Apologies and Things From Korea

First and foremost, I want to apologize that I left this blog half complete. I got quite behind on it and never did end up catching up. I have so many drafts ready and I kept a google calendar of all the things I did so that besides the pictures I took I could remember what Korea was like. Maybe by the end of this year I’ll be able to go through and at least get all the big stuff in and all the emotions I remember. Since it’s been a year many of the small details are probably gone, but I want to get it all down before I forget even more.

On a side note, there are a few things from Korea that never left:

1. The friends: our group chat is still so active and I absolutely love it. We keep each other updated, make jokes, etc. Instead of messaging about where we are going to meet up or plans for the weekend, we keep updated about happenings in our parts of the world, random thoughts, songs, etc. There’s also the local friends I made there who I still talk to today in a mix of English and Korean, learning about each other’s cultures and just generally chatting.
2. The language: Since I still talk to friends abroad, and I still love Korea, the language has stayed (for the most part). There’s some grammar points that I’ve forgotten, or maybe some vocab/spelling, but I’ve picked up a lot too through conversations, dramas, songs, etc.
3. The food: At this point, if you exclude the desserts I make, I’m pretty sure I know how to make more Korean dishes than any other kind of dish. It’s quite fantastic.
4. The music/dramas/etc: I had this one going in and it has stayed.
5. Confidence/Independence: I’m not saying that I got all my confidence in Korea but you gain a certain mindset when you’re in a country whose language you don’t speak well without family. Yes, I was with people who spoke English well and who knew Korean better than me so could help me out, but I still feel like the next time I go to a country that I don’t know well, I can find a way to get by and have fun.
6. There’s probably many more that I can think of but I’m a little brain dead now.

The poor number of posts that are still in draft mode: 

An example of a week from my calendar that has both my classes and also the stuff I did outside of class. This one is Week 11: Akaraka that is still stuck in draft mode… 

Week 9: Scores, Korean Class Dinner and Weekend Fun

Midterm scores. I kind of expected scores that weren’t super high because of how I think I did, but even still I’m extremely disappointed in myself and there’s a lot of pressure now. For one class, it’s super frustrating because even when I ask for help and receive it, there’s still a big part that I just don’t think I understand at all. I just go through the motions and need to understand more of the why. The Controls class… I honestly got so mad at myself. The concepts we learn in  class are understandable and I’m usually explaining parts of the problem sets to the two other exchange students in the class… but when it came to the test. I don’t know what happened. It might have been that it was right after the Antenna exam and so I was brain dead, or that my pants and shoes were soaked in water and I just didn’t feel comfortable. Either way, I didn’t finish the test. I walked out thinking I wasn’t going to do super well, but that it wouldn’t be terrible. By the time I got back to the dorm, I realized I made some simple arithmetic errors and just hoped that they graded based on concept understanding and not just on final answers.

Well… that was definitely not the case. The grades are based partially on the process and partially on the final answer. So not only did I lose points for not answering questions, but I lost points for having the wrong answer even though I had the correct process. It was extremely frustrating for me to get that score back. I don’t want to elaborate more here since this post well then just be a rant and I’d rather update about some other things as well. Shout out to my friends both here and back home in the states who let me rant and talk through it.

Moving on. Wednesday was a lot of fun. My Korean class planned a dinner outing with our teachers and so they took us to this really small shop on the second floor of a building in Sinchon. This place had super awesome budaejigae and fancy fries and everything was super delicious. There was honey fries and cheese fries and the budaejigae had delicious ramen and veggies and sausages. There were so many different types of fries and all of them were super loaded with the different sauces that they all had. The budaejigae definitely had a little kick to it, but I totally want to go again it was so good. It was such a small cute little restaurant too. It was a little rough going in the beginning since they aren’t really good for groups of 20 but it was still a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it.

On Thursday, 선생님 made 김밥 (kimbap) for  us so that was super yummy. Thursday was also essentially the start of the weekend. After volunteering, Paige and I joined Hojoong, Sam, etc to go celebrate Ian’s birthday. It was definitely awkward in the beginning because Paige and I don’t normally hang out with them and so we were still debating whether or not we should stay when we walked into the restaurant. We ended up staying anyways and we had a lot of fun. It was the first time I had seen a somaek tower so that was pretty cool. Somaek (소맥) is a mix of soju and beer (maek ju – 맥주) and the tower aspect is that it’s 750 mL (at least) of the mix and so it has a little tap so that people can refill their drinks at their tables. It was super amusing since Paige and I were the only ones from our original group who was there so Andy was asking where Anne was because “she can drink”. It was fun watching everyone drink, I learned about the 병신 샷 (pyeongsin shot) which you take when you say something stupid. Then we went out to a 노래방 where we met up with Melissa and Hafsah and watched everyone sing and be crazy. Thoroughly entertained, and found out some of these guys are actually really decent singers haha.

After classes and drumming practice on Friday, I went out clubbing with Paige, Melissa, Hafsah, Jiwon and Rena which is always fun. We usually go to clubs that are free entry for the girls so that was nice. Paige lost her wallet and so we spent time trying to see if we could find it but couldn’t so that was bummer. We went back and forth between the place she last used it and the place where she noticed it was missing but couldn’t find it. We were worried it might be in one of the clubs we went to since we tend to club hop but it wasn’t there. The one where she noticed it missing too was kind of empty so we could actually see the floor and it wasn’t there. Having lost my wallet before in China it was definitely not an experience I enjoyed and so it really sucks for her. I wanted to get her a new wallet or something since my friends did that for me when I lost mine in China and it definitely made things seem better, it’s even the wallet that I use now. However, Paige went to some event on Saturday where she received one of the nicer card holder things and so she ended up using that.

Saturday was more practice then I did some shopping in Edae before meeting up with everyone Sat night for some late night chicken. Sunday was pretty tame. Paige, Jiwon and I had practice again for club and then we hung out with them for the rest of the night so that was fun. They have places they go to all the time and so it was really nice going there with them and getting to join them in their fun. We had 막걸리 (makkeoli) and food and all  lot of other delicious stuff.  I’m not excited for class later today but is anyone ever?

Week 8: RapBeat Show, Avengers 2 and Myeongdong

Where do I even start??? I don’t even know how to start describing my Friday night. Awesome. Fun. Sweaty. Loud. Fantastic.  I feel like all these words and anything else I cme up with doesn’t do the RapBeat Show justice.

I originally went for one artist, and one artist only: Epik High. However, I have now gained another new favorite by the name of Loco… and Gray… but mostly Loco. The night was crazy but super fun. Those of us who had tickets left Korean class early that day to make it to the venue on time. There we picked up our tickets and got in line. Unlike other concerts I’ve been too, this one had no seats. It was stage and mosh pit o nly… an interesting and crazy experience. We got as close to the stage as we could, but as the night progressed, we got pushed around a lot and really up close with the people around us. Up first were a couple of groups I don’t know, nor do I remember (sorry guys) but they were pretty good. They knew how to bring up the vibe of the room so that’s always good. Block B came out for a while and thats when the pushing and shoving got really crazy for a while. I think because of it they didn’t really perform for very long, but there’s really not much they could. They even paused the show and told everyone to take a step back and to stop pushing, but once the music came back, so did the squishing.

Loco and Gray… at this point in time, I can only fan girl over Loco. Maybe because post-show, I did what I probably should have done beforehand and looked the other artists who were performing and their music. Loco and Gray… I fell in love with them on stage, and looking them up again later on only solidified that. 😛 Especially Loco.

Back to the ending group and the reason we were there: Epik High~ Absolutely the best. They really know what they are doing and their music is on point. I took too many pictures and videos and got splashed with water when they sprayed their water bottles. They came out for an encore and even though I couldn’t understand all of the Korean they were saying it was still pretty easy to tell when they were joking around.Their music was on point and I’m so glad that I went, even if I did get a little squished and pushed around by the crowd.

The night didn’t end there though, later on we went out again to Hongdae for a night out with friends. Rena’s first clubbing experience: success. It was a lot of fun and we spam selfied on each other’s phones. Definitely a night to remember~

Saturday once again brought 동아리it was more intense as we practiced entire segments of the dance. Starting from Friday things just kept going but that didn’t stop me. After practice, Paige and I hopped on the subway to head over to the Han River and meet up with some of the CIEE Seoulmates and their small groups. They had planned a small meet up to hang out and enjoy 치맥 ( chi-maek : chicken and beer for those who can’t remember :P) However, by the time we got there, there was no food left and they were headed back to Sinchon, where e had just come from. A little unforetunate but we hung out with them for a little longer and got to eat some delicious foods. Definitely a recommendation on my list byt there’s a little place in Sinchon where you can get spicy octopus/squid (I still don’t know which) and you get a cheese fondue on the side that you can dip it in. It’s absolutely great and get some 그림막걸리 (cream makkeoli). Chilled and mixed, cream makkeoli definitely tops the list as one of my favorite drinks, and I’m definitely going back.

Paige and I bailed dinner early to catch a movie with the crew though so we booked it to Mega-Box (a movie theater – description of a theater can be found in this blog post). We actually ran a little late and Rena had to send a copy of the receipt to us since they had already gone in. When we got there, the guy at the door asked for our receipt and for some reason both Paige and I found it a little amusing and embarrassing since we had to explain why we only had a picture. The guy was like “oh, you are the two friends”. Anyways, we went to go watch the new Avengers movie. I liked it and it because it was an English movie, they had Korean subtitles for the entire thing. While I couldn’t read everything it said, it was amusing sometimes because they couldn’t catch all the random little phrases.

Sunday brought Myeongdong fun and we got to wander the famous shopping streets. Paige brought me to a shop she found the other time that held “refridgerator” pants. Which in reality are just really comfy pants with pockets that are stretchy. Why they are called “refridgerator” pants, go ask Paige. But in Myeongdong I also bought my first snapback. A goal I had since I arrived in Korea. So YAY accomplishments.

This morning I went to the embassy to pick up my alien registration card so that was fun. It means that I can legally stay until Sept 30 instead of what the single-entry visa in my passport says. It’s also a multi-entry which means that if I want to travel in and out of Korea during my time here, I can do that without worrying about visa problems.

Classes now, bye~ I wonder if we’ll get our midterms back today… I’m a little worried.

PICTURES TO COME

Week 8: Jajangmyun, 노량진, and Midterms

Sunday night was Jajangmyun party night. The eight of us mass ordered delivery jajangmyun and took over 4th floor lounge for a jajang party. Some of us wanted a little kick to our meal so a little green bottle made its way under the table. Safe to say that most of us were relaxing as the only midterms left for most of us were the Korean language exams. It was definitely a great conclusion to the weekend and the entire gang was there (Paige, Anne, Melissa, Hafsah, Jenn, Rena, Jiwon and I). It’s rare for Jiwon to join us, usually because we hang in the lounge after 10 pm when no guys are allowed on the girls’ floors.

How the exams worked: Monday was speaking exam, sometime last week we were all given a time to come in one -on-one to go speak with our teacher. Each person only got 7-8 minutes  and the questions were pretty directed. Tuesday is the reading and listening exams and Wednesday was the writing exam. The reading, writing and listening exams were all an hour long and pretty straightforward. All of the exams started at 4 pm. The were all very similar to the practice exams that we were given as practice.

Honestly I wasn’t too worried and Monday night some of us went to a 노래방 (noraebang) to sing our hearts.  Tuesday saw Hafsah, Paige, Anne and I at노량진 (Noryangjin) or the open fish marketplace in Seoul. The fish market was a lot of fun. They had so many different types of seafood and it was all very fresh. While they have a lot of open stalls, along the sides, they have places where you can cook and eat the seafood on the spot, although those were usually connected to a specific vendor. They also had a basement where there was a restaurant that made a wider range of food and once you brought the seafood, you could bring it down there and order off the menu how you wanted it made.

We actually bought some 산낙지 (san-nakji) or live octupus for us to try. We found a vendor who sold us some octopus and afterwards went downstairs to get it prepared for us. We bought a couple so we decided to eat one line and cook the others into a delicious dish. I actually like the taste of live octopus a lot. This was the second time I ate it and it was definitely tastier than the first time I got to try it. I actually think I ended up eating most of it, but I’m not going to complain. When you eat the live octopus, you dip it in a sesame oil-salt mix. The salt for a little bit of flavor and the sesame to coat the octopus so that it doesn’t stick on the way down your throat. However, it made it really hard to pick up and all four of us struggled a lot. First was picking up the octopus itself since it liked to suction to the plate, but once you dipped it in the oil, it was the slipperiest thing ever to grab with metal chopsticks.

Wednesday night was… bad decisions galore. Procrastinating, as usual, led to a late night for essay writing to churn out a paper for philosophy, which led to spam texts and calls on my phone as friends tried to wake me up in order to go to class and turn it in. Luckily I have awesome friends who find ways to get people into my room and me out of bed. (Shoutout to Jiwon, Tyeisha, Chang and Anne).

Club practices started back up tonight as well, with practices every day since we have a big performance coming up in May.

As always, pictures to come.

Week 7: Midterms Week, Gapyeong and Bungee Jumping

This week has definitely been stressful. Midterms officially started on Thursday and I has two exams right off the bat. I guess the first thing I’ll do is rant about them, so if you don’t want to hear it, just skip this next paragraph~

Those tests. Where do I even start? Well first off, let’s be unhappy about the fact that it was raining really hard that day so when I got to the tests my shoes and socks and bottom of my pants were soaked through. I had the Antenna exam at 1 pm and the mechanical one at 4. Antenna was by far the one that I was worried about the most and that’s where I did the most studying. The midterm itself was just sad. I was nowhere close to done and I definitely don’t feel confident in any of my answers. Even if I got everything correct on the parts I did finish, I’m pretty sure the highest I can get is still straight up failing. The mechanical one.. had three problems total. I finished the first one didn’t touch the last one and got halfway through the second. It was frustrating because I knew that I knew how to solve the problems. I think that after the antenna one, my brain was just dead and I was too uncomfortable wet. I also hought that I would have a full 2 hours on the test and not just an hour and a half. Let’s just say I was a little panicked when they said there was only 30 minutes left instead of saying that there was an hour to go. On the way back to the dorms, I realized that I had made a couple of simple mistakes in the first problem that carried through every single part. So I hope that they grade the way they do in the states: as long as you know the process, if you make a couple of simple mistakes, you’ll get docked a few points for the time you made the mistake, but not for every following part. Eitherway… assuming that I get everything correct, which I know I won’t, the gihest score I could get is maybe like a 60.. so I’m shooting for a 50? Either way, I hope they curve the test. Anyways I’m done ranting for now. I’ve already cried about it multiple times so I’ll just move on.

After the terribleness that was Thursday, all I have left is the Korean exams today through Wed, and a paper for philosophy due Thursday morning. Korean has been mostly review for me so far so I’m not too worried about it. It’s probably why I haven’t done very much studying for it and why I went to Gapyeong this weekend.

The reason for the semi-spontaneous trip to Gapyeong is because Friday and Saturday therewas a beer festival in the Cheongpyeong area. Some of us left early (Paige, Melissa, Hafsah, Jiwon and Anne) and went on Friday to go check it out then. I went with Jenn saturday morning to meet up with them and to spend Saturday and possibly Sunday together. At the time, we hadn’t decided if we were going to spend the night.

We met up around lunch time and after grabbing food, found a little store and browsed for a bit. Bought some bubbles and explored the little knicknacks. Then there was a fruit truck and I bought myself a bag of oranges. They were super sweet and delicious even if they were a bit on the small side. We then hung out in a cute little coffee shop in the Gapyeong area. How we chose the cafe? There was a cute little colgi inside the store and we were watching him and finally just decided to go in when the owner actually brought the guy out for us to pet. The ice cream there was top notch and we got little drinks as well. We hung out for about an hour and when we left, since the owner was so nice I gave her some oranges. Then of course, me being me, in the process of giving them to her, I managed to drop one. ㅠㅠ

After we left, we headed over to Namisom and went bungee jumping. Hafsah and Jenn didn’t go but the other five of us did. I was maybe a little too excited.. or perhaps it was the nervousness talking but I definitely don’t regret. doing it. We did it over the water and we were strapped in through the chest. I’m pretty sure they didn’t allow the ankle ones unless you had previous experience or something. Either way, I’m not entirely sure I would have done it anyways.

Once they hook you up, you stand on the edge of the platform with your feet half over and they tell you they will count to 5 before yelling bungee and that’s when you jump. You need to have your arms out in front of you and jump away from the platform. Me being me, I jumped out and down so I went head first. There’s a little bit of regret there because I definitely screamed without realizing it and kept my eyes open for most of the way down. They said we had to cover our face for the first bounce back but after that it was fine. I didn’t flail too bad which I’m kind of proud of. 😛 The entire jump was around a minute or less but it definitely felt longer, at some point it was just a swing as I was going back and forth before they pulled me down into the boat.

Dinner was next and boy were some of us fangirling over the waiter. What is it with so many attractive people tabling at restaurant? We had some 닭갈비 seeing as how that was what the majority of the stores were (we think it’s the area where it originated so that wouldn’t surprise me), and finally got our hands on some honey butter chips. I can see the appeal and why they are so popular.

We decided not to spend the night since we were all pretty tired but it’s definitely a weekend I won’t forget.

PICTURES TO COME! (SORRY GUYS) For those of you who are my facebook friends, they are already posted~ just look for the correct week~

Week 6: 찜질방, Changdeok Palace and Studying

The week was actually pretty boring. We had club practice everyday from 7 – 10 pm to prepare for our upcoming performance in May and I still had volunteering on Thursday, but besides that there was nothing super exciting during the week.

The weekend started on Friday night when my friends and I went to the 찜질방 (jjimjilbang) or sauna. Going to a 찜질방 is quite the experience. When you first enter the 찜질방, they ask if you want to just do the baths or if you are going to stay overnight. Then you pay for what you want and get a set of clothes. At every 찜질방, there is a set for males and a set for femals. At the one we went tom, the girls were a shade of red-orange and the boys where a shad of mustard yellow. Once in, you grab a locker for your shoes and take the key with you and all your stuff upstairs (for males) or downstairs (for females). Then you go in and excahnge your shoe locker key for a normal locker key. Put all your stuff in and strpi and off to the baths you go.

I will say that we were all a bit hesitant in the beginning. We’d take off our shirt and look around to see what everyone else was doing. Then one of us just went with it and then suddenly everyone was butt naked. It’s an interesting experience to say the least. You are definitely feel like everyone is staring at you and for the first few moments it’s probably true. Especially if you stand out noticeably (either by the language you speak, how loud you are or how different you look), but in the end you get used to it.

The first things you do when you get into the bath part of the 찜질방 is to shower and clean yourself. They have little stations and you grab a stool and a tub (if you want one) and sit there and clean yourself with the little showerhead available. You can scrub each other’s backs and wash your hair. They have a little store for you if you want one time shampoo, conditioner, scrubbers, etc. Once you’re all squeaky clean you head to the baths. There were multiple there, but when we went they were cleaning a couple of them so the temperatures we had available to us was 38 C (100 F), 42 C (~108 F) and a few in between. They also had a cold water one. i can’t remember the temperature but it felt like ice when we walked in. It was refreshing after you got over the initial shock. In the bath section there were also a couple of saunas. I walked into one and walked right back out 5 minutes later, because that’s all my feet could take while I was standing there. The other sauna was way better and the ahjummas (older ladies) who were already in there were so nice and moved aside so my friend and I could lay down for a bit.

After the baths, we got out and changed before putting on some face masks. Hey, if you’re gonna go take 2-3 hour long baths with saunas and stuff, might as well go the whole mile and do a facial mask. Finally ready, we all headed up to the main floor. This floor is where we sleep for the night so we all grabbed a mat and pillow from the corner and all gathered around. There’s a convenience store area on this floor and here you can buy snacks and drinks common in a 찜질방, like specially cooked eggs, ramen, 식혜 (sikhae – sweet rice drink) as well as soft drinks and beer. You could also go to the outdoor saunas that are coal fired, but none of us ended up going. We all just hung around and talked. Some of us fell asleep and some of us stayed awake all night. Supposedly there was a super loud snorer, and some people had troubles because they weren’t used to sleeping on the floor. Since this 찜질방 had a노래방 (noraebang – karaoke room) in it, apparently someone was also singing opera at 4 am. This is when I’m glad I’m a deep sleeper~

The next morning, Paige, Anne and I got up earlier than everyone else. The other two to go enjoy the baths again, and me because I had plans to go to Changdeok Palace ( 창덕궁).

Changdeok Palace was a lot of fun. I went with a  group of exchange students led by local Yonsei students as part of the Yonsei Global One Shot program and we took a tour of the Secret Garden. It was really beautiful and a nice little escape bfrom the bustle of the city, even though the palace is located within the city. The garden was more of a natural forest. They just let the trees and plants grow and there was path that weaved it’s way through the garden. There were litle rest houses and everything. All in all it was extremely beautiful to see it. The main palace part was really gorgues too and I pulled of my first jump shot. 😀

Saturday night, Mars came out and we hung out in Hongdae for a bit. We visitied a multi-room which is prettly cool. They are just little rooms you can rent and the one we went to, you could play wii, sing karaoke, watch movies or TV shows, or use the computer. They had cushions to just relax and you could get snacks and ramen.

Sunday was study day since midterms are coming up and so we headed out to Hunch Brown to get some work done in the cafe. The drink I got was a delicious lemon tea, that I ended up refilling with water 4 times because that’s how nicely the lemons retained their taste. Then we grabbed dinner and some of us headed to cafe round 2: Tom N Toms. Unlice Hunch Brown where I was actually productive, I got very little work done at Tom N Toms. It might just be that the atmosphere there is a little different, but I think if I want to be productive, that is not the cafe to go to~ Either way, it was still a lot of fun~

PICTURES TO COME. I’M SO SORRY~

Week 5: Hongdae, Ilsan Round 2 and Studio Ghibli

Thursday was fun. I had my normal volunteering event with my adorable little mentee then since it was raining, we decided it called for some food that works well with the rain so we found a little restaurant and had some 부침개 (buchimgae) and 막걸리 (makkoli/makgeoli), which according to my local friends is what you should eat on a rainy day. Either way, it was absolutely delicious. Afterwards some friends braved the rain and met us in Sinchon to hang out some more.

Friday, we changed our teachers in Korean and so we had to say bye to 이 선생님 (Lee Seonsaengnim or Teacher Lee). I realized that I never explained the way my Korean class is set up… so here goes:

We use three books for the entire week. One lesson book for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and then a reading book and workbook on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since each class is two hours long, it’s often split into the first hour and second hour. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are taught by one teacher and we learn the lesson and practice reading and saying each line outloud one by one. Then in the second hour, we go over the grammar points. Sometimes, depending on how fast we read, we start learning the grammar in the first hour. Tuesdays and Thursdays are taught by a second teacher and they teach a lesson from the reading book, then during the second hour we complete pages in our workbooks.

Our Mon, Wed, Fri teacher changes every month I guess, but  our Tues, Thurs teacher stays the same. I’m not entirely sure why, but we said bye to 이 선생님 and took some pictures with her.

Friday night, after classes, we hit up Hongdae and hung out there. We ate delicous 닭갈비 (dakkalbi/dakgalbi) or a spicy chicken dish. then afterwards, we got our signature dessert dish: bingsu! It was a nice night to walk around and we listened and watched some of the street preformances. Mostly it was fun to just hang around with friends.

Saturday was a lot of fun. I went back to Ilsan, but this time with a different group to learn about couple culture! The Seoulmates planned an event at the Ilsan Lake Park. Before we left, we had a powerpoint about the different phrases used in Korean dating culture, and we learned about the timeline. It’s actually really short: you confess, then you get together. Then we all paired up guy-girl to be “couples” for the day. There weren’t enough guys though, so I got paired with a girl and it was sitll a lot of fun. In Ilsan, we played the pepero game and the paper game. Both of which are a lot of fun and if you take pictures, they can look like people are kissing.

Quick game explanations:

• The pepero game: Two people eat from opposite ends of a pepero stick (a pretzel like stick covered in chocolate), they try to make the smallest possible stick left over without touching the other individual. The team with the smallest pepero left wins
• The paper game: A line of people stand in a row with a stack of paper (we used origami) at one end. The goal is to get as many papers to the end of the row by transporting the paper by mouth between individuals.

After the event, I went with some of the Seoulmates and we went back to Sinchon, but first we stopped by the Kyobo bookstore and I bought a couple of books in Korean. Hopefully I can find the time to read them and learn some Korean on my own by reading them. We also got some bingsu (of course).

Sunday was kind of fun. Since midterms are coming up soon (April 16 is when they start), we spent part of the day at a cafe. Then in the afternoon, I met up with some different friends and went to a Studio Ghibli exhibition since it was the last day. Seeing all of it makes me want to rewatch a lot of the movies, and I really want to see the ones that I never got to watch.

After the Ghibli exhibition, I came back and grabbed dinner, then my friends and I started to plan a trip to Busan. Hopefully all the plans work out and we can make go!

So I realized that I can’t put up a lot of my Ilsan Round 2 photos because I’ve been asked not to share them on social media, but there are some.

Week 5: Nicknames, Bingsu and Quizzes

Monday was extremely unique and an experience I will treasure a lot. We had club practice for TTE and this practice, there was no instrument playing. As mentioned in a previous post (found here), everyone in the club has a nickname and so it was time for me to get mine. It’s actually kind of nervewracking the way they went about it but in the end, I think it will definitely be one of my favorite memories.

The way that the club members get their nickname is by telling their life story. I talked about where I was from, my family, and things that I enjoy doing, etc. I talked a little bit about school and how I think other people might perceive me. Then it was question time, they asked me about my favorite activites and clarified things I said like about volunteering since I’ve done so much. They also gave scenarios to us and asked how we would respond. One of the questions was to put the following 5 things in order of importance: Honor, Friendship, Power, Love and Money. I won’t say what I put but I think there’s quite a few people out there who could figure it out. They also asked me this: If your boyfriend cheated on you with your best friend, what would you do?

After all the question and answer, they start giving out ideas for nicknames. Since I talked about the meaning of my names (English and Chinese), a lot of them were jokes from that, but there were some meaningful ones. After making the names, everyone voted. First was to narrow down the choices, and so everyone got three votes for their favorite name. After that was a final vote. My nickname is 엄마, which literally means mom, but in this case, it is also short for 엄청나게 마음이 넓은 사람. 엄청나게 means incredibly,  마음이 means heart, 넓은 means broad or wide, and 사람 means person. This phrase is basically saying that I an an incredibly big-hearted person. Getting my nickname was definitely a memory I won’t forget. While I get called 엄마 and we make jokes about how my friends were almost called 아빠 (dad) and 누나 (older sister for a male) and we were amost a family, the meaning behind is there, even if I don’t think about it at the time.

Paige also got her nickname on Monday too after telling her life story and she is now called 포도, which literally means grape but also has a second meaning related to what she told everyone. Jiwon, aka 도마, short for donation master, got his nickname the week before so we didn’t get to hear his story but we know the meaning behind his nickname too. The local students in the club asked if volunteering was the norm in the States because all three of us do it and really enjoy it. We told them it wasn’t really the norm, but there are people who enjoy it as well.

After practice, we went out and joined with friends to get some Oreo bingsu. I’m pretty sure that our group is addicted to the stuff. It’s absolutely delicious and with the fruit on top that we get sometimes, it’s got to be healthy… right?? 😛

While Monday was really awesome and a lot of fun… Tuesday… Tuesday was a struggle. I had two quizzes, a vocab quiz in Korean and a quiz for Antenna engineering. It was… quite a struggle. It’s interesting becauses quizzes and tests here aren’t done during class time. During class, the professor asked when everyone was available and so our quiz ended up being at 7pm on a Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, the TA (teacher’s assistant) came and watched over the quiz. They gave a special paper specifically for tests and quizzes that’s… maybe two A4 pieces of paper next to each other in size? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll measure when I get the quiz back. When you flip it, you have to flip it over the short side instead of like a normal book, which got me for a while. To be honest, for some reason I didn’t realize there was a back at all for a good part of the quiz. Another part that was different was where you put your name. Maybe I just wasn’t reading the Korean closely enough but I definitely put my name in the box where you are supposed to put the score…The TA said it was fine, and that it was his fault for not explaining it to me since it was the first time I’ve taken a quiz in Korea, but I will also take partial blame, because I definitely could have read the Korean and figured it out…

Anyways, today is April Fool’s day but I don’t think anyone is pranking today~

Spring flowers

My list of nickname options

Paige telling her life story

Cute little cafe

Oreo Bingsu

Spring is coming

Week 4 Part 2: 지신밟기 and Ilsan

So much stuff went on this weekend and it was super awesome. I don’t even know if I have a favorite event.

First and foremost, I got to meet up with a friend I haven’t seen since senior year of high school. That makes it… 3 years? He’s been in the army during his mandatory service this past year or so so the connumications been sporadic, but it was great to catch up, even if only for a couple hours. Thanks for meeting up on your weekend off Youngre!

Since I met up with him at Apgujeong Rodeo, I visited Apgujeong Rodeo Street which has a bunch of bear statues with different Kpop artists/groups on it. The street was called K-Star Road and I’m a little disappointed that Big Bang, 2NE1 and some of my favorite artists didn’t have little bears. It was still really cool to walk down the street though. Besides that, I didn’t really wander around that much since I alreayd had another event I was going to that night.

지신밟기 (Jisinpakji) is an event with my 동아리 so with the rest of the TTE club, we put on the costumes and got our instruments so that we could participate in this event. We met up with the rest of the Yonsei pungmul clubs and got ready to head out. 지신밟기 is an annual event where the pungmul clubs go out to different restaurants beating our drums to chase away the bad ghosts and give store owners our blessings. In exchange the restaurants we went to had preopared some food and drink for all of us. First we went to a couple of stores in Sinchon before heading over to Hongdae to meet up with the pungmul clubs of Ewha Women’s University and Hongik University who we met during the OT on Monday.

Once in Hongdae, we did a big performance with everyone and we were running around. The beginning was first sending the club wishes into the sky so there was a drum and a reading, before someone from each club lit their letters on fire and threw them into the sky. Afterwards, we ran around the performance area and curcled around, following one of the many pungmul dance patterms. Officilly I hadn’t learned the beat or anything else yet, but it wans’t too hard to catch on. After the big performances, each instrument had their own individual performance. A group of people playing the same instrument did a performance, and each one averaged 10 minutes which is pretty impressive especially since all of us had all been out running and drumming since 4 pm and by that time it was 7 or 8.

After all the performances were over, it was time for the food. After chaning, we all went to a place in Hongdae for dinner and had delicious food and drink. Some people stayed later than we did and probalby went to Round 2 and 3 and such but we bailed around midnight or so. It was super fun and yummy and I’m so glad we got to participate.

Yesterday was it’s own level of fun. In the morning, I went with some friends a got a haircut. They straightened my hair for me too and I got to spend the rest of the day remembering what it’s like having super straight hair. After we all got our hair done and stuff, I went to Ilsan with the Yonsei Global One Shot.

Yonsei Global (YG) is a organization for international students. The plan events such LE (Language Exchange), OS (One Shot), Movie Cinema and YG Angel (a volunteering subgroup) among others. I am only a part of YG LE and YG OS. For One Shot, they plan three outings to places that “are good for taking pictures to foreign students”.  Each place, they give us a mission to complete if you want, and if you do you can win a prize. Anyways, the first of the OS places this time was Ilsan Aqua Planet and Lake and the mission was to take a picture with the beaver and a picture with the capybara.

The aquarium was super awesome and the otters were super cute. It took us forever to take a picture with the beavers because they kept moving around so much. The jellyfish and capybara were wayyy to adorable. The lake was a bit diappointing though. I think it had in part to do with the fact that there really was nothing there when we went. There was no flowers out yet, but it was still a really nice view. Afterwards, we ended up on the same bus as one of the CIEE Seoulmates who had planned a small group event so I ended up joining them for dinner.

Dinner was super interesting. We went to a Zombie Bar. This meant that the theme was all zombies. The call buttons were light sticks, there was a fence and fake legs. Then roughly every hour the music would change, the lights would change and the fog machines would turn on. Then the zombies would come out, some of them with bats and go scaring the customers. They would bang on the fance with the bats and get right up in people’s business. It was really interesting and super fun to take part in. The second time tey came out, halfway through, the music suddenly changed to club music from the scary music and the zombies started dancing to Big Bang and stuff. It was extremely entertaining.

Later we went to a noraebang again which was nice, but I had to leave early because I didn’t finish my work… which is what I should be doing now too. ㅠㅠ.

Meeting up with Youngre

Apgujeong Rodeo Street

K-Star Road

Street performers~

Our outfits for 지신밟기

With the pretty ribbons

All dressed up!

Janggu and Bok

Going to meet up with everyone

All the Yonsei groups

On the streets of Jinchon

First shop

Getting our food

Another store

And yet another

On our way to Hongdae

Going to meet up with the other schools

Everyone!

Starting the performance

Watching the different instrument performances

Yonsei TTE Club!

Dinner afterwards~

Service coffee with our haircuts

“You have a doong”

All the selfies

Look at our new cuts!

Hello SMILE

These kids

Too adorable

Ilsan Aqua Planet

JELLY FISH

Penguins

OTTERS!

Beavers

This guy made taking a picture with the beavers really difficult

Roomie Selfie

CAPYBARA

How they display their menu options

It even looks like the fake

Yummmm

Ilsan Lake Park

No flowers

But still pretty

Week 4 Part 1: OT, Movies, and Noraebang

This week was super fun and awesome! There’s so much stuff that happened so far this week and today is going to be great too.

But let’s backtrack a bit… Monday night, in place of 동아리 regular practice, there was an OT, or orientation. It was called 지신밟기 OT. At this OT, all of the pungmul(풍물) clubs in Yonsei, as well as Ewha Women’s University and Hongik University came together. This menat that 8 or so clubs did introductions. Each club went up to the front and the president introduced the club, then each member introduced themselves in Korean. It was interesting because it’s common (at least in the pungmul club) to have nicknames, so instead of introducing yourself by your real name, you introduced yourself by your nickname. For one club, every name ended in the same character so some of them were extremely amusing to listen to, even if I didn’t uderstand them. Since I didn’t have a nickname, I just said that I was a freshman in the TTE pungmul club and passed the mic.

Tuesday’s Mechanical System Controls class was cancelled because a lot of the students had a mandatory schedule they had to go to, dictated by the government. I didn’t know this, but after men complete their service, there are still certain days that they have to go back for a full day for review training or something like that. Either way, a lot of the guys in my class had to do it. Since it was such a significant portion, my professor canceled class. Unforetunately for me, I ended up spending that time doing homework for my Mon/Wed Antenna Engineering class.

Wednesday was pretty cool since we stumbled across a film shooting at the CU convenience store by campus. They were shooting for a show called Let’s Eat 2 featuring a member of B2ST. Sorry to all the fanatics who probably nor Wednesday evening brought a mandatory guest lecture about life in North Korea. Honestly, the lecture was a little bit disappointing, there’s actually not a lot of super new information that I learned. Though to be fair, that might have been tdue to the fact that I was super tired, so I was zoning in and out to the entire first half of the lecture. Sorry!

Thursday’s Philosophy class also got cancelled (the professor called in sick last minute – about 20 minutes before class was going to start, right as I was about to head out). Since I had the time, and I was awake, and I didn’t have any homework to do, Anne, Tyeisha and I went out to watch a movie in theaters. I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend watching 스물 (Twenty). It features Kim Woobin and others, and it was absolutely FANTASTIC. I watched it all in Korean with no English subs, so even though I didn’t understand the majority of what they were saying, I still found it absolutely hilarious. 10 out of 10 would watch again (maybe with subs this time so that I know what the actors are saying this time.. ).

Movie theaters here are a little different from those in the U.S. First, movie theaters are tall, because like many things in Korea, instead of expanding out, buildings go up and down.We went to CGV and I think there were 5 something floors. When you walk in you actually are going upstairs, and no one is at the ticket counter. Even if there is no line, we had to grab a number before someone came over. When you choose your movie, you also pick your seats.Then you cna get snacks and such (as normal) before you head to the correct theater. Instead of receiving a ticket, you just get a receipt that has the number of people watching, the seat number, the floor and the theater number.  Our receipt said B3, but when we read the receipt, we read it wrong and actually went up to the 3rd floor. We got a little lost, but when we finally got in, you show the receipt to the guy outside the door of the theater, and they open it and let you in. Then you’re on your own to find our seat.

Last night was by far the most fun though. We went to a 노래방 (Noraebang aka Karaoke) for the first time. Or rather we went to two different ones. You pay for the room by the hour and sing your heart out for that hour. Usually you get service and they’ll add on time for you, but the first lady wasn’t super nice and we only got 10 minutes of service. The second noraebang that we went to was a lot more spacious and nicer looking for the same price, and she gave us about an hour of service which was super awesome. It was a lot of fun and we definitely sang our hearts out. The lyrics aren’t always correct, but they are super close so it works for us. We belted out those songs. I think the highest score we got was a 98 or something, but you can choose to turn off the scoring system if you want.

stumbled across a film shooting

there’s the scene

Let’s Eat 2 is the name of the show

So late and they are still filming

스물 (Twenty) with Kim Woobin!

Go watch it~

We had lots of fun!

Street performers

Car garages in Korea

Meet our mentees

More night life pictures

노래방! (Noraebang)

Singing our hearts away

So much fun~

Ready?

Set?

Picture~