Live, love and eat kimchi...: Check, Check, Check! And fun with ICEA...

Taekwondo- check!
Dress in traditional Korean clothing- check!
See the cherry blossoms- check!

I have gotten right to work on my Sixth Month Countdown To Do List, and last weekend I was able to knock off quite a few things on the list! Here's a recount of how it all went down...

One of the luckiest things that has happened to me in the last few months was being invited to a group called the International Cultural Exchange Association (ICEA). One day in February, I was feeling a little down and overwhelmed at school and on the way home I had to stop in an art supply store to pick up some things for my classroom. I had my headphones on and was going about my business as usual, when a Korean guy about my age tapped me on the shoulder. Usually when this happens its someone just wanting to say a friendly hello or practice their English a little. But this guy said in perfect English, "Hi, do you mind taking off your headphones?" I was suprised at his fluency and I took my headphones off and said hello. He introduced himself as CJ and told me that he was a university student and the president of an organization called the ICEA. He began explaining how it is a group for foreigners and Koreans to meet and exchange culture and practice our languages. When he asked me to join, I was so happy because I had been looking for something like this the entire time I'd been in Korea and believe it or not it wasn't easy to find. Suddenly, due to complete chance, the opportunity fell in my lap!

So far we've had three meetings and they've been so much fun. Each foreigner is matched with a Korean buddy and my buddy is a guy named Edwin (Korean name is Gi Hyun). He is 25 and in his senior year in university, due to the fact that Korean men have to serve two years in the army. Anyway, he's really cool and has great English because he lived in Toronto for a few months. I also got Alexis and my friend Scott to join and they have cool buddies as well. In fact, Scott's female buddy thanked me several times for "bringing the most handsome foreigner in the ICEA."

Not only is the group great for meeting people, but it has also allowed me to fulfill many of the goals on my Six Month Countdown To Do list. The first activity was to go to Beomosa temple for a hike and picnic. Our buddies made delicious Korean food and we saw the cherry blossoms as we made our way through the temple and up the mountain. Then, this past weekend we had a jam packed Saturday, with a Traditional Korean dress fashion show in the morning followed by Taekwondo in the afternoon. It was so much fun! Trying on the traditional dress (called Hanbok) was amazing. Even for Koreans, it is rare to dress up in Hanbok (mostly at weddings and maybe Korean Thanksgiving) so it was special for them too. After having a hilarious fashion show, we ate lunch and then went to a Taekwondo studio down the street. We were there for about 2 hours and got to see a demonstration by two level-5 black belts and learned different moves and formations of Taekwondo. It was such a great day, definitely one of my favorites yet in Korea.

Spring is in full swing now and I am continuing to make plans to accomplish all of my goals in Korea. Next weekend, a fellow Cornellian will be visiting me from Seoul and he is signed up to go shark diving at the aquarium. Yes, he is willingly going to jump in a tank of man eating sharks, and hopefully I'll be there to witness the insanity (and take pictures, of course)! There are a few more festivals in April that I want to go to and before I know it, Mom and Dad will be here! Only three and a half more weeks! Can't wait!