Yes, We're in Korea!

It was about a month ago when my husband confirmed his next assignment to Korea. As he promised that he would take me with him, i was so excited. It would be my first time going abroad. And it's Korea! Again, i was so excited. 

After a 16 hours journey, we finally arrived at Okpo, Geoje City, located in the province of South Gyeongsang, South Korea. This city is made up of several islands, Geoje island is among the largest. Here, in Okpo, we can see the world third largest shipyards industry, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering/DSME (FYI, world first and second largest shipyard industries are also located in Korea; Hyundai Heavy Industries in Mipo Bay, Ulsan City and Samsung Heavy Industries in Gohyeon, also located in Geoje Island). And yes, they're building very huge ships i've never seen in my life before. About one-third of the city population depend their life on the shipbuilding industry.

When firstly arrived, i was kind of a bit nervous about the acceptance of Korean. Especially when dealing with my very different way of clothing; covered from head to toe (as how a muslimah should be dressing). Because, based on what i got from the internet prior to my arrival in Korea, i had the impression that Korean are not very open-minded about multicultural. Some say Korean will stare at foreigners all the way down from head to toe. I couldn't imagine on how they will look at me. But, i was proven wrong. At least in Okpo, i rarely got that kind of look. It seems like the citizen here have already used to foreigners. I was amazed of how numerous are foreigners from different countries working in this small city, mostly from India, Philipine, and western countries. Sometimes, i was surprised when someone greet me in the street by saying  "annyeonghaseyo" which means "Hello". The hospitality and the fresh air warm my heart up and immediately make me feel like home =)

My husband and i were very concern about what we're gonna eat here. As muslims, we have to make sure that everything that goes down into our stomach is "halal", which means free from anything  forbidden in Islam; like pork, alcohol, and animals slaughtered not in the name of Allah. But, lucky us (all praise to Allah), right after arriving in Okpo, we found 2 foreign marts with a "halal" sign written in their front window, not very far from our apartemen. They sell  "halal" frozen chickens and meats (i guess they imported those items from Malaysia), Indonesian very famous noddle, and many other Indonesian products.   

We're also very lucky that we come to Korea in winter time, which is considered by Korean as the best season in Korea. We get the chance to feel the very cold weather that we might never experience in Indonesia. Hopefully we could also see snow falls from the sky.

Well, it's been a week now. So far, i' m still very much enjoying living in Korea. And one more thing, among the most important ones, Geoje island offers us many beautiful sceneries. Next time i' ll share some nice pictures of it, insya Allah.