I will get to class before 8 59 tomorrow...

hi!

so Emily and I were waiting for Tina when I wrote that last blog post. An hour and a half later we were about to walk out the salon door and I hadn't seen the two ladies who did my hair and I wanted to say goodbye. But lo and behold I turned around and there they were! One of them handed me this cute little plastic bag that had 3 mini tootsie pops inside and a piece of paper that said letter on it in English! It was so sweet. They even went down in the elevator with us to say goodbye. Once we were outside I opened up the bag and the note said:
See you next time~^^*
I enjoyed meeting~
-junohair Ewha Womans 3 shop
Hwang guy yeon_

it was in english! have no idea where that came from but it was so nice. theyre good people.

But man even in a hand written note Koreans use emoticons. My roommate said that when youre texting with a Korean they might be offended when your message isnt littered with them. Little did I know that emoticons were a whole other language I had (/still have to) learn. I sometimes have to show my roommate texts and say, "is a happy face or a sad face?" On the plus side my phone has soooo many fun symbols that i can text hearts to everyone (and do so regularly).

so the four hour, 9 am Korean class has started! and believe it or not i really like it! i havent been spending my time staring at the clock, were learning a ton, and I have a really cool group of people. I am actually the only American in my class, which was a big surprise to me. On the first day a guy from Sweden (the only other white person), turns to the guy next to him and says where in america are you from? (the guy is Korean but speaks english and is in a level 1 korean class so safe assumption not korean nationality). The guy just turns to him and says Im from Canada. I could not contain my laughter. Me and him are the only native english speakers so we clown around a little and make fun of each others countries, all in good fun (its canada, how can you not?). My class has plans to go out friday night already. Were going to have a great semester together.

although it is only the beginning of the korean class semester for me, im about to get hit with midterms in my other classes! I am going to have a very busy two weeks. I not only have to do a significant portion of reading (which seems to have fallen through the cracks a little bit), but have to practice for my practical examinations in my sport classes as well. There is one girl in my bodybuilding class who is a tiny thing. She can barely lift 2 kilograms over her head 10 times. I think a pushup would break her. Today me and two other guys (the rest of our lifting group) were helping her do squats, where I had her hips, Sam had her back and the Wonseok had her knees, and it was still a struggle! but you wont believe it...this girl is a black belt in my taekwondo class! I've seen her do crazy kicks and fight her way across the gym. what a discrepancy! She will definitely fail the midterm (since we have minimum weight to lift) but she is pretty awesome.

I am a little sad because all of the HuboLab boys are super busy with, you guessed it, HuboLab. It is nearly impossible to find time since they work so hard. However Jungwoo said that homecoming day (for Hubo alum) is May 14 so I think that is when I will be able to see everyone. He also said that there will be more time for hanging out in May so I have something to look forward to : )

Speaking of things to look forward to, our trip has been confirmed! We are going to Taiwan! I think we are going to have a ton of fun. Also it will be a lot cheaper than Japan (not that we have to pay extra for the trip but just for being there). I am really excited because a good friend I made in Jordan is from Taiwan! His mom owns a company and a cafe there and he has friends that he said he would hook me up with. I feel so cool being able to go around the world and have connections like that. Its going to be a great trip with all of the CIEE crew. Though were still an American mob, 17 is nothing compared to the 135 we used to travel around with in Jordan.

A big difference I have noticed from Jordan and Korea is the definition of foreigner. In Korea there are soooo many foreigners from all over the world. Everything but Arab representation believe it or not. Asking someone who doesn't look Korean (it is a pretty distinct look) where they are from is completely a legit question. In Jordan foreigner typically means American. There were a lot of travelers but not really long term foreigners, like us, that I saw on a regular basis. And just walking around town there were obviously tourists but I don't really mean that. When someone saw me, it was a pretty safe bet that I was American. Makes for a much different environment, more people and countries to learn about.

Anyway gotta go to sleep so i can get up in time for class. Even though I live in the same building as class I am always the last one there. And then i have to sit in the chair underneath the tv at a terrible angle of the black board and its just bad news. working on it though.
see ya!