I'll be honest, I am a better than average writer when I choose to be. That is I get high marks > 95% in English class. That being said, I have always had an immense knowledge of the language and a better than par vocabulary. Despite this, I literally just pieced together the puzzle and realized "recap," is short for "recapitulate." I have always used both, but never until just a moment ago, (1701 EST 09/08/2009) realized that the two are in fact one.
I'm super proud of myself right now.
It's been over a year since my last blog post, and in my eyes nothing merits an anual blog post honor as my first voyage outside of the States or Western Europe. I survived a 14 + hour flight, and endured and benefited from an 8 day immersion program. When I arived it was an almost alien world, every sense is thrown into complete disarray, as you are surrounded by a different language, odor, atmosphere, and even light. If there was something that made me feel alone, it was the sky, always so much different in color and what seemed like texture or density than my New England sky. I then spent two nights in Seoul with two Korean brothers about my age in high school along with their parents. In those two days I learned an entire culture quicker than I could have imagined, it was truthfullyharder to re-adjust when I came home. After that, I went to the eastern coast, where I spent the afternoon at the KMLA, the most prestigeous school in Korea where I discussed everything with these future leaders of Korea and perhaps the world.
That night I went to a Buddhist temple, where I spent two days immersing myself in the world of the Sunim (monks). I followed their every practice, which was an exhausting experience. Their worship is as much physical as it is mental. I then departed to spend a day with a typical east coast family, which is far different than the city life. I went on a hike through a National Reserve, where the sights were spectacular. I then went on the the DMZ, a cultural shock that I can only compare to what the Berlin wall must have meant so many years ago. Then a quick four hour ride brought me back to Seoul, where I speant the remaining three days at a hotel. I went to the Korean War Memorial Museum andto the DMZ again only on the western side. I also had an opportunity to play soccer with a group of Korean students, which was amazing, the effort they would put in to try to communicate in an effort to include me in their team work. Lastly I went to the well known COEX Mall, and back to Incheon to fly back home. It was an unforgetable experience, of which I could not possibly describe in any number of words.
To serve the purpose of filling whatever gaps I have left, I will include a link to a video I have made from my photographs. VIDEO.
I like it, anybody agree?
