Was that Culture Shock?

Hi All,

This is a very late night posting for me. However, I am still awake and this week is going to be extremely busy. So, I decided to post something short (haha).

Well, I graduated Korean language classes on Friday and got Bs in reading, writing, speaking, and a B+ in listening. Woo-hoo. Now, these grades are not bad, but by Korean standards I feel like I should have done better. Yet, I tried my best and am still planning on learning the language- so I'm not giving up. Which is probably a good thing, seeing as how I leave orientation Wednesday.

I managed to get myself sick last week and generally just had a post nasal drip and head congestion. I proceeded to self medicate and got rid of the head congestion only to force the congestion the other way (into my chest). This made me nervous. However, I am finally beginning to feel better (and am praying that staying up really late tonight will have no effect on my health). But besides feeling sick, I've generally been in a funk (the past 3-4 days). Which I was very surprised to find might in fact have been culture shock. (I was reflecting about my general mood over the past few days, today.)

Yet, I think this may have passed. We found a Vietnamese place for lunch today and I was so excited because all I wanted was some soup (the original plan was to get cheesy rice). However, I was very excited at the prospect of Pho- a food I consume quite often in the states. And since we could not find the cheesy rice place, we settled on Vietnamese. Granted it was Korean Vietnamese, but it was pretty good. Actually, it has to be the best meal I've had since I've been here (first clue to culture shock/home sickness). AND we went to E-Mart today (like Target/K-mart in the states) and I bought a caramel frappacino at Starbucks. It was expensive, but I didn't mind. I was craving it and the first sip was amazing (second clue to culture shock/home sickness). For dinner I had pizza and coke. It was Nicki's birthday today and she wanted to go out for pizza. I had a slice of veggie, pepperoni, and Hawaiian (third clue to culture shock/home sickness). AND the amazing conclusion to this day was the fact that my stomach did not object to this crazy concoction of foods. This is quite a feat considering it rejected the majority of the Korean food I've eaten in the past week. In conclusion, although I did not mentally feel like I had culture shock/home sickness- on a visceral level my body knew and was craving familiar food.

All in all, I am feeling better and think I am out of the funk. However, I could really use prayer for this week, especially Friday when I leave Seoul for Daegu and most likely have to start teaching on Monday. The transition is stressing a lot of people out and I think I'm being affected by their stress. Please pray for safety, health, strength, and reliance on God to get me through everything that will happen in the next week.

Thank you so much,

Jenna