Sunday I went to Times Square, which is a still-developing-yet-already-big shopping complex a little off of Sindorim, on the blue 1 line, with Ben and Joe. It was pretty big and nice but... ㅋㅋㅋ... I ended up shopping in the underground subway shopping complex because stuff in department stores here is quite pricy.
While we were leaving though, the four-man group of opera singers that appeared on Star King one time (anyone who is reading this watch this episode?) like last year happened to be doing a showcase, so we listened to some opera before leaving. :)
My roommate's REAL birthday was on Monday, so after class we went to Mad for Garlic in Mapo for dinner. A little pricey, like 14-21,000 Won per meal (pricy for Korea, that is average for Boston) but not bad. The food was good and I reserved a table for eight, which happened to be in a private room with lush seats. Cool. :) I and her friend Lindsey (a boy, not a girl) went during the day into Sinchon to get a cake for her, and we ended up deciding on a Blueberry Yogurt cake from A Twosome Place. So we went back and picked it up before dinner, asked the Mad for Garlic staff to put it in their fridge, and had it after dinner. It was pretty good and RANDOM but I LOVE KOREAN CANDLES why are they so thin and pretty?! EEEE I wish my birthday was here because the cakes are soooo pretty... maybe I should celebrate my half birthday or something... ㅋㅋ
Anyway, I ended up staying out until about 1 am afterwards because we went to a bar and then an arcade following dinner, because if I wasn't there Nikki would have been alone with four guys (two of the girls split without telling me) which I didn't think was right. So although I meant to do homework... I ended up doing it on Tuesday...
but I had a presentation in Korean class I was supposed to make and I didn't know I was presenting that day until the day before so I did what all college students have had experience with in the past... rushed an assignment that could've taken 8-10 hours into... 2.5 hours... -___- My mom helped me though, so that was good. I was supposed to find an article related to Korea, in Korean, but it was hard at first because reading news articles in Korean takes me a looong time. Anyway, I chose a kind of strange topic, so I attached the summary below. ^^
Tuesday I went to noraebang with my Korean class, some of them, which was awesome! Chinese Japanese Korean and American songs were all sung ^^
Wednesday I tutored and then went to the last hour of noraebang that my friend, Courtney, wanted to do for her birthday. Noraebang two nights in a row... wow...
I'm going to Japan soon! Osaka and Kyoto! Too bad I can't go to Tokyo but I'm looking forward to the trip anyway. I should try and learn Japanese tonight probably... as I pack...
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Random note: On the subway coming back from tutoring, I heard two women next to me talking about how they wish they had more confidence. That even if they look down on people who are too confident when they speak/present at work, they are secretly jealous too because they want that confidence. I think this sentiment is prevalent in many Koreans because of how the education system here works. Even during the summer, the other Korean students told us Wellesley/BU students that one thing they really admired about us was our confidence and manner in even intimidating situations.
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Poop-pig Syndrome
똥돼지 신드롬
요약
제주에는 특별한 돼지가 있습니다. 옛날에 제주 토종돼지가 있었는데, 보통 털이 길고 겉이 까만색이었습니다. 예전에 수세식화장실이 없었을때, 이 흑돼지는 옛 초가집 밑에 살면서, 인분과 음식 찌꺼기를 먹었습니다. 그렇니까 이 돼지가 똥돼지라고 합니다.
저는 이 기사를 읽으면서 정말 놀랐습니다. 인분을 먹을 수 있는 돼지가 있는지도 몰랐고 또 그런 돼지를 사람이 먹었다는 점에도 놀랐어요.
지금은 화장실이 생겨서 이런 흑돼지가 많이 없어졌습니다. 지금 흑돼지라 불리는 것들은 진짜 똥돼지가 아니고 그냥 교잡종돼지라 합니다.
하이튼, '똥돼지 신드롬'이 한국에서 생겼습니다.똥돼지는 공무원•민간기업•공사•금융기관•대학 등에 '낙하산'으로 들어간 사람이라고 합니다. 어느나라에서 이 ‘낙하산’으로 들어간 사람이 있지만, 한국에는 유행으로 생긴 것 같습니다. 인터넷과 트위터 등 소셜네트워크서비스에는 '똥돼지를 고발한다'는 글들이 많습니다. 사람이 실력이 없는대도 특별하게 취작한 사람이 많아지는 것 같습니다.
사람 들은 9급에 시작하면, 5급으로 올라가는데 거의 25년동안 걸린다고 합니다. 그런데도 이런 낙하산으로 들어가는 사람들은 9급에서 시작하지않고 5급부터 일을 시작하니까, 다른 사람들이 당연히 열을 받고 있습니다.
'빽' 없는 보통사람들은 지금분노를 느끼고 있습니다. 그렇니까 이 숨어있는 부정을 드러내고싶어합니다.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Lotte World, Nikki's Birthday, Tutoring, Saturday Night
Mwahaha.
Teeheeheeeee.
Hohohohoooooooooo.
I went to Lotte World with Mary on Friday! She had work and I had class so we went from 9:30 until 2 pm. Unfortunately we only went on four rides, but we went on the biggest and *scariest* (<---not really) rides. We had a lot of fun and yay for foreigner and student discounts... bwahaha.
I bought one of those ridonkulous (<--this word is for you, Emma, even though you flake on our Skype dates and then try and blame it on me) headbands that has a huuuge sparkling bow on top. Black, thanks, since I don't like red.
ROLLERCOASTERS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Couples. Sigh. ㅠㅠ
Pineapple on a stick? Yum. ^^
People writing SHINee and other k-pop group names all over the rides: Chortle chortle.
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After Lotte World, I went back to Korean class, and then after that went to Naan (slow service :[) for Indian food with my roommate and her friends for an early birthday celebration. Then we went to Boss, a big bar that wow can fit forty people?! I pretty much laughed hysterically at my roommate's antics and met lots of people, then left at midnight since I wanted to wake up early to study. Wellesley habits, can't get rid of them... :(
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Can I say that tutoring is flippin' awesome. I am making BUCK WOOT I am going to save up and take my uncle mom and grandma out for dinner sometime when I go over for a weekend again. :) I tutored last Sun, last Mon, and yesterday (Saturday evening).
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Sunme wanted to go out last night so after tutoring I met up with CIEE friends and we went to a bar.
Who cares about alcohol, I was hungry. I ate while others tried to play Korean games and failed over and over. Is there some sort of chemistry in each group that one needs to know about... it's like when Team 4 of Cornerstone Church's OneLove Missions tried to play games and we just couldn't get into it. This group was one that just had A.D.D. to the max and couldn't pay attention harharhar ^-^
We migrated somewhere else and I met up with my roommate again. After a brief sit-down we went to noraebang woooot
But it was until 5 am this is baaaad
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And so I was determined to still go to Jubilee Church at 10 am even though my plans for the night kind of... disintegrated, because I don't think I should compromise meeting with God for my shortcomings of not sleeping early enough...
but I failed ㅠㅠ I swear I set my alarm but when I woke up at 11 am it wasn't in my phone. Something didn't work. GAH.
So I'm listening to the 8/29 sermon by Pastor Drew online right now... Father, forgive me for compromising my planned time in worship with your body. :( Siiigh.
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Thought: Your finances reveal where your heart is. Where are you committed?
Teeheeheeeee.
Hohohohoooooooooo.
I went to Lotte World with Mary on Friday! She had work and I had class so we went from 9:30 until 2 pm. Unfortunately we only went on four rides, but we went on the biggest and *scariest* (<---not really) rides. We had a lot of fun and yay for foreigner and student discounts... bwahaha.
I bought one of those ridonkulous (<--this word is for you, Emma, even though you flake on our Skype dates and then try and blame it on me) headbands that has a huuuge sparkling bow on top. Black, thanks, since I don't like red.
ROLLERCOASTERS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Couples. Sigh. ㅠㅠ
Pineapple on a stick? Yum. ^^
People writing SHINee and other k-pop group names all over the rides: Chortle chortle.
____________________________________________
After Lotte World, I went back to Korean class, and then after that went to Naan (slow service :[) for Indian food with my roommate and her friends for an early birthday celebration. Then we went to Boss, a big bar that wow can fit forty people?! I pretty much laughed hysterically at my roommate's antics and met lots of people, then left at midnight since I wanted to wake up early to study. Wellesley habits, can't get rid of them... :(
___________________________________________
Can I say that tutoring is flippin' awesome. I am making BUCK WOOT I am going to save up and take my uncle mom and grandma out for dinner sometime when I go over for a weekend again. :) I tutored last Sun, last Mon, and yesterday (Saturday evening).
__________________________________________
Sunme wanted to go out last night so after tutoring I met up with CIEE friends and we went to a bar.
Who cares about alcohol, I was hungry. I ate while others tried to play Korean games and failed over and over. Is there some sort of chemistry in each group that one needs to know about... it's like when Team 4 of Cornerstone Church's OneLove Missions tried to play games and we just couldn't get into it. This group was one that just had A.D.D. to the max and couldn't pay attention harharhar ^-^
We migrated somewhere else and I met up with my roommate again. After a brief sit-down we went to noraebang woooot
But it was until 5 am this is baaaad
_____________________________________________________
And so I was determined to still go to Jubilee Church at 10 am even though my plans for the night kind of... disintegrated, because I don't think I should compromise meeting with God for my shortcomings of not sleeping early enough...
but I failed ㅠㅠ I swear I set my alarm but when I woke up at 11 am it wasn't in my phone. Something didn't work. GAH.
So I'm listening to the 8/29 sermon by Pastor Drew online right now... Father, forgive me for compromising my planned time in worship with your body. :( Siiigh.
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Thought: Your finances reveal where your heart is. Where are you committed?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Happy Chuseok!
This is my first Chuseok celebration, my first time seeing my grandma since coming to Korea, and my first time making about 40 pancakes of binddehdduk (빈대떡).
Since the party fail on Friday I went on the International Yonsei Community's M.T. and it was insanity. We left at 2:30 pm and went to Hanbok Goong in Gyeonggi-do for a night. After arriving, teaching the newbies drinking games (well, in my opinion, they are just games that can be used for drinking. The watermelon game seems pretty innocent, in my opinion) and watching people swim in the HUGE swimming pool, IYC tried to get us into groups and to play couple dodgeball, but it was largely a fail because everyone wanted to drink. So after a dinner of bulgogi and rice at 5 pm and failed attempts at group games at 6:30 pm... people settled into their groups to drink at like... 8 pm. -___- (And then some people proceeded to go all night. Wah-ow.)
I, being a light-weight and not a fan of drunkenness, drank a little 막걸리 during the games and ate Honey Twists (FTW!) and then just wandered around. Randomly, around 10 pm, pretty much a whole pig was butchered and people ate huge hunks of... cooked pig, with sauce, as... a snack?! What do you even call that? Second dinner? It was good but it was a little unexpected... a cat came later to eat at part of the pig's spine that was on the floor and was pretty happy. But seriously, it was part of a pig's spine. What is going on...
And then, of course, around 3 am, people started making huge vats of ramen. Ah yes, Korean drinking culture is always consistent. I met a few of the Korean IYC members, so I hope I can meet up with them later and become friends? As far as the international students... most were too drunk. HAHA.
Finally found a place to sleep around 5 am... you'd think there are lots of places to sleep, but the music was blaring and people were passed out or still drinking in even the nooks and crannies... X_X
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SUNDAY
Woke up at 9 am, wandered blearily out. Looks like it is the morning after a miniature apocalypse. Am I this much of a newbie to drunk college kids? Yes.
Because I found myself avoiding: a cat, pieces of pork over the floor, ramen noodles, people's clothes, shoes, socks, phones, cameras, still sleeping people, used cups and bowls and spoons, empty soju beer and makgolli bottles...
and everyone who was awake wasn't even really cleaning, but more like sitting next to each other in hung-over solidarity, in the quiet. Aw, peace at last?
After a quick cleaning up that did very little, we left and went back to Yonsei (surprise, early for the first time!) 11 am. Rest for me? Oh no, have to get ready to tutor (thanks to Jen I got a tutoring job that pays well, WOOT!). So I ate lunch to wake up, took a short nap, went to tutor, came back, fell asleep. Couldn't even go to church. :(
MONDAY: Haven't recovered fom the M.T. yet, I'm trudging through class and am coming down with a cold. I go tutor once again.
TUESDAY: Picked up by my mom uncle and grandma! Going to uncle's house! We stopped at a 두부촌 in Gimpo and had lunch, then went to the house. Mom and Grandma proceeded to start making the ingredients for bindehdduk and then I proceeded to make a huge pile of it. :) Dinner was bindehdduk, pretty much. LOL.
TODAY: Had 갈비 for lunch, with binddehdduk and other stuff. Yum. Went to Ganghwa-do, an island about 40 minutes away from Gimpo. A historical place because it still has the fortresses that Korea built against American forces in 1871. Essentiallly, America wanted to force Korea to trade, but Korea, being completely xenophobic at the time, wasn't having it.
Dinner will be 냉면 and 고구마 for dessert. Homemade food = happyyy
Since the party fail on Friday I went on the International Yonsei Community's M.T. and it was insanity. We left at 2:30 pm and went to Hanbok Goong in Gyeonggi-do for a night. After arriving, teaching the newbies drinking games (well, in my opinion, they are just games that can be used for drinking. The watermelon game seems pretty innocent, in my opinion) and watching people swim in the HUGE swimming pool, IYC tried to get us into groups and to play couple dodgeball, but it was largely a fail because everyone wanted to drink. So after a dinner of bulgogi and rice at 5 pm and failed attempts at group games at 6:30 pm... people settled into their groups to drink at like... 8 pm. -___- (And then some people proceeded to go all night. Wah-ow.)
I, being a light-weight and not a fan of drunkenness, drank a little 막걸리 during the games and ate Honey Twists (FTW!) and then just wandered around. Randomly, around 10 pm, pretty much a whole pig was butchered and people ate huge hunks of... cooked pig, with sauce, as... a snack?! What do you even call that? Second dinner? It was good but it was a little unexpected... a cat came later to eat at part of the pig's spine that was on the floor and was pretty happy. But seriously, it was part of a pig's spine. What is going on...
And then, of course, around 3 am, people started making huge vats of ramen. Ah yes, Korean drinking culture is always consistent. I met a few of the Korean IYC members, so I hope I can meet up with them later and become friends? As far as the international students... most were too drunk. HAHA.
Finally found a place to sleep around 5 am... you'd think there are lots of places to sleep, but the music was blaring and people were passed out or still drinking in even the nooks and crannies... X_X
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SUNDAY
Woke up at 9 am, wandered blearily out. Looks like it is the morning after a miniature apocalypse. Am I this much of a newbie to drunk college kids? Yes.
Because I found myself avoiding: a cat, pieces of pork over the floor, ramen noodles, people's clothes, shoes, socks, phones, cameras, still sleeping people, used cups and bowls and spoons, empty soju beer and makgolli bottles...
and everyone who was awake wasn't even really cleaning, but more like sitting next to each other in hung-over solidarity, in the quiet. Aw, peace at last?
After a quick cleaning up that did very little, we left and went back to Yonsei (surprise, early for the first time!) 11 am. Rest for me? Oh no, have to get ready to tutor (thanks to Jen I got a tutoring job that pays well, WOOT!). So I ate lunch to wake up, took a short nap, went to tutor, came back, fell asleep. Couldn't even go to church. :(
MONDAY: Haven't recovered fom the M.T. yet, I'm trudging through class and am coming down with a cold. I go tutor once again.
TUESDAY: Picked up by my mom uncle and grandma! Going to uncle's house! We stopped at a 두부촌 in Gimpo and had lunch, then went to the house. Mom and Grandma proceeded to start making the ingredients for bindehdduk and then I proceeded to make a huge pile of it. :) Dinner was bindehdduk, pretty much. LOL.
TODAY: Had 갈비 for lunch, with binddehdduk and other stuff. Yum. Went to Ganghwa-do, an island about 40 minutes away from Gimpo. A historical place because it still has the fortresses that Korea built against American forces in 1871. Essentiallly, America wanted to force Korea to trade, but Korea, being completely xenophobic at the time, wasn't having it.
Dinner will be 냉면 and 고구마 for dessert. Homemade food = happyyy
Friday, September 17, 2010
Party Fail...
I and a friend, Courtney (from Montana), left SK Global around 9:40 to go to the Sky Lounge right outside of Gangnam Station Exit 1, but we got there after 10:30 and so the entry fee changed from 10,000 Won to 20,000 Won. And we were like... uh... no...
So we got ice-cream from Baskin Robbins instead!
I felt kind of sad because I had dressed up and even *gasp* worn heels but at the same time, going to a club/lounge/bar with five schools in it for 20,000 Won wasn't that important to me. I more wanted to spend time with my friends. And... I was more depressed that I had spent the energy to dress up, to be honest.
Anyway, Courtney and I had blueberry oatmeal icecream and persimmon icecream and both were good but TRY THE BLUEBERRY OATMEAL so delicious.
Then we left and I ran into a friend from Korean language class, Thomas (from UC Berkeley), on the subway. My friend Mary (from Australia, her accent is awesome and she calls people who are stupids "knobs") texted to ask if I was studying tonight. Which I wasn't but I was like, okay sure for like an hour...
So after I got back I washed up and did some homework with her until 3 am, woke up at 10:40 am, had lunch with Lizzie (a CIEE friend) and I'm now getting ready to depart on the M.T. at 2 pm.
I'm just hoping I can become friends with the Koreans in my group, there are maybe four? In a group of... eleven?
So we got ice-cream from Baskin Robbins instead!
I felt kind of sad because I had dressed up and even *gasp* worn heels but at the same time, going to a club/lounge/bar with five schools in it for 20,000 Won wasn't that important to me. I more wanted to spend time with my friends. And... I was more depressed that I had spent the energy to dress up, to be honest.
Anyway, Courtney and I had blueberry oatmeal icecream and persimmon icecream and both were good but TRY THE BLUEBERRY OATMEAL so delicious.
Then we left and I ran into a friend from Korean language class, Thomas (from UC Berkeley), on the subway. My friend Mary (from Australia, her accent is awesome and she calls people who are stupids "knobs") texted to ask if I was studying tonight. Which I wasn't but I was like, okay sure for like an hour...
So after I got back I washed up and did some homework with her until 3 am, woke up at 10:40 am, had lunch with Lizzie (a CIEE friend) and I'm now getting ready to depart on the M.T. at 2 pm.
I'm just hoping I can become friends with the Koreans in my group, there are maybe four? In a group of... eleven?
MY MOM IS COMING!!! ^-^
My mom is arriving in Korea tonight!
FOR THE WIN FTW TO THE MAX YAAAAAAAY WHOOOOOO
FOR THE WIN FTW TO THE MAX YAAAAAAAY WHOOOOOO
Tonight, Gangnam. Tomorrow, IYC M.T.
Tonight I will be venturing into Gangnam for a huge party that is having internationals from five schools (Korea, Ewha, Yonsei, who knows who else? Communication is unclear, as always). If we go before 10:30 we pay less so I'm going with a bunch of people at nine.
I am looking forward to this experience, because unlike the dance style in fraternities, sororities, bars and clubs, there will be no grinding or even male to female contact, ladies and gentlemen. Oh no. There won't even be much footwork going on because all the females where massive heels, so I won't even get stepped on. No, tonight will *hopefully* be just be hand raising and maybe a little moving the torso from side to side awkwardly, with no human-to-human contact. Which is great because I hate getting someone's sweat on me. I dislike my own sweat, let along someone else's sweat.
Of course, I'll be better at dancing than anyone else there... because I won't have drunk a single drop. :) And since I'm not looking for a boy, I can enjoy a good old time of just dancing to k-pop *hopefully* and techno. Woot.
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**One of my friends found out her aunt has cancer that has spread through her whole body. Can we keep this aunt in our prayers? The cancer is possibly beyond treatment stage, although it isn't for sure.
**Also, let's remember to keep our nation's leaders and North Korea in our minds!
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TOMORROW
Since I don't plan on staying out too late, tomorrow I'm going to study in the morning and then I'm off to International Yonsei Community Membership Training (the infamous M.T. that is a huge part of Korean college culture.) Although, of course Membership Training is a total misnomer since most M.T.'s end up with extreme drinking and extreme pressure to drink, not training at all. Not really a scenario I would normally willingly sign up for, but I felt like this may be a chance to go out of my comfort zone and still maintain my boundaries. :) After meeting the Koreans in my group I think I'll be fine, they all seem pretty chill. And if all fails, I'm bringing a book. Drinking to get drunk is not something that will ever appeal to me...
before leaving for the M.T. some of the group are going to GrandMart to get food for dinner. I am going to push to get as many apples as possible. I haven't had an apple for soooo loooong!!!
Leaving at 12 for Mart, eating lunch together, 2 pm leaving for the countryside, coming back around 1 pm Sunday. If all goes well. Wish me luck!
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Maroon 5's new album, Hands All Over, is pretty good. I still like Songs About Jane the best though.
I am looking forward to this experience, because unlike the dance style in fraternities, sororities, bars and clubs, there will be no grinding or even male to female contact, ladies and gentlemen. Oh no. There won't even be much footwork going on because all the females where massive heels, so I won't even get stepped on. No, tonight will *hopefully* be just be hand raising and maybe a little moving the torso from side to side awkwardly, with no human-to-human contact. Which is great because I hate getting someone's sweat on me. I dislike my own sweat, let along someone else's sweat.
Of course, I'll be better at dancing than anyone else there... because I won't have drunk a single drop. :) And since I'm not looking for a boy, I can enjoy a good old time of just dancing to k-pop *hopefully* and techno. Woot.
_______________________________________
**One of my friends found out her aunt has cancer that has spread through her whole body. Can we keep this aunt in our prayers? The cancer is possibly beyond treatment stage, although it isn't for sure.
**Also, let's remember to keep our nation's leaders and North Korea in our minds!
________________________________________
TOMORROW
Since I don't plan on staying out too late, tomorrow I'm going to study in the morning and then I'm off to International Yonsei Community Membership Training (the infamous M.T. that is a huge part of Korean college culture.) Although, of course Membership Training is a total misnomer since most M.T.'s end up with extreme drinking and extreme pressure to drink, not training at all. Not really a scenario I would normally willingly sign up for, but I felt like this may be a chance to go out of my comfort zone and still maintain my boundaries. :) After meeting the Koreans in my group I think I'll be fine, they all seem pretty chill. And if all fails, I'm bringing a book. Drinking to get drunk is not something that will ever appeal to me...
before leaving for the M.T. some of the group are going to GrandMart to get food for dinner. I am going to push to get as many apples as possible. I haven't had an apple for soooo loooong!!!
Leaving at 12 for Mart, eating lunch together, 2 pm leaving for the countryside, coming back around 1 pm Sunday. If all goes well. Wish me luck!
______________________________________________
Maroon 5's new album, Hands All Over, is pretty good. I still like Songs About Jane the best though.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Things to Do...
It is so strange but even though I'm not at Wellesley I still feel like I'm behind... something.
Behind because I haven't been able to go to church yet. So I haven't gotten plugged into the church community here yet. (I tried to go via clubs but one of them meets during my Samulnori club, the other one had meetings during my Korean language class.)
Behind because I still don't know if I want to pursue an econ minor or try and get a teaching certificate from Wellesley.
Behind because I want to meet people but I never really want to do the same thing other people I meet want to do (go out late)... I haven't found people who I really click with yet... I think I'm spoiled at Wellesley.
Behind because I still don't know what I want to do with my life, and my regular prayer time has been irregular as of late.
Behind because there are so many Korean words I must memorize, because I haven't read the book for my Pre-Modern Korean History class yet (I don't want to buy the book but because I lose my student ID card I can't go to the library yet), because I'm always wondering what others are doing when I'm alone in my room reading. It's hard to know what is going on because Yonsei doesn't have any sort of comprehensive system that tells students what is going on.
Behind because I want to join the art club here, or the calligraphy club, or the club that discusses current politics, but I have to open a cyworld to get their info and I haven't done that yet. I guess I'll do that after finishing this post.
I'm really just astonished that, even though I have more time here than at Wellesley, I don't feel more rested but rather like I never really know what I'm doing. Yonsei, why do you not have a central communication system? X_X
I like it here but I miss my friends and my brother and sister being so close by...
Behind because I haven't been able to go to church yet. So I haven't gotten plugged into the church community here yet. (I tried to go via clubs but one of them meets during my Samulnori club, the other one had meetings during my Korean language class.)
Behind because I still don't know if I want to pursue an econ minor or try and get a teaching certificate from Wellesley.
Behind because I want to meet people but I never really want to do the same thing other people I meet want to do (go out late)... I haven't found people who I really click with yet... I think I'm spoiled at Wellesley.
Behind because I still don't know what I want to do with my life, and my regular prayer time has been irregular as of late.
Behind because there are so many Korean words I must memorize, because I haven't read the book for my Pre-Modern Korean History class yet (I don't want to buy the book but because I lose my student ID card I can't go to the library yet), because I'm always wondering what others are doing when I'm alone in my room reading. It's hard to know what is going on because Yonsei doesn't have any sort of comprehensive system that tells students what is going on.
Behind because I want to join the art club here, or the calligraphy club, or the club that discusses current politics, but I have to open a cyworld to get their info and I haven't done that yet. I guess I'll do that after finishing this post.
I'm really just astonished that, even though I have more time here than at Wellesley, I don't feel more rested but rather like I never really know what I'm doing. Yonsei, why do you not have a central communication system? X_X
I like it here but I miss my friends and my brother and sister being so close by...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My Second Korean Concert! (First one was the Wonder Girls, in NYC in March 2009)
Because I'm a "foreigner" I and my friends were able to get free tickets to the Hallyu Dream Festival Concert. September 12, 7:00 pm. Gyeong Ju Citizen Stadium. Oh yeah, baby. Drawback? The place is about 4.5 hours away from Yonsei. T_T
I'm not going to write out the logistics of transporting eleven people to Gyeong ju and back in a day, but let's just say that (praise the Lord) everything thankfully went smoothly. We left in the morning. Went to Express Bus Terminal. Took a bus to Gyeongju, which did take about 4.5 hours. Got in line, got our tickets...
started seeing celebrities come out of their extremely, extremely, extremely dark tinted cars (Taemin of SHINee is so cute, he is so smiley and waved very enthusiastically. I hate that I'm writing about this when I'm 20 years old)...
heard screaming fans, saw tweens running around, felt old but also resolute to see this out to the end and see SHINee perform before I'm 22 (I was with people older than me and there were definitely ahjummas in the line so I wasn't out of place even though I got really exasperated at all the girls screaming all the time when anyone came out of a car. So many false alarms!)...
bought a 4,000 Won pair of plastic binoculars because I was afraid I'd really regret not buying them once I was in the stands (I ended up buying a poncho too because it rained some)...
was told to go to this line, no that line, wait get out of the way the huge bus is moving and is going to mow down some 200 fans if we don't all move out of the way (some fans are ASKING to be run over. Seriously. These stupi* thirteen year olds stood there like looking vainly for another pop star to come out of the extremely dark [all Hyundai] vans was more important than their lives. The bus was clearly beginning to move and they wouldn't budge. I began to understand why there were hordes of policemen there [yes yes, many many policemen. Even some ROK marines])...
heard the performers practicing in the stage while we were waiting and people watched (some girls are scary, I forgot how scary crazed teens are. Teens and their hormones, thank God that stage of my life is over)...
and voila, entrance! Voila, because we miraculously butted the line early enough that people didn't do anything, we sat in the best possible spot in our block! Voila, there is no real food available so we must live off chips but who cares, I am finally, finally going to see SHINee, Se7en, and 2NE1 perform!
Suffice to say the concert was awesome. The waiting sucked. But wow, even though I diss K-Pop for its lack of... well, quality, and labor regulations, and undertalented and underaged people taking the stage... my fervor has been renewed!
And yes, thank you for wondering. I will indeed continue studying diligently--what I mean is that I will listen to K-Pop more, again (I have been on a non-K-Pop streak, actually. I've been listening to trip-hop and electronic...)
Performers are way better in real life. Gikwang of B2st is so cute. I now like F.T. Island. Se7en is awesome, as expected. Onew's mic didn't record his voice so SHINee performed Lucifer twice. ^-^ I type that calmly here, but yes, I was going nuts at my good fortune. They also performed Ring Ding Dong. So three song perfs by them, woot! They were third to last, only before Super Junior and Se7en, so that tells you how much their popularity has grown. Not a big fan of 2PM although I like them, but seeing Taec's shenanigans as MC was nice. Good to know he's still the goofy person he was back when I met him at the Wonder Girls' Concert. Wish f(x) was there. Davichi sang very well! I saw miss A on Saturday, I'm glad I saw them close-up since I think they all have great voices. 2NE1 is... well, very, very marketable in my opinion. I think CL is as rad as ever, but after seeing this perf. the thing I thought was wow, they could really break into the American market, if anyone can.
If you are surprised at how calm this post sounds, now that I have been within 500 meters of my love, Choi Minho, and was breathing almost the same air as him, I am surprised with you. What can I say? I'll annoy everyone, including myself, if I unleash my feelings via blog. I will just close by saying the waiting and commute back was definitely worth it. SHINee is great live, everyone is so much more impressive live, and I'm glad I could experience a huge concert like that even if half the audience should have been in bed by 8 pm.
So long K-Pop stars. Until next time?
^-^V
I'm not going to write out the logistics of transporting eleven people to Gyeong ju and back in a day, but let's just say that (praise the Lord) everything thankfully went smoothly. We left in the morning. Went to Express Bus Terminal. Took a bus to Gyeongju, which did take about 4.5 hours. Got in line, got our tickets...
started seeing celebrities come out of their extremely, extremely, extremely dark tinted cars (Taemin of SHINee is so cute, he is so smiley and waved very enthusiastically. I hate that I'm writing about this when I'm 20 years old)...
heard screaming fans, saw tweens running around, felt old but also resolute to see this out to the end and see SHINee perform before I'm 22 (I was with people older than me and there were definitely ahjummas in the line so I wasn't out of place even though I got really exasperated at all the girls screaming all the time when anyone came out of a car. So many false alarms!)...
bought a 4,000 Won pair of plastic binoculars because I was afraid I'd really regret not buying them once I was in the stands (I ended up buying a poncho too because it rained some)...
was told to go to this line, no that line, wait get out of the way the huge bus is moving and is going to mow down some 200 fans if we don't all move out of the way (some fans are ASKING to be run over. Seriously. These stupi* thirteen year olds stood there like looking vainly for another pop star to come out of the extremely dark [all Hyundai] vans was more important than their lives. The bus was clearly beginning to move and they wouldn't budge. I began to understand why there were hordes of policemen there [yes yes, many many policemen. Even some ROK marines])...
heard the performers practicing in the stage while we were waiting and people watched (some girls are scary, I forgot how scary crazed teens are. Teens and their hormones, thank God that stage of my life is over)...
and voila, entrance! Voila, because we miraculously butted the line early enough that people didn't do anything, we sat in the best possible spot in our block! Voila, there is no real food available so we must live off chips but who cares, I am finally, finally going to see SHINee, Se7en, and 2NE1 perform!
Suffice to say the concert was awesome. The waiting sucked. But wow, even though I diss K-Pop for its lack of... well, quality, and labor regulations, and undertalented and underaged people taking the stage... my fervor has been renewed!
And yes, thank you for wondering. I will indeed continue studying diligently--what I mean is that I will listen to K-Pop more, again (I have been on a non-K-Pop streak, actually. I've been listening to trip-hop and electronic...)
Performers are way better in real life. Gikwang of B2st is so cute. I now like F.T. Island. Se7en is awesome, as expected. Onew's mic didn't record his voice so SHINee performed Lucifer twice. ^-^ I type that calmly here, but yes, I was going nuts at my good fortune. They also performed Ring Ding Dong. So three song perfs by them, woot! They were third to last, only before Super Junior and Se7en, so that tells you how much their popularity has grown. Not a big fan of 2PM although I like them, but seeing Taec's shenanigans as MC was nice. Good to know he's still the goofy person he was back when I met him at the Wonder Girls' Concert. Wish f(x) was there. Davichi sang very well! I saw miss A on Saturday, I'm glad I saw them close-up since I think they all have great voices. 2NE1 is... well, very, very marketable in my opinion. I think CL is as rad as ever, but after seeing this perf. the thing I thought was wow, they could really break into the American market, if anyone can.
If you are surprised at how calm this post sounds, now that I have been within 500 meters of my love, Choi Minho, and was breathing almost the same air as him, I am surprised with you. What can I say? I'll annoy everyone, including myself, if I unleash my feelings via blog. I will just close by saying the waiting and commute back was definitely worth it. SHINee is great live, everyone is so much more impressive live, and I'm glad I could experience a huge concert like that even if half the audience should have been in bed by 8 pm.
So long K-Pop stars. Until next time?
^-^V
Korean Global Forum, Korean International Art Fair and Yon-Go Jun
THURSDAY 9/9
선공! I was successfully on time to the Korean Global Forum last Thursday, and was able to interview the guy from Germany, Matthias something (don't have the business card with me now...sorry), without revealing just how nervous and inexperienced I was.
The KGF was mostly in English, woot! They have these interesting headpieces that simultaneously translate though, that many people were using... very cool. Our past Secretary of Defence, Secretary Cohen was the keynote speaker. I have to admit I felt pretty cool--I was without a doubt one of the youngest, if not the youngest, person in the whole place. :)
After listening to some speeches and Q&A, we had lunch (which was amazing, I took the menu with me hahaaa just because Shilla Hotel is a very nice hotel and yes I was allowed to take the menu I didn't steal it)
and then it was show time. I had prepared a few questions beforehand, which is what I used to open up. Unfortunately, although I was supposed to interview the actual German Ambassador, he didn't end up making it to KGF for some reason, whether he was late, got sick, wasn't coming, or something of that nature... which is why I interviewed an Advisor from the embassy instead.
The interview was about 10 minutes. Once I have the write-up I'll post it here, in case anyone is interested in what I asked and in what he said. He was surprisingly young, actually.
__________________________________________________
FRIDAY 9/10
friday
Got to CoEx Mall by 11, ate amazingly delicious pizza at Mr. Pizza with Sehee unni, looked around the Korean International Art Fair (SO COOL YAY art by Asian artists!) that was being shown there, had 설렁탕 for dinner and left. Pouring, pouring rain. Had to grab a cuppa in the Charlie Brown cafe next to Ewha University because it was pouring so much.
The cool thing about KIAF was the special exhibit of video art! The first video artist was Nam June Paik, a Korean-born but NY-based artist. I didn't even know about video art until I went there are saw it myself. Wish I could've recorded some of it for you all but that would be an epic no-no. Most artists don't want people to take pics of their stuff anyway. But if you are interested in more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik
Today was also the first day of Yon-Go Jeon, the epic battle of sports teams between Yonsei and Korea Universities. Of course Korea is still a weensy bit behind on the gender front and thus only the guys' teams played. >_< However, art takes precedence over sports any day! I did see a huge group of supporters from both schools enter CoEx right as I was leaving though, to grab some dinner and then party in the area, I presume.
SATURDAY 9/11
Deciding not to be a pooper I went to the soccer game, the last game of Yon-Go Jeon, with my Yonsei Mentor, 태웅. Being a completely newbie and wet behind the ears, I was taken aback when I first entered the stadium. Half blue. Half red. Chanting, dancing, singing, shouting, stomping... wow Akaraka people work hard! (The cheering squad.) It was fun because
A. My mentor is really into the chants. Like really. It was funny.
B. I ran into my study abroad friends, and they were half exhausted, half into it. It was funny.
C. Some members of Akaraka dress up in these weird semi-European fruity costumes and are on these small stages at strategic areas to lead the crowd on. Watching them was entertaining.
It was a little uncomfy because
A. Lots of the chants include bumping hips or putting our arms around each other's shoulders. AKA I got people's sweat on me and my sweat was on them. Gross.
B. Everyone is sweating. Koreans don't have B.O. exactly, but it was getting there. Maybe because I was in the international section.
C. I didn't know the chants. And I was tired. Did I mention that in Korea...
they
are
constantly
cheering?
CONSTANTLY.
How am I supposed to watch the game? Oh wait, I can't. I have to stand and be awk and watch the game and seem awk because everyone else is cavorting around, or I have to do the cheers and not watch the game.
I don't mean to say it wasn't entertaining or fun, but it is def. a workout. I respect Akaraka members so much.
I like that Yon-Go Jeon is about friendly competition. Some of blue to go to red side (AKA Yonsei to Korea's side, or Eagle to Tiger's side), some red come to blue side, we switch cheering teams at the opening ceremony to cheer for each other... yeah it is nice! People in America get knifed because they go to the wrong school (sad but true T_T) but here it was pretty friendly. No booing, dissing, threatening, etc...
like! But yes, tiring.
Closing ceremony of Yon-Go Jeon: miss A came and performed! But before that I had to stand, waiting, for two hours X_X The concert began at 7 pm but of course there were random performers, and of course no one really knew who was performing or why or how and when or in what order or to what degree... okay I am exaggerating... but yes communication on Yonsei's campus is next to nil, I never know when anything is going on and no one else does either. It is lame. >_< Miss A was awesome though! Like them a lot, they are very talented and cute.
선공! I was successfully on time to the Korean Global Forum last Thursday, and was able to interview the guy from Germany, Matthias something (don't have the business card with me now...sorry), without revealing just how nervous and inexperienced I was.
The KGF was mostly in English, woot! They have these interesting headpieces that simultaneously translate though, that many people were using... very cool. Our past Secretary of Defence, Secretary Cohen was the keynote speaker. I have to admit I felt pretty cool--I was without a doubt one of the youngest, if not the youngest, person in the whole place. :)
After listening to some speeches and Q&A, we had lunch (which was amazing, I took the menu with me hahaaa just because Shilla Hotel is a very nice hotel and yes I was allowed to take the menu I didn't steal it)
and then it was show time. I had prepared a few questions beforehand, which is what I used to open up. Unfortunately, although I was supposed to interview the actual German Ambassador, he didn't end up making it to KGF for some reason, whether he was late, got sick, wasn't coming, or something of that nature... which is why I interviewed an Advisor from the embassy instead.
The interview was about 10 minutes. Once I have the write-up I'll post it here, in case anyone is interested in what I asked and in what he said. He was surprisingly young, actually.
__________________________________________________
FRIDAY 9/10
friday
Got to CoEx Mall by 11, ate amazingly delicious pizza at Mr. Pizza with Sehee unni, looked around the Korean International Art Fair (SO COOL YAY art by Asian artists!) that was being shown there, had 설렁탕 for dinner and left. Pouring, pouring rain. Had to grab a cuppa in the Charlie Brown cafe next to Ewha University because it was pouring so much.
The cool thing about KIAF was the special exhibit of video art! The first video artist was Nam June Paik, a Korean-born but NY-based artist. I didn't even know about video art until I went there are saw it myself. Wish I could've recorded some of it for you all but that would be an epic no-no. Most artists don't want people to take pics of their stuff anyway. But if you are interested in more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik
Today was also the first day of Yon-Go Jeon, the epic battle of sports teams between Yonsei and Korea Universities. Of course Korea is still a weensy bit behind on the gender front and thus only the guys' teams played. >_< However, art takes precedence over sports any day! I did see a huge group of supporters from both schools enter CoEx right as I was leaving though, to grab some dinner and then party in the area, I presume.
SATURDAY 9/11
Deciding not to be a pooper I went to the soccer game, the last game of Yon-Go Jeon, with my Yonsei Mentor, 태웅. Being a completely newbie and wet behind the ears, I was taken aback when I first entered the stadium. Half blue. Half red. Chanting, dancing, singing, shouting, stomping... wow Akaraka people work hard! (The cheering squad.) It was fun because
A. My mentor is really into the chants. Like really. It was funny.
B. I ran into my study abroad friends, and they were half exhausted, half into it. It was funny.
C. Some members of Akaraka dress up in these weird semi-European fruity costumes and are on these small stages at strategic areas to lead the crowd on. Watching them was entertaining.
It was a little uncomfy because
A. Lots of the chants include bumping hips or putting our arms around each other's shoulders. AKA I got people's sweat on me and my sweat was on them. Gross.
B. Everyone is sweating. Koreans don't have B.O. exactly, but it was getting there. Maybe because I was in the international section.
C. I didn't know the chants. And I was tired. Did I mention that in Korea...
they
are
constantly
cheering?
CONSTANTLY.
How am I supposed to watch the game? Oh wait, I can't. I have to stand and be awk and watch the game and seem awk because everyone else is cavorting around, or I have to do the cheers and not watch the game.
I don't mean to say it wasn't entertaining or fun, but it is def. a workout. I respect Akaraka members so much.
I like that Yon-Go Jeon is about friendly competition. Some of blue to go to red side (AKA Yonsei to Korea's side, or Eagle to Tiger's side), some red come to blue side, we switch cheering teams at the opening ceremony to cheer for each other... yeah it is nice! People in America get knifed because they go to the wrong school (sad but true T_T) but here it was pretty friendly. No booing, dissing, threatening, etc...
like! But yes, tiring.
Closing ceremony of Yon-Go Jeon: miss A came and performed! But before that I had to stand, waiting, for two hours X_X The concert began at 7 pm but of course there were random performers, and of course no one really knew who was performing or why or how and when or in what order or to what degree... okay I am exaggerating... but yes communication on Yonsei's campus is next to nil, I never know when anything is going on and no one else does either. It is lame. >_< Miss A was awesome though! Like them a lot, they are very talented and cute.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Samulnori
After school I went to the first meeting of Tteh (떼) which is a samulnori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samul_nori) club. I played the jang-gu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janggu) a little bit.
I'm sad to say this but Korean drumming just isn't the same as taiko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko), Japanese drumming. With taiko you have a big drum in front of you and you use gravity with your arm motion. With jang-gu the places you hit is on the sides... it just isn't as fulfilling. Or stress relieving. Not sure I'm going to join this club...
I'm sad to say this but Korean drumming just isn't the same as taiko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko), Japanese drumming. With taiko you have a big drum in front of you and you use gravity with your arm motion. With jang-gu the places you hit is on the sides... it just isn't as fulfilling. Or stress relieving. Not sure I'm going to join this club...
Monday, September 6, 2010
I am interviewing the German Ambassador Johannes Regenbrecht this Thursday...
...and I have to come up questions to ask about "The Korean Question in a Regional and Global Context". The interview will last about 10 minutes and I am representing the Ministry of Unification (I found out I do have to dress up, I knew it) and, in my opinion, myself, my family, Wellesley, and America. Maybe even Yonsei. How Grace and the other girls of the volunteer team did the radio interviews so coolly I will never know...
I guess I will ask something about whether the Ambassador sees similarities between the division of Germany in the past and the division of Korea but I'm going to have to brush up on my European history before Thursday, that's for sure. Anyone have ideas? Anyone know Germany and its culture and mentality and history reallyyy well? Your help would be great, thanks.
I've met the Governor of Gyeonggi-do, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Unification, people working in the Ministry, and now will meet the German Ambassador plus, possibly, others. I feel like I should be awesome to have met these people but I'm still so confused as to how I got here LOL. And now I have to brush up on my North Korean history and German history...
I guess I will ask something about whether the Ambassador sees similarities between the division of Germany in the past and the division of Korea but I'm going to have to brush up on my European history before Thursday, that's for sure. Anyone have ideas? Anyone know Germany and its culture and mentality and history reallyyy well? Your help would be great, thanks.
I've met the Governor of Gyeonggi-do, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Unification, people working in the Ministry, and now will meet the German Ambassador plus, possibly, others. I feel like I should be awesome to have met these people but I'm still so confused as to how I got here LOL. And now I have to brush up on my North Korean history and German history...
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Feet-eating Fishies
Warning: Possible queasiness may occur.
I went to Gangnam today with a bunch of CIEE friends for one thing, and one thing only. To hunt down Dr. Fish. What is Dr. Fish, you ask? It is the name a cafe has given to its pool of fish that eats the dead skin off of your feet.
I retype, there is a cafe in Gangnam, about 150 feet from exit 6 and a little past Paris Croissant, on the second floor, that has patbingsoo, gelato, tea, drinks, self-serve bread AKA all you can eat bread... and a small pool in which you put your feet. A pool that is filled with maybe fifty fish about as long as your fingers, with gaping little mouths opening and closing, aching for the chance to eat your ddeh.
I do not know WHY Dr. Fish is in a cafe, of all places, or HOW they got this idea, but I do know that my feet were the most POPULAR feet in the small rectangular pool! There were four other pairs of feet but wherever my feet went they would come. Am I particularly tasty? Are my feet particularly attractive? I do not know...
Let's just say it is super creepy to have little fish eating your dead skin. It is really ticklish and doesn't hurt at all, but... for goodness sake, there are silvery fish as big as my fingers swarming around my feet. And yes, that is the whole point but I didn't know how weird it would be until I did it. I was alternating between screaming through clenched teeth and digging my fingers into my roommate's arm (she was next to me). I couldn't look the whole time. Thanks to a certain male someone who was there, however, I couldn't stop freaking out because his commentary was something like this: "Wow Christine! There are so many fish around your feet! Wherever you go they're following you! Whoa that is a really, really big fish at your toe. They are going crazy!" And then of course I imagined it even if I wasn't seeing it and I'd freak out all over again. X_X (My roommate tried to pretend they were kissing her. That didn't help me, though.)
After having our feet in the pool for about 15 minutes, we got out, rinsed our feet, put on our shoes again, and left the cafe. Yep, just another group of people in and out. Not like we had living creatures which live off of people's dead skin cells eat our flesh or anything...
But of course, now that I've done it, I'm happy I did it and think everyone should try it. Cultural experience? Not necessarily, I doubt this is widespread in Korea. But still, you're not going to find a cafe with flesh-nibbling fish anywhere in America, I'm sure.
Pictures to come :D (Said male friend took a short video too. If he puts it on YouTube I will share it with you.)
I went to Gangnam today with a bunch of CIEE friends for one thing, and one thing only. To hunt down Dr. Fish. What is Dr. Fish, you ask? It is the name a cafe has given to its pool of fish that eats the dead skin off of your feet.
I retype, there is a cafe in Gangnam, about 150 feet from exit 6 and a little past Paris Croissant, on the second floor, that has patbingsoo, gelato, tea, drinks, self-serve bread AKA all you can eat bread... and a small pool in which you put your feet. A pool that is filled with maybe fifty fish about as long as your fingers, with gaping little mouths opening and closing, aching for the chance to eat your ddeh.
I do not know WHY Dr. Fish is in a cafe, of all places, or HOW they got this idea, but I do know that my feet were the most POPULAR feet in the small rectangular pool! There were four other pairs of feet but wherever my feet went they would come. Am I particularly tasty? Are my feet particularly attractive? I do not know...
Let's just say it is super creepy to have little fish eating your dead skin. It is really ticklish and doesn't hurt at all, but... for goodness sake, there are silvery fish as big as my fingers swarming around my feet. And yes, that is the whole point but I didn't know how weird it would be until I did it. I was alternating between screaming through clenched teeth and digging my fingers into my roommate's arm (she was next to me). I couldn't look the whole time. Thanks to a certain male someone who was there, however, I couldn't stop freaking out because his commentary was something like this: "Wow Christine! There are so many fish around your feet! Wherever you go they're following you! Whoa that is a really, really big fish at your toe. They are going crazy!" And then of course I imagined it even if I wasn't seeing it and I'd freak out all over again. X_X (My roommate tried to pretend they were kissing her. That didn't help me, though.)
After having our feet in the pool for about 15 minutes, we got out, rinsed our feet, put on our shoes again, and left the cafe. Yep, just another group of people in and out. Not like we had living creatures which live off of people's dead skin cells eat our flesh or anything...
But of course, now that I've done it, I'm happy I did it and think everyone should try it. Cultural experience? Not necessarily, I doubt this is widespread in Korea. But still, you're not going to find a cafe with flesh-nibbling fish anywhere in America, I'm sure.
Pictures to come :D (Said male friend took a short video too. If he puts it on YouTube I will share it with you.)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday night series of unfortunate events; Meeting with 상생 기자단
Since the first day of school I have gone to classes, finished reading a book loosely based on the history of witchcraft trials in Massachusetts ("The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" [I also finished "The Time Traveler's Wife" last week... can anyone tell I have a lot of spare time so far?]), sat in on random classes, gone to a business class that has a crazy professor and is so filled with males that the smell of cologne almost knocked me out (was it all the guys? just one guy? the teacher? it was so strong why are these boys like old ladies who put on too much perfume because their sense of smell is fading?), marveled at how cheap the books are here, realized how much America rips off college students, finally got in touch with Neda, Dixon, and Emma, *almost* finalized my schedule, and met many new people.
Korean language class is going well, the set up of the class is exactly like at Wellesley. So this either means Professor Eun-Jo Lee learned how to teach here, or there is a universal way of efficiently teaching Korean, or the Yonsei books we use force teachers to teach a certain way, or Yonsei is of better caliber than expected, or I'm just awesome. Maybe all of these? :D
I want to buy Yonsei books 5 and 6 and bring them back to Wellesley. Each is only 30,000 원, AKA cheaper than from the Wellesley bookstore by about $20.
Friday night I attempted to expand my I-know-you-by-face-and-if-I-focus-can-remember-your-name group by hanging out with my roommate's friends. While my roommate couldn't come because she had a special Vietnamese get-together she felt she shouldn't miss, I and five other girls left SK Global House *kind of* dressed up in order to eat at a "classy" restaurant in CoEx Mall (apparently there are some nice restaurants there?) for a girl's night out.
We left too late (some girls were late). The traffic was bad. The taxi driver might have taken the long way, we'll never know. CoEx was almost all closed. We ended up eating at a cheap place (still good food, but not "classy".) There is a lounge where we could just chill in InterContinental Hotel in the area, but there are two parts and we went to the wrong part. We had to walk back for about 15 minutes, and after getting slightly lost a couple times, found the lounge. By then we were afraid we wouldn't get back to Shinchon before the subway closes (it closes around 12:15 am. Wherever you are at that time you have to get off) so we took a quick peek into the lounge and had to leave. Some girls had high heels on and were in pain :( We got on the subway. The subway stopped early than expected, and we were six stops away from SK Global House. We had to get a taxi. Fare is more expensive after midnight. We finally got back to SK Global after a cheap meal and lots of (sadly) wasted time. I'm glad I met the girls though and that we got back safely!
_______________________________________________________________
SATURDAY
Meeting with the 상생 기자단 and someone from 통일부 who is going to teach us about... stuff. (Not sure.)
10:30 am. Leave SK Global.
11:30 am. Arrive at place, meet 정환 오빠 at 온수역, 6 출구. Take bus and get to the meeting place, 서서울생활과학고등학교. Meet some new people who didn't come on the 3박4일 trip.
1:00 pm. Have been waiting with about four other people for 1.5 hours. Where is everyone?
1:15 pm. A few more people come. We have to begin. I don't know what's going on. I thought we were getting a presentation from a 통일부 representative?
1:16-3:45 pm. Talk about... stuff. Not sure. Momentarily meet some old guy, whom I don't know. Get a short presentation from another guy about the school we're in. Apparently the 상생기자단 (not necessarily all of them) are going to be teaching stuff about unification to the high school students attending the school we're in? The thing is, however, the school is some special school that has what amounts to a small museum on North Korean life in the bottom floor. So the students here get a special, in-depth, consistently talked about education on North Korea and unification issues.
3:46 pm. Return from tour of school. I don't understand why this school has specially compiled this stuff on North Korea, but it's cool. I hear people playing basketball... upstairs. Upstairs? Apparently gyms are often upstairs. Doesn't make sense to me, what with the pounding and screeching and thud of feet. Oh well.
3:47-6 pm-ish. I think the 상생기자단 are discussing how to revamp themselves. So many people were late by more than an hour, so many people didn't even come, people had the wrong time written down, people are concerned about their articles and if they need to reevaluate what they're writing... lots of discussion going on. Oh and 준영 언니가 저한테 이번 목요일에 인터뷰같은걸 하고십니 물어봤어. Apparently there is some big 행사 on September 9th in which many ambassadors are coming together to talk about North Korean and unification. (I wish I understood EXACTLY what is going on! Anyone who knows me well knows I am a detailed person. I want to know who these ambassadors are, why they are coming, is this an annual thing, can I meet other ambassadors besides the one I'm interviewing, etc? I guess I will get someone who knows Korean to e-mail 준영 언니 later X_X) Anyway, some of the ambassadors have agreed to be interviewed by us, the student reporters for the Ministry of Unification, and one of them is the German Ambassador. I will be interviewing him, asking English questions.
NOTE: Culture difference? I thought I would have to dress up but I was assured by three different people that in Korea, reporters wear really casual clothing, all the time. So no worries. As long as I don't wear flip-flops. Regardless, I'm representing America, the Ministry of Unification, my family, and Wellesley College, so I'm going to dress up anyway.
CONTINUING ON...
I wondered why I can't interview the ambassador from America but apparently he/she? I must look this up... declined for some reason.
Anyway, this is a great opportunity for me as a representative of the Wellesley/BU team and the Ministry so I agreed to do it even though I'll have to miss class that day. I will get an official excusal note though. I just hope I don't get sick later this semester and regret that missed day when I was healthy...
After much discussion about how to change people's attitude about being tardy and how to make sure the articles are relevant and have the right 목표, (I admit I doodled part of this time because it wasn't really my business anyway) we finally left and I had dinner with three students (all of whom I didn't know before today! Yay new people!) nearby. I don't remember the name of what we ate but you have 삼겹살 or 불고기 that you cook in some sort of broth and then you drain the broth with the oil in it and you eat it with 쌈. The new girls I met: Esther, 나눔, 지현. :D
After going back to Ewha Station I got sidetracked looking for corn (like I always do). Today though, was different--I finally found the vendor that sells two cobs for 2,000 W! YAAAY now I will get my money's worth! Now I can try living on corn for a week and see if I lose weight like Gi Yoon said she did last summer! (HAHA just kidding. Maybe.) ^^
Skip to a few hours ago and I met a girl from Vancouver living in a single on my floor, named Sarah. It is through her, God bless her, I resolved my dilemma: what to do with the other corn cob?! I can only eat one at a time, I was too full! Thankfully, single rooms have fridges. My corn is in there right now. :) Wonder if it will be okay after being cold for hours... I also momentarily went to a billiards place with a couple people from CIEE to visit three other guys from CIEE already there about 1.5 hours ago and now I really want to play. And please note it is Korean pool (billiards), ladies and gentlemen, not actual pool. The one with two red balls, a yellow ball, and a white ball. Someday I will play since the place is just down the street and no one goes there so it is bright and big and clean and empty :D but I just wanted to visit tonight.
___________________________________________________________
Reflection 1: Even though there is the stereotype of Koreans being late for everything, which I don't fully subscribe to, I was surprised at how many people were late or didn't come at all to the meeting. I'm not surprised in that, with about twenty people to be accounted for, people are late, but 1.5 hours late? So late you don't even come? I was a little surprised. Albeit I don't know who the people we met were or how important this new project of teaching high schoolers is, but still.
Reflection 2: I was also a little surprised at how long the discussion went. I understand why it went that long and resigned myself to it, so I don't think I had a bad attitude or misrepresented myself or Wellesley in any way, but yes I didn't know we'd go until 6 pm. So the hours kind of dragged on.
Reflection 3: Probably mentioned this already, but I'm glad for my 상생기자단 friends. Even if they are having problems as a team and stuff, each person is still really awesome and nice and not your typical Korean, I think. I admit I was wary of Korean culture when I first came, thinking I'd be judged for my tan skin, my weight, my American-ness, my clothes, my lack of high heels, etc, but everyone is really nice. And yes, Korea does put a huge emphasis on looks, and yes surgery is rampant, but there are plenty of people who don't care.
Reflection 4: Although I'm comfortable enough on my own now, I wish someone from Wellesley/BU was there. I feel like everything I hear or perceive in Korea is incomplete somehow, because I don't understand 100% of what is being said, because I don't have the 100% right cultural context to take everything in, and because I am still developing my 눈치. So I did listen hard, but yes... lots of today went WHOOSH through my ears.
Reflection 5: Sometimes I hold hands with my friends who are girls here, if they initiate it, because the girls all do that here and it is really normal. What's funny is someone said (after the meeting) oh, in America, don't girls not hold hands? And I responded, yes, but we're in Korea... in America guys and girls hold hands, not really guy and guy or girl and girl (if they're just friends, I mean.) So, I guess it is PDA swap? Instead of the ability to casually hug my friends, I can hold hands and link arms with the girls and... high-five guys, I guess.
Reflection 6: I went to a billiards place with some friends for about half an hour, just to watch, and the ahjumma and ahjussi there loved my friend Phil so much that they gave him his own stick. And cooked potatoes for us. And were just super friendly (although I felt like the ahjumma maybe liked Phil a little TOO much... HAHA). Sometime I'll actually play, I'm better at billiards than actual pool.
Reflection 7: I like living in the city but I don't think I am as at home as I expected. Wellesley is not in downtown Boston, and my neighborhood in Utah is not in downtown Salt Lake. I think I like suburbia... not as noisy or polluted. Right now I wish I could go into the Utah mountains to pray for a day, and read in Snowbird... but I can't, and I have no idea where the nearest park is, or where to go besides a cafe to unwind. Oh, and BTW I found out the Coffee Prince cafe in Hongdae is MAD expensive, like 6,800 W for a cup of Americano (black coffee essentially) and that every person who goes in MUST buy something, no splitting, so... yes. Instead of actually spending a day there like I wanted to I guess I'll just take a brief look someday. Boo.
Current mood: Ambivalent.
Korean language class is going well, the set up of the class is exactly like at Wellesley. So this either means Professor Eun-Jo Lee learned how to teach here, or there is a universal way of efficiently teaching Korean, or the Yonsei books we use force teachers to teach a certain way, or Yonsei is of better caliber than expected, or I'm just awesome. Maybe all of these? :D
I want to buy Yonsei books 5 and 6 and bring them back to Wellesley. Each is only 30,000 원, AKA cheaper than from the Wellesley bookstore by about $20.
Friday night I attempted to expand my I-know-you-by-face-and-if-I-focus-can-remember-your-name group by hanging out with my roommate's friends. While my roommate couldn't come because she had a special Vietnamese get-together she felt she shouldn't miss, I and five other girls left SK Global House *kind of* dressed up in order to eat at a "classy" restaurant in CoEx Mall (apparently there are some nice restaurants there?) for a girl's night out.
We left too late (some girls were late). The traffic was bad. The taxi driver might have taken the long way, we'll never know. CoEx was almost all closed. We ended up eating at a cheap place (still good food, but not "classy".) There is a lounge where we could just chill in InterContinental Hotel in the area, but there are two parts and we went to the wrong part. We had to walk back for about 15 minutes, and after getting slightly lost a couple times, found the lounge. By then we were afraid we wouldn't get back to Shinchon before the subway closes (it closes around 12:15 am. Wherever you are at that time you have to get off) so we took a quick peek into the lounge and had to leave. Some girls had high heels on and were in pain :( We got on the subway. The subway stopped early than expected, and we were six stops away from SK Global House. We had to get a taxi. Fare is more expensive after midnight. We finally got back to SK Global after a cheap meal and lots of (sadly) wasted time. I'm glad I met the girls though and that we got back safely!
_______________________________________________________________
SATURDAY
Meeting with the 상생 기자단 and someone from 통일부 who is going to teach us about... stuff. (Not sure.)
10:30 am. Leave SK Global.
11:30 am. Arrive at place, meet 정환 오빠 at 온수역, 6 출구. Take bus and get to the meeting place, 서서울생활과학고등학교. Meet some new people who didn't come on the 3박4일 trip.
1:00 pm. Have been waiting with about four other people for 1.5 hours. Where is everyone?
1:15 pm. A few more people come. We have to begin. I don't know what's going on. I thought we were getting a presentation from a 통일부 representative?
1:16-3:45 pm. Talk about... stuff. Not sure. Momentarily meet some old guy, whom I don't know. Get a short presentation from another guy about the school we're in. Apparently the 상생기자단 (not necessarily all of them) are going to be teaching stuff about unification to the high school students attending the school we're in? The thing is, however, the school is some special school that has what amounts to a small museum on North Korean life in the bottom floor. So the students here get a special, in-depth, consistently talked about education on North Korea and unification issues.
3:46 pm. Return from tour of school. I don't understand why this school has specially compiled this stuff on North Korea, but it's cool. I hear people playing basketball... upstairs. Upstairs? Apparently gyms are often upstairs. Doesn't make sense to me, what with the pounding and screeching and thud of feet. Oh well.
3:47-6 pm-ish. I think the 상생기자단 are discussing how to revamp themselves. So many people were late by more than an hour, so many people didn't even come, people had the wrong time written down, people are concerned about their articles and if they need to reevaluate what they're writing... lots of discussion going on. Oh and 준영 언니가 저한테 이번 목요일에 인터뷰같은걸 하고십니 물어봤어. Apparently there is some big 행사 on September 9th in which many ambassadors are coming together to talk about North Korean and unification. (I wish I understood EXACTLY what is going on! Anyone who knows me well knows I am a detailed person. I want to know who these ambassadors are, why they are coming, is this an annual thing, can I meet other ambassadors besides the one I'm interviewing, etc? I guess I will get someone who knows Korean to e-mail 준영 언니 later X_X) Anyway, some of the ambassadors have agreed to be interviewed by us, the student reporters for the Ministry of Unification, and one of them is the German Ambassador. I will be interviewing him, asking English questions.
NOTE: Culture difference? I thought I would have to dress up but I was assured by three different people that in Korea, reporters wear really casual clothing, all the time. So no worries. As long as I don't wear flip-flops. Regardless, I'm representing America, the Ministry of Unification, my family, and Wellesley College, so I'm going to dress up anyway.
CONTINUING ON...
I wondered why I can't interview the ambassador from America but apparently he/she? I must look this up... declined for some reason.
Anyway, this is a great opportunity for me as a representative of the Wellesley/BU team and the Ministry so I agreed to do it even though I'll have to miss class that day. I will get an official excusal note though. I just hope I don't get sick later this semester and regret that missed day when I was healthy...
After much discussion about how to change people's attitude about being tardy and how to make sure the articles are relevant and have the right 목표, (I admit I doodled part of this time because it wasn't really my business anyway) we finally left and I had dinner with three students (all of whom I didn't know before today! Yay new people!) nearby. I don't remember the name of what we ate but you have 삼겹살 or 불고기 that you cook in some sort of broth and then you drain the broth with the oil in it and you eat it with 쌈. The new girls I met: Esther, 나눔, 지현. :D
After going back to Ewha Station I got sidetracked looking for corn (like I always do). Today though, was different--I finally found the vendor that sells two cobs for 2,000 W! YAAAY now I will get my money's worth! Now I can try living on corn for a week and see if I lose weight like Gi Yoon said she did last summer! (HAHA just kidding. Maybe.) ^^
Skip to a few hours ago and I met a girl from Vancouver living in a single on my floor, named Sarah. It is through her, God bless her, I resolved my dilemma: what to do with the other corn cob?! I can only eat one at a time, I was too full! Thankfully, single rooms have fridges. My corn is in there right now. :) Wonder if it will be okay after being cold for hours... I also momentarily went to a billiards place with a couple people from CIEE to visit three other guys from CIEE already there about 1.5 hours ago and now I really want to play. And please note it is Korean pool (billiards), ladies and gentlemen, not actual pool. The one with two red balls, a yellow ball, and a white ball. Someday I will play since the place is just down the street and no one goes there so it is bright and big and clean and empty :D but I just wanted to visit tonight.
___________________________________________________________
Reflection 1: Even though there is the stereotype of Koreans being late for everything, which I don't fully subscribe to, I was surprised at how many people were late or didn't come at all to the meeting. I'm not surprised in that, with about twenty people to be accounted for, people are late, but 1.5 hours late? So late you don't even come? I was a little surprised. Albeit I don't know who the people we met were or how important this new project of teaching high schoolers is, but still.
Reflection 2: I was also a little surprised at how long the discussion went. I understand why it went that long and resigned myself to it, so I don't think I had a bad attitude or misrepresented myself or Wellesley in any way, but yes I didn't know we'd go until 6 pm. So the hours kind of dragged on.
Reflection 3: Probably mentioned this already, but I'm glad for my 상생기자단 friends. Even if they are having problems as a team and stuff, each person is still really awesome and nice and not your typical Korean, I think. I admit I was wary of Korean culture when I first came, thinking I'd be judged for my tan skin, my weight, my American-ness, my clothes, my lack of high heels, etc, but everyone is really nice. And yes, Korea does put a huge emphasis on looks, and yes surgery is rampant, but there are plenty of people who don't care.
Reflection 4: Although I'm comfortable enough on my own now, I wish someone from Wellesley/BU was there. I feel like everything I hear or perceive in Korea is incomplete somehow, because I don't understand 100% of what is being said, because I don't have the 100% right cultural context to take everything in, and because I am still developing my 눈치. So I did listen hard, but yes... lots of today went WHOOSH through my ears.
Reflection 5: Sometimes I hold hands with my friends who are girls here, if they initiate it, because the girls all do that here and it is really normal. What's funny is someone said (after the meeting) oh, in America, don't girls not hold hands? And I responded, yes, but we're in Korea... in America guys and girls hold hands, not really guy and guy or girl and girl (if they're just friends, I mean.) So, I guess it is PDA swap? Instead of the ability to casually hug my friends, I can hold hands and link arms with the girls and... high-five guys, I guess.
Reflection 6: I went to a billiards place with some friends for about half an hour, just to watch, and the ahjumma and ahjussi there loved my friend Phil so much that they gave him his own stick. And cooked potatoes for us. And were just super friendly (although I felt like the ahjumma maybe liked Phil a little TOO much... HAHA). Sometime I'll actually play, I'm better at billiards than actual pool.
Reflection 7: I like living in the city but I don't think I am as at home as I expected. Wellesley is not in downtown Boston, and my neighborhood in Utah is not in downtown Salt Lake. I think I like suburbia... not as noisy or polluted. Right now I wish I could go into the Utah mountains to pray for a day, and read in Snowbird... but I can't, and I have no idea where the nearest park is, or where to go besides a cafe to unwind. Oh, and BTW I found out the Coffee Prince cafe in Hongdae is MAD expensive, like 6,800 W for a cup of Americano (black coffee essentially) and that every person who goes in MUST buy something, no splitting, so... yes. Instead of actually spending a day there like I wanted to I guess I'll just take a brief look someday. Boo.
Current mood: Ambivalent.
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