As of right now, we have been in Korea for exactly one week.The first few days were spent with the other NSLI-Y students in a hostel in Hongdae. Most of this time was spent doing orientations. We were given some free time, but most of the time we were honestly too tired to go out and explore. On the second night in Hongdae, I was coerced into walking around with two other NSLIY students and I am so glad I did. The streets came alive at night and it was fun walking into random shops and people watching. We saw a street performer, did lots of people watching, bought spontaneously, and got really lost five minutes away from our hostel...

Host families
The next day, we met up with our host families. I live in a house in Incheon, which is west of Seoul. I have a mother, father, 17 year old sister and an 11 year old brother. Right after they picked me up, we went to visit the paternal grandfather, who was eager to meet me. He was born in Japan, speaks fluent Japanese, and is apparently a considerably well known Korean war veteran. I can speak Japanese almost fluently and he was really happy to speak with me...and generously unloaded a bunch of gifts on me. He took us out for shabu shabu that night, and now he is looking forward to seeing me again soon!
We live in quite a big (by korean standards) house that, to my delight, has a piano. Which is out of tune, but that is easily fixed. My mother is extremely kind, patient, and accommodating. She doesn't know much English, but she still talks with me quite frequently. She is willing to do anything to help me and I am so grateful to her. I hope that I can start helping her around the house soon (I often ask and she tells me "No, no, no, its okay, you go rest!") She did say I could help her cook for Chuseok (korean thanksgiving). I haven't interacted much with my father, but he is really friendly and amusing. As my Korean (hopefully) improves, I want to have more conversations with him and my mother. My sister, MJ (I'm avoiding using real names), speaks pretty good English, so she's being frequently used as a translator. She's only a year younger than me and very sweet. I'm happy to have someone my age to go out with. She goes to the school that I will be attending. My brother, TW is...interesting. 11 year old boys are a demographic that I am kind of unfamiliar with. (I think the last time I dealt with 11 year old boys was in middle school.) When he talks about his interests, I like listening and asking him questions. However, he often repeats the same English phrases over and over. Maybe I'll teach him some more phrases so he stops asking me "Do you know cocker spaniel? Do you know Siberian Husky?" every five minutes. As an only child, I know having a younger sibling is something I'll have to get used to and eventually will enjoy. (I hope)

I'm going to try to update more frequently, it's just been kind of hectic what with Korean language classes, transportation, and settling in.

Elizabeth