The plane ride over wasn't too bad. I think I only slept about half an hour during the entire flight though.
I met this really nice guy and his wife who were sitting next to me. It was funny how much he and I had in common. He totally freaked out about it. ^_^ It was weird though. So, he attended Yonsei for undergrad and that's where I studied abroad last time; he attended the U of M for one semester for his doctorate and I live in MN; he now attends UW Madison and Beloit is just 45 min. south of there; he is getting his PhD in Education and I majored in Education; his hometown is Daegu and that's where I was born; he is currently living near Dongdaemun and so am I (its near my host family's apt). Weird, right? Anyhow, we exchanged contact info and he said he and his wife would love to help me study Korean.
So, I arrived on the 24th at 4:30 pm Korea time. My friend Jeewon's dad (who arranged my host placement) picked me up at the airport. I didn't know what he looked like, so I waited around for a good half-hour looking to see if anyone was holding a sign with my name on it. Finally, I decided I should call Jeewon. I found some random American man who had a blackberry and asked if it worked in Korea. He said he didn't know and said I could test it and see. It did, and I told Jeewon where I was. Her dad had been waiting at gate A but I was at B.
The car ride to my host family's apartment took quite a long time, as we got stuck in rush hour. I think it took us about 2 - 2.5 to get there! My host family is extremely nice!! The husband got his PhD at UC Irvine, so they lived in California for 6 years. My host father, C.K., is fluent in English; his wife Young will mostly talk to me in Korean, which is good, because that's why I wanted a host family; their son, John (age 9), is near fluent in English; and their daughter Jooeun (aka Nicole) is 5 and doesn't speak any English. She was born in the US, but came back to Korea 2 years ago at age 3. (Their son went through first grade in the US, hence his good English skills.)
host sister and brother
1. Emily, me, Susie 2. Nik, Susie, me, and Emily in Seoul
I also went to Sogang and took my level placement test. I was supposed to have a phone interview, but got mixed up on the time (I switched the time but not the date...) and missed it. Oops. So, I went in and did it in person. I was pretty nervous, but the teacher who interviewed me said I had done very well considering I haven't taken a Korean course in 2 years. I got into level 2. ^^
On Friday my host mom, sister, brother and I ventured out to go the immigration office so I could get my alien registration card. Unfortunately, it seem like EVERY foreigner in Seoul decided to go too... The man there explained that since most universities are starting this coming week, they were really backed up. He told us to come back after the 2nd. Unfortunately, I cannot get a cell phone until I have this card. And not having a cell phone, or a hand phone as they say here, is extremely inconvenient. Arg. Oh well, hopefully soon.
That evening, Nik came over. We ate dinner and watched some tv. I wanted to go to Dongdaemun and we found out that my host mom loves Dongdaemun, so we invited her to come along. She's a pro! - she knew all of the best places to shop. we got back around midnight, so Nik spent the night. The next morning my host dad, host brother, and nik went for a run. After breakfast, we hung out and watched the olympic speed skating. Everyone went crazy!!! Overall, Korea did very well.
Then we went out for lunch and ate shabu shabu. It was sooo good! Then we drove over to the national ice area, where the Korean national speed skating team practices. It was open skating, so Nik, John, and I rented skates. The track was huge! It's hard to grasp how big it is when you see it on tv, but I can't imagine going around it 5 times in 40 seconds. wow. The area was packed with people. Korea has speed skating fever right now, so everyone was learning how to speed skate. You could rent figure skates, the world's crappiest "hockey" skate (essentially cheap rollerblades with dull metal blades) or figure skates. I opted for the crappy hockey skates.... Perhaps a mistake. Nik tried the bowling shoe-esque speed skates. It was really fun though, and it was cool to see little children up to 60 or 70 year olds learning to speed skate!
This country is Kim Yuna CRAZY!
After skating, we went to a mountain located behind gyungbokgung. I can't remember the name... The drive up was beautiful. We didn't stay too long, as it was a bit cloudy and started to rain. my host brother is quite a ham I had plans to meet up with Kyungmoon from SupHo (Korean camp) at 7, so my host parents dropped me off at the subway station and I headed to Sinchon, my old stomping grounds, near Yonsei.
I met up with Kyungmoon, which was really fun! I hadn't seen her in about 6 months, since I-Day up in Bemidji. We wandered around 이대 and ended our night with coldstone ice cream. We got this really good frozen yogurt with crushed almonds and pistachios - something I've not seen in the US. So delicious.
Kyungmoon and me Today, I studied Korean for an hour or so, and then decided to wander around the Dongdaemun-gu area where I live. I took the bus in search of a stationery store, which I found! This area is much more residential and very different from Sinchon. I guess its kind of like suburbia, but still very urban... There is a really nice park across the street that has an inline speed skating track and biking path along a small river. Anyhow, it was fun to go exploring.
apartment complex
pictures of the park across the street from our apartment
After my host family came back from church, I played with my host sister. I taught her how to say "Are you ready" and to answer "yes" or "no." Then I tutored my host brother for an hour or so. He has an English test coming up on the 14th, so he is busy studying for that, although today he put up quite a fight with his mom before he succumbed.
After that I met up with Susie, who has been her since last summer teaching English - she and I went to Korean school together. We were going to meet at Euljiro 3ga, but we were both running late. I got there, and not having a phone started to freak out when she didn't show... I thought maybe she had left or gone to Euljiro 4ga, which sounds really similar... I was looking around for a friendly looking person to see if they'd let me borrow their cell phone (I couldn't find a single pay phone) when she came running up behind me. Whew.
She had been dreading the same thing-that I had gone to Euljiro 4ga. Haha. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner and wandered around near chunggyechong stream. It's been so crazy seeing all these people from MN/the States but hanging out with them in Korea!!! But I'm glad they're all here. ^^
