Since I Last Posted...

Last Friday I met up with my friend JeeWon and we went to dinner. We had donkasu (traditionally breaded fried pork cutlet, but they have other meat options too.) It was my first time eating it and I had kimchi donkasu, which had kimchi and cheese in it. Kimchi and cheese sound like a very bad combo, right? When I ordered it I was unaware there was cheese in it, but it turned out to be pretty good! I was suprised. Saturday two of my friends and I went to the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts for music lessons. They offer lessons in various traditional instruments for foreigners (gayageum, danso, changoo, and samulnori). It only cost W30,000 for two hour lessons every Saturday for two months! Plus, our program has this cultural reimbursement deal, so if we do or attend something that we can justify as cultural we will get reimbursed. ^^ I originally signed up for gayageum lessons because I've wanted to take gayageum lessons since 7th grade, but I switched to changoo because I figured it is something that I already do and I ought to focus on one thing and improve, rather than start something new that I will not be able to continue in the states. However, the changoo class was for beginners so it was a bit too easy, so after class I switch to the Samulnori class which is apparently for more intermediate players. I didn't bother to read the syllabi before I signed up.... oops. Anyhow, it was really fun! On Sunday my roommate Pang and her friend Liz who was visiting from another Yonsei campus decided to go to Ilsan to find this pizza parlor that is owned by the father of a member of some Korean boy band. I just went along for the pizza. Since coming here, I have developed a major addiction to pizza?!... Anyhow, it was a pretty long subway ride, about an hour; it was in the mountains. I counted about 15 ajumas and ajushis (middle aged women and men) in our car all ready in their hiking gear. Ilsan must be a hot spot for hiking! My friend made me take a pic with the cardboard cut of him (I think they said his name is Jinsu)... haha. this guys dad was there and came out and took pics with us too. My friend was VERY excited. There are cardboard cuts of him, posters everywhere, and a table in the back for gifts that fans bring him! We had sweet potato pizza which was actually really good!!!! What else...? On Tuesday my friend and I went to the Korean Sign Language club. It was pretty cool but also intimidating!!!! The first part four of the members performed three interpreted songs which was awesome! I wish I could have taken a video of them. They did a really good job. After that this older lady got up and started talking. Turns out she was the teacher! I thought this was a student run club, but it was actually more of a class. My friend and I were only planning on staying for a little bit because I also had Poongmul club that night, but we ended up staying the whole time because we didn't feel like we could leave in the middle of her lesson. This lady was pretty strict/intimidating... One of the members came over and sat near us to try and help us understand what the teacher was saying. We left class knowing how to say my name is:____ and how to sign the alphabet. It was pretty cool, but hard to learn a language through a language I don't understand. It was really interesting to see the differences between Korea sign and American Sign Language. From the little that I saw and the explinations that I understood, I feel like Korean sign lang. is much more cumbersome than American sign language. It also seems more rigid and there don't seem to be many facial expressions; this all could have just been the teacher though. Wednesday night I went to JUMP, which is a non-verbal martial arts comedy performance. (kind of like Nanta or Tokkebi Storm if any of you know of those). It was pretty good. my roommate was really excited because she got a poster autographed by all the performers. Last night I had samgyupsal (it was actually ohgyupsal - so five layers of fat) for the first time. Its like really thick slices of bacon. It was okay. I ended up getting really sick afterwards... I don't know why; it was really fatty but I only ate three tiny pieces, so about an inch and a half of meat. Anyhow, I don't think I'll be eating samgyupsal again for a while.... This evening the poongmul group I'm in is performing with Ehwa students around Sinchon. I'm not performing, but I'm def. gonna go watch!!! Well, there's my update. See ya!