Day 42 -- Settling In and Siblings

THE HOST FAMILY

My host parents just walked into the house after working out together. Mom's going over a gym membership with my youngest sister, Min Kyeong, whom they constantly tease for being chubby. Min Kyeong is incredibly sweet and kind--this morning, after my shower, there was a knock at my door while I was changing. As I hurried to finish putting on my clothes, the door slowly creaked open and a tray of breakfast was hesitantly offered. She loves KPop and almost half the things out of her mouth are lyrics to the latest chart toppers.

At the other end of the couch is my other sister, Min Woo, who's studying despite it being the summer vacation. Next to her in this wide, spacious living room is my life-line and brother, Seo Yeob, stalking around on Cyworld, the Korean version of Facebook on his laptop. We even have a visitor today, a cousin the same age as Seo Yeob playing FIFA on the family computer. He'll be joining the military next month for his mandatory 2 year service.


BEING ACCEPTED

My host father has had a lot of trouble pronouncing my name so far, especially the "L" and "zee" sounds. Before I left Chuncheon, a KEY Club friend had decided my Korean name should be Min Ji, since the pronounciation (Meen-chee) is fairly close to my American name. With that in mind, I offered to him that he use "Min Ji" instead of "Lindsay". It fit almost too well--my sisters are Min Oo and Min Kyeong, so calling me Min Ji is perfect. He proudly says now that he has three daughters, and it's only been 24 hours.

In another example, Seo Yeob was acting as a translator last night in a table-side discussion with the family while we waited up for Host Dad to return from drinking with the principal. I overheard him saying "Lindsay Noona", then he turned to ask me "Do you know what noona is? Is it okay?" He clearly doesn't know my history with being called noona. Oh, Seo Yeob, it is totally okay!



Tomorrow I have a meeting with my coteacher, where we'll discuss my teaching schedule, lesson ideas, see my classroom, and get my cell phone. Seo Yeob will be showing me how to take the bus to the school (I told you he was the life-line) so I've got to get to bed early to get there on time!


Still no pictures yet...