Seoul searching no more

I apologize for being MIA these past 20 days. I have been busy with finals (FINALLY DONE MWAHAHA) and making the most of my last days here.

During the period when I was sick I got in trouble for sleeping in class. I actually have a confession to make. Ever since my 5^th grade teacher caught me sleeping in class as a result of staying up all night to read Baby-sitters’ Club books, I have managed to fall asleep in every single one of my classes ever since. Even gym classes. Whether it’s due to all-nighters, the time of day, or the fact that the material covered in class did not interest me, I end up falling asleep. I have only been caught a few times, miraculously, but it was really embarrassing.

Anyway, during lunch that Wednesday over ラーメン (ramen) my LE partner told me she broke up with her boyfriend because he was spending too much time playing World of Warcraft! Ironically, my sister and her husband have dates playing WoW…the rest of the week I slept a lot in order to recover. Dinner on Friday was fried chicken with a side of anime. My love for Ouran High School Host Club has no end. Saturday evening I met with Emily, the English teacher I blogged about previously, and had 부대찌개 (budae jjigae) and 호떡 (hotteok, or pancake filled with fatty goodness) while discussing Fulbright with my friend interested in the program. I have decided that my favorite Korean foods are 부대찌개 and 참치찌개 (chamchi jjigae, or tuna stew).

The following Monday it was back to 자넬선생님 holding the tambourine. Since this was the week leading up to finals, I mostly stayed in so I could actually get good grades in my classes. The most interesting things would be my meals: 육개장 (yukejang, or spicy beef stew), 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae, or kimchi stew), 돈까스 (donkkasu, or pork cutlet), 라면(ramyun), fried chicken, a lunchbox from 7/11, and leftover 잡채 (japchae, or noodles). Friday was the big CIEE farewell party. We ate genuine 한식 (Korean food), drank 막걸리 (makgeolli, or Korean rice wine) and saw JUMP, which was all sorts of awesome. All the male characters had very defined abs. Hehe.

Over the weekend I made a HomePlus run with my friend and somehow finished three papers, which I’m not how I managed but still did! One paper was about family life and adoption in Burma, another was a letter, and the last one was my big KE paper about the situation of native English speaking teachers in Korea. Since I finished editing that paper while I was at the airport I’m FINALLY DONE YAY!!!

Finals week. At my last day of volunteering the classes came together to put on a mini Christmas concert. The kids sang and danced to Christmas songs. I was recruited to dance twice for partner dances, and even though I had no idea what I was doing it was a lot of fun! Here's my class, I'm going to miss them dearly!

I basically studied and ate for the entire week. I did well on my Korean final – I ended up getting an A+ in the class! My Korean Social Welfare teacher gave in and allowed four international students to write a 3-page reflection instead of a 12-page research paper, something I will be eternally grateful for. Since we still had to take the final a group of us got together, ordered Korean food for dinner, and studied our heads off. I think the test went okay, I will find out grades next week!

Thursday was my last meeting with the program director and assistant – I will definitely miss them, they helped me with so much!

I also had one last meeting with my Filipino friends – meeting them has made me want to embrace my Filipino-American identity more. I have attempted to do this through studying the history and culture of the Philippines, but I know there's way more I can do, such as studying the language or listening more closely to my parents' stories. Since this was the last day of Korean, some classmates and I went to buy flowers and cakes for our 선생님. We then proceeded to party.

After that I went to dinner with friends, made a fruitless search for gloves, and participated in a mobile testing survey that got me money to spend over the weekend. That evening (I know, busy day) I went with my friend to stalk Super Junior’s radio show, Kiss the Radio. Even though it was freezing cold we decided it would be a good idea even though we didn’t know the exact location of the building. We, of course, ended up getting lost and getting directions from a nice subway guy. We knew we finally found the place when we saw a bunch of teenage girls clustered around a window underneath a tent. I took stalker photos. After that we stood outside in the cold for 30 minutes so we could see them leave the station, but we couldn’t take it anymore and got a taxi. The driver gave us Korean lessons. Even with my A+ in Korean I still feel horribly insufficient in the language. That’s why I have to study more, right? And here our the KTR boys, 은혁 and 이특.

Friday I met up with Korea friends at the coffee shop of an eye clinic, of all places. My friend had Lasik surgery done there and consequently got free drink coupons. Sidenote – I actually pay for coffee now! I have grown slightly more used to the taste. We then went souvenir shopping on Insa-dong street, I think I got some truly Korean things for family and friends back at home (kimchi chocolate, anybody?). For dinner we met up with my LE partner and ate delicious chicken dishes. Despite the fact they all knew my fail! Korean skills they made me order the food and pay for it in order for me to practice (or for them to tease me about my Korean).

Saturday was Lotte World with a friend I met in KSW and a friend who is an English teacher (who I of course interviewed). Lotte World (a world of magic and fantasy) was so much fun! We shopped at the little stores (I used most of my survey money) and rode various rides (my favorite has to be Pharoh’s Fury). We even went to a shooting range, and I was able to shoot a 9mm gun and get a passing score of 73.

Sunday I used my free movie ticket to watch Avatar with my friend (we agreed it gave off a Native American vibe and was a tad cliché but still a great movie), returned my cell phone, and went to mass for the final time in Korea. My last dinner in Korea was 참치찌개, a meal I will most definitely miss. I started packing at around 11PM. My whole life has been reduced to two suitcases, plus a backpack and a smaller suitcase. Here's my last Korean meal at 김밥천국 (Kimbap Heaven).

That smaller suitcase cost me $116! It’s all those Korean books. I didn't say goodbye to some of my friends (please don't be mad!) but I know we will stay connected via Facebook. I hung out at the airport for five hours, finished that huge paper, saw some famous people (I think?) filming a commercial, met up with my aunt (coming from Manila to immigrate to the U.S.), and boarded the plane. Asiana always has good food – I had 쌈밥 for dinner, which I fear might be my last Korean meal for a while…now I am back home, safe and sound. It’s good to be back but I am definitely going to miss Korea!!!

I just want to say 감사합니다 (thank you) to all my (silent) readers for staying with me despite my irregular updates and spazztastic posts. Even though I failed some missions I was assigned to while in Korea (buying a pig-rabbit, visiting the set of 무한도전, or Infinity Challenge), I had a wonderful time and am grateful that I was able to share it with all of you. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email or Facebook me. I think I will continue blogging about my life adventures, but Santos is most definitely no longer in Seoul!

Times flies...

...when you're studying abroad! Lame, I know, but true nonetheless. Here's an long overdue update from the land of the morning calm.

Last last Friday I went to 이태원 with my friend in order to check out the KC Philippine Store to see if I could buy mass quantities of Filipino food for my food project. Turns out it was a small family run store that seemed pretty cool but I was too embarrassed by my utter lack of Tagalog skillz to start a conversation. I ended up calling them a week later in order to have a backup plan for acquiring food. Lunch was an utter disaster because I know I ended up eating nuts of a sort at this vegan place, no matter how much they denied it. Never again. I knew I should have questioned the protein like substance...study abroad tip #1: learn the language enough so you can ask about the food, especially if you have allergies. Never assume anything. Question anything remotely suspicious. Or else you will end up throwing up in the bathroom of a subway station.

Moving on...in the afternoon I skipped Korean class (third time only!) in order to see Super Junior members sell cabbage. Mwahaha. Here are the members I saw.

From left to right: Shindong, Eunhyuk, Leeteuk, and Sungmin (신동, 은혁, 이특, and 성민)

Even though my favorite members did not participate (they were in China) it was a lot of fun being an utter fangirl along with the screaming middle and high school girls. There were some college girls there too, so no judging! The four boys (men?) were selling cabbage for charity. They were out in the cold for two hours, entertaining the crowd by talking in different languages, singing, dancing, charming older ladies who legitimately wanted to buy cabbage, and bantering between themselves. It was surreal seeing them so close - they're way to skinny. Even the supposed "fat one" is skinny! I ended up buying three heads of cabbage for $3.00 (just so I could walk past the stage to get a really good look at them). Since I was not going to carry the cabbage with me on the subway I gave them to a waiting 아줌마 who gave me about $0.50 in return. The things I do for Super Junior...

The following morning I woke up around 4:30 AM in order to go to the airport to see my parents! Everything went pretty smoothly, thank goodness! They were able to come back and see my place (and my mom proceeded to be thoroughly impressed by the toilet). I showed them how to use the bus system and gave them a mini tour of Yonsei's campus. My mom managed to talk for the entire time we were together, which is not surprising at all, but she also took my only Yonsei sweatshirt. In return they gave me and my roommates dried mangoes, candy, and ensaymada. Love you Mom and Dad!

That evening I watched the MAMA (M.Net Asian Music Awards) on my flat screen high def TV. Anyone else surprised by some of the winners?

On Sunday I went to a Korean movie theater for the first time! They're pretty classy. I watched Good Morning, President (굿모닝 프레지던트), a Korean movie that had English subtitles (certain movie theaters around Seoul are foreigner friendly in that respect). I thought it was a great movie and I recommend it to anyone, but especially those who are remotely interested in how the Korean presidency works. After that my LE partner and I went to eat lunch at 명동교자 (Myeongdong Gyoja), a very famous, very crowded, very fast-paced restaurant known for its wonderful 칼국수 (kalguksu, or knife noodles) and ridiculously spicy 김치, even for Koreans! You know a place is worth eating at when there's constantly a line out the door (or the fact that it's been mentioned in almost every Korean travel guide). When we were finally able to get a spot we had to order and pay right away, but in return the food came literally four minutes later. It was so worth the wait outside!

Special highlights from my volunteering last Monday include playing ball with one slightly shy yet adorable little girl and reading Goodnight Moon, a childhood favorite of mine. That afternoon I was interviewed about my love for modern Korean culture (for my friend's Korea through Ethnography project). In the evening I got together with my Korean Social Welfare group and worked on making our employment presentation. The native Koreans in the group are awesome people - their English is pretty much fluent and they're so much fun to work with and talk to! Yay for making friends with the locals!

I would kind of like to forget that Wednesday but I feel it is valuable to bring up. Ever since the beginning of the semester I have been in contact with a girl who wanted to start doing an annual speech contest for exchange students about their home countries and experiences living in Seoul. I thought, why not?, and signed up. Little did I know that she expected the speech to be in Korean. :o As a Beginning Korean 1 student finally learning the "informal yet still appropriate for speaking with older people" form I of course panicked and made my LE partner translate the whole thing for me in Korean a day before the speech was due. One problem - I was totally lost since I had no idea how to pronounce some things nor had a clue about the grammar or even what the (insert beep here) I was saying. I probably should have thought of that. So of course I butchered Korean in front of a crowd of Yonsei students and three judges.

For my participation I got a "study harder and come back to Korea" comment from the head judge as well as a Yonsei mug and pen. Study abroad tip #2: if you're going to be speaking in the host language in front of host nationals (in the form of a speech contest or something similar), for the love of (insert desirable thing here) practice in front of somebody who will correct you until you sound fluent . You can't wing things like this. I found that out the hard way. Don't put something like this off until the last minute unless you want to sound like you absolutely didn't care about what you were doing. This was probably the most embarrassing thing I have done while I have been here, but it was definitely a learning experience.

Thursday was my group's day to present about employment strategies in Korea and abroad. I think we did a pretty awesome job considering our professor only interrupted us three times (some of the other groups had to deal with the professor practically taking over their presentations). Thursday was also Thanksgiving in the United States, so that evening CIEE hosted a banquet that had classic dishes like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, ham, peas, and rolls. I did miss Filipino food a little bit though. Come to think of it, this is the second time I've missed Thanksgiving with my family, the first time being in New York with my high school marching band. Anyway...a special guest, an English teacher through CIEE, joined us for dinner and of course I had to interview her for my class! She seemed a bit hesitant at first but I think it all turned out well. If there's an opportunity before I leave we are definitely going to hang out!

Black Friday (not so much in Korea) I read my friend's Statement of Purpose in order to look for any grammar mistakes or awkward phrasing. I didn't have to change much since she has pretty awesome English skills. She's a native Korean who wants to go to graduate school in the U.S. to obtain a master's in social work. How cool is that? Perhaps I should also start thinking about options for life after college outside of Peace Corps and possibly law school. Should I take the GRE, the LSAT, or forsake all standardized tests and become a missionary?

That afternoon four classmates and our professor, who is apparently the "mother of Korean social welfare" because of her work in the field, went on a field trip to Holt Children's Services. Holt started out as an overseas adoption agency but has expanded to encompass services for domestic adoption, foster care, single parent homes, multicultural families, etc. We were able to speak with the resident social worker and got a tour of the facilities. Maybe I should become a social worker despite the low pay? I do love being an idealist (sorry expensive education)! Here's a baby receiving physical therapy.

Saturday I was supposed to go make kimchi but my body had other ideas. I am currently sick, seeing how I've been hacking up grossness and using all the toilet paper on my nose. I stayed in to work on the food project. Disappointing but my body needed the rest. Study abroad tip #3: don't forget to take care of yourself by sleeping and eating properly. Sleep especially. I have been living off of three hours of sleep per day because of my own stupidity. Don't do that, especially in a country anal about swine flu. I hope I haven't been infecting everyone...

Sunday I met up with Filipino friends (I met another one!) and we all went to eat Filipino food and then browse the Filipino Sunday Market. There my food group was able to buy lumpia and pancit. We got service lumpia for buying a huge amound of pancit. How sweet is that? We then went back to DMC in order to watch Manny Pacquiao's latest victory on my lovely TV. In the evening after mass my food group scrambled to finish our presentation. I personally scrambled to make sure the paper was at least coherent and not overlapping itself. Here's what I ate for lunch - masarap!


Monday I read The Hungry Caterpillar again to the kids and received a group hug for my efforts. It was the cutest thing ever! I then went to edit the group paper, print it, warm up the lumpia using the I-House microwave, and then go to class. Our presentation went okay but it was lacking in creativity and happy fun times which our professor grades us on. I am personally afraid my individual grade will suffer since I spoke the fewest out of my group members, but we shall see. That evening I indulged on leftovers and episodes of Ouran High School Host Club.

I only have 20 days left here in Seoul! They will be filled with way too many essays and studying for finals but I still want to have some fun before I leave! Must manage time carefully!