soft milk

Shohei, Darae, myself, Hwayeon, Viruck, and Candice at the fireworks festival. The fireworks were nothing to write home about, but it was on the island in the middle of the Seoul river which was cool. And spending time with friends is always fun. It was so crowded that cell phones stopped functioning because of too many signals in one area, so a lot of my friends couldn't meet up with me.

This is at a free concert last weekend in Seoul, hosted by the G20 Summit Committee. There were a ton of big name performers there from Korea and other Asian countries. There were at least 15 performers, each doing 1-3 songs. I was there with Viruck, Candice, and Zou Ying. We went out and had some interesting Japanese food afterwards before calling it a night.

Wouldn't be a Korean Thanksgiving without a night of bowling with Rob & the boys.



Got a math problem? Solve it with some quick-acting "Anti-calculus" toothpaste!

I didn't pass the audition for the play, but Zou Ying did so I'm happy for her. I'm happy for me too. I feel like I don't have enough time and energy to do everything I want to do sometimes, so I can't imagine what it would be like if I had 30+ hours of rehearsal a week on top of everything else. She's a trooper.

I have an interview tomorrow for a part time job teaching 4 hours per week. What I really want to do is find a full time job (or close to full time) teaching at a private school in afternoons/evenings/weekends. Not only would it help my financial situation, but if I have a stable job where I'm not working mornings, I could continue studying Korean beyond this semester (which I really want to do, but I don't have the money/income right now). I've been looking at a couple jobs but haven't found one that fit me, as it would need to be in Seoul and be able to provide a work visa. I am thinking it might be best to just go through a recruiter like I did last time, but I heard its gotten a lot harder in the last two years. I guess being Caucasian and having some experience under my belt helps a bit though.

Next week is the midterm already. I just am getting caught up on homework now (i got behind because i spent alot of time memorizing a speech and planning a halloween party) so I don't really want to think about a midterm. This week is only the 3rd week of class, but when the semester is 9 weeks midterms come fast. My classmates are okay, but I think I enjoyed level 2 and level 3 more. A number of my classmates are hard to connect with because they are a bit older or they live in their own bubble or something, but some of them are cool. Japyeon and Wonbyeo have been playing b-ball with me when we have time and Dusang is just like what I imagined having a little sister would be like. And Dusang and Unseong both speak surprisingly good English. Taking the whole class out for a drink tomorrow night, hopefully will help them loosen up and feel more comfortable.

Yesterday was a field trip to the countryside. We made pear jam, made some traditional rice cookies using flower petals as the designs on top and pan-fried them, picked our own pears off the tree, and dug up some sweet potatoes. We got to take home the potatoes, jam, and pears. I used the time at lunch to teach drinking games to all of my classmates, so we don't need to waste any time explaining the rules tomorrow ^-^

I really enjoy my student life here. Hopefully I can find a job soon.

keeping busy

I didn't have much time last time so I just posted a picture. Our school took the field trip to the biggest amusement park in Korea, Everland. It rained alot, but it was cool to hang out with my friends from 5 different countries. We were all pretty tired after walking around all day.

We finished the final exams on Thursday. Our school and grades are a bit different that a typical school, in the sense that the goal is not to get an A or to graduate, but rather the goal for every student is just to learn as much as they can and pass the test to advance to the next level. As such, instead of aiming for a 95% to get an A, we just aim for a 70% to advance. Since I know I did all my homework and I did well on my speech during the semester, I wasn't too worried going into the exam. We got our Reading/Listening scores back on Friday, and i got a 79 in both. Haven't got the speaking or writing scores yet, but I know i'll be able to go to level 4. Alot of friends and acquintances are on pins and needles waiting for those last scores. We have classes on Monday and Tuesday next week still, so they won't tell us our final grade until then (they are still calculating attendance and class participation, and telling us our grade now would basically kill any motivation to come in to school next week).

There is a school play next semester, acted out entirely by foreign students. I have an audition tomorrow and will likely get in, but the more I think about it the more it seems like a bad idea. The first reason being that it doesn't really seem like a very interesting play to me. It's a well known korean play that seems like a historical comedy, but the lead role is a woman and the two main roles for guys are not very appealing to me. One is a blind old man that walks around with a cane, and one is an evil man who is always up to no good and cheating on his wife. There is definitely no "hero" role to be had. If I take a more minor role, such as the heroine's husband it might be more appealing, but since we will be practicing full time for 6 weeks, at 36 hours a week (while doing a full course load) I don't really want to spend that much time on it if I'm not going to be a main role. I would like the opportunity to perform, meet new friends, and practice my korean all at the same time, but I'd basically have to sacrifice a lot of things due to time constraints, which includes doing the dance club at school, playing basketball w/ friends, working out at the gym, hanging out (And studying with) friends during the afternoon. Also, it seems like it would be pretty difficult to have a part time job, social life, or a girlfriend during that time, as I have to practice until 6pm every day, even sundays. I'll go to the audition tomorrow, but that doesn't mean i'll take the job.

Also, the month i paid for at my current home ends in 8 days, so i was thinking of moving next week. I looked at one place today that seemed better than my current place. The window is really small, which sucks, and it doesn't have a refridgerator like my current place, but it does have an A/C. Also, at my current place the internet always goes down where the weather is bad, and even though the landlord only has to reset the internet to get it back up, he sometimes doesn't do it for a day or two, even if i ask him to. Still contemplating it. I'm asking some friends if they know any good places. I kinda want to get a change of scenery. Also, this place has rice prepared 24 hours a day. decisions, decisions...

Our graduation ceremony is on Wednesday. I will be doing 2 dances with our dance club. All in all it should only take an hour or two for the ceremony, and then we are officially on vacation. Not sure what i'll do on vacation, but I'll try to keep busy.

깜찍이

평소 생활

My Chinese friend Sung Bak, participating in the beauty pageant at our school. Take a second look... did you know its a guy? So is the person in the background.

This is a picture of when I went to Dongdaemun with Junya on Monday. As I get more accustomed to Korean life, I've been taking less and less pictures. Nothing in Korea really surprises me anymore.

The midterm exam went okay. I wanted to get all A's of course, but that's not possible. I don't know of anyone who did that. Overall, the test was much more difficult than the test at level 2. I guess I did better than my other American friends. Even Junya, who always got A's on reading and listening, did a bit worse this time. But the scoring isn't like a typical school. So even if you get a B or C, that's not something to be disappointed about.

We had the school festival and I was in the talent show dancing with some of my friends. It went okay, we got 4th place (since when do they have a 4th place anyhow?) I didn't have any illusions of grandeur and would have been quite fine not winning anything. But I was upset that my friend Zhu Xuan only got 3rd. She performed a traditional chinese dance that she has been learning for more than 10 years. I thought it was really good. The two groups that beat her out were not as good. They each had one person that could dance, but the others couldn't. I think I'll be getting access to the video next week so hopefully i can post it on here.

Other than that, I've decided to go to China during our school break next month (about 4 weeks away). But it might take me a couple weeks to get my Korean ID card (which i need to get the visa) and to get my tourist visa to China. But that gives me time to plan the details of my trip. A lot of my chinese friends in korea are going back to China during the vacation, and the ones that I've told my plan to have invited me to hang out with them in China. The problem is that China is as big as the continental USA and they all live in different cities. Zhu Xuan invited me to her hometown, which as far as I can estimate is about 300 miles south of Beijing. Hao Yue is going back to Beijing, and Fei Ya is going back to her hometown which is about 5 hours from Beijing. I think Min Rui might be going back too, but her hometown is right near Hong Kong, which would be quite far from everywhere else. I don't think Junya wants to go back this semester. Also, Zhangyan invited me to hang out in Shanghai and Suzhou. I don't have time to go everywhere, but I think Beijing and Shanghai are musts, right?

Next weekend our school takes a trip to Everland amusement park... all 600+ students at the Korean Language program going together. It will be cool, especially because we are going on a Friday I think, so it shouldn't be too busy. Also, we can stay later than the allotted time if we want, so long as we get our own transportation back.

Lastly, the finances are shoring up, especially with having just paid for enrollment for my next semester, and setting aside some money for the China trip. After I finish the next semester (mid December) I will need to start working. I'll be looking for a job in Korea or China. I have a couple months to ponder it still, but if I had to decide now, teaching at a Korean kindergarten sounds like a lot of fun.

I wish I could say...

... no animals were harmed during the taking of the midterm exam, but I'm afraid that might not be the case. See below.

It's midterms Monday and Tuesday this week.
I'm not worried about my Korean ability, but I am a little worried about the role-play speaking test tomorrow. The girl I got paired up with has the strangest accent ever. When she speaks Korean it sounds like she's trying to strangle a cat with her voice. I can't understand half the stuff that comes out of her mouth. My strategy is to try to confuse her by asking complicated questions before she can confuse me. Here's hoping that I do well tomorrow and that there aren't any cats in the immediate vicinity of our school !

the week in retrospect

This week has been tough because I've been so busy, but its full of highlights.

Dance club activity started on Monday. This semester only 15 students got accepted, so half or more of the students who applied can't do it, which sucks because 2 or 3 friends plus many of the people I met in the club last semester are not able to do it this semester. We are learning the dance for "bad girl good girl" by Miss A (a korean girl group of 4 members). I've been sore all week since doing that on Monday though, I think I kinda got out of shape during the school break. Also, today I played basketball for 2 hours with some various friends and random people. I think playing that 3rd game was a bad idea. My whole body hurts. I have a couple hours of free time to relax, and then i'm going out for dinner and drinks with 8 or 9 people from my class. I'm kinda worried that they're all just gonna speak Chinese though, as that is what generally happens when 2/3rds of them have the same native tongue.

As far as school, I feel like I'm doing good because I got a 100% on Monday's test and I know I did really good on my speech yesterday. It's tough to speak for 5 minutes in Korean and memorize everything. Most of the students couldn't even do that, and if they did, they were so worried about remembering the words that they made other mistakes, like having monotone intonation, mixing up the polite and casual speech forms, etc. Despite the fact that I was going on 3 hours of speech, I think I nailed it. Compared to the other 7 students that have done their speeches so far, I'd say mine was at the top for accuracy, fluency, delivery, and pretty much every other way of measuring it. Also, my sentences were much more complex. Some of the people were just like "and then _ _ _ happened. And then I did _ _ ." They describe it very accurately by using precise words, but as the topic was "My most ______ing experience" I think it doesn't really draw you into the story when they just speak like that. My sentences were like "While I playing computer on the first floor of our home, my twin brother kept hitting me, but regardless of how much I yelled, our parents wouldn't come downstairs." So, I'm not sure exactly what criteria the teacher is measuring it by, but I think I was best both for my Korean ability and for my delivery style. I'm really happy about that, as I enjoy giving speeches and whenever I have a test or project I want to do my best. Junya's speech was good (and funny too) and I could understand everything because I'm very familiar with her accent by now, but I think some of the other people had trouble with her pronunciation. Nonetheless, it by far wasn't the worst pronunciation in our class. We had to grade our classmates presentations, which I despise. I just gave everyone 90 or 100%, regardless of how bad it was. There were a couple speeches where we couldn't ask any questions during the question time, because there was so much we couldn't understand and we didn't want to embarrass ourselves by asking something that was mentioned in the speech.

There is a talent show next week and I passed the audition doing my Korean pop dance, but I don't want to do it by myself so i'll probably just withdraw.

Life is good.

no news is good news

I'm hoping that my lack of any updates lately would be evidence enough that I've been busy. My motto is
미치도록 공부하고 (study like crazy)
미치도록 일하고 (work like crazy)
미치도록 놀고 (play like crazy)
미치도록 사랑하자 (love like crazy)

It's a good creed to live by, but it doesn't leave me with too much time to wonder about my blog. After getting back from the states, I've been in Korea for 3 weeks. We have had 2 and a half weeks of class, and everyone in my class is pretty cool. Mostly Chinese students, but if I can isolate them by themselves or in small groups I can get them to speak Korean with me. But, like with my Korean friends, when the vast majority speak one language then they really just tend to speak their mother tongue rather than a language that everyone can understand. So during our break time between classes all I can hear is Chinese in our classroom, unless I'm talking to one of the few students who are not Chinese. As such, I seem to be talking to 유카 (Yuka) a lot. Don't misunderstand though, there are a lot of cool Chinese students too. 준아 (Junya) who was in my class last semester is with me once more. And 하정, 유이, and 화걸 (Ha-jeong, Yu-i, and Hwa-geol).

These days I'm hanging out with Min Rui a lot more. We met at the dance activity club last semester, and have a lot of common friends. Her, Yu-i, and Jun-ya have been teaching me Chinese when we have time.

Besides that, what else is there to say? I'm busy preparing my 5 minute Korean speech. The topic is about "Being born as a twin." I thought it was a good topic, because most of the students in my class are only children and don't understand the joys and hardships of having siblings. So I have a few days to memorize it all, as I'm speaking on Wednesday. I volunteered to be first; going first is best because otherwise the anxiety just builds over time. Other than that, the dance club starts up again tomorrow, and I have a one-day part time job at the school that pays $70 for an hour and a half.

I had dinner with some Chinese and Japanese friends that I met by chance at the library. I was trying to be cool and was eating some hot peppers really quickly. I guess that plan kinda backfired, as my face changed to an uncomfortably red color and I had a bit of a stomachache afterwards. I seem to be in the clear now. I can feel my face again.