Week 63: Special Guest Interview!!

First Impressions on Korea INTERVIEW

Interviewee: Shani Plunkett, Phoebe*s younger sister

Interviewer: Phoebe Keever, Shani’s big sister

• Shani, what was your first impression upon arrival to Korea?

when i went to church this week i went to a Korean one and i couldn’t understand  a word. a lady who sat next to me asked me i could understand, if i was catholic, and if the had lots of catholics and church is USA. i told her no the 1st and yes to the last 2. she was surprised. did you know that 35% of Korean population is christian?? they have the coolest thing 2. every church has a steeple. and the cross on the steeple glows neon red at night. so if you were in a tall building at night and looked out you could see all these red crosses.. it is soo cool!

the weather.. uh it reminds me of Portland rainy a lot and somedays not. no i didn’t sing the pray but we do say a pray at EVERY meal.. the mud festival was sooo cool.. we woke up at 7 that morning got ready and went to the max to meet David then we took the max to the bus terminal and rode the bus to a city where his mom lived. his mom picked us up from the terminal and drove us to her house. then we went from there to the festival. there were soo many Americans there is was crazy. yeah i got muddy.. i got a free bar of mud soap to.. we did mud wrestling which was really fun… everybody was tackling everybody… then we swam in the  ocean and took a shower from the fallen coins we found in the girls locker room.. the we went to go eat something before the fireworks started. we ate bi bim bop which is rich with lots of vegetables and fish. i was really good.. the fireworks were amazing!!!

• You are now in the Eastern world. What are the similarities and differences between the Eastern and Western worlds?

Um… skinny  jeans… cell phones.. not a lot.. the question is right… they are 2 different worlds!!

• How about the food?

very very spicy!! but if you can get past the spice to food is very good.

• What has been your experience in Korea thus far?

i have been sick with an ear infection…  wet from the constant rain… stared at from my afro!! but fun things to… went to the mud festival!! the people are nice here!

• July 16th you had your 13th Bday in Seoul, Korea. What happened?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4028&id=1830387645&l=072283728b

ABOVE: PICS FROM MY BDAY!!!

my birthday was so much fun. i went to school with phoebe and one of her adult students bought me a cheesecake which is expensive. then i went to Kinderest with her and this little girl named Casey told me she loved me.. when it was time to go she didn’t want me to then started to come with us.. it was so cute!! then we exchanged 2 travelers checks. the we to toke the subway to children’s grand park.. we walk around for 4 hours!! we saw lots of animals.. the monkeys were really cool.. they had there hands sticking out from the cage and clapped there hands for food.. then someone there them something and they caught it!! then we threw them some sunflower sed and they caught those also!! after the children’s grand park we came home and i took a shower after a 30 min. of rubbing my sore feet.. then david came over and we had baked potatoes and chili for dinner and ice cream cake that david bought for dessert. then we watched a movie called Accepted.

• What will you take away with you from this experience?

maybe some Korean! =D

• The above answer is a complete understatement. You didn’t mention you read the Korean book for one hour and afterwards could read Korean completely. You are so clever! Good jobs, Shanz. It took me (shamefully) 8 months to fully read Korean. How about the neighborhood? and the house?

phoebes house is super super super small. she was mad a me once and we were in the kitchen. after i was done doing what i was doing i said i was going to the room and then we bust out laughing cause it was only 3 steps away. today somebody killed a cat then put in front of the apartment door outside. it was soo sad and gross. um… there are some crazy people!!

• You’ve only been here 2 weeks, but how have you changed thus far?

i lost some weight!! yea!! my first night of tae-kwon-do was a lot of fun. the teacher said i was really good. phoebe said i would be sore in the morning but i’m not.. i think she is a little jealous because she was sore after her first couple of days. i will probably be sore tomorrow though.

• boys, boys, boys. Girls gotta love the boys. What do you think of the Korean boys?

some are kinda cute!

• What has been your favorite memory thus far? What is there still left to do?

my fav memory is my bday… we still have to go to some more amusement parks!!

OK…then hop to it, girl. Hope your time is filled with the best memories ever and you have an experience of a lifetime.

peace out ppl!! i’m out! =D

Week 62: Mud Festival

Before: so excited for the annual Boryeong Mud Festival (MF). Last year in Korea the MF was the highlight of my 2008 year in Korea….it was so much fun but I didn’t have a camera and my friend broke his phone is the ocean…so no evidence. This year my younger sister came from USA to spend her summer vacation in Korea with me and we checked out the MF for the first time.

During: as always, so much fun.

Mud Wrestling–>

to mud flix–>

to just being muddy!–>

The MudFestival was an awesome muddy mess.

There were also many star sightings from performances with famous Korean people ( “she’s a so so so so so famous. Every Korean knows her”) like the famous Misuda women.–>

After:  First the rain helped. Secondly, we rinsed off in the ocean. Lastly, we found 500 won coins on the ground which in turn paid for our outdoor, spine chilling, beach showers. we all 3 were fighting for a spot in the outdoor shower, trying to pour shampoo into our hands and rub conditioner onto our heads, and scrub a dub rub all the mud off our bodies as fast as possible before our 500 won timed shower turned off. There were plenty of onlookers–not sure if they were giving up props for braving the cold water in the cold weather in the rain in public, laughing at how silly we looked making a spectacle of ourselves, were slightly jealous they weren’t as adventures, or even a little perverted–but whatever, we were shiny and clean afterwards…and we did it for FREE with 3 500 won coins we scouted on the ground. We went into town and Shani had her first Bi Bim Bop and loved it. (minus the rain) couldn’t have been better.

Week 61: I’m Germinating! =D

May 6th, 2009 started ITF Taekwon-do in Seoul, South Korea.  2 months (and -4 kilos) later, Sabumnim (Korean: master) called me up front. He untied the white belt and replaced it with the yellow. I was so excited, happy, and maybe a tad bit proud. =D

I’m not ‘pure’ anymore, I’m ‘germinating’!

Goodbye ‘innocence’! lol. Flix taken after 90minutes of sweating it out in class.  Aafter 2 months intense ITF training with Sabumnim, received the yellow belt. Leslie (USA) spotted the yellow belts at the start of class but was careful not to spill the beans. I was surprised, since I had mistakenly thought I was getting the yellow belt during the special class last Sunday.

The past 2 months I’ve gone to TaeKwon-do classes religiously, for an hour and a half each class, usually 4 times per week (avg. 20 classes/month). Here’s a rundown of the belts’ significance:

• White = pure, innocence
• Yellow = germinating (developing roots).
• Green = growth
• Blue = Sky
• Red = Sun
• Black = darkness (sin, death. These people’s skills are lethal).

ITF stands for International Taekwon-do Federation. The popular sport and one in the Olympics is WTF, or World Taekwon-do Federation. Naturally I have a bias, but look up the two…ITF is the winner in my book…and I got a yellow belt to show for it. ;p