done with midterms, whew.

First off, my most avid and dedicated reader, my grandpa, had his 94th birthday was on April 10! So Happy birthday Pop!!!

So midterms are over! yay! I did surprisingly better than I thought I might.  I got in the 90%s on both my paper tests and got a good evaluation from my teacher on the oral dialogues and one-on-one interview.

My partner and I weren't the most efficient with our dialogues. Over a span of a week, I think we worked about 7 or 8 hours and averaged about 1 dialogue per hour and a half. We had 8 dialogues to create and memorize... the last four we split between the two of us.  Most other people met once or twice for maybe a total of 2 hours... but, I think it worked out for the best. We felt pretty prepared.

Last Wednesday, we had our oral tests.  Luckily, I had an early time slot, so I was out of school by 10:30 am! I met up with Sarang and we went to TechnoMart and hung around. We looked around a bit, ate lunch, and Sarang talked me into getting my very first manicure.
Honestly, I think that manicures seem like a waste of money, that I could spend on something else more fun or productive, but she paid for almost all of it, so I agreed. It was kinda fun, I'll admit. But the color I ended up with totally reminded me of malibu barbie... As I strongly detest pink, I wasn't too happy. There were so many colors to choose from and since it was kind of overwhelming, I let Sarang choose. Thus, I ended up with hot pink/orange nails.  haha.

So on Wednesday evening, I went to drumming class.  There's this kid who goes to the same University I do, but is a regular student, not a language student.  He can be pretty awkward.  During class, he  lean over and pat me on the leg a few times.  I was wondering why he was touching me.  And during our break time, he took one of the snacks and tried to shove it in my mouth. Awkward.  After class I was really tired and didn't wanna go out with my classmates, so we ended up riding the subway together.  As we were riding, he leaned toward me, way too close, and said, "noona (what boys call older girls), I like you."  In my head, I was like WHAT?!  I kindly told him that I liked him as a friend. He took it kind of hard and kept saying, "you don't like me, you don't like me."  I felt really bad... then he leaned toward me again, really close and told me I had a pimple on my face and stroked my hair.  AH! so weird! And telling a girl she has a zit on her face is certainly not an effective way to woo a girl. Seriously. 

On Thursday, my Korean class had 반말 (banmal) day, or "half talk" day.  Korean has different levels of formality depending on who you are speaking to, so most of the time we learn formal Korean in class, which is used with adults and strangers, but not between friends.  I was really impressed that we were actually formally going to learn banmal, as I've found it rather inconvenient to not know it and talk with Koreans my age. It freaks them out when I talk formally to them.  Anyhow, the rule was that everytime you failed to speak banmal, you had to put a sticker on your face. I think I ended up with the most stickers on my face.  By the end of the day, I had five stickers on my face. Most people had two or three. Banmal is hard! haha!

After class, Sarang came to Sogang and we took pictures around campus and then went to hangout in Hongdae, a nearby area that has lots of fun shops and restaurants etc.

Friday, my class (and the other 2 level classes) took a field trip to Insadong and painted ceramic cups. It was really fun! and a nice break!  The place had transfer images to put on the cups and then we could paint the images. I chose a city scene.  We haven't gotten them back yet, but I wanna see mine!

reading/writing teacher and another classmate

 most of my class and our speaking teacher

After class, I wandered around Insadong with one of my classmates for a bit.  She had to leave and I was wandering around alone and ran into two of the Japanese students, one of whom is in my morning writing class.  I needed to buy a ggwegwari stick, so I took them to "국악길" or the traditional musical street, which was pretty close to where we were.   I like hanging out with my classmates from non-English speaking countries because I'm forced to use my Korean and we're pretty much at the same level.  Its fun to try and get your point across when your common lingua franca is a language you're not fluent in... haha!

I met up with Emily, who came into Seoul, and Sarang at Hongdae at 4 and we went to Eastern.  Emily had a file viewing. I thought I was supposed to have one too, but there was a mis-communication on my part, so I rescheduled for later in the week.  Afterward, we went to the Coffee Prince Cafe, which is the setting for a really popular drama, or mini-series TV show. It was fun, but overly expensive... At least I get to check it off my "to do list".  One the way to the subway, we found an awesome Turkish Kabob stand! We were all a bit hungry but not in the mood to spend more money, since our drinks at the cafe were so expensive, but the kebabs were only 4,000 won (roughly $4).  Nice. And amazingly delicious!

 Sarang, Emily, and me at the Coffee Prince Cafe

Saturday, my friend Kyungmoon and I had to attend a conference and give a short introduction and talk about our experiences at Sup Sogui Hosu (the camp I worked at two years ago) in Korean.  One of the staff from camp is a Korean teacher and is currently doing a fellowship at Univ. British Columbia, but came back to Korea to give a presentation at this conference. I was sooo nervous! I HATE public speaking, and this wasn't even in English.  It really wasn't so bad; my introduction was probably about a minute at the most, but I was freaking out.  And while I was outside in the hallway waiting, I ran into my Writting teacher from Sogang! She was really surprised to see me at the conference, as it was for Korean teachers. haha!
I was so nervous, I have no idea how it went.  I don't remember anything after saying hello.
Afterwards, a bunch of staff from camp got together for dinner, which was really fun!

camp staff at dinner

Sunday morning, I tutored the two kids who live 5 floors below me.  After tutoring, their parents invited me to lunch.  We met downstairs and their dad pulled up in a Jaguar!  I'm normally not into cars or anything, but I'm not gonna lie, I thought it was pretty cool.  One time, the kids had told me their dad works at a parking lot.  What he really does is own four parking lots in Seoul.
We went to this traditional Korean restaurant and the food was insane! It all looked so cool. Presentation is important here.  I can't remember the name now, but its more traditional than just normal Korean food.  The dishes just kept coming and coming!

I also went to my host dad's work place because there are lots of cherry blossoms there. The trees were gorgeous! and afterwards we went and ate 20 cent ramen from a vending machine at his office. Awesome! 

the cool ramen vending machine!

On Monday I hungout with Youngwha unni and we went to Yeoido.  Its cherry blossom season and thats one of the most famous places to go see them. It was really pretty, but the sky was cloudy, so my pictures didn't turn out as well as they otherwise could have.  The flower blossoms kind of blend into the sky.

 with Youngwha unni at Yeoido

Tuesday, Sarang's family was celebrating her dad's birthday, so I met up with her and her family after class.  I met them at the Children's Grand Park, where there are lots of blooming cherry trees.  The weather was surprisingly warm, as its been unusually cool here.  After, Sarang, her dad and I went to the biggest market in Korea to buy fish for his party.  Her dad really likes sushi, so he bought 4 fish for sashimi.  The market was really cool! There were fish and other sea creatures in tanks and out on display everywhere.  Her dad chose his fish and then we watched them as they were filleted and cut up into bit size pieces and placed on serving platters for the party.

the fish on the dinner table waiting to be eaten

 Sarang and her dad goofing around with the bday cake

Wednesday is my crazy day. I have back to back tutoring right after class and then have drumming after that. I was so tired, I didn't make it to drumming...

Thursday, I had my rescheduled appointment at the adoption agency to view my file.  The new social worker, who is much younger than the last one, was really great.  She went through my file and let me look and ask questions etc.  I found out my blood type, which is important in Korea because people think that it determines your personality.  I'm O+, however, I don't think that fits my personality at all.
 I went to Bandi and Luni's bookstore because I wanted to buy The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian (If you haven't read this, you must!) for my friend.  The internet said that the store didn't have it but I went to check anyhow and surprisingly, I found it!
But the English section was so odd! Basically, all the novels were just thrown onto the shelves. I couldn't figure out any rhyme or reasons to how it was organized. It certainly wansn't by author, and it wasn't by title.   When I was looking through the "Religion/Science/Spirituality" section, I found a Hillary Clinton memoir and "The Boy Called It."  I'm fairly positive it was completely arbitrary.  Weird.

Today after class I went to Youngwha unni's house.  Her mom is in town and cooked us a feast for dinner!  It was so good! Then I had tutoring and then I met up with Kyungmoon in Myeongdong.  I finally found a pair of sneakers that have a good arch support. Whew.  All the walking here, in archless shoes is doing a number on my feet. 

Anyhow, I need to go to bed!

midterms, already!?

So, I've been busy studying for midterms.  I can't believe they've come so soon! Yikes. I need to memorize a lot of vocab in the next two days. Luckily, since Sogang is a Catholic university, we had Easter break! So, I didn't have class thursday or friday, which was really really nice. I needed the break, although its not entirely a break, since I have to study.

Anyhow, lets see... last week was Marina, one of my classmates last week.  She was on this short study abroad program through her Japanese university during her spring break.  So, she was only here for thee weeks. But it was sad, as we hung out after class etc.  So, on Tuesday, after pronunciation class (from 2-4. It was my first time going and I really liked it) a few of my classmates and I went out to have 닭 한 마리 (an entire chicken cut up in a hotpot style pan in the middle of the table.  It was really good!  It was one of the foods on Marina's "to eat" list before she left.

1.Chen (Austria), Junhye (Taiwan), and Marina (Japan) 2. an entire chicken in a pot

Friday was really fun because we had a going away "snack" party for Marina.  So, people brought snacks in to share. I made puppy chow and brought some in.  I never realized how disgusting it looks, until I was thinking about it from the perspective of someone who has never eaten it... but everyone seemed to like it.  Then, we actually got to make chapchae in class!  Our chapter was on cooking chapchae, and our reading/listening teacher brought it all of the ingredients. Everything was already cooked, so basically we just mixed it together and added seasoning, but it was really fun!

 1.teacher with the directions on the board behind her 2. Martin (Sweden), Scott (England), and Travis (US) with chapchae

After class, I went to Youngwha unnis and hung out.  I really like hanging out with her. She's so fun and I really get to practice my Korean with her.  I met up with Marina and some other classmates in Sinchon at 7:30 for dinner. I had another thing at 8(ish), but I wanted to see Marina one last time.  We ended up at some samgyupsal place that Tte used to frequent a lot.  lol.  That night it was pretty empty though, and the soju man came! He goes around to various restaurants in Seoul and hands out free bottles of soju to promote a certain brand.  We kind of buttered him up and he gave us 4 bottles for free!!!

1. Marina with the Soju Man  2. Marina (Japan), Travis (US), and Scott (England)

I left around 8:30 to go meet Yunjeong unni, kyungmoon and taesung oppa for taesung oppa's birthday.  I had the job of buying an icecream cake for him. I found the cutest one at Baskin robins; it was a tiger!

1. Yunjeong unni and I  2. Taesung oppa and his birthday cake

I ended up staying the night at Kyungmoon's apt. on the couch since it was too late to catch the subway.

The next morning I booked it to Myeongdong to meet Jeewon unni.  I haven't seen her since I got her.  We were suppsed to meet last week, but had to reschedule.  Unfortunately, I left my phone at kyungmoon's place....  A BIG inconvenience!
Anyhow, we went to Mr. Pizza for lunch and had potato pizza. Yum! and then walked around myeongdong for a bit.   

That afternoon I was supposed to meet Youngwha unni and mark to go to the last Dulsori rehearsal.  I got on the subway and it went about two stops and then stopped in the middle of a tunnel and sat there for about 15 min! And then, when it finally started moving, it went really really slow! I didn't know what to do, as I was running super late and I couldn't call either of them. So, I decided to chance it and take a taxi. Bad idea. Sometimes taxis are faster, but the traffic was terrible!!!  So, I got stuck on the highway for ever and a day!  I finally got there 50 minutes late, and ran over to our meeting spot and I saw Mark and Youngwha unni talking. My first reaction was relief that they were both there; my second reaction was, wait, how do they know each other!?

Youngwha unni told me that after about 30 min. she noticed that Mark had been milling around too. So, she walked over to him and asked him, in Korean, if he was Lia's friend.  He said something like, "Oh, I don't speak Korean." and she was like yup, its gotta be him. hahaha!
Anyhow, we caught the last half of the Dulsori show. whew. awesome, as usual.

Then we went out for dinner and had뽈쌀 aka pig cheek. sounds disgusting, but it wasn't bad.  really. So super unkosher... but its really hard not to eat pork here, as thats the main meat available.

Youngwha unni and I at dinner (that tube hanging in the pictures is a fan that sucks the smoke from the grill)

Sunday, Kyungmoon came over to study and drop off my phone.  We ended up going out for lunch and wandering around. We found this awesomely cheap samgyetang place! and then wandered around. The weather was sooo nice!  Then we came back and studied Korea for a bit before my host family took us out to some very famous duck restaurant, outside of seoul.

The restaurant was so awesome! I love smoked duck, so the meal was amazing. Plus, the scenery was so beautiful!  The place doesn't take reservations, so we had to wait over an hour, but we had fun taking pictures and looking at the Han river.

1. with my host bro, John, near the Han River  2. Kyungmoon and me  3. sweet potatoes that cooked while we grilled our meat  4. host parents (note the duck on the grill)  5. kyungmoon's lettuce wrap  6. the grease after the meal... ugh. as Moon pointed out, at least we didn't digest it, right?...

On Monday, I met up with Jeonghye unni for dinner.  We went to some famous nangmyeon (cold noodles) restaurant in Jamsil.  It was so insanely spicy! Both of us could only eat half. but it was so good.  I think next time I go, I'll order mul-nangmyeon (with broth), not bibim-nangmyeon (spicy sauce over the top). whew. I'm positive I killed some tastebuds with that meal.
Then we went to this super cute cafe and I had pumpkin juice. So delicious!

On Tuesday, I went to baram (pronunciation) class again. After regular class but before baram class, a few classmates and I went out for lunch.  It was fun because I met some new people, who are in different classes. Its interesting going out with classmates, because often times, the only language we have in common is Korean. Its a good way to practice Korean!

Wednesday, I started tutoring a new student. My monday students decided not to continue. I liked them, but the distance was really hard (1 hr to get there from school and 1.5 hr to get home), so it worked out.  Anyhow, this new student lived in the US for two years, but his English isn't fluent.  He is in 3rd grade and had a lot of energy. wow.  but he lives right near Sogang (my university) so its quite convenient!
I tutored him for 1 hr. and then had to rush off to get back home so I could tutor my other students from 5-6.  Then I ran off again to catch the train to drumming class. Wednesdays are going to kill me! everything is back to back. So it goes...

Thursday and Friday, I didn't have class which was amazing! I met up with Dewi on Thursday and she tried to help me fix my phone payment/bank account situation. She is also the friend that helped me get a phone in the first place.  Anyhow, because of my short visa, I basically can't do anything, so 1.5 hrs and 2 stores later, we concluded that I couldn't switch it.

Afterwards, we went to yonsei and she showed me the new I-house.  They completely redid the international dorm there and it is sooo nice!  I wasn't going to eat lunch, since I had a lunch date with another friend, but she talked me into it... I ate two lunches! but I skipped dinner.
I had KLI sundabu, the best spicy tofu soup.  I used to eat it all the time after class while I was abroad!

1. Dewi and I (we were in the same Korean class at Yonsei two years ago  2. KLI sundabu!!!

Then around 1:30 I met up with Sooah from the drumming club I joined at yonsei.  We hungout in tte bang, the club room and ordered chinese noodles.  One of the other members I know came in and a few first years.  It was really fun to be back!!!  Eating chinese takeout in the room brought back lots of memories (it was a very regular occurrence while I was at yonsei). haha!

Everyone had class at 3, so I went to wangshimni and met up with youngwha unni.  We just chilled at her house, which was really nice. I asked her a few questions about some Korean grammar and taught her some English stuff. We ordered chicken for dinner, which was super good!  Then I went home.  It was a nice relaxing way to end the day.

Friday, I pretty much tried to study all day.  I did get sidetracked... but I didn't really do much except tutor for two hours.
And today, I tried to study most of the day. Sarang called! She got in yesterday, and invited me to her grandpa's for his birthday dinner! It was so nice seeing her again! and her parents/family!!! I'm so glad she came to Korea!!!!

Tomorrow, I am going to see the Alice in Wonderland movie, 3D, with Youngwha unni and then study for the rest of the day. I have my exams on tuesday and wednesday, and then an interview the week after.
Wish me luck!

happenings

Hey! So, its been almost a week since I posted, so just a quick update.

Thursday evening I went with Suise, her friend Celine, her boyfriend Mark, and Kyungmoon to the NCKTPA to see a gugak music performance (traditional music).  Celine had free tickets from her host mom!  Awesome performance.  Although it was work to get there. To make a very long story short, Kyungmoon was supposed to meet us but her taxi driver dropped her off somewhere else. But, I was convinced she was just in another area of the complex, as its really huge, so we both spent about 30 min. wandering around in 0 degree weather (Celsius) looking for each other... real productive.  But the performance made it worth it!  We went out afterwards and ended up eating boonshik, korean style fastfood. The restaurants serve ramen, dukbokki, donkasu, and kimbap. 

Last Friday I met up with Younghwa unni, this woman I met on the plane over.  I think I wrote about how her husband and I had a lot of things in common.  Anyhow, we went to myeongdong and ate lunch together.  She is super nice and I had a lot of fun.  Meeting her really gave me a boost of confidence because I felt like I understood about 90% of what she was saying in Korea, which NEVER happens. I think it was a freak incident.  Also, I think she knows how to talk clearly.  She lived in the States for two years (Madison, WI) and took ESL classes, so she knows how it feels when people talk too fast etc.

I left around 4 to get back for tutoring which started at 5:30, but of course I messed up on the subway and was late... I tutor from 5:30-7:30 so 1.5 hrs was plenty of time to get back.  It really should take me about 30 minutes.  Anyhow, the train I was taking stopped at Changnyangni station as its final destination, so everyone who wanted to continue on had to get off and wait there for the next train.  But somehow, and seriously, I don't know how, I ended up going the wrong direction.  (In english I'm directionally challenged.  In Korean its 길치 gilchi).  I swear I didn't walk over to the other side and get on the train going the other way, but I guess I must have...  In anycase, I kind of zoned out figuring I'd hear my station, but when I heard Seoul Station looked up and realized I was going the wrong way and was now far from my destination. Arg. I ended up being 10 min. late but luckily when I got there, my tutee's parents were out. Whew.  I stayed an extra 15 min. to make up for it.

Nik came to Seoul and came over to my apt. He actually arrived while I was tutoring... since I went a bit over, and called, but I didn't answer my phone. So, I found him outside sitting on a bench.  He played with my host brother and sister, we ate dinner, and had fruit and tea for dessert.  Then we headed out to KoRoot (I decided it was easier to spend the night at KoRoot) to meet Emily! who had also come in for the weekend (both Emily and Nik are Fullbright ETAs and teach English outside of Seoul).  We talked for a while and then crashed.  

Em and I eating ice cream fish - our favorite ice cream treat.  I actually beat her, which is a first!

Saturday, Nik and I coffee-shopped-it.  We attempted to do so the weekend before and ended up wandering around for about an hour looking for one near dongdaemun. oddly, there weren't any open.  This weekend, we went into Paris Baguette and studied Korean etc.
The weather was crazy. It rained a bit, but the sky was this sick green color because of the yellow dust (황사) that blew in from China. Gross!!!
Then around 2 we headed to hongdae to meet up with Mark, Susie's boyfriend, who was going to go to the Dulsori performance with me (drumming perf.).

I got to see the whole thing this time! yay! (the weekend before Nik, Kyungmoon and I tried to go but were lost for a while and ended up catching only the last 5-10 min).  Seriously amazing.  Afterwards, the manager, whom I had met last week came up and talked with Mark and I and introduced us to everyone.  It was kind of Tte style, so after the performance, which was tech. an open rehearsal, their teachers and famous composers etc. who were there to watch criticed them and then the manager, yuri went around and introduced the other people in the audience. When he got to me, he said I wanted to learn taepyungso and my face turned so red! I need to learn to control my embarrassment better... Anyhow, they invited us to dinner with them! But, I had plans to go to Kyungmoon's apt. for dinner. She decided to try cooking Korean food for the camp unnis and me.

It turned out really well! She made chapchae and there were lots of banchan (side dishes).  I brought along some fruit, which we ate after the meal.  While Yunjeong unni and I did the dishes, Eunji unni and Kyungmoon went out and bought soju and makoli (korean rice wine), which by the way is only 6% alcohol.  They gave me the clear glass so they could see how much I was drinking. lol! I had about 3 glasses and my face was bright red; my ears too. Kyungmoon actually put powder on my face to try and make it look less red.  Then we left to go to hongdae to meet up with some other counselors from camp.  I ended up drinking 2-3 more glasses of makoli (one of the unnis thinks its really funny when I drink and kept urging me to finish up so she could refill my cup. hehe.)  I was rather dizzy. 

Sunday I did homework until the afternoon and then I met Emily and Kaonou in Myeongdong. I haven't seen Kaonou (we were on the same study abroad prog. and now she's here teaching English just outside of Seoul) in about a year! So, it was fun to catch up.  Myeongdong has the best street food! 

Kaonou and I with out potato sticks

Emily, Kaonou and I at dinner

 The End.

first drumming lesson!

So I had my first poongmul class today. It was awesome! I had tutoring from 5-6 (we ended at 6:16), so I was running a bit late... I had to get from sineemoon to nambu bus terminal for my lessons, which takes aprox. 1 hour, and my lesson was to start at 7:30. So I booked it to the bus stop, transferred to the train station and took the metro there.

The weather is super messed up; it was snowing and dark and I was late when I got to nambu bus terminal, so I decided to take a taxi my lessons instead of walking and getting lost and wandering around for like 30 min, which is totally what would have happened had I tried.
The taxi driver had no idea where this pilbong school was, but he was really nice and drove me around. He asked someone but they didn't know. I called Dongwon and he told me to wait at the GS25 and someone would come get me. I so almost found it! It was right across the street from the GS25, and I drove by it about like 3 times...

Anyhow, Eugene, one of my classmates met me and we went back. I met my two teachers and the main teacher and I got a bit acquainted. People started showing up around 7:40ish (definitely running on Korean time) and we started class.
We played changoo first and I was happy to find that my level was pretty on par with everyone. Whew. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Dongwon mentioned that it would be all adults, so I was thinking a class with a bunch of ajussis and ajumas (middle aged people) but the people turned out to be roughly my age! So, that was a nice surprise.

There are 4 girls, including myself and one boy, who goes to Sogang! I think today was the first day... Maybe. It was obviously my first day, but also Eugene's first day and YoungIn's (boy) first day. Anyhow, back to class. We played changoo for the first part, and then ggwengari for the second part, and sogo for the third section. It was my first time playing sogo, besides that one day I tried to learn it in Tte bang at Yonsei and miserably failed. I just remember they kept telling me to be more "flowing." I'm still not very flowing, but I kind of got it by the end... lol. The playing style is definitely different from what I've learned previously, but I really like it. It seems more relaxed. The teacher is extremely friendly and nice, so that helps too.

After class, the three newbies (me, Eugene, and YoungIn) went out with our teachers to drink beer and eat chicken. Nice. I said I'd go even though I hadn't finished my homework... And I think I'm just going to do that tomorrow because I wanna go to bed now. Eugene lives kind of near me, so we rode the subway to hwegi together. She is really nice, is a 4th year at her university, and is majoring in Education!!! The language issue is still a big barrier... I need to study my butt off so I can hold a semi coherent conversation... Ugh. The school offers other classes too, but of course, just my luck they are on the days that I tutor (Mon and Fri), so unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make them, which kind of sucks. But I guess I can only ask for so much.^^ Anyhow, good night!

*too cold*

So, it is really cold out! I was nice and spring-y when I first arrived and has since turned back to winter. As mentioned in my last post, we even got quite a bit of snow last week. weird. I didn't bring adequate clothes, as I thought it was going to warm up soon... what the heck???
 

Anyhow, I'm feeling rather stressed, and even more stressed because I don't feel I deserve to feel stressed. I mean, I finish class at 1 in the afternoon... seriously, whats to be stressed about? I'm tutoring two families, and the one is quite far... but that should stress me out too much. I think I'm stressed because A. I don't feel like I've been studying enough B. I was kind of confused in class today. I get everything, but actually putting the grammar into practice is different... arg. C. I may be a bit unorganized... I need to make sure to write things in my planner. Also, I think I know too many people in this country. I love having all my friends here, but I also am trying to meet them all and coordinate schedules etc. which is stressful. But that's a SUPER lame to be stressed about. So, I'll stop now. ^-^

Anyhow, today in class we talked about emoticons, symbol slang people use when texting.
here are a few examples:
^^ or ^__^ is a smiley face
__ ., __ is when you're stressed and you're nose is running. The lines are closed eyes and the dots are the nose; there is snot dripping out of one of the nostrils.
ㅠㅠ, ㅜㅜ, ㅠㅠ; - are all crying/tears
ㅋㅋㅋ - kekeke aka hehehe

>-< - angry or screaming
-_-; - stressed, the ; is sweat

So there you go, a tutorial on texting emoticons.

So, this past weekend Nik came into Seoul and we met up with DongWon, a samulnori teacher who comes to MN every once in a while and conducts workshops. (I've actually never attended any, as I've always been at school...).
He took us out to lunch and we talked about different drumming styles and philosophies. I told him I was going to be teaching drumming at SupHo and so we discussed samulnori vs. poongmul etc. Dongwon said there are two branches or styles of poongmul. I won't get into all of the historical details, but one is more professional and one is more community oriented. I need the community oriented one, as this will be most accessible to children and foreigners/people unfamiliar with korean traditional music. Thus, we concluded I should study pilbong style poongmul. He also found me a place to talk poongmul lessons!

Initially, the price he quoted was roughly $400/month! whew. This was one of the main reasons I took on a few tutoring jobs, hoping to break even, or at least, make myself feel better. But apparently a few weeks ago, a new drumming school opened up that teaches Pilbong style poongmul (필봉 풍물). Its about $40/month; SOOO much better. But, there is only an advanced class so far, so he told me to attend that one. yikes! Anyhow, I'm really excited. Tomorrow will be my first time. Wish me luck. I think I'll need it.

Nik, Kyungmoon, and I were supposed to go see a drumming rehearsal/performance, Dulsori. However, Nik and I were running late, as we were coming from lunch with Dongwon, and then when we met up with Kyungmoon, we took the bus, missed out stop and kind of got lost... But we eventually found it! Unfortunately, we missed almost the entire performance and only caught the last 5-10 min. But it was really awesome. I wanna go again! It was an "open rehearsal," so not a formal performance. It made me really want to learn taepyungso!

After the performance, we met up with Susie and went to Dos Tacos for dinner. It was really good! I haven't had mexican in a long time! My veggie burrito was delicious!

note the one cup of sprite to be shared by 4 people. ㅋㅋㅋ

Over the weekend, my host brother, sister, and mother "baked" cookies. We had a mix we got at EMart and one would think with a mix, nothing can go wrong. Not so. Most Korean houses/apt. don't have a big oven like we do in America. So, my host mom took out a pan, put oil in it, and proceeded to spoon-drop the batter in. She told me it was a special pan that works like an oven. Korea is full of all sorts of weird things, so I figured sure. But about 5 min. later, I smelled something burning!
The bottoms were completely charred and the tops were still uncooked. We decided to leave them so the tops could cook (we had about 7 min to go.. ) and just not eat the bottoms when they came out. I asked about their oven. They have a small portable one, but I don't think my host mom uses it too often. She took it out and we tried it again. We even used cookie cutters this time and stamped thomas the tank engine ontop of each cookie. They looked perfect! But about 5 min. after we had put them in, I smelled something burning.
My host mom and I ran over, but it was too late. The bottoms were all charred. My hostmom/brother/sister dubbed the first batch "외에 만 쿠키" aka "top only cookies" and the second batch "조금 만 쿠키" aka "only a little bit cookie," as my host mom cut off all of the burnt parts, so only a little was left.

top only cookies

the oven

host mom cutting off burnt parts of the cookies

Today we made puppy chow. Both Emily and Nik made this with their students, and it was a hit. So, I decided to give it a try. I went to Emart with Jeonghye unni on Sunday and bought the ingredients. I couldn't find normal chex cereal, only chocolate flavored cereal, so it was extra super sweet... But it worked! Honestly, what could go wrong? You just microwave the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter and then mix the cereal in and pour powdered sugar over top. my host brother and sister liked it! but their parents thought it was too sweet. It was rather sweet... but so good.^^
Anyhow, I need to go to bed. Til later!

update!

Hi! Sorry for the lapse in entries! I've been busy, running all around the city... Okay, so I guess I'll go back to last week. The 4th was Jooeun, my host sister's 6th birthday (5 years old in America). We went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and had cake later at home. I gave her a Hello Kitty purse full of candy, which she seemed to really like. She's so cute when she wears it!

I started classes on the 4th. I really like them so far. I have class from 9-1 every day; writing for the first hour, speaking for the next two hours, and reading/listening for the last hour, with three different teachers. There are roughly 15 students in my class, some come and go through out the day, although most are in all three of my classes.
I really like the emphasis on speaking. Hopefully my speaking will improve!... My classmates are from all over. There are about 4 or 5 from Japan. Two from Canada, one from Sweden, one from Taiwan, one or two from China, and me and this other guy from America. Peoples' ages are all over too. At Yonsei, my classmates and I were all relatively the same age. In my class at Sogang, I am one of the youngest and the ages range up to 65 or 70! But in any case, I really like all of my classmates.

So, I generally (try) to get up around 7 and leave home around 7:50 to catch the subway to school. I have one transfer, and its pretty crowded because its rush hour... Sometimes people pack in so tight that I seriously think if I "sat down" or picked up my legs, I wouldn't fall to the ground. Its gross. Thankfully, most mornings its not quite that bad. I've started tutoring two families (their children, rather) in English. One lives pretty far from school; it takes about an hour from school to get there and then another 10-15 min. walk from the subway station and then about an hour and a half to get home. Its a long day...
Last Monday, my first time, I didn't get back home until 8:30! But the kids are cute. There are two boys, a 7 year old and an 11 year old. I tutor them for 3 hours. They were both pretty shy last week, but I'm sure this coming Monday will be better! They want to play games. haha.
The other family lives in my building, which is a heck of a lot closer! I actually tutored them for the first time tonight. They are a brother and sister and I tutor them at the same time, as they are only a year apart (10 and 11) and have similar English levels. Very cute! I had a lot of fun tonight! and thought our lesson (hour and a half) went very well. We went over introductions, continents and countries on a world map, directions, read an entire book together, and played hangman and word bingo.

Last weekend I met up with a two of the Korean staff from camp, and Kyungmoon. I met Kyungmoon at camp two years ago, and she is now studying abroad at Yonsei on the same program, CIEE, that I went on. I met the two unnis (what girls call other girls who are older than them) and we went out for dinner. We had shabushabu, or hotpot. They ordered the seafood style, and they were extremely entertained by the fact that I had never eaten a mussle or crab before and that I was scared of the shrimp, which still had its shells and legs. I tried everything once, but I wouldn't say I'm a fan...

seafood hotpot

Junghye unni and me

Then Kyungmoon joined us and we went to Junghye's house, which is near where I live! It's so awesome, her husband is a director (he directed the show JUMP, which is in one of my entries from the last time I was here) and she teaches drama classes to children! She drove Kyungmoon and Yunjung to their bus stop back in Sinchon and then was going to drive me back to my house. But we got lost! She was using her GPS, but it hadn't been updated in a while and kept freezing up on us! She is quite possibly the cutest adult on the face of the planet so it was really funny to watch her call the GPS pabo (stupid).
We were so close, like within a 5 mile radius, but we were lost for a little over an hour! We had had tea at her house, and tea really makes me have to pee... I thought I could hold it until I got home, but when I realized we weren't going to find my apartment anytime soon, I had to ask her to pull over to find a bathroom. How embarrassing!
We went to a GS25 convenient store, but they didn't have one and the guy told us to go to the PC bong (place where anyone can come and use the computer to play games etc.) on the second floor. Since Junghye thought I really really had to pee, which I did, she ran. Not good! But I made it! and luckily the guy was really nice and helped us look up where we were on the internet without charging us!
We ran back to the car and turned on the GPS, but it froze again. It took us another 20 min. and a few times up and down the street to find my house! A memorable night to be sure, and good thing I didn't wait to go to the bathroom!

On Saturday I met up with Kyungmoon again and we went to Myeongdong to go shopping. I didn't really actually have any money, but whatever. Then we met my host family at Lotte World, a giant amusement park. Sooo much fun! I hate scary rides, but even the "safe" rides were awesome! Plus, Kyungmoon and I pretended to be 18 and got in with a teen discount. My favorite ride was the hot air balloons that take you around the entire inside of the amusement park, which is both indoor and outdoor (there is an ice rink inside!). The laser show was also pretty cool! There were flames and fireworks, all inside. Kind of seemed like a huge fire hazard to me, but whatever. It was cool. I could feel the heat from the flames!

Kyungmoon and me above the ice rink

my host family

in front of my favorite ride!

On Sunday, I met up with Susie and Mark for lunch. It was fun seeing both of them at the same time! and weird to think that we were in a different country, not MN. After lunch Susie had tutoring and Mark had to go get his apt. stuff sorted out. I actually translated his entire real estate transaction! Obviously not word for word or perfectly, but I got the main point across to both parties. I have no idea how that happened. Seriously. But I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself. lol.

Mark chilling in his new pad

A few days ago it snowed! Yes, snowed. Weird, because I thought I left that all behind when I left MN... It was kind of a freak thing here, because normally the weather is warming up by now. But on March 10, we got about 5-6 inches of snow! And of course the city isn't set up to handle snow the way I'm used to in MN, so the hundreds and thousands of people trekking on the same sidewalks packed down the snow into ice. Awesome. It was really fun walking to school that day. But everything looked very nice and clean and pristine.

people use umbrellas when it snows...

view from the subway station near my house - don't you love the yellow house?

The tenth, Wednesday, was also Kyungmoon's bday! We met up that evening for dinner with two of the Korean staff members from camp. I waited for 20 some min. in the cold hoping someone would come to the area that we were supposed to meet. Not having a phone sucks. But I finally found Kyungmoon, and then we found YunJung unni, who then pointed us in the right direction and we met up with Eunji unni.
Dinner was fun. We went to this Italian restaurant in Sinchon and the manager guy spoke English and gave us a stack of photos to look at to choose our dinner, since the entire menu was in Korean. lol! Oddly, he lived in Rockford, IL for a few years! which is about 20 min. from Beloit and where Sarang went to church. Weird!

mooncat looking at pictures of possible entres

After dinner, we went to 치우 bar; the bar that my classmates and I used to go to every Friday after class! Everyone there could hold their liquor pretty well except me. We ordered 3000 cc of beer and a bottle of soju (Korean version of vodka). Yunjung unni poured the bottle into the pitcher of beer and mixed it all up. When there was about a 1/4 of the pitcher left, they all concluded I needed to finish it by myself and they ordered another 2000 cc of beer and another bottle of soju. I tried, but couldn't do it.^^ I still had to get myself home and get up at 7 the next morning for class. I did get pretty tipsy though... I will not make going out on a school night a habit, although the next day in class, about 4 or 5 other classmates had gone out and were feel the same as me. lol!

Yunjung unni & Eunji unni

Kyungmoon blowing out candles for her 21st bday!

why oh why does my face turn so red!?

unnis again

So, until today I did not have a phone, which is EXTREMELY frustrating in a country where it is common to see 4 and 5 year olds with their own cell phones. Ironically (and unfortunately) one of my friends was in the same predicament as me. He had gone to the immigration office, spent about 5 hours waiting and then was turned away (by a really mean clerk) because he didn't have his school registration documents, spent about $40 on taxis running around the city trying to get a hold of his papers, come back the next day and got the same clerk, and wont get his card until Monday. In addition, just like me, he also did not go to the bank to deposit his travelers checks prior to handing in his passport for his immigration card, and was without money for the past two weeks... ugh.

As a kind of continuation of my immigration card saga, I couldn't buy a phone until I received my alien reg. card. Today was the day that my card would be ready! Last night I had called one of my friends from my Korean class at Yonsei, who is now attending grad. school at Yonsei to see if she could help me get a phone, as her Korean has become very good. Coincidentally, she used to have a part time job at a cellphone store! So, she knows the ins-and-outs of how to go about buying a phone and said she would help me out.
I left class an hour early (I missed reading class...) to make sure I had enough time to go the immigration office, go to the bank and deposit my travelers checks, meet Dewi in Sinchon, get a phone, all before my 5:30 tutoring job (its takes me 40-45 min. to get back home from Sinchon).

Luckily, I got my card in about 5 min. at the immigration office! I went to the Woori Bank next to the immigration office and got my travelers checks deposited no problem. Then I took the subway back to Sinchon and met up with Dewi. We went around to a few phone stores to check things out and I found a phone I really liked, the Samsung B8850D. But it was almost $300! Plus all of the stores were telling me that I could not buy a phone as my immigration card was only good for 6 months and that Dewi couldn't put me under her name (shes Indonesian), as foreigners weren't allowed to do that! Arg!! So, we kept looking and came across a store opening. We went inside and saw the phone I liked. The retail price was $449 but it was crossed off and said 공짜 aka FREE. awesome!
 

phone et al.

After a few phone calls, the sales man concluded that he would let me go under Dewi's name since my visa was too short. Interesting how different places and people tell you completely different things... Two other places said it was impossible. ha. It took forever though! and I was running out of time before I had to leave for tutoring!
We ran into some problems because I guess my bank account is still set up under my old immigration card, which no longer exists, as they took it at immigrations 2 years ago... So, they couldn't access my account, even though I had deposited a lot of money in it earlier today. So, Dewi and I had to run to her boarding house and grab her bank book so that we could set it up under her account. I can switch it in two weeks to my own account. Whew. I don't know what I would have done without Dewi! Seriously.

with the antenna to watch TV

Not gonna lie. My phone is pretty awesome. I really wanted white, but they only had black. As long as its free, black is fine by me. I can watch TV on it! It comes with a little antenna that I can screw into the phone when I wanna watch TV. People do it all the time on the subways. haha. It also came with headphones, an extra battery, and a battery charger! Bank. So, I now have a phone, a (semi-useless) immigration card, money in the bank, and my passport back. Life is good.

immigration office

So, I went to the immigration office again today to try and get my alien registration card. Unfortuately, I needed to bring my admissions papers from Sogang, which I neglected to do... I had my passport etc. but not those. I also needed passport pictures of myself.

Last time I was here, my program, CIEE took care of this all for me. Anyhow, my host mom and I went all the way there to find out I didn't have what I needed. Luckily there was a kodak shop across the street, so I got my pictures taken and then we had to go all the way back from Ahndong to Shineemoon for me to run up to our apartment and get my documents. We went back, but by that time, my host brother was done with school 11:50, so my host mom went to pick him up and them met me at the immigration office. I filled out all the necessary paperwork, handed in my documents, and paid my W10,000. The lady told me it would be ready on the 12th.

That sucks because I need this card to get a phone, and it is extremely inconvenient to live here without a cell phone. Especially because I've been trying to make plans with friends etc. So it goes.

Afterwards, we went to Myeongdong and ate at a ddukboki house. It was really good. An H & M just opened up, the first in Korea, so we went to check it out. My host mom, who live in CA for 6 years and I were shocked at how expensive everything was! Everything is like double the price of what it would be in the States. Too bad.

My host sister had her first day at an English only preschool, Poly school. She came back and seemed a bit confused and very cranky. I'd be too. whew.

Yesterday, my host family and I went to Emart, a big shopping center. It was packed because it was a national holiday and no one had school. Plus, today was the first day for most schools, so everyone was doing back to school shopping. I def. wanna go back and explore the store more. It has everything from running shoes to groceries. We bought cookie mix for my host sister's upcoming birthday and hodduk mix. We made the hodduk last night and they turned out really well!!!

Yesterday, I also showed my host brother and sister how to take pics on my computer and they have A LOT of fun with that while we watched the movie, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Some of them turned out really cute and some of them are just weird. Tomorrow is my first day of class, so I should get going. Wish me luck!

we went to Paris!

and rode a rollercoaster....

and looked in a silly fun house mirror...

AND we visited Yosemite!!! all while sitting in the living room.^^