Korea, my second home

I had a great first day in Korea. I got to eat a cream cheese bagel at the new Dunkin Donuts that just opened below the apartment I'm staying at. They have an outside porch with heaters and blankets ready on the chairs for people to put on their laps and stay warm. I thought that was pretty cute, but I still ate inside. I went to the bank to check my balance and get a new cash card, visited the school my Korea teammates started and run here, and then met a friend to go to a big conference that's happening this week. It was great. The singing and everything that went along with it was incredible. It was in Korean, but my ability to have meaningful wshp in that language has grown a lot. I realized that I've been in a dry place. Tonight I tried to soak up as much as possible and remember what it's like to really experience that. I can't have the same experience where I am, but I know I don't have to let myself get so dry.

There were a few different people who spoke. Two or three of them spoke mostly in English with Korean translation, some spoke only in Korean, but one guy was from South America. It was so interesting to hear him speak, have a Korean guy translate, and then have my friend next to me translate into English. Even though I don't understand everything in Korean, I almost asked her to stop because my ears wanted to listen to all three languages. I know more Korean that Spanish (sadly, I never learned that language, but should have), but there are so many Spanish words that are close to English that I still wanted to try. I wanted to listen to Korean because I'm learning it (and for some reason it's fascinating to see a Korean translate from Spanish) and then I had to listen to the English because my friend was going to the trouble of translating. The speaker was so fast and passionate that it was a crazy 30 minutes.