With the first 4 weeks off my time here gone and only 11 days left of 2009, I feel it is time to sum up my experiences here in Seoul. My journey started 4 weeks ago and much has happened since - both good and less good things. I am trying not to think in terms of whether or not it has been worth it so far and whether or not it is a great or less great experience. It is an experience that is growing me in many ways and it is giving me some valuable lessons of life.
As many of you already knew, surferdude chose it was too hard with the distance/time perspective/did-not-like-me-after-all and broke up via a txt message after the first 2 weeks. As I have already tormented must of you with this way too much I will leave it out of this blog. But I am very appreciative to have such good friends and family that are there for me even though I am at the other side of the world. It is in situations like this that I realize how fortunate I am: my friends and family stick with me despite everything and I love you all for that. And as I wrote in the last blog: no guy should ever prevent you from doing the things you want, and even though it is much easier said than done I am trying to live by that motto, thinking it was for the better. My brain concurs with this most times, but my heart is a bit trickier. Anyway time is a cherished friend and she helps a lot.
But enough of this soft and icky stuff and back to the souls of Seoul. After a long and straining flight Emily (fellow Aussie intern) and I finally arrived at Seoul airport at 7 AM. At the exit out families where waiting for us. We quickly said good bye to each other, ready to start our "new" life as hard working interns. None of our families spoke muck English, so hello, welcome etc. was done with hand gestures and mixture of English and Korean. It took about an hour to drive to my family´s apartment in an area called Sindaebang, about 40 min. drive south of Seoul Center. I was sooo tired after the flight but decided to give a good impression and go with Ji Won (the eldest daughter at 15) to church!!! My family are Presbyterians and they go to church every Sunday. The 2 first Sundays I tacked along but now the approx. 2 hours everyone is gone has become my most precious time of the week, because it means I can have some privacy. Unfortunately I am sharing the room with the oldest girl and that combined with Koreans very family oriented and social life still leaves me with no privacy and me-time what so ever. And is there something I truly cherish then it is me-time, especially when I can´t have it. The rest of my family consist of Dad, Mom and Char Won at 13. They count their age differently from us so you can never really compare their age to ours. When they are born, they are already 1 year old. If they are born in December, they will be 2 years when the new year starts. And if the parents don´t like their children to already be 2 years so quickly, they just chance their birth date! For example: one of my female co-workers are born on the 15th of December, but being a girl her mom felt she would have better chances in life if she would be born in January, so wupti she was born in January!
Back to my family. The parents own a bakery store that is part of a chain: Tous Les Jours. Bakeries are very popular here as is coffee shops. But it means that they work so much and I therefore rarely sees them except from dinner time. The girls attend regular school from 8-12 and then they have different Academies afterwards, which is private teaching. No one feels that the regular school system are good enough so everyone has some form of private teaching as well, and it is seen as necessary for the kids to ever succeed in this world. This means that the girls study and go to academies and school for the most of the day and often they don´t go to bed before the early hours of the morning. Sometimes Ji Won comes to bed around 5 AM! I get up at 6 AM, have some breakfast and then I take the 150 bus to work. My work is in Seoul Center, close to shopping and any other things  My work hours are from 9-18, but I go to the gym or yoga every morning before work so that is why I get up so early. This also means I often get a seat in the bus, which is not bad considering the ride takes anywhere from 40-60 min. and it is ever so hot in the bus. So you wrap yourself in layer upon layer to resist -12 C and you come into a bus that is around 25 C and unwrap yourself from everything again. Yes, it is that cold here and it will only get colder!
I started work Monday the 23rd November. Victoria (another fellow Aussie intern working at the same company as I) and I came to work around 9 AM and was introduced to our respective teams. She was going to be in the Global Talent Management department, where most speak English. I, on the other hand, was placed in the HR department, where almost no one speaks English! Luckily I am for now working with the other department! The first weeks was spent on introducing us to the company, the departments and their work and to the surroundings. We also instigated our joint project and our individual projects, which will be our work for the time with SK Holdings. I must admit I was quite disappointed with the fact that my "work" was just another report, not very different from the life at University. All in all I feel that I am the least fortunate of all us interns. I know I am whining now, but I am the only one without my own room, I am paid the least and my work is just another report. But what can you do but suck it up.
However, I like the people at work and we have had a couple of nice dinners together, though I have yet to experience the famous after work dining and drinking that Koreans are so famous for. The one evening we were meant to do one of these nights, which consist of 1st round that is dinner, 2nd round which is karaoke and more food, 3rd round which is alcohol (soju, beer mixed with whiskey or other horrible stuff) and continuing from there until people are unconsciously drunk. It is a stress relieve for people because they also spent these night letting air out about work and bosses. It is believed that you can best judge a person´s character when they are drunk and everything said and done when drunk is forgotten the next day and will never be mentioned. However, this culture is starting to chance, because many young people and expats are more health conscious and don´t want to or don´t feel the need to get this drunk.
That night we went out for dinner, which was Korean BBQ - so delicious, and afterwards we went to a Notaebang, which is a karaoke room (yes I have sung karaoke several times now!) where we ate and drank some more. Then it would be costume to continue onwards to another bar, but that night the men were to discuss business matters and that didn´t not include the 2 interns neither the other ladies from the office. So we were all put in a taxi and sent home. Cause it would never be an option that we would continue our night without the men!
Everything has not been just work, the weekends have been spent on experiencing the life and culture of Korea. My first Saturday here was spent on the one thing that can always get me in a better mood = shopping. Emily, Emilie and I went to Myongdong which is an area near my work full of western and local shops as well as street stalls selling everything your heart desires. The next day was spent at a Handball event sponsored by my company. It was the national ladies team of Korea, Brazil, Australia and Angora who was playing a training tournament before the World Championship in China. After the 2 matches there was a concert with 10 of Korea´s most popular pop artists and bands.

My next weekend started with a rather unpleasant txt message Saturday morning, but plans had already been made so nothing to do but to put on a smiley face. I went to Emily´s to have Korean sushi - kimbab. Her mother made it for us, but she was rather appalled when we asked for soy sauce. That is obviously not the way to eat kimbab! After lunch we went to COEX the biggest underground shopping center in Seoul. We didn´t buy anything instead we went food sample hunting. But we decided that they only proper way to visit next time would be to go there very early in the morning to have breakfast, then shop, have snack, shop some more, eat lunch, entertain ourselves with more shopping, snack again, make sure we didn´t miss any shops, have dinner and then watch a movie there. So I am looking forward to that for sure.
At dinner time we met with the other interns to have dinner in the area Itaewon. This area is famous and notorious for it´s high numbers of Westerners especially US soldiers. We started at an Usbekhistanian restaurant, which was some experience. Not really satisfied, we went to a Japanese restaurant, which was so cute with the most delicious food. We then went around to different bars in the area, but they were all crowded to bursting point. We then decided to take a taxi to the major clubbing area Hongdae, and here we went from club to club dancing the night away. But no, no rebound for Maria - do not like my men Asian and small!

The Sunday after, Emily and I bright and shiny wrapped ourselves in, what we thought was adequate outfits, and went palace sightseeing. We got to see 3 palaces, 1 pagoda and 1 shrine before we frozen to our bones ran the whole way to the nearest subway station.
Home again, the whole family sat down to have dinner. I must have looked rather awful because they started commenting on how tired I looked and also said that I looked quite sad. Knowing that I would probably look like this for the next couple of days, I told them about the no-longer boyfriend. They were sad on my behalf and started saying how I had started to look rater hollow-cheeked in the 2 weeks I had been there. Guess they were trying to tell me that it was for the best, since I hadn´t been really happy. Then the lets-make-Maria-happy session started. They were ready to hook me up with Ji Won´s teacher, Matthew or even find me a Korean man. And then they found the music for Beattle´s Let it be, thinking that if we sang a song together everything would be better. But you all know me - singing is not something I do (or did). But that didn´t stop Ji Won and Mom, though Mom could not pronounce Be, so the chorus sounded more like Let it Fee, Let it Fee. I can only love them for trying, but the only thing I wanted was to call my own mom…
Next Saturday we were going to Everland, Korea´s biggest theme park, to celebrate Emily´s 21st. We came as the park opened and rushed to the biggest wooden rollercoaster ever. After a chilly hour in line we placed our butts in the seats ready to have the first adrenalin rush of the day. MY good, in the first decline it reaches 220 km/h and it is step as hell. But the thing that made me scream and wish it was soon hour, was all the small double hills. You approach them with so much speed that when you go over them, you are pulled back by gravity. That made my stomach spin and turn and after 5 of them I was ready to get off.
We spent the whole day in the park, but only got to try 5 or 6 rides, because the lines where so long.
Sunday I got to experience a Korean birthday feast with my family. The food was so delicious and I tried my best to be a good "daughter" and eat till the point of explosion. But it just doesn´t do it. The major "problem" is I just don´t eat enough. Koreans eat so much that I am baffled they are all so tiny. But you know me I only eat once a day - which is all day! That leaves little room for over indulging and they constantly complain that I don´t eat enough. Apparently they are only good hosts if I gain at least a couple of kilos while I am here. I try and try to explain them that it is just not the way I eat; I even had a Korean-American explain it to them. But again the other day the mother half joking half yelling at me, growled at me for not eating enough at dinner time. That gets me pisses, will just get off my back for 10 minutes. I try so hard to accustom myself to their why of life, but there is just no adjusting the other way!
The week that has just passed has been very busy. Besides the work dinner I already described, we went to another work event some days before. It was our head boss that invited us to dinner and dance show at Walkerhill Hotel (which is owned by SK). The dinner was so delicious Western food with one of the best steaks I have ever had. Normally I am not really the big steak fan, but I could easily become it if they were all as tender and juicy as this one. The first part of the dance show was traditional Korean dance theater, fun to experience but not further impressing. The second part is the most embarrassing, horrifying thing I have ever witnessed. It was a Russian dance group and yes it was exactly as bad as you could possibly imaging. At times I was not even sure if it was a dance show or a SM erotica show. The makeup the girls were wearing was a joke in itself and the close was barely there, topped by the wonderful latex underwear they had on in one part! The guys were taken out of a German techno rave party with power moves that could kill a horse would it come to close. For a whole 1 ½ hour I was cringing my toes, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. After the horror show we went to a luxurious notaebang where I was forced to sing the very first song with the head boss. Mamma Mia, never the less, was the choice! Later it was Last Christmas and some random song. Last Christmas was my choice because I feel deprived not having heard it once here!
Yesterday, Saturday, me and the 2 Em´s went to the Demilitarized Zone. We were transported there in the coldest bus ever, it literally had ice on the inside of the windows! We were taken around the area to see where the peace negotiation had taken place. And in that room you could cross the border and actually be in North Korea for a couple of minutes. Our Serge had specifically told us that we should not cross between the soldier and the table to get pass the table, but one eager Korean lady did exactly that… So typical, but for her and everyone else´s luck we were allowed to continue the rest of the tour, which took us to one of the tunnels that the North Koreans had dug, trying to invade South Korea, the observatory, where you could see into North Korea and the Propaganda city. And yes, propaganda it was. This city was glorified as a blooming nature area where everyone could live side by side. Don´t know how pleasant it would be to live a place where you have to be inside before nightfall in the fear of being abducted by North Koreans. And I, for sure, did not see any of the Bambis and goats, that supposedly were skipping around.
Today, I slept in. And after everyone had finally gone to church I got up and enjoyed the full 1 ½ hour I have had to myself this entire week!!! I will become a hermit after these 3 months have deprived my of every form of solitude.
When the family came home from church we had lunch and then we went to Insadong. A typical shopping area for tourists, but none the less very cute and charming. Around the time when I couldn´t feel my feet anymore we stopped at Starbucks (of all places) for a green tea latte. For those of you who have never tried this nectar, it is a must try! Now we are back at our little apartment, I am finishing this blog, Ji Won is playing the piano and Mom is doing the dishes.
What a nuclear family…