Happy Halloween!

So I lost my little notebook in which I write everything I do, so this entry may be a little scatterbrained since my memory is not the best...

Last Monday I forgot to mention that I started to volunteer at Ewha Institute of Early Childhood Education and Care. I basically get to play with the cutest 3-year-olds! Since it was my first day I attempted to to introduce myself in my fail! Korea, and then the children showed me a little dance. :) After that we went to play at the gym where they basically ran around everywhere while have a grand time.

Tuesday evening I went with my language exchange partner and her friend from France to 청계천 (Cheonggyecheon) stream. It was very peaceful. And small. Very small. Here's a little bit of it.

Wednesday I studied for that KSW midterm, and luckily my friend called me at midnight to let me know that the professor posted the exact questions online! Is that even allowed? Regardless, I was able to study the right things and during the test I basically scribbled down everything I remembered. I also had the first part of my Korean midterm - the reading comprehension, where we read paragraphs and answered questions, and the listening, where all the beginning students (60 or so) gathered in an auditorium and answered questions that the teacher read.

Friday was the writing and speaking test. The writing portion involved a lot of little grammar points while the speaking basically required us to introduce ourselves, our family, and point out where objects were.

Friday night was a lot of fun. Since it was my friends birthday, we all went out to eat at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ place and then of course went drinking. Yogurt soju is dangerously delicious. I left early in order to go to, what else, a 노래방 with slightly tipsy (if not drunk) people. Good times.

Saturday I went to the Kimchi Love Festival. Where else would have an entire weekend dedicated to 김치? I arrived a little later because I was distracted by 교보문고, or Kyobo Bookstore. They have an entire section dedicated to foreign books, as well as sections for K-pop and 만화 (manwha), the Korean equivalent of manga. I found a book that my resident director wrote!
The kimchi festival displayed many, many types of kimchi. I initially went to the wrong palace, which can only happen in Korea...the kimchi was delicious. Here's examples:


Sunday after some plans fell through I decided to visit the Catholic Martyr's Shrine, known as 절두산 (Jeoldusan). I saw the hill where Korean Catholics were persecuted for their beliefs, as well as a museum with various artifacts such as letters and pictures, and a church that can be seen in this picture.

Since I had some time before I had to go to mass I decided to explore the infamous foreigner's district, 이태원 (Itaewon), because of an English language used bookstore. 이태원 is pretty cool, actually, since you can see more foreigners than Koreans! I think Koreans go there if they want to feel like they're in the States or something. I bought some touristy postcards so send me your address if you want one!

Monday my volunteering was canceled because of, what else, H1N1. I hope the kids are alright! Some of my friends are currently down with swine flu - I hope they can recover soon! Tuesday night I first went to eat delicious if overpriced Mexican food. I then went to Hongdae to meet with the first of my interviewees for my Korea through Ethnography project, English teachers. They were all young adults making the most of their time in Korea. I interviewed them over tacos and ice cream.

Wednesday I met my LE partner and we had Chinese for lunch. I learned that she lives in area where SM and JYP Entertainment are located, and she has even shopped with Sunye from the Wonder Girls! One of her group members in her law class is the Miss Korea of 2008! Pretty cool, huh? in a slightly spur of the moment decision I went to 동대문 (Dongdaemun) to shop for clothes for my Halloween costume. Ever heard of Teen Girls Squad? I was "so and so" which required me to buy a plaid skirt. It was relatively cheap so I didn't mind, but me actually buying a skirt? Wow.

Thursday evening one significant thing that happened was me being able to order delivery on my own with my fail! Korean. I was proud of myself. :) Thursday night was the Mentor's Club Halloween party, so I dressed up in my costume (I looked like a preppy school girl) and went to the club. The only reason I was there was for Rivers crew, the first b-boy crew in Korea, and they definitely did not disappoint! The international students were dressed in the strangest yet most hilarious costumes. I attempted to dance but it was just me moving back and forth to techno music. Actually clubbing, I have discovered, is not my thing at all.

Friday night I went with I-House people to eat cheap yet tasty pizza and, of course, 노래방. It's a weekly thing. I sang a lot out of the 10 people who were there, but I think everyone had fun. Saturday (today) I went to Everland, where every day is a holiday! XD I rode on the highest inclination wooden coaster in the world, the T-Express, as well as other roller coasters before it started raining! Boo. I loved riding one of the roller coasters in the rain! We mostly did indoor activities after that, such as playing games at an arcade and bumper cars!


One of the best games ever:

Tomorrow I'm off to meet more English teachers, which should be good times. I can't believe it's already going to be November!

Halfway done but still going strong!

I have LOTS to blog about concerning the last two weekends. I should be studying for my Korean Social Welfare midterm in three days...

So, JAPAN! We left from Gimpo Airport and arrived at Kansai International at approximately 10:30 AM. After a bus ride and delicious shellfish free bento we arrived at the Golden Pavilion, which is really gold.

I bought charms for my parental units, my language exchange partner, and of course myself. Hehe. The next stop was Nijo Castle, home of Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was pretty sweet. I couldn't stop thinking of Rurouni Kenshin (for those anime fans out there).

Next stop, the hotel and meeting my Technos buddy! Thankfully everything went according to plan and I met up with her and her roommate. I decided that I wanted to see the Gion district to possibly see a modern day geisha, and this worked out well since they were meeting friends there. I wanted something really Japanese so they took me to a sushi conveyor belt place that was all sorts of delicious.

While waiting for her friends to show up we chatted about life, studying abroad, memories of our first time in Japan...good times, good times. When we did find her friends they were a tad intimidating but overall pretty cool people. After finding them food we chilled on the riverside. One of the best things about Japan is the fact that there are so many rivers to chill on! I unfortunately had to leave (early start the next day) but I loved being able to see her again, back in Japan! Joelle, whenever you are in the Midwest, facebook me so we can go sushi hunting!

The next day was dedicated to the purpose of the CIEE excursion - the Korean diaspora. First on the agenda, though, was a walking tour of Kyoto, which in reality meant visiting various temples and shrines. We managed to observe a traditional wedding!

At Osaka we took a tour of Korea Town, where of course the largest concentration of Koreans in Japan can be found. Meat, kimchi, and various Korea foods could be smelt all around. I suppose I should say something meaningful here about what I learned...the number of Koreans is decreasing thanks to interracial marriages and those kids identifying themselves as Japanese. Since Koreans in Japan are third or fourth generation the language nor culture is not being passed down as much in favor of assimilating into Japanese culture. However, with the hallyu wave of Korean pop culture sweeping Asia I think more ethnic Koreans are taking pride in their heritage.

At night we were left to explore Osaka. Friends and I went to eat non-deadly okonomiyaki and of course go shopping. I ended up buying more Engrish shirts to add to my growing collection. I can't wait to wear them around IWU, hehe.

Sunday we left for the ancient capital of Japan, Nara, now the deer capital. No joke. Deer EVERYWHERE. We went to Todaiji Temple (largest wooden one in Japan) and Nara National Museum. We ate a delicious traditional lunch and returned early to spend our free time around Osaka. I bought legit clothing, surprisingly enough, and an art book for my 姉, which resulted in all my yen being totally spent!

For our final day in Japan, we went to see Osaka Castle, home of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. This was the dude who decided to invade Korea in order to prove his manhood or something. Yay Japanese history!

We then had to go to the airport. :( I loved being in Japan. I could actually communicate with people! But ultimately I am glad that I chose to study abroad in Korea - the food's cheap, my classes actually apply to my major, and I have met some pretty awesome people!

Back to routine. The week before midterms was full of people asking teachers for breaks and less homework. I had to work on a presentation for my Intercultural Communication class about Social Identity theory with a friend. I think we did fine - the class didn't seem too bored! Wednesday night I went to N Seoul Tower with my language exchange partner, adding to my list of towers that I have visited around the world (Tokyo Tower, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sears Tower). At the bottom was this ADORABLE teddy bear museum and the view at the top was excellent. I could see Seoul in all its sparkling glory! Anyone recognize the 궁 bears?

What did I do after that...oh yeah, I basically studied the entire weekend, with generous breaks for a traditional music concert, watching One Piece, and a 노래방 jam session with people I should hang out with more often. Today I had my Intercultural Communication midterm - I think I knew everything on there, but the extent to which I knew those things is to be determined by the professor. We'll see! Well, this turned out to be a picture post more than anything - I'll update Facebook with photos come December. XD More blogging after midterms!

I think I broke my iPod...

So I should be sleeping now since I leave for Japan in approximately five hours, but I felt like I needed to update my lovely little blog. On my lovely laptop. The weather here is getting slightly chilly, but nothing a Chicagoan can't handle.

School's progressing, I'm procrastinating, it's all good. :) Last Wednesday some CIEE people went to a drama cafe, where we dressed up in traditional Korean clothing and posed for the camera. I actually had a lot of fun! Thursday I attended a Filipino dance performance entitled Bahaghari, hosted by the Philippine embassy, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Korea. Of course I went with my Filipino friends. See that I do have friends here! Hehe.


Over the weekend Koreans celebrated Chusok (추석), or Korean Thanksgiving. For me that meant Friday off! I spent my three day weekend watching Chusok specials featuring the biggest k-pop groups, eating 7-11 food, and sleeping. It was all sorts of amazing. I actually ventured out on Saturday and ended up visiting 3 museums and 2 palaces in the span of 3 hours, all for free! It was surprisingly crowded, with a lot of families taking advantage of the cultural activities such as playing instruments, creating masks, and pounding rice cake. It was quite the experience being amongst so many Koreans and everybody (including myself) thoroughly enjoyed being out and about. This is Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) Palace.


Monday was all sorts of disastrous. I was out with friends and we had Indian food. Little did I know that there were nuts ground up in the curry. One bite was enough for me to get hives by nightfall, despite taking 2 Benedryl and some Korean allergy medicine. Parental units, I have officially learned my lesson and will ask about everything I have even the slightest doubt about. And I think a gayageum is over my price range, yet would be ideal for that heavy metal band. Yes, this is my way of answering comments. XD I ended up not doing Honors Research by the way, since it would be too difficult to focus on a topic as well as my current studies while in Korea. I'll just work hard to find a job come spring semester.

Wednesday with my language exchange partner went to eat delicious shabu-shabu. I then had a presentation about Irish conversations. In the evening the ambassador from Sweden talked to the CIEE group about Kyoto for our upcoming Japan trip! I will definitely blog about it when I get back!