HomeStay

Day 4 - 5am

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting and moving in with my host family, the Oh's. Typically the previous participants of this program, which has only been around for 3 years now, moved in after 5-7 days of jet-lag recuperation and adjustment to Seoul life. I was transferred within 48 hours, which I'm really happy about. I was positively-warned about the host mom by both previous boarders and the program director. "She is unlike any Korean woman her age that you will meet. I promise you that." After spending one afternoon with her and her family, I have to say she's unlike any woman worldwide that I've ever met. She has crazy energy running through her system all the time. Very energetic, enthusiastic, and always laughing. The best example I could give is SNL's Molly Shannon, specifically her Helen Madden personality. She was the eccentric, spiritual guru that yelled "I love it! I love it! I love it." Youtube it if you don't know the reference, and keep in mind Helen is still a tamer comparison.

This family is very diverse. They come from all over. The mom and dad are Korean born and raised, but the kids have all lived abroad. Their son is enrolled at an international boarding school on Jeju Island. One niece lived in Shanghai since she was 12. She speaks fluent Korean, Madarin, some Cantonese, and English. Then one of the nephews moved to England when he was little. He sounds like Harry Potter (I don't mean just the accent, his voice literally sounds like Daniel Ratcliff's voice). It's awesome. Lastly, the most surprising bit of info I learned, was that my hosts are 10 year veterans of many homestay programs, and have housed between 50-60 people (majority women) from all over the world. I am the first native-English speaking male. She has been writing a book about her experiences, and plans to have it published next year. I have the honor of helping her translate it for the English version.

Meeting this family is one more shattering blow to all of the generalizations about Koreans that I learned in college. I really need to stop taking advice from the filthy rich international students at Illinois. I'm beginning to realize they don't know much about their own country and people, outside of their own communities and economic class. It'd be like having somebody from lakeside property in downtown Chicago tell you about life and people in the Southside or suburbs.

More updates on the way. Time for my 5:30am traditional Korean yoga lesson with Mrs. Oh.