Sunday, or as the Koreans call it, "ilyeo-il"

Well, first off Korea has amazed me ever since I set foot on this country. Even though I am a well traveler - born in Peru, visited Australia, Europe, and all over North America - there is so much in Korean culture for the American mind to ponder and admire. Luckily for me I feel like I can get the hang of things. Hopefully I will go back to the states with a loss of a few pounds due to so many healthy Korean dishes and all of the walking about the city.

Currently I am stationed in KAIST located in Daejeon, about 2:30 hours from Incheon and Seoul. A group of us are here for an REU (research experience for undergraduates) in Smart Structures (Structural Control and Structural Health Monitoring, Civil Engineering). This university is well known for their engineering program. The classes are held in English, and many of the students here have good English accents. Still, almost every sign, food descriptions, hour notices, etc. are written in Korea with no English subtitles. I asked a Korean student today what the differences in the milk color cartons were - blue meant "plain milk" and green meant "whole whole milk."

For a non-Asian descent it is literally impossible to "blend in," which makes all of the traveling experience great! Not only will you find yourself being stared at from the dark-shaded windows of every car that passes by you, but you might get lucky to find a youngster point at you to single you out of a crowd. I am thoroughly entertained to find how another culture reacts to my presence. Even with the fact that I am not White, nor Black, but Hispanic and therefore mildly tanned, it appears that even I am an interesting observation to many Koreans.

The talking barrier? Not a problem. Luckily, there are at least two picture by the restaurant / food stand where you can point at and bargain with the Korean lady trying to understand you ... of course after you politely say "Ahn nyeong hasehyo" as a formal hello.

The culture is more than enough to arouse so much interest in how Koreans live, act, and enjoy life. Wherever you are walking you might see a Korean woman taking care of herself by wearing long sleeves, pants, gloves, and sun caps, and possibly an umbrella to protect her skin from tanning, especially if the temperature outside is 80 degrees!

Enough for now, I am out and about to explore the rest of the city! .. well after figuring out which button in korean means "save" - blue or orange?

-Allie R.