didn't know who I was and he didn't. Until my friend who stayed in South Korea talked to him and explained that I was 90% sure that he was my host brother..... Guess who was right!?!?!? :D
I am now more excited than ever to go to South Korea to see everything- Tony (my oppa [meaning older brother]) promised to take me to Seoul! Seoul is about 40 minutes away from my host city- Paju!

Saranghaeyo!
Heather