Martina In America

Here is the link to a website our friends put together for their exchange student. I thought you might be interested. http://www.martinainamerica.com/index.html

Betcha didn't know...Part 2

In Korea, when you address the older brother or sister in your family, you do not call them by name. If you are a girl you call your older brother "oppa" and your older sister "on-ny." If you are a boy you call your older brother "hyung" and your older sister "nuna." The older siblings call the younger siblings by their first name.

When a student addresses a teacher, they never call them by their name. Instead of calling them "Mr. Smith" the just say "Mr." or teacher. If you address a teacher by their name you are being disrespectful.

Stay tuned for more Korean Culture 101.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Sojung has been getting a crash course on March Madness. Tonight Marcus' Jayhawks played Davidson and in a nail biting ending, KU won. Marcus isn't typically glued to the TV for a game unless it is during the mad, mad month of March. She will get her next dose of March Madness Saturday when KU plays UNC. Rock Chalk!

Cherry Blossom Festival

Saturday we went into Washington DC to see the cherry blossoms. They were in full bloom and beautiful! It was very crowded!

The Jefferson Monument behind the cherry blossoms.

Sojung and her friend Seal Ran.

I know this picture is dark, but if you click on it you can see it better. This was taken in the Rosslyn metro station.

Betcha didn't know...

When taking a picture in America we ask people to say "cheese." Ever wonder what word other languages use? Well, in Korea they say "kimchi." There...now you learned something both interesting and useless today.

Traditional Korean Funeral

Odd post, I know. However earlier last week Sojung's grandfather passed away. Tonight during dinner she started to share a little bit about Korean funeral customs as well as how things were done in the past. Here are a few links you may find interesting.

http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/cel/funeral_rites.htm

http://bosp.kcc.hawaii.edu/Horizons/Horizons2002/Traditional_Korean.html

Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter by going to church this morning. We came home for lunch and had an Easter Egg hung for Sojung, minus the eggs. Korea doesn't celebrate Easter with the Easter bunny so we wanted her to have a true American Easter experience. I found a few cute things I thought she would like, school supplies, lip gloss and these really cute slippers. I wrapped them up and hid them throughout the house and made her go looking for her gifts. She loved it! Later this evening we met friends for dinner at our favorite Japanese Korean restaurant. The dessert was delicious! We hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break in Texas

Here are a few pictures from our time in Texas. We stayed with my sister, Rebecca, who was our tour guide, driver and shopping expert for the week. Marilyn Monroe? Rebecca and Sojung in San Antonio

Sojung

Deb and Sojung at the Natural Bridge Caverns.

NASA

Sojung and Deb on the boardwalk in Kemah.

Sojung's photography

I have no idea how long she waited for this...or why...

I wanted to share some of the pictures Sojung has taken. That goodness we have a digital camera or we would be broke! She loves to take pictures. Enjoy!

We have a Wii!

Sojung is a pro!

Marcus and his concentration face.

This is Marcy helping me type the blog.

Marcus has been trying to purchase a Wii for several months now with no luck. But today was his lucky day.

Happy!

Doesn't she look happy?

Things that are diffcult to explain to Sojung

• Daylight Savings time. Enough said.
• Why so much of our food is smothered in cheese.
• Our foster care adoption process. Sometimes I don't even understand the process.
• Our election process.
• Why we drive 20 minutes to church when there is a church less than a mile from our house. I don't think she will ever understand our answer for that one.
• Why restaurants serve such large portions.

These are just a few. I am sure the list will grow as time goes by.

Gifts from Korea

You can imagine our surprise when a big box from Korea arrived at our door. Inside we found a hanbok for Marcus and me! We love them! They are so beautiful and feel honored that Sojung's parents would send us such a special gift.

A little bit of "inside" information about the hanbok. When Sojung was helping me put it on she said there is a right and wrong way to wear a hanbok. The long pink skirt is actually not just a skirt. It covers the entire body. You put it on like you would a hospital gown. And yes, it is open in the back, but I will get to that in a minute. When you tie the small sash you have to be careful to cross the left side over the right side, not the right side over the left. Apparently right over left means you are for hire, if you know what I mean. As far as the "opening" in the back of the skirt, you are wearing several layers so you shouldn't have any accidental exposure. You have a pair long bloomers and a full skirt (like the slips you wore under your prom dress in the 80's without the hoop). Sojung said while you walk you have to hold the back of the skirt with your right hand to keep things covered back there.

Marcus' pants are very similar to MC Hammer pants. He said they are quite comfortable. The yellow top is separate from the pink and purple part.

Sojung said the men's hanbok is made for comfort and the women's hanbok is made for show. Wonder who designed this...A man?

Oodles of Noodles

This is what my pantry looks like. We've got noodles. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have spicy noodles, spicier noodles and my mouth is on fire and it feels like I have gargled with gasoline noodles. Trust me on the last one. I speak from experience. They are good, they just have more heat than your average cup of noodles you are familiar with. They are a staple in Sojung's diet. They are more like comfort food. She likes to come home from school and cooks up a package of noodles. It seems to melt the stress away.

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Sojung and I are preparing for our spring break trip to Houston, TX. My sister lives there and she has a very fun week planned for us. We will visit NASA , which Sojung is very excited about. I am sure we will sneak in some shopping and eat lots of Mexican food. We are going to try to visit San Antonio and see the River Walk. If you know of anything we should see while we are there, please leave a comment!

If you have a question for Sojung about her country or her experience here, please feel free to post it in the comment section.

My Korean Exchange Student Is Smarter Than Your Korean Exchange Student!

We received Sojung's midterm grades and she has A's and B's in all subjects! We are very proud of her. Can you imagine having to translate everything you read? Her English has improved by leaps and bounds since arriving in the States. She said she is dreaming in both English and Korean.

She has been here just over one month. The time has really flown by. Thank you to all of our friends that have made Sojung feel welcome.

Udon

Sojung made udon for dinner tonight. It was delicious!