Pictures

I did a lot today, but I have no time to write about it because I just spent forever uploading and captioning pictures.  So if you are interested, they are available on my facebook.

STUDYING

At the beginning of the program, I was placed in the intermediate Korean class.  There are two beginner classes, an intermediate class, and an advanced class.  The intermediate class was pretty much a joke, I wasn't learning anything new at all.  But that was alright, because I figured we'd start getting into harder stuff and the review is good for me anyways.

Yesterday, my teacher decided to switch me into advanced.  This is actually really good, because now I am learning stuff (A LOT), but now I have to study.  This isn't a problem, because I have quite a bit of time to study and studying Korean is fun, especially with my host family.

The problem is that yesterday in class, the teacher gave me (and the one other girl who switched) all the material for the past week (which is A LOT, roughly 2 pages of new vocabulary, 40 workbook pages, and 2 chapters in the book, not to mention the new grammar concepts), and we had quizzes over it today.  Yesterday I came home from school, studied until 12:15, watched Radio Star with my host mom and Da Young, resumed studying at 12:45, slept at 1:30, and woke up at 7 to keep studying until 8 when I had to leave.  ><

I ended up missing 5 out of the 16 on the first quiz, which is fine considering she is giving me and the other new girl another chance on monday, and also because I scored better than 2 of the kids who have been in the class the whole time xD  There are only 7 kids in the class.  The second quiz....I think I did alright.  Definitely pretty good for the fact that it was my second day in the class.

But anyways, I have been studying a lot.

This morning we had supporter group activites, and my group went to the Noraebang, or karaoke room.  These are SUPER popular in Korea, as in, you walk for one block and pass like 4.  It was really fun xD  And my supporter is hilarious.  They have a lot of American songs.  Like, A LOT.  I'm gonna go back soon with Mina and Akira, and maybe with my penpals.  My supporter sang all of I Believe I Can Fly xD  He also knew baby one more time.  LOL. 

My host mom saw me rubbing my back just now and  just came up behind me and started massaging my back.  She's so nice! 

What else has been going on....hmmm....Taekwondo yesterday.  That was...not really fun, but it was alright.  This weekend I am meeting one of my penpals, so I'm really excited for that.  I'm also excited that tomorrow is the first day this week that I won't have to leave at 7:30 in the morning, so I can actually rest.  Yay!

Happy Birthday, Kim Heechul!

So, today is Kim Heechul's 28th birthday.  And to celebrate the day, I went to "Everysing" in Myeongdong and bought a bunch of Super Junior stuff.  Don't worry, that isn't all this blog post is going to be about xD

Myeongdong is one of the biggest tourist spots in Seoul. (I may have mentioned it before, my youth hostel for the first few days was really close to Myeongdong) It's basically street after street after street (pretty much a maze)  of street shopping, as well as having malls and stuff like that.  You can get a lot for very cheap.  Today I spent 30,000 won, and bought quite a bit. 

The English shirts here are absolutely hilarious.  I have seen a few though that definitely wouldn't fly in America.  The most offensive so far has been a shirt with Bugs Bunny on it, except Bugs Bunny is dressed in camoflauge and adorned with guns and grenades.  It read "Let's do this Easter Egg hunt  BAGHDAD STYLE"  Emma's face:  0.o

So today after church  Da Young and I took the train into Myeongdong and shopped for a really long time.  We ate Nangmyeon for lunch, which is basically those chewy transparent noodles (Note: this is the only type of noodle that exists in Korea.  Well, pretty much.  We bought some American-type spaghetti at the grocery and my host mom wants me to make it for them because they've never had it before)  Anyways, nangmyeon is those noodles in this ice-cold slushie bath, with a big goop of that red pepper paste on top.  I was very adverse to the idea of noodles in ice water, but it was actually pretty good.  If you leave out the part where I couldn't feel my mouth for like 20 minutes afterwards.  Seriously, after eating this, Kimchi isn't spicy at all.

At Myeongdong, Da Young wanted to go to a few bigger stores, like H&M and Forever 21.  The difference between these stores and America:  THE PRICE.  The stuff that wasn't on sale at these stores was running for about $20-$50, which I guess is normalish.  But the stuff that was on sale was like $3-$6.

They have lots of Smoothie Kings here. 

Oh, another note about shopping in Korea.  Unless you are in a bigger store (like the brand name American stores), so basically any street store, all the shirts, dresses, and skirts are one-size-fits-all.  This hasn't really been a problem for me, since all I've wanted to buy so far have been shirts and dresses, but buying pants and skirts might be more of a problem.  Another thing is that the style in Korea includes shirts being REALLY baggy, so they would fit like anyone xD

I'm gonna try and upload pictures now!

Hanging out in Korea!

This is my 'support' group.  Yesterday we went to this museum right by the Blue House (Korea's white house), so I saw the blue house and got some pictures.  The museum wasn't the actual museum that was on that site, but it was more like a presidential library.  It was really cool though!

The last few days

I love my host family.  I'm going to be really sad to leave them in 6 weeks T.T

Hmmmm....seems like I've been up to a lot the last few days.  Yesterday I met with my supporter and we hung out, so that was cool.  Then I went to class for the first time, which was also ok, but the first say was basically reviewing hangul so it was boring.  Today will be better.

A few days ago I went shopping with my host sister at this really cool (GIGANTIC) mall underground, connected to the subway station.  That was fun, but my feet hurt after walking through the whole thing xD  I bought a dress and heechul socks.  Altogether costing me 11,000 won, not even beginning to dip into my stipend xD

Mom, you know that seaweed stuff you didn't like?  Today, I had soup for breakfast that was essentially that and broth xD  Yummy!

The last few days, my host sister has had exams, so she got home around 12.  Well, her exams ended, so now its back to the 8AM-10PM school schedule ><  The good thing is, her summer break starts in 2 weeks so then we can hang out a lot.

Yesterday Da Young met me at Sogang after class and we went to eat Mandu (Korean dumplings).  Then we took the subway home.  During rush hour.  It was definitely an experience.  Did I mention I have a 2 hour commute?

I don't remember if I've mentioned this in other posts, but I really love Seoul.  Its really really awesome here.

I've gotten to the point where I see a white person on the street and I'm like, "Omg! Foreigner!"  lol

Hmmmm.  I'm sure I have more to say, but I don't really remember everything that i've done.  Don't worry! I've been keeping a more detailed journal....

Oh yeah!  I went to church with Da Young on Sunday, and that was interesting.  I don't actually remember if I've written about that in a previous post...but I'm too lazy to check.  My computer is sort of slow too...

@Dad, my host mom doesn't speak any English at all, and my Korean is almost nonexistent, so we really can't communicate enough to be telling stories ><

Thats all for now!

FOOD

So, to sum up what I am going to write about, let me give you a short anecdote.

About 2 minutes ago, my host mom came up to me (I'm sitting at the computer) and brought Korean yogurt and a spoon and started feeding me. 

Don't get me wrong, the yogurt is delicious, but I did JUST eat breakfast.  I feel like this is coming off as annoyed, but it really isn't.  I LOVE the food here!  Everything is so good! But one point that I feel that I am having trouble communicating is that if I was full 5 minutes ago, chances are I'm still full now.  I've only been with my host family 3 nights, and I think my weight is growing exponentially.  The other night, my host dad came home from work, and he brought Bulgogi pizza home.  So we ate that.  Me, being the 3-meal-a-day American that I am, supposed that that was dinner.  Wrong.  Because about 20 minutes later, my host dad brings out this dinner that he prepared, with rice, kimchi, potatoes, and some weird fish broth thingy.  What I didn't know then (but learned half way through the meal) is that the spoon is on the table so you can scoop the rice you don't want out of your bowl before you start eating, and then you are expected to eat what you leave in your bowl.  In other words, Emma ends up eating a whole bowl of rice because she doesn't want to offend people and that is what Da Young is doing, and when in doubt, following Da Young's example is a good idea.  So I end up EXTREMELY stuffed.

About 2 hours later (in which I am STILL stuffed), my host mom comes back from work, and she brings corn that she bought on the street.  She's like, "Emma! I bought this for you! Eat it!".  And so, super stuffed Emma ends up eating corn too (but for the record, corn on the cob here is better than in America).

After this, we sat around and tried to communicate for like 2 hours, which was really fun, and I gave them their gifts, which they really liked, and then it was midnight.  My host mom and Da Young were like, "Kim Heechul will be on TV!"  So we stayed up until 2 AM watching SM Town Paris, which was AWESOME.  My host mom was a little bit concerned with Lady Heehee xD  Oh, I forgot to mention, at about 11:30, my host parents cut up a bunch of fruit and served this big fruit platter.  I love fruit, but stuffed is stuffed.  Of course, they served it to me, so I ate it anyways ><  KOREAN PEACHES ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER!

Yesterday we went to the market, or Korean grocery store.  It was essentially like a Marsh or Kroger, except there is a whole bunch of gross looking fish stuff and a whole aisle of ramen.  I'm pretty sure we don't still have Oreo O's cereal in America, but it is pretty popular here.  The most interesting part of the grocery, is that you check out and put your items directly back into the cart.  Then, you take your cart downstairs (there is an escalator ramp thing) and go outside to this metal counter that has box tape and broken down boxes next to it.  Then, you put all your groceries into boxes to bring them home.  Quite different from America.  Also, Korean ice cream is excellent.  In fact, this yogurt I am sitting here eating is quite excellent to.  Read as:  Emma is gaining like 30 pounds.

Another interesting thing I have been observing is the whole gender roles thing.  Now, I've only been here like 3 days, so by no means am I an expert, but there have been some things that I've noticed.  The other day, when my mom was at work, my dad came home from work and made dinner.  He then did the laundry and washed the dishes.  So much for the theory that Korean women wait on the men.  But then, a very interesting thing occured.  While my host brother was on one of his 4 hour long Starcraft campaigns, he refused to come eat (he can be somewhat of a brat sometimes) and so my host mom brought the food to the computer and hand fed him while he was busy using his hands to play starcraft. 

Interesting.

At homestay!

I ended up getting to meet my host family a night earlier than most people, so instead of meeting them this morning I have already spent one night here.  And I'll apologize in advance...Korean keyboards are weird...there will probably be typos.  Right now I am sitting on the computer, and my host mom is on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor :(  She won't let me help.  She also won't let me help with laundry or dishes...I feel bad.  In Korea, the children only study, they don't do any chores around the house.  Studying is their job. 

My host mom doesn't speak any english, so we have been trying our best to communicate with each other.  When Da Young or Sang Min is home, they can help a little.  They are both at school now (EVEN THOUGH ITS SATURDAY!)  Da Young has tests today, it is final exam time for her. 

Last night my mom and Da Young came to pick me up, and we got home around 11.  I showered, then Da Young and I went to the bakery at 11:30 pm to buy bread xD  It is so close to the apartment! (which is on the 18th floor...the views are beautiful!)  I have my own room, but it was Da Youngs room.  She is staying in Sangmins room while I am here.

My host mom made delicious breakfast!  It was somewhat like Onigiri, but better....if you know what that is.  I'm having a good time so far! I think now I will go ask my host mom to show me how to get to Sogang on the subway xD

I love you all and I miss you!