Alrighty...yet again, this week I was busy trying to learn my new area after my transfer, so I didn't put too much thought into my blog for this week. But I figured I could give you a glimpse of Korean life, since most of you faithful readers have never been here. I'll also compare it to my time in China, for those of you who've been following my blog for almost a year.

Korea is a beautiful country, and Koreans are very proud of their culture. They are very clean (which is definitely not the case in China) and sort their garbage into recyclable, non-recyclable, and food garbage. They also sort their recyclable garbage into plastic, paper, etc...which is really neat. They even do it at restaurants like McDonald's. They care about the environment and want Korea to be clean in the future, which is great. I'm not so much a fan of the food garbage, though...there are little traps in the sink that catch all the food when you wash dishes etc...then you put it into a garbage bag and take it down to put it with the rest of the apartment complex's food garbage. It kind of smells. But is used for fertilizer and whatnot, so that's good.

When you arrive at a Korean's home, you take off your shoes at the entrance way and then sit down on the floor. Koreans don't have carpet, like the Chinese, so it's a little uncomfortable for foreigners for the first few weeks. (Actually, sometimes it's still uncomfortable, but my feet don't fall asleep as much). Generally you sit cross-legged. Koreans love to feed missionaries, which is awesome. You eat on the floor with a small table. Kimchi is always on the menu. It's delicious. Before you eat, you say that you will eat well, and then you wait until the host/oldest person starts to eat before you eat. After you eat, you always say that you ate well. Koreans like it when you compliment their food---which is easy to do, because it really is delicious.

Korean chopsticks are metal. And flat. Which is really nice...but hard at the same time. In China, I got used to round chopsticks, so I still sometimes have a hard time picking things up. But that's okay. Unlike a lot of Chinese food, Korean food generally doesn't have bones with meat, which is nice. It is very rude in Korea to pick your teeth in public after a meal. Koreans eat a lot of vegetables. It's very healthy food.

They usually don't have dessert--if they do, it's fruit. When you visit someone, they typically give you some fruit or a drink even if they're not feeding you lunch or something. It's rude to not eat what they give you...so there are days when I'm very full because everyone that day decided to give us food.

Koreans are very polite to one another. They bow in Korea when they meet. Chinese people don't bow. Respect is very important--there are different ways to conjugate verbs depending on the level of respect you want to show. As missionaries, we always speak in middle form or high form...but when people are close (like family members or whatnot) they speak in a more familiar form. They love to speak to foreigners, and will compliment you frequently. It's a good thing to play the humble game and compliment them in return.

Korea is a lot more advanced technologically than China. They're on par with the United States for most things and have better technology for others--like phones. Korean cell phones are cool. And Korean cameras--a lot are touch-screen cameras.

If you ever have a chance to visit Korea, you should! Have a great week!

Sister Oates