The Dangers of Korea.

If your first thought was buses you'd right, but that's not the kind of dangers that I want to talk about. I have discovered a few other dangers that are going to cause me great inner turmoil this year.

Pet shops: There are little pet shops tucked into pretty much every street. Which wouldn't be that dangerous, except that these pet shops all have large windows that display little puppies in cages. Oh they are so cute with their tiny legs and furry bodies. Every time I walk by one or see one on the bus I want to stop and pick a puppy to bring home. On the way to my local grocery store I walk by two - TWO - pet shops. I am practicing self control because I know it would be very unfair to a puppy to bring him into my life since I am gone for over eight hours a day. Plus I don't think I can get a Korean dog through customs (if you know otherwise please don't tell me! I need to keep my list of reasons for not getting a dog long).

Shopping: Imagine walking into a Buckle but instead of a trendy teen trying to sell jeans you encounter an eager shop keeper who has no concept of a personal bubble who believe that anything you touch you are going to buy. I am learning how to say "I'm just looking" in Korean (gu nyang bol ge yo) so I can stop getting their hopes up! But the real danger of shopping is in the deals they offer, like 1 + 1, which means you buy one you get one free. I have gotten lotion, shampoo, and food with those deals. All of the cosmetic shops seem to have deals like that in their windows and they are more frequent then the pet shops! This one cosmetic shop near my apartment has a sweet lady who gave me and my friends a LARGE bag of free samples for buying a few things. They sure know how to get me to spend my money...

Soccer: Last Saturday I went to the AFC (Asian Football Conference) Championship game where Ulsan South Korea played Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli. It was a very exciting game and our seats were close to where all of the goals were made. The final score was 3 to 0 with the win to Ulsan! The fans went wild! I have been struggling with the dramatic display of emotions in my classroom (for example: if the power point has an adorable picture of a bunny with big cartoon eyes they all scream in unison "AHHHWW", if the picture is of something gross or scary "AHHHWWWW", if the youtube video has to buffer while they are watching it, "AHHHWWW") but I enjoyed their enthusiasm at the game. I have never been to a game where the crowd was so reactive to every movement of the players. The reason this is found in my dangers blog is because the ticket was 8,000 won (a little less then $8) and the stadium is within walking distance from my apartment. I think I will be spending a lot of time their this year indeed.

That's all for now friends. Bless.