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Everybody was really nervous this day. Excited, but nervous. One by one, host families started showing up. Before each person could leave with their new families, we had to take a picture. It was really funny because once a host parent would walk into the hostel, everyone we just kind of hold their breath, until the RDs called our name out. And then, everybody would clap and hug that person goodbye.
Every single time a family with two small girls walked in, I would just like hold my breath, I think it happened like two times before my actually family showed up.
When my host family arrived, everything went by so fast. I said hello to them, and my host mother replied back in english. My host sisters were kind of shy and were gripping onto my host dad and hiding behind him. We took our picture, and then they helped me move my luggage to the car.
We got inside and I explained how instead of calling me Zakiyyah, they could call me Kia instead. And that was when my host sisters addressed me as "Kia Unnie", which was the cutest thing ever. (Unnie can be translated to "older sister", and is just a way to address someone older than you with respect.) They (my host sisters) also gave me candy, which was nice.
We were driving to my host family's home but on the way we drove by Sookmyung, so that I could see what the school looked like. The car ride was pretty quiet, my host mom and I exchanged numbers so that she could contact me, and she texted me a really cute message^^
She also showed me the information she got about me, it had my picture and yes, the host family letter that you have to write for the NSLI-Y application. It was really random, but we also went through a car wash, and my host sisters were so cute as they looked at the soap spraying on the car.
The car ride was about an hour long, and I spent most of that time looking out the window, soaking in the fact that I was in another country. At one point, 2pm's newest song at the time, "My House" came on, and my host mom was surprised that I knew who they were and could sing a long at certain points.
When we got to the apartment, she showed me around a bit and I put my bags down, and then we left to go get something to eat. We had naengmyun which is a cold noodle, something that was definitely new to me, but it was pretty good. This meal was funny because I was STRUGGLING with the chopsticks. I think at one point I even dropped a chopstick on the ground. I eventually got much better at handling chopsticks.
Once back at the house, I gsve my host family their gifts. They seemed to really enjoy them, and my host mom gave me a really pretty hair clip. Coincidentally, I brough my host sisters items from Claire's, and the oldest host sister's English name is Claire. We found that pretty funny.
I stayed up for a while, but I was also really tired. I texted my family and friends for a little, then I pulled down the blankets for bed. I spent a considerable amount of time looking out the window before I drifted to sleep.