DMZ Sarah Monday, June 18, 2012

A few weeks ago I went on a DMZ (Demilitarized Military Zone) with a company affiliated with the US embassy, USO.There are actually many companies that bring you to tour the DMZ, so you really have to browse different company websites and find one that suits you. Some tours may be cheaper, but doesn't include lunch, some are half day, others are full day, etc. After experiencing this tour, I can say its worth going on a DMZ tour as you get a new understanding of Korea's history and receive insight regarding North Korea as well. Here is the link to the company I went with.

Before I went on this tour, I had little to no knowledge about where or what the itinerary places were.  Camp Bonifitas, the Third Infilitration Tunnel, Dora Observatory and the JSA (Joint Security Area) sounded foreign to me as I didn't have an indepth knowledge of Korea's history. Having said that though, you don't need to know anything to go on a DMZ tour, and it may even be better if you go knowing little as you will be enriched so much afterwards.

DMZ is basically the area that is "demilitarized" so that tourists and foreigners can get a taste of what happened during the Korea War, the areas affected, and a taste of North Korea. This tour gives you a new perspective to Korea, rather than just the city life and popular activities around town. I got to see North Korean "rock" soldiers (soldiers who stand on guard in their position until their shift is over without moving...ever). They gave off a "cold" vibe and had strict guidelines too, so I couldn't help but wonder what the conditions are like on the other side.

Anyhow, you really need to go on a DMZ tour to understand the full concept of everything, especially the Third Infiltration Tunnel as no photos were allowed to keep it a "Secret," but its interesting  and worth checking out,  but here are some photos to give you a glimpse of what you can see. 

map outlining DMZ area

entrance to Third Infiltration Tunnel

Rock soldiers standing on guard

had to be a certain distance away from him

piece of history at Infiltration Tunnel

If this station opens, you can travel from Korea to China to Russia to Europe!

AKARAKA Sarah Monday, May 14, 2012

Last week, Wednesday through Friday was the annual AKARAKA festival (아카라카 축제) on campus. Since the start of this term, it has been an event I have been looking forward to, especially after the cheering orientation (you can read more about it here). I can say that every Yonsei student highly anticipates for this event, even students from other campuses do (many students from Korea University came to Akaraka). In Korea, their Spring term is their first term of the year, so Akaraka has been a traditional cheering event, and it usually happens to land following the end of midterm week, which calls for a massive celebration.

It was a huge event alright. I actually didn't know this event was three-day long because for the longest time I thought Akaraka only referred to the cheering event at the amphitheater on the last day where celebrity guests are invited to perform. That is one major reason why so many students compete and claim their Akaraka tickets, because for the price of 10000won ($10), you pretty much receive a line up of singers (unknown until the event starts), and a party full of proud fellow students dancing, singing, and cheering for their favorite artists and of course, one another.

Lets start on Wednesday. 

So one of my friends in my Korean class had told me she was part of the IYC food festival. I decided to help out the day of as I wasn't able to commit to the meetings they had. We were assigned Saudi Arabia and we made Saudi Arabian style fried rice and chicken. It was similar to curry and rice, but with more seasoning and flavors. Our group leader, a Korean, had actually contacted the Saudi Arabian embassy and they provided us with more than we asked for, giving us packages of dates, pamphlets, books,  traditional costumes,a large flag for decoration, contacting a Saudi Arabian international student studying on campus to lend us a hand, and even contacting a restaurant which provided 20 boxes of the dish we made-for free! However, our version of the dish was tastier than the ones provided by the restaurant since we made our own sauce from scratch and our rice wasn't bland tasting like theirs was.

It was a great experience to be part this cooking event and share the taste, sight, and smell of culture with exchange and local students on campus. Koreans don't usually get the opportunity to try food from other countries as there aren't much options available and foreign food tends to be more expensive, and secondly they tend to just stick with what they know best, Korean food.


Moving on to Thursday.

 

This day was called out to be a day of missing classes, standing in line, and waiting. Most, if not all local students had already had their chance in obtaining their Akaraka tickets. Unfortunately for us exchange students, we had to wait in line to buy ours today at a certain time. We were told there was only 220 available tickets and keeping in mind that there were over 400 exchange students this term, this seemed to be quite a problem. We were forewarned in advance via email that not everyone was going to get a ticket, and that last year, those students who waited two hours earlier, didn't get a ticket either. So even though the time set for us to buy tickets was at 7pm, my friends and I were already lurking around the area at 1pm. Actually, other exchange students were too, just that no line was formed yet. We ended up being part of the first few students at the front of the line, and thank Global Lounge that after three hours of waiting in line, they decided to pass out numbers so we could do leave and come back at 7pm to pay for our actual tickets.Waiting wasn't actually that bad though. Time passed pretty quickly as we took turns exploring the booths, activities, and food stalls all lined up on the main street from main gate of Yonsei.

Prior to lining up again to pay for my real ticket, I grabbed grub at one of the food stalls, a giant $5 seafood pancake and took a look at everything going on. There was a LOT going on. Everywhere I looked, I would see someone singing, performing, playing drinking games, eating, getting freebies from sponsors, etc. There was rows and rows of tables set up (aka inverted boxes) and people sat around them drinking soju, eating snacks, and playing drinking games. It was quite a sight, everyone was so happy and crazy. It felt like the whole Sinchon had displaced itself into the heart of Yonsei haha. It didn't feel like it was a school setting at all. When it got later, Mentor's club had organized an outdoor party for exchange students right by Global Lounge. Their theme was 'MIB', Mentor's in Black and it was so amusing to see all these mentors in black with their black shades and water guns dancing around... oh Koreans.

 

John Park, apparently an American Idol contestant turned famous American Korean singer in Korea after being on a Korean show,  sang on a stage set up in the "forest" on the way back heading to dorms. The energy was crazy and the lighting from the concert took my breathe away as I gazed around me to see the trees lighted up in a beautiful array of colours against the night sky.


The day we've all been waiting for.

Heading towards the amphitheater at 2pm,  lines were already formed and making their way in. Earlier in the term, each department/faculty had already divided up the amphitheater into sections and had drawn out of a hat where they were to  be situated during the event. Mentor's club had designated seating at the top and center section of the theater, but it was a tad far up for our liking, so we joined our other friends who had squished in with the nursing faculty towards the right and middle side of the stage. We ran into some trouble as the nurses weren't too happy that we were sitting there... though there was an unwritten rule that if students from the faculty didn't take their seats by 3:30pm, anyone can sit there, and it was just a few minutes prior to 3:30.

Anyhow, fast forward and the show began with rappers that I do not know the name of opening the stage. Most of the artists seemed to be of the older generation, like our equivalent of Backstreet Boys. When Psy from YG came out thought, the crowd went crazy. I never heard of Psy before due to my lack of Kpop knowledge, but wow does he have energy for a 40+ year old. His singing and dancing got the crowd asking him to encore at least three times. The most well known band must have been SNSD, and  even though only 3/9 members performed, they tried much harder than when I first saw them at Fashion Collection (read here).

Besides the celebrities, Miss Korea was one of our MCs of the night, you know your an Ivy League school when haha. Yonsei also had their version of a singing contest, Yonsei Idol, where the top 3 finalists performed solo and as a group. The winner was revealed later on that night and he totally deserved it as his voice was so strong and beautiful. Also, something that took everyone by surprise was that an alumni from Yonsei made a video of how he met his girlfriend back in the day and when the video ended, the MCs brought him and his girlfriend out and he proposed to her in front of the  crowd of squealing girls and guys shouting "KISS". How sweet is that? That just brought proposal ideas to a whole new creative level.

At about 8 or 9pm (I think, lost track of time), fireworks lighted up the sky (whattt!) and this crazy green light show was projected onto the stage showcasing a moving eagle (Yonsei's mascot), the words "YONSEI" itself and other pretty cool stuff. I thought it was the opening of a crazy popular band such as Big Bang or something to end off the night (as rumored), but turns out, the Blue Knights (Yonsei's cheering team) came out in their costumes to kick off a series of consecutive cheering. I couldn't ask for a better way to end off Akaraka. I felt so much school spirit and it brought me so much joy to see all of us students jumping up and down, cheering and singing together, dancing like no tomorrow, and having such a happy time as one school body.

It felt so surreal and unbelievable to be there in that moment and I didn't want it to end. Though, the reality of it was that the event wrapped up at 10:30pm, after 8 hours worth of celebration. When will you ever have this experience in North America?

Yonsei students know how to throw a party.
사랑하다 연세!

화이팅! Sarah Wednesday, April 25, 2012

MIDTERMS.

DONE.

FREEDOM.

I'm so brain dead, yet so happy that this brutal week is finally over!

With two more months left, Spring's arrival, and much excitement to come,

Hello Blogging again!

Gangwha Island Sarah Sunday, April 08, 2012

One of the clubs I'm part of is Global Angel, which does volunteer work in the community. Last week, they volunteered at a soup kitchen, but since I was at the Emmaus retreat, I couldn't make it out. This past Saturday though, we went to a senior's welfare center to do some community work for them. As we were a bigger group this time, we got split up into the kitchen, cleaning, and book keeping team. I was part of the cleaning team and we were in charge of mopping the floors and wiping railings and dust from framed paintings/signs on the walls. There was plenty of us, thus making the work load fairly simple and considerably "light" work, but regardless, it felt good to give back to the community and meet some seniors. I met a senior who graduated in '58 and has an English major who spoke to me in perfect English. Also, while cleaning, I got to go into the calligraphy room where seniors were practicing their calligraphy. Upon finding out that I was Chinese, this grandpa made me right in Chinese, so I wrote 'new year' and then he pointed to two other Chinese characters in a book and told me to write them as well. I apparently amused them, but they told my Korean unni (term for older 'sister'), that I needed to practice writing more haha. I feel my Chinese is deteriorating because I'm using it only once a week for less than 10 minutes on and off with my mother, so I'm not surprise my writing skills are a fail xP.A reason why we were such a large group today was because right after, we were heading straight to MT (Membership Training aka club retreat). MT is really common in the Korean university culture and I'm sure almost every club has one where the club members go away for a night or two and bond through group activities and games-more specifically, drinking games. We took a public bus ride that lasted about 90minutes to Gangwha Island in Incheon. It was more like a coach bus, but with no washrooms and if there was no seats, you would've had to stand the entire time. It was only $2 for the ride, and luckily, all of us got seats.After a long wait, we finally arrived to our traditional Korean house for our night's stay. It was located facing the beach front and a mud flat area (if it was warmer and more 'mud-like' we would've played in it). Despite the strong wind, we took lots of photos as it was around the time of sunset. The view was lovely and I would love to go back on a summer day just to sit and watch the airplanes depart from an airport at a land mass farther off across from where we were. The house consisted of a large open space with the traditional Korean heated floors, a kitchen for us to cook, respective bathrooms and rooms for females and males, and an outdoor area for us to grill food later. It was rather a small place, and not as convenient as we thought it would be in terms of showering as there was only one washroom/ gender for you to wash up, thus no one showered that night. It sounds gross, but since most people pull all nighter at MTs anyways, people usually wait until they get back home to wash up.

For dinner, the male volunteer leaders did the cooking and grilled pork for us to wrap in lettuce along with rice and gochujang, the ever popular red pepper paste in Korea (this dish was known as 삼 'sam'). The lovely adjumma who owns the house also hosted a mini tea ceremony for us to participate in. After dinner, she brought us to a small shack-like building behind the house and dressed us in hanboks. It was so much fun, we all felt like princesses ready to be married off LOL. We also found out that the adjumma is quite an artist herself, as the shack was covered with her own paintings, and one was even published in a book. After more photos and the adjumma convincing three male exchange students to dress up as well, she taught us how to bow in special settings, such as when you get married. I'm not going to lie, it was hard trying to cross my legs as I slowly sat on the floor and tried to bow forward.

That night, we initiated the infamous drinking games. We splitted up into four smaller groups as it was hard to play as one large mob. For the most part, my group was quite tamed as some people started leaving to go to sleep at 1am. Actually, majority of the people at this MT crashed and went to sleep by 3am, with only most of the leaders still playing and drinking. I, on the other hand, stopped after a while as I didn't want to drink that much, but for some reason, I didn't sleep either. Chloe and I just chilled and chit chatted with other people until 5am when we couldn't do it anymore.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience for my first MT and I learned that there is no need to pack so much when hygiene is not an issue. Also, MTs are a deprivation of sleep; our sleep was more like a nap as we woke up at 6:30am and decided that it be best to head back home earlier so that we could wash up and sleep for real. I had wanted to head back earlier as it was Easter Sunday and I had church to attend later. Some of the MT leaders actually left shortly after 5am as they had commitments with work or school today too. Anyhow, I had my getaway this weekend and look forward to my next one in the near future

Happy Easter Everyone!

Shop like Home, Eat like Home Sarah Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I really felt like blogging today and though nothing special happened, I shall talk until something perhaps significant comes along.

I thought I had missed out on telling of the damage I did on Saturday. What started as a spontaneous buddy shopping day turned into a trio and soon a quartet of broken wallets. I have been deprived of a really good shopping day. Street shopping is fun and diverse, but I realize I have been craving store shopping. Myeondong had the best of both worlds, so I headed there with the intention of setting a budget and breaking it (I know tsk tsk). I was so happy to be in Forever 21 and immediately felt guilty upon leaving wondering why I had just shopped so much there when I could do so at home. Well, I justified it with the fact that I don't go to F21 as often as I like to since it's a far and inconvenient trip from where I live in Edmonton. Also, as it was started by a Korean couple, I thought I might as well support their location in their home country, and lastly, because I miss it so-that's enough of a justification to me. However, to my surprise, I found lots of sale items and F21 at home never has sales (well only crappy leftovers), and everything I bought was less than what it would cost on the street-especially stuff not labeled with a price on it (the seller usually jacks up the price if your a foreigner, therefore speak Korean and be assertive on getting a discount).One of my friends usually fills out a form for tax refunds when she spends quite a bit at one store. I always thought it was for custom purposes until she told me that if you keep your receipts and have a tax refund form filled out from that store, then when you leave the country, you are eligible for about 10% (depending on the store) of the tax you paid back (tax is 9% in Korea and usually included in the price tag already). It sounds fairly little and insignificant when the items are cheap, but being here for a semester can add up to a few bills back in your pocket.

Unfortunately, I found this out after I had paid and left F21. I guess this tip will be for future shopping trips. Otherwise, even though Myeondong was busy and crowded as expected for a Saturday, us girlies were satisfied with our store and street shopping and headed for dinner at Pizza Hut. Again, why are we eating at a place where we can eat back home? Well, because we wanted to try bulgogi pizza and this popular sweet potato crust. Pizza here is not cheap, its about the same as home or a little more. No surprises when you acknowledge that most western food places are considered higher end here. But again, our taste buds were happy with pizza selections you can only savour in Korea.

Well, nothing really significant came about in this post, except the fact that its okay to be doing non-Korean activities in Korea. Having these places gives you a piece of home and happiness. Sometimes, that's just all you need to make a day special.

Night Owl Sarah Saturday, March 24, 2012

This past week hasn't been all that exciting. What started as a dry, sore throat turned into a Mr. Cold and he's been stirring up a tornado in my nose. In Korea, blowing your nose in public is not a very polite thing to do, but more than often, I just couldn't contain my wailing trumpet. This time around, Cold FX didn't fight off Mr. Cold for me, but I'm so glad to say that I'm finally not congested or suffering from phlegm no more.

During the week, I was anticipating for Friday. It was a skeptical, curious, and a lack-of-expectation type of anticipation. My language exchange partner had decided for us to have a 'meeting' with my friends and his friends. So with the knowledge I have of the term 'meeting' in Korea, it pretty much refers to a blind date, though nowadays its more of a comfortable setting to meet new friends. Well, you never know what will happen through the meeting, but he had planned it so it was one guy for every girl. You can see now why my friends and I were a little skeptical about this whole set up now. As common as Koreans do these meetings, for us foreigners, it was a first, so we really didn't know what to expect. Also, we were meeting to go to a 술방-literally a drinking room, a bar like place set up into rooms where people come to drink soju, play drinking games, and eat snacks.

So the day arrived and we headed to a place in Sinchon. The rooms in the 술방 actually reminded me of traditional tatami rooms in Japanese restaurants, minus the taking off your shoes and sitting on your knees part. It was slightly awkward at first with five guys on one side and us five on the other, but I'm glad there's always that one guy who has an outgoing persona to break the ice. We were first taught a drinking game call 딸기 딸기 ("Strawberry Strawberry" which was supposely the easiest game according to the guys, but then again they learn these games since they're fairly young, so they're pro at it by now, and disclamer: it wasn't the easiest for us, we were so slow compared to the guys). We ended up splitting off into pairs to play as a team as it actually didn't work very well girl vs. guys, and it turned out that being paired off was to our advantage too, well initially haha.

You wouldn't believe the amount of drinking games we learned. I personally don't know any drinking games in North America except beer pong, but the culture of drinking is so different in Korea. Each game has an introduction, sort of like a 3-4 line rhyme or song to kick off the game, and then you start. It was so hilarious and entertaining to see these guys sing and do the hand actions to some of these drinking games-priceless! Most games required sufficient hand-eye coordination (like the Animal game, if you have ever played it) where you had to say something to a beat or point to someone while maintaining your clapping rhythm. Whoever hesitated, lagged, or didn't know what they were doing would obviously drink with their partner. I lost count of how many of these games we learned, but it was over ten for sure. It can get so loud too, sometimes, you could hear the room next to you shouting, but we were shouting too. I actually didn't mind losing because I liked the selection of drinks we had. For us females, we ordered strawberry, yogurt, and pomegranate soju. Its pretty much a super diluted, water down soju drink, you can barely taste the alcohol, so it tasted like a fruity drink to us. The guys on the other hand, downed soju shot by shot.

Turns out, we had over analyzed this 'meeting' and it was a very enjoyable night for us ten with lots of laughter. Despite some of the guys not having a proficient level of English, they still tried to converse as much as they could. I couldn't believe it, and you probably wouldn't either, but we lasted 6+ hours in that room! Crazy eh? Apparently you can stay until sunrise if you have the energy to. Time sure flies when your having fun.

Another cultural thing in Korea is that when you go out with your group of friends, you usually do three rounds of activities known as 일차, 이차, 삼차 (first, second, third round respectively). First round is usually a meal/dinner, second is usually at a cafe for dessert or a drink, and third round is usually karaoke. It doesn't really matter what order or what you do, but typically Koreans just do three rounds of activities. It was already around 1:30am when we figure we should wrap up our time in the drinking room, but we were all quite awake from all the games so we headed to a restaurant for some snacks (이차). We conversed and asked some questions that made us think, but the energy was dying slowly as it was hard for us to think by now, so around 3am we called it a night? and headed home in rainy Seoul.

Note to self: buy an umbrella!
Insider: After Eight no more!

Han River & Norabang Sarah Saturday, March 17, 2012

Hello Weekend,

Today, Master Kim, my taekwondo teacher had organized a Han river walking/biking trip for us exchange students. I was already quite sore from my first taekwondo class on Thursday (just shows how long I haven't worked out), but I still was up for it as it sounded like a wonderful idea.

I opted out of biking as 1. I haven't biked since being on a tandem in Taiwan a year and a half ago and didn't know if I could bike properly, 2. I was sore, and 3. I wanted to walk. Everyone rented a bike except Teresa, Pey and I, so the three of us went on an adventurous stroll. To our advantage, the sun was out and shining, the temperature had risen, and it felt amazing to be breathing into breezy, clear, non-smoke-filled air. Throughout the Han River vicinity, there would be stop points, similar to a park/play area for kids... but it was actually a place for the bikers and walkers to stop and stretch out or even work out! They had work out machines where instead of lifting weights, you would lift yourself or machines that help you twist your body side to side to relieve tension or any stress you may have. It was so fun, like an adult play park, and it was quite a sight to see all these ajussis and ajummas working out. Who needs a gym when you can go to Han River right?!

In the evening, after a dinner of four different flavors of samkyeubsal (fatty pork), we headed for our first Norabang (literally singing room) karaoke experience. We went to a place in Sinchon recommended by our friends as it has a aesthetically pleasing atmosphere and ice cream was included. However, the price was higher for the place being so posh and comfortable. For an hour, it was $18 hour (we went for two knowing how fast time flies) and we got a private room to ourselves lined with cushioned seats, two flat screens, and even a tambourine and a maraca for us to play and sing to. We pretty much sang our heart out to the hits of the 90s, danced to Kpop we couldn't sing to, and partied like we could hit all the high notes, long notes, and impossibly fast lyrics.

What a satisfying Saturday.

White Day Version 2.0 Sarah Thursday, March 15, 2012

White day is another spin on Valentine's Day a month later. Apparently in Korea, Vday is when the girl gives the guy a gift (supposely chocolate) to show her love to him, and the favor is returned on Wday where the guy gives a gift back to the girl (supposely candy). I had mentioned before that Korea is a walking Valentine's Day- everywhere you go, couples are spotted, some, even with a ridiculous sense of style and so not only couples were spotted that day, gifts of all sorts were too.

Since my first day in Korea, there were already advertisements regarding this event, so it was no surprise to see more and more of them plastering store fronts as this day came closer. The day of, booths had even popped up with bouquets of candy, boxes of chocolate, and giant teddy bears. My friends and I decided to do our own version of White Day and coined it Friendship Day. For dinner that night, we went to eat bulgogi cooked in a brothy soup with rice and delicious (what is not delicious in Korea?) side dishes- various kimchi, bacon-flavor-like lettuce, dried fish mixed in some paste, clear noodles and more. The bulgogi was seasoned to perfection and was mouth watering savory! It was a delight to eat it and spoon the broth over your rice, ahh so tasty!
So far, everything eaten in Korea is better than eaten in Canada, even western dishes. You may think that the Basket Robins franchise would be like any other in North America, but it's definitely not. We decided to treat ourselves to a cake to celebrate our friendship and also because we've noticed how people carry a BR cake in a styrofoam box. We found out that the styrofoam box includes a pack of ice to keep your cake fresh. The staff asks how long it will be until you eat your cake and this determines how much ice they give you. Also, candles and matches are free(BR is not cheap here like DQ back home). The staff actually thought it was one of our birthdays and asked how old that person was turning... we just wanted candles so I asked for five.

Happy March 14 Friends!

F is for Foreigners Sarah Saturday, March 10, 2012

Last night we decided to watch a movie to kick off our weekend from our first official week of formal education. We picked a Korean movie that was playing at the Megabox theater in Sinchon and looked forward to our first movie in Korea as we were told there would be English subtitles. As it was a Friday, we had bought our tickets that afternoon and in Korea, you get to pick where you want to sit prior to watching your chosen film.

After cheesy Korean style commercials and previews, we nervously waited as we were scared there was a chance there that we be stood up by the subtitles. A wild presumption, but it was true and we did initially freak out a bit. However, as it was a Rom-Com, the amount of laughter we went through made up for the lack of understanding. It was literally R.O.F.L. (maybe not the rolling part, but LOL), I couldn't believe how hilarious this movie was! It's called Love Friction (러브픽션), about an aspiring novelist who falls in love. Obviously, I'm not the one to give you a synopsis as it would be my personal interpretation of the movie. Though, humor is not a language barrier and I can guarantee you that you'll enjoy it too. After the credits rolled, us four foreigners bursted out laughing hard and non stop-regarding the movie, but also at our ourselves. Everyone walking out of the theater stared at us, but we were left so satisfied with the movie despite understanding the minimal and not comprehending how the movie ended that we could care less. I've never laughed so much in my life after a movie.

We can't wait for this film to come out so that we can re-watch it with subs and compare our mental plot with the actual storyline. What a hysterical amount of laughing we did, enough said.

Today, we spontaneously decided to go for a hair cut as we all seem to be desperately in need of one. Upon word of mouth that Juno Hair does a great job and caters to foreigners, we went. As today is a Saturday, we didn't think we would get in, but once we entered, an employee quickly sat us down where an ipad full of hairstyles was ready for us to look at. There was minimal English involved, but when I asked for the price of our haircuts, we went for it without thinking twice.

Chloe and I were seated upstairs while Ann and Teresa were downstairs. It didn't occur to me that I had left the two with the least knowledge of Korean to fight for themselves, but it turns out that they managed very well on their own. When I met my stylist, her introduction was in English, so I thought I had scored the language barrier issue already. However, my excitement was shortly lived as she broke out in Korean the remainder of the time. With my choppy Korean, and her broken English, I managed to get a haircut. I had to wait a bit as my stylist was finishing up with a client, but the whole process lasted about 40-50 minutes. I got my hair washed, head massaged, hair dried, cut and styled all for 25000won, and as I had my student ID, it was only 20000won ($20Cad)!!! What!! It was such a fun experience too, spontaneity at its best! I had some fear in me at the beginning, but I'm very happy with my first Korean haircut. The length is chopped, but I have more layers now and my hair is much thinner too.

When we paid, they signed us up for a VIP code where we can get discounts the next time we came. The four hairdressers who styled our hair also came to wave us goodbye as they sent us off to the elevator. They all seem to have an interest in us as we were not only foreigners, but exchange students as well. The treatment was way better than any service you can get in North America, and for that price, what a steal! We're definitely set on coming back.

What can I say?

Foreigners just have more fun.

As for Sunday, my friends and I were all lucky enough to receive tickets to K-Collection, a fashion show and concert hosted at the Olympic Gymnasium Stadium. Tickets were obtained by sending your email and nationality (only open to foreigners) to their website and the first 300 foreigners would get a pair of tickets. I didn't make the list at first, but thanks to crazy fans who complained, they opened another floor of seating, hooray! I'm not a hardcore k-pop music fan, but I'm so stoked for the fashion show and being able to see Big Bang, SNSD, and so much more tomorrow. It's going to be a crazy tiring yet fantastic day tomorrow!

Official Schedule Sarah Thursday, March 08, 2012

Decisions made.

Korean- got into beginner 3! I went to the office to inquire about it and so they looked at my test and said I actually scored in between two levels. I thought I sit through beg.2 class one more time just to make sure I wanted to switch, because once I switched, there was no turning back. However, half way through class, my teacher asked if I had wanted to switch or stay in class, so I took this as a sign and switched. I don't regret, beg.3 is already more challenging, but I rather work harder than sit in a class that is repeating grammar lessons I have already learned just so I could get a better mark.

Taekwondo- I got in with approval and the teacher, Master Kim, has taught in Edmonton before!!! Imagine how excited I was to find out that someone knew where Edmonton was! WOOT! I didn't have to tell him that it was 'next to Vancouver,' as I have told everyone who has been clueless about my hometown...not really 'next to' but close enough, how would they know anyways right? This class is only once a week and I'm quite nervous about it as I have never done anything like this before, but I'm sure it will be fun and there are locals in the class too!

International Business- keeper

Human Factors-keeper

I really like my schedule now. I only have one class Monday and Friday, which is Korean from 4-6pm as it is everyday. Yonsei's class scheduling is different from U of A; instead of a set block M/W/F and T/R, you can have two hours of classes on Tuesday and a one hour block on a Thursday, or three consecutive blocks back to back, such as my design class. Thus, the bulk of my work load is between Tues to Thurs. I'm more relieved now that my classes are set in stone.

Today is Friday and I'm ready for the weekend!

The Start Sarah Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Rain, rain, go away,
come again another day.

Seoul, why so gloomy?

I said it was official last Friday that school started, but this is official of the official. I finally have a tentative and debatable schedule.

Korean- got my hopes too high thinking I get into at least beginner level 3, but I got into beginner level 2, does that mean my 3 terms of Korean at my home uni was equivalent to beginner 1 here? That's just intense, but it does make sense since at U of A, Korean is only 3hr/wk, and here it's 10hr/wk (6crd. course)... so its three times as much work. Though, having gone to two classes, I realize I have already learned everything in the level 1 book...it feels repetitive and familiar, so I'm going to request to upgrade. (keeper)

Christian Ethics- prof is an amazing African American from Atlanta, Georgia, very G! but he talks to the class as if we all suck at English as this class has local students in it as well. SO slow. Topic seems very interesting though and the workload is an easy A for sure, though it requires a lot of expenditure on required texts (a debatable keeper or I can just audit this class for interest's sake)

Media Psychology- so hard to get in, sat in for a class and couldn't concentrate-miss. prof is just too soft spoken... don't need this course, just for personal enjoyment (most likely dropping)

Human Factors- 3hr consecutive design course/wk... workload sounds heavy, a group and an individual project, but I need this credit badly, so hopefully its manageable (must keep!)

International Business- with any business course, there's bound to be a group project, but I'm really interested in this class too even if my prof is close to 70yrs old (no lie!), he kept emphasizing the importance of networking all over the world as he himself has worked almost everywhere in the world. Smart man (class is a def. keeper)

Taekwondo- the idea came today; my friend is taking it and its only 1 credit (tho I won't receive any credits for this class), I could just take it for fun and as a workout, plus I always wanted to learn some self defense.. hmmm. debatable (maybe, I'll see how first class goes)

Dilemma: I need to at least receive three 3-credit courses from this term. I will get credits for Human Factors and International Business for sure, but I need an elective. If I stay in Korean beginner 2, I probably won't get the credits for it, and thus will need a fourth course. So either I go with Christian Ethics, which is easy, OR Media Psych, interesting too, but the prof puts me to sleep, OR hope I get into Korean beginner 3 and get credits for it. Darn you ALES for not pre-approving credits!

So I had signed up for the Language Exchange (LE) program where an exchange student is partnered with a local Korean student during the term to practice Korean together. I had requested a male because, as you probably have observed, I'm usually spend my time with females a lot, so I thought I take the chance to meet someone new and practice Korean with. Tonight was the orientation where we got to meet our partner. Some people had told me it feels like a 'blind date' because you get a number and letter and then you go into the auditorium to find your seat where your partner would be sitting either to your left or right. Jumping forward, my LE partner is an engineer in his 4th year and who had just came back from the military. He seems outgoing and friendly so far, but hopefully all goes well as this term progresses. He had asked to go to dinner (apparently we were suppose to do something with our buddies that night), but due to my commitment to Emmaus, I turned it down. Until lunch on Friday I guess, and I really hope he helps me improve in my speaking.

Tonight was also my latest dinner ever. Who knew that finding dinner after 9pm could be so hard? We didn't want to settle for instant noodles so we tried to hunt for an open restaurant. You would think that everywhere in Seoul would open late-not. We walked to all the restaurants around dorms, everything had closed or was about to close so they said no to us when we waved at them from the outside. Then we ventured further away from campus. Paris Baguette, a French inspired, Korean bakery chain was open-but it wouldn't have filled us up. We didn't want to head all the way to Sinchon, but we ended up being in between Edae and Sinchon anyways. Lots of restaurants were closed too, but we walked into a Japanese & BBQ place with their lights still on right before the clock struck 10pm. We didn't know if they were about to close, but the ajumma was happy to welcome us and serve us our donkatsu and udon upon seeing us.

What a night. I'm wiped out.

Giggling through the first day Sarah Friday, March 02, 2012

First day of class and I didn't have class at all. My morning class was cancelled and I didn't find out until I arrived the building. As for Korean, it was the day of the placement test which designated which level of Korean you would take. I'm praying that I get into at least the first intermediate level as I don't think I will get credits for beginner levels having already took three semesters of Korean back at my home uni. I went up to the fourth page of the written test (6/23 questions) and my oral exam was alright, could've been better if I prepared myself more. However, I wouldn't want to be placed in a class I'm not ready or legit enough for as that would just backfire my learning since Korean classes here are intensive. I also got my student ID today, so now I feel like I actually belong on campus.

As it was the first day of "classes" the campus population increased and as such, lunch time in the cafeteria was busier than usual, with majority of the seats occupied by male students-where are all the females? For the first and many more times to come, we had our lunch within budget for $2.8 Cad, dirt cheap right? This is how universities should cater to student's budget and not charge triple as much in North America for a meal. I had a bowl of thin rich noodles with seaweed, egg, and broth. You can't expect it to be the best tasting noodle bowl in Seoul, but for that price, my hunger and wallet were satisfied.

Chloe was sick, so for dinner we walked to Edae and seeked out a place with ginseng chicken soup. Unfortunately, it was over budget and 4/5 of us opted for the alternative of congee. I had wanted to get Ann and my phone plan checked out to make sure we pay a month from the day we started our plan vs. the beginning of a new month, so we went back to the same place we got our phones. Thank God for Alice's presence because despite the guy "claiming" he new English-he didn't. He also got stressed from the five of us foreigners until we mentioned the guy who opened our account for us at this location. Luckily, that guy who opened our account was on his break and came back right at the point this guy was about to be stressed out of his mind. Seriously, Koreans have such funny and exaggerated expressions and yet, its so genuine. We couldn't help laughing when the familiar guy saw our faces at door. He waved his hands up, opened up his squinty eyes, and laughed as he recognized we were the girls who needed a translator (fay mah) to open an account with him. Man was it tough to get to the point through all the laughter. If you're still following me, that other guy had to go put on his black framed rectangular shape glasses and grab a drink of water to calm himself. He was so flustered with our speedy English speaking mouths and kept holding his head with his hands. It was hysterical! I can't wait to come back next time to pay our bill and see their reactions. Priceless.

So it's Friday night and we didn't want to head back to dorms so soon. Spontaneously, we did some back to school and window shopping in Edae and seeked out a cafe to chill at. There's a popular cafe chain call Cafe Bene (apparently better than Starbucks in pricing and taste), but we immediately changed our minds when we saw the Love Story cafe across the street and three floors up. Chloe had said she's been to a similar cafe where the servers are all males decked out in a nice uniform and we wanted to check the place out. Well, the servers were all males, but the only uniform thing they were wearing was an apron. It's not called a 'Love Story' cafe for nothing, when you arrive, depending on how many people you have your placed in a private room. There are no tables and chairs in an open area, just all rooms covered by a door or curtain. The five of us took our footwear off and sat comfortably in a cushion lined booth with a table in the middle. The menu was quite expensive, but our waiter absolutely made our day. There was a bell on our table for us to call the server, so when he came to take his order, our English was too fast for him and he actually spoke in English and said 'slowly please,' and it was very good English might I add. Anyhow, his actions and mannerisms were quite shy and cute at the same time so the five of us kept giggling when he took our order, delivered our drinks and desserts, and take our picture for us. Oh boy, we even left him a note... oh the things we do. HAHA!

Alright, enough said. I'm embarrassed.

Marching our way around Sarah Thursday, March 01, 2012

Happy National Independence Day to Korea & Hello March & Welcome Roommate!

The day started with class hunting around our beautiful campus. It was easier than we thought to direct ourselves with the campus map, minus all the hiking uphill and downhill and around buildings of course. However, it was a national holiday, so most of the buildings were closed and we weren't able to find the exact locations of our classes. I'm actually looking forward to hitting the books again having had such a chill and relaxing two months. I guess there's an extent to how much fun you can have before it starts to take its toll on you. I'll be living for the weekends and week nights though. Work hard, play harder.
Part two of shopping was designated at Dongdaemoon. I was jaw dropped at the amount of shopping complexes there were in this area. This place is typically known for their wholesale shopping, though they do have many boutiques and malls that sell at retail price. While finding our way around, we entered a building selling everything textile, fabric, and notions related; fabulous for Ann and I to keep in the back of our minds in case it was necessary to be revisited. Despite our initial excitement and yearning to round up some good deals, Dongdaemoon fell short of our expectations as there was so many people everywhere due to the national holiday (in general, there was going to be an extra large amount of people wherever you go on a holiday), the crammed boutiques had pretty clothes, but we were overwhelmed with the crowds and decided to come back on a quieter non-holiday day.

We rerouted and subway to Hongdae which was still busy, but much calmer as it was all outdoors. Teresa had never had the $1 waffle before so we started with that. We had planned to shop for about two hours before meeting back at school to go to dinner with the Emmaus group. However, fate was on our side and we ended up bumping into them while shopping. They had arranged the afternoon for the boys to play basketball and the girls to shop at Edae, which eventually lead them to Hongdae, what a coincidence! Due to the amount of people we had, it was easier if the group splited and ate at two different locations. My group went for Korean BBQ, and the other group decided on Japanese. The BBQ was more expensive than our usual dinners have been, but also one of the meals with more vegetables involved as lettuce was given to wrap our grilled meat.

School starts tomorrow and I have no school supplies. You know what that means!

Keepsake Moments Sarah Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Heading out later than usual was quite nice as I got to sleep in, clean my side of the room and washroom (Russian is still a no-show), stretch and study some Korean in the lounge down the hall. I had slept in and was hoping to see an unni from Edmonton who had moved back to Korea, but due to unexpected situations, I had to reroute my plans.

Plan B was doing what girls' do best, in this case, it was with my chums, Chloe and Ann. They had walked to Edae to do some back to school wardrobe shopping part 1 (yes, there will be a part 2). After finding my way downhill and crossing through Ewha Women's University, which by the way is so much faster than walking to Sinchon and taking the subway), us trio reunited and started killing our wallets. Edae is equivalent to Mongkok's ladies market & area due to the population of females in the area. However, pricing wise, HK still arises as the cheapest. I am actually surprize that some of the prices for clothes in Seoul is similar to Canadian shopping. Sometimes, the quality does match the price, but other times, make sure to check the seams and if they give you a new one, double check it too. I bought a 2-way strap rectangular bag for $10Cad, but when I opened it, the longer set of straps wasn't there. Though I don't mind as this bag was cheap, I still think I should go back and get my money's worth.

Our stomachs called it a break in between the shopping and we found this place known for kimbab (I'm assuming as it was in its name). Surprizingly, the ajussi, who looked like he was near his 60s, welcomed us and took our order in proficient English. He was better than the young guys at our hostel and the line up of people we have met so far. We were in awe of his fluency and accent and had small talk with him. Turns out, he had to learn English for his business back in the day and I was the only one who had ordered their kimbab.

Actually, we had a handful of pleasant scenarios with other ajussis as well. The three of us had bought shoes at this shoe store we stumbled upon as the word 'sale' drawn us in. He wasn't as good as the kimbab ajussi, but he was a very sweet man and reluctantly, I was able to carry somewhat of a conversation with him about giving it to us cheaper and where we were from. An earlier on, when Ann bought a blouse, this other ajussi who owned the store also talked in English and told us he picked up all the phrases and words he knew from us college students shopping there. He also said that by the end of the term, those who speak English in the beginning of the term would come back speaking in Korean very well after taking the Korean class everyday-I sure hope so! A lot of stores in Edae is actually owned or ran my males, which is quite different compared to HK, Osaka, and even Canada, but they were all very nice and super helpful (probably because they wanted us foreigner's money, oh well).
The day was well spent-literally and I figure I really need to budget more wisely if I am to survive here the next four months. I can't believe March is right around the corner and school will hit us in the face soon.

Tonight was dinner and bowling with the Emmaus group. About thirty of us went to Emmaus' usual Japanese restaurant so they were allowed to make reservations as they bring them a large amount of business. The sound of a kimchi and cheese donkatsu (chicken rice bowl) interested me and I didin't regret it. I haven't had cheese in a while and despite it being a piece of melted processed cheese, my calcium craving is happy. I'm really starting to click with everyone in Emmaus, and its only been the second time I spent with them. Everyone I met so far is beyond friendly and goes out of their way to greet and get to know you. I love them and I can't wait until the term starts so we can have our weekly meetings on Tuesday. I already feel I can form a christian community with them and that they can keep me accountable in various areas in my life. I also felt very myself today as earlier this morning I was kind of in the slumps, missing home and feeling sick of seeing tourist attractions and going out to explore. It was "homey" to be around open people and it reminded me of my friends back in Edmonton. However, due to misreadings of a friend, I had a little irrational laugh attack at dinner and I'm hoping everyone doesn't think I'm that odd girl at the crazy table haha. Some things just don't change no matter where you are located.

Unfortunately, the bowling place we went to was busy and the ajumma seemed to be in a bad mood and told us to leave. This lead to all of us heading to a coffee shop, but it was pricey and nothing attracted Chloe, Teresa, Ann, and I, so off to Ice Berry we went to share a bowl of patbingsu.

oh yea...

Dear Lotte World,

I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU.

See ya on leap year,
Sarah