We had the great pleasure of hearing from Ervanny Astari-Waldman our exchange student that went to Korean. Ervanny had four different host families throughout the school year.
The first family the Dad was a Doctor, the Mother was a Nurse and the Brother was studying to become a doctor. It was a very busy family. Ervanny was an hour and a half bus ride from school each way. Her days were very long.
In Busan the city she was staying in which was the second most populated after Soul, they called their schools years instead of terms. First year which was August through November and Second Year which was March through June. School started at 8am finished at 4pm than there was study hall until 9pm
Ervanny’s fourth host family had a Grandmother who cooked really great food. For her last meal there she requested to eat eel, she had not eaten it before. Ervanny’s favorite beach was Songdo she had fun going there after school when she did not have study hall to hang out with her friends.
Ervanny was able to go to the Korean Blue House (comparable to American’s White House) She also attended an International Film Festival, there are Korean Dramas that are very big in Korean.
The food Ervanny showed us pictures of was: Chicken feet, rice, kimchee, squid, pork rib, soup, seaweed, raw sea cucumber (which made her tongue go numb)
Questions that we asked Ervanny:
How was the Eel?
Ervanny: Great!
Host families were hard, how did you cope?
Ervanny: It was hard, language was hard, school wasn’t welcoming, it was not fun. It go better each day though.
How is your Korean?
Ervanny: Not fluent, but comfortable
Why were you so far from school?
Ervanny: It was random who were host families and I was assigned a certain school.
Were you able to travel?
Ervanny: Soul was fun, 3 hours away from Busan. I saw the Kings and Royalty Tombs, they were large mounds of dirt.
Were your Host Families religious?
Ervanny: Just the first family but they were not strict.
When did you get back?
Ervanny: July 28th
How have you changed?
Ervanny: I am more patient with people. Korean Rotary was not as helpful as I needed so I learned to rely on myself and take matters into my own hands.
What was the biggest surprise about South Korea?
Ervanny: They speak English.