Sunday July 31st (Day 36)
So definitely a great day today.
We started by going to the 찜질방. I went with Caroline, 영민오빠, 깡유언니, and Cody. At first it was just Caroline, 영민오빠, Cody and I since 깡유언니 overslept...lol. So we went to this place called Dragon Hill Spa and paid and got in and changed. I gotta say, the women's changing room is really disturbing. Anyway, so we met back up downstairs and went to 찜질. We started by going to a really hot 50 degrees Celsius baking room where my feet slowly roasted away. We played some fun hand games while we were roasting also. We stayed there for a while and then we went to the ice room for a while. Then we went to this round sauna oven igloo looking thing where it was even hotter than the first room. It was REALLY hot. Then we went to the ice room. Then we sat in the main area and got shikae and some roasted eggs which were actually rather tasty. Going by national tradition, we broke the eggs on other peoples heads. It hurt ㅠㅠ ...Youngmin went to go call Kangyou while the three of us chilled...sure enough Kangyou appears while Youngmin is gone. We play a bunch of games together and I swear I got hit like 50 times by everyone. Anyway, then we went back to the first 50 degrees Celsius room and then went to the ice room and then the toasty hot hot room and then the ice room and then this weird room that smelled like charcoal and barbecue. That room wasn't too hot so we chilled there for a while and then we went back out and then we went to the pyramid sauna which just smelled like a bunch of random herbs. Then we ate poppingsu and then decided to leave and do something else. Essentially we were there from around 11AM to 4:30PM. It was pretty fun. Then we went to another area to eat chicken and after we all ate, we sat in the restaurant and talked for a while. We ended up playing truth or dare where some really...interesting questions came up like rating people and such. Eventually Cody picked dare and we made him go around the restaurant singing Itaewon Freedom and so he goes around singing ITAEWON FREEDOM and "raising the roof"...it was absolutely HILARIOUS. Then I had to walk around like I had some issues...yeah. So after the restaurant we went to a 노래방 where we sang so many songs...the guy kept extending our time in the 노래방. I recorded some of the lovely performances. I got to day, 영민오빠 really can sing well. Also, even though I'm a big Kpop fan, I really don't know the lyrics well :/. Oh well....I shall learn! Tomorrow/right now is Monday morning. I'm having lunch with 혜미샘...this should be interesting. Until then. ^^
Sunday, July 31, 2011
I Love Korea
Monday July 25 (Day 30)
Time is slowly running out and I'm getting sad. Truth be told, I'm going to miss Korea. It's become a second home to me. I wish I could stay for longer but there is quite a lot of business titans care of back home (college...school...) The stress is coming back slowly and I'm dreading it. Today before school Kaitlyn and I went to Itaewon (ITAEWON FREEDOM) haha. Yeah, we walked around all of Itaewon and bought a few shirts. We decided to go look at the mosque there. It is the largest mosque in Korea. So basically without directions we just started walking toward it. Then...we got to it and then...we got lost. Now mind you, I don't ALWAYS get lost. Itaewon is pretty big and there are like no street signs anywhere. I ended up asking someone where the closest subway station was and apparently we were pretty far from it and we would need to take a taxi. I stop here and ask...exactly how far did we walk?!?!! We walked FAR. Far being the equivalent of two subway stations away from where we started. Anyway, that was most definitely my exercise for the day. So after school Breauna, Alexia and I went to the Ewha shopping area and we shopped. We all got some face masks and some clothes and then some food. It had started to downpour and I had gotten a strawberry banana smoothie so then Alexia goes and accidentally spills it. Now that...takes some skill. She bought me another one though and honestly it tasted better hehe. So yeah that's about it for Monday.
I'm on the subway right now going to go meet my supporter Kangyou, Caroline and Youngmin. Hopefully we will have fun. Actually, I'm sure we will. I have to make the best of the time I have remaining in Korea!
On a side note, someone sitting diagonal from me on the subway is wearing TOMS. I want some!!!!
Tuesday July 26 (Day 31)
So the Hello Kitty Cafe was great! It took a little while getting there but we got there without telling Youngmin where we were going. It was hilarious because he was obviously the only guy there. We all ordered drinks and then sat and talked while Caroline did her homework. Then we made sentences with Korean articles and after that we took a ton of pictures. We ate this caramel bread which I bought (because I'm a nice person) and then we left the cafe. We took a taxi to Sincheon station and walked to a restaurant and all ordered ...chicken mayo? Apparently it is popular in Korea and it was actually okay so I'm not complaining. Anyway, we took it to go and then ate it at school. It was a fun morning...eventually we are all going to go to a 노래방 and a 찜질방 ...possibly on Sunday. I need to go to one before I leave the country. After school on Tuesday we went to get contacts (Caroline, Cody and I). It was raining like crazy but we got to the shop and then got or contacts and then as we were going to go find a restaurant we ran into a sticker picture shop...we got sticker pictures and after we did it was raining so hard the streets were flooding. No joke. Anyway so we just decided to go to the restaurant right across the street. Bad idea. Anyway, we sat there and ...ate...sort of....yeah it wasn't that great :/ I would write what we ended up unknowingly (probably unconsciously knowingly) ate but I don't really want to. Anyway, we had to order two dishes and for the second dish we wanted to change it and so I told the server guy that Caroline wasn't eating (actually the only person eating was Cody) and the server guy goes "but this is good for pregnancy/pregnant people" and as soon as Caroline finds out what he said she flips out and all night she's like fhksosnskshdfhrbsj. It was pretty funny.
Wednesday July 27 (Day 32)
So we had 탈춤 today which is essentially traditional mask dancing. It required a lot of energy believe it or not. We first listened to a presentation by the Cultural group from Sooomyung Woman's University and then we made masks. I made mine look like the Korean flag because I'm not creative and had no ideas. Anyway, then we learned how to do a few steps of a dance after we first saw an act of the dance. Oh my gosh, there was a part of the dance where it's like mimicking a cow of sorts but anyway, there were like 6 groups and each group had to demonstrate the dance and then the dance teacher picked some people out of each group to do it again depending on whether she liked their dancing or if she happened to think they couldn't dance. The first group had two people chosen and then the second group (the group I was in) had one person chosen...that person being ...me. Oh my gosh. Sooo embarrassing. She had picked me because I was good at the dance (who knew) but anyway some how she ended up saying she's never seen anyone perform that dance so sexy as me. (uh...what?) So basically I was dubbed a "sexy cow" because of that dance. Personally I think being called a cow is insulting but I guess it's a weird compliment of sorts since the dance was a "cow dance"...I really don't know. Then at the end of the lesson, each group had to elect one person to perform the whole entire dance and some how j got elected to do the dance reluctantly. ㅠㅠ booooo. So yeah, that was my morning. After school we went to Itaewon again because everyone wanted these specific shirts. Then we went to Myeong-dong and ate at a nice restaurant which actually had good food. Then we went shopping a little but didn't find anything so we are going to Dongdaemun today (Thursday) It is still raining like crazy. Oh well...I want more dresses. ㅋㅋㅋ I'm going to be sad to leave Korea. I love this extra sense of freedom. Now I am about to get off the subway. Successfully entered some journal entries on my long subway ride. Speaking of things, I need to go get presents for everyone -_-; I don't know what to get ...ohhh boy.
Thursday July 28 (Day 33)
So I got to sleep in for like the first time today. It was nice but I wish I didn't get to sleep in...(it was raining so hard that supporter activities were canceled). Anyway, so I went to school and then went to Dongdaemun with Nhi where we totally had a great shopping adventure. Goes to show that people should shop with me because I find the best clothes at great prices. Anyway then we ate some street food and went home.
Friday July 29th (Day 34)
I'm on the subway today and I feel like a wannabe young gangster is sitting next to me. I'm pretty sure he's like 40 but whatever, not my problem. It's finally not raining today (which is a good thing although it'll be hot outside). I'm on my way to meet up with Caroline to go buy a cake for Kyungnam since today is his last day working as the RD for YES International. Actually, I just want cake honestly. Cake is tasty. Korean cake is tasty. Anyway, I believe I'm getting a digital perm tomorrow and then heading to Bucheon to meet Simon and Martina! Honestly I'd rather be in Busan at the beach though haha. The weather once again is actually really nice today, I can see the city well from this subway seat that I luckily got today. I did remember my umbrella just invade though...I've had to buy two umbrellas because I thought t wouldn't rain and then it was about to rain (although the first time it ended up not raining although I bought the umbrella and the second time it was a downpour so I needed an umbrella for sure) More later....
ACTUALLY I'm not done...I hate it when guys (and I really do mean guys, girls never/rarely do this) on the subway sit and like take up so much leg room so that they take like three subway seats worth of leg room. If you're sitting in a subway seat then your leg space is equivalent to how wide the seat is. Don't infringe on other peoples personal space subway bubbles!! >.< Still have 20 minutes on the subway....yay.
I swear the guy next to me has been creeping on my iPod. He looks more like a trucker-gangster and now a non-leg invasive female is sitting next to me and it seems like she isn't creeping on what I'm doing. Another thing, I hate it when people get on the subway and then yell their faces off. I do NOT need to know your conversation. Oh and I hate it when people who smell like wet dog get on the subway and don't look like they have any problems. Honestly, check how you smell before you leave the house. Just because Koreans are said to not have "BO" doesn't mean you shouldn't use perfume or cologne. Anyway, I'm ranting more than I should be but that's because I'm bored hehe. I'm just picking on the stupid meaningless things about the subway right now. There are plenty of good things. For one...it's fast and on weekend nights there are always drunk men swinging up and down the subway singing kid songs and pretending to smoke and talking loudly and acting well...drunk. Okay I'll stop now. I'll errr again when something interesting happens.
Okay so operation cake worked out well. We basically bought the cake at Paris Baguette and then got on the bus to YES Int'l and then walked into the office and gave him the cake in which he was like "what is this for...". Anyway we took pictures with him and then we all ate the cake which by the way was a very pretty and delicious cake. So when we got the cake we had asked for 6 candles...turns out each candle stands for 10 years haha. Yeah but one candle fell on the floor so it became a 50 year old "birthday" with a "birthday aka happy going away go now leave" song. It was rather funny I will admit. Anyway, as we left Kyungnam walked us down and gave us some money to ride a taxi and eat lunch with (which he really didn't have to do but it was rather nice of him). After school I briefly went to Insadong where I got some "TOMS" which FYI are not all that comfortable...definitely buying other shoes.
Saturday July 30th (Day 35)
Today Christina and I went to go get digital perms...it smelled bad at one point in time but it was a success. I wish I had Christina's hair though...so much prettier than mine. After that, we stuffed ourselves full of food and went to Bucheon to meet...Simon and Martina!!! It was really fun and they are indeed as nice and funny as they are on video. Then a few of us (including some of our lovely Korean friends) went to the 노래방 and then got sticker pictures!! I realized I need to know some of these lyrics to these songs better. On a side note, I need the new Infinite CD...
Time is slowly running out and I'm getting sad. Truth be told, I'm going to miss Korea. It's become a second home to me. I wish I could stay for longer but there is quite a lot of business titans care of back home (college...school...) The stress is coming back slowly and I'm dreading it. Today before school Kaitlyn and I went to Itaewon (ITAEWON FREEDOM) haha. Yeah, we walked around all of Itaewon and bought a few shirts. We decided to go look at the mosque there. It is the largest mosque in Korea. So basically without directions we just started walking toward it. Then...we got to it and then...we got lost. Now mind you, I don't ALWAYS get lost. Itaewon is pretty big and there are like no street signs anywhere. I ended up asking someone where the closest subway station was and apparently we were pretty far from it and we would need to take a taxi. I stop here and ask...exactly how far did we walk?!?!! We walked FAR. Far being the equivalent of two subway stations away from where we started. Anyway, that was most definitely my exercise for the day. So after school Breauna, Alexia and I went to the Ewha shopping area and we shopped. We all got some face masks and some clothes and then some food. It had started to downpour and I had gotten a strawberry banana smoothie so then Alexia goes and accidentally spills it. Now that...takes some skill. She bought me another one though and honestly it tasted better hehe. So yeah that's about it for Monday.
I'm on the subway right now going to go meet my supporter Kangyou, Caroline and Youngmin. Hopefully we will have fun. Actually, I'm sure we will. I have to make the best of the time I have remaining in Korea!
On a side note, someone sitting diagonal from me on the subway is wearing TOMS. I want some!!!!
Tuesday July 26 (Day 31)
So the Hello Kitty Cafe was great! It took a little while getting there but we got there without telling Youngmin where we were going. It was hilarious because he was obviously the only guy there. We all ordered drinks and then sat and talked while Caroline did her homework. Then we made sentences with Korean articles and after that we took a ton of pictures. We ate this caramel bread which I bought (because I'm a nice person) and then we left the cafe. We took a taxi to Sincheon station and walked to a restaurant and all ordered ...chicken mayo? Apparently it is popular in Korea and it was actually okay so I'm not complaining. Anyway, we took it to go and then ate it at school. It was a fun morning...eventually we are all going to go to a 노래방 and a 찜질방 ...possibly on Sunday. I need to go to one before I leave the country. After school on Tuesday we went to get contacts (Caroline, Cody and I). It was raining like crazy but we got to the shop and then got or contacts and then as we were going to go find a restaurant we ran into a sticker picture shop...we got sticker pictures and after we did it was raining so hard the streets were flooding. No joke. Anyway so we just decided to go to the restaurant right across the street. Bad idea. Anyway, we sat there and ...ate...sort of....yeah it wasn't that great :/ I would write what we ended up unknowingly (probably unconsciously knowingly) ate but I don't really want to. Anyway, we had to order two dishes and for the second dish we wanted to change it and so I told the server guy that Caroline wasn't eating (actually the only person eating was Cody) and the server guy goes "but this is good for pregnancy/pregnant people" and as soon as Caroline finds out what he said she flips out and all night she's like fhksosnskshdfhrbsj. It was pretty funny.
Wednesday July 27 (Day 32)
So we had 탈춤 today which is essentially traditional mask dancing. It required a lot of energy believe it or not. We first listened to a presentation by the Cultural group from Sooomyung Woman's University and then we made masks. I made mine look like the Korean flag because I'm not creative and had no ideas. Anyway, then we learned how to do a few steps of a dance after we first saw an act of the dance. Oh my gosh, there was a part of the dance where it's like mimicking a cow of sorts but anyway, there were like 6 groups and each group had to demonstrate the dance and then the dance teacher picked some people out of each group to do it again depending on whether she liked their dancing or if she happened to think they couldn't dance. The first group had two people chosen and then the second group (the group I was in) had one person chosen...that person being ...me. Oh my gosh. Sooo embarrassing. She had picked me because I was good at the dance (who knew) but anyway some how she ended up saying she's never seen anyone perform that dance so sexy as me. (uh...what?) So basically I was dubbed a "sexy cow" because of that dance. Personally I think being called a cow is insulting but I guess it's a weird compliment of sorts since the dance was a "cow dance"...I really don't know. Then at the end of the lesson, each group had to elect one person to perform the whole entire dance and some how j got elected to do the dance reluctantly. ㅠㅠ booooo. So yeah, that was my morning. After school we went to Itaewon again because everyone wanted these specific shirts. Then we went to Myeong-dong and ate at a nice restaurant which actually had good food. Then we went shopping a little but didn't find anything so we are going to Dongdaemun today (Thursday) It is still raining like crazy. Oh well...I want more dresses. ㅋㅋㅋ I'm going to be sad to leave Korea. I love this extra sense of freedom. Now I am about to get off the subway. Successfully entered some journal entries on my long subway ride. Speaking of things, I need to go get presents for everyone -_-; I don't know what to get ...ohhh boy.
Thursday July 28 (Day 33)
So I got to sleep in for like the first time today. It was nice but I wish I didn't get to sleep in...(it was raining so hard that supporter activities were canceled). Anyway, so I went to school and then went to Dongdaemun with Nhi where we totally had a great shopping adventure. Goes to show that people should shop with me because I find the best clothes at great prices. Anyway then we ate some street food and went home.
Friday July 29th (Day 34)
I'm on the subway today and I feel like a wannabe young gangster is sitting next to me. I'm pretty sure he's like 40 but whatever, not my problem. It's finally not raining today (which is a good thing although it'll be hot outside). I'm on my way to meet up with Caroline to go buy a cake for Kyungnam since today is his last day working as the RD for YES International. Actually, I just want cake honestly. Cake is tasty. Korean cake is tasty. Anyway, I believe I'm getting a digital perm tomorrow and then heading to Bucheon to meet Simon and Martina! Honestly I'd rather be in Busan at the beach though haha. The weather once again is actually really nice today, I can see the city well from this subway seat that I luckily got today. I did remember my umbrella just invade though...I've had to buy two umbrellas because I thought t wouldn't rain and then it was about to rain (although the first time it ended up not raining although I bought the umbrella and the second time it was a downpour so I needed an umbrella for sure) More later....
ACTUALLY I'm not done...I hate it when guys (and I really do mean guys, girls never/rarely do this) on the subway sit and like take up so much leg room so that they take like three subway seats worth of leg room. If you're sitting in a subway seat then your leg space is equivalent to how wide the seat is. Don't infringe on other peoples personal space subway bubbles!! >.< Still have 20 minutes on the subway....yay.
I swear the guy next to me has been creeping on my iPod. He looks more like a trucker-gangster and now a non-leg invasive female is sitting next to me and it seems like she isn't creeping on what I'm doing. Another thing, I hate it when people get on the subway and then yell their faces off. I do NOT need to know your conversation. Oh and I hate it when people who smell like wet dog get on the subway and don't look like they have any problems. Honestly, check how you smell before you leave the house. Just because Koreans are said to not have "BO" doesn't mean you shouldn't use perfume or cologne. Anyway, I'm ranting more than I should be but that's because I'm bored hehe. I'm just picking on the stupid meaningless things about the subway right now. There are plenty of good things. For one...it's fast and on weekend nights there are always drunk men swinging up and down the subway singing kid songs and pretending to smoke and talking loudly and acting well...drunk. Okay I'll stop now. I'll errr again when something interesting happens.
Okay so operation cake worked out well. We basically bought the cake at Paris Baguette and then got on the bus to YES Int'l and then walked into the office and gave him the cake in which he was like "what is this for...". Anyway we took pictures with him and then we all ate the cake which by the way was a very pretty and delicious cake. So when we got the cake we had asked for 6 candles...turns out each candle stands for 10 years haha. Yeah but one candle fell on the floor so it became a 50 year old "birthday" with a "birthday aka happy going away go now leave" song. It was rather funny I will admit. Anyway, as we left Kyungnam walked us down and gave us some money to ride a taxi and eat lunch with (which he really didn't have to do but it was rather nice of him). After school I briefly went to Insadong where I got some "TOMS" which FYI are not all that comfortable...definitely buying other shoes.
Saturday July 30th (Day 35)
Today Christina and I went to go get digital perms...it smelled bad at one point in time but it was a success. I wish I had Christina's hair though...so much prettier than mine. After that, we stuffed ourselves full of food and went to Bucheon to meet...Simon and Martina!!! It was really fun and they are indeed as nice and funny as they are on video. Then a few of us (including some of our lovely Korean friends) went to the 노래방 and then got sticker pictures!! I realized I need to know some of these lyrics to these songs better. On a side note, I need the new Infinite CD...
Sunday, July 24, 2011
부천 한-미 검프
Bucheon Korean American Cultural Camp
No, this wasn't an outdoors camp but rather it was indoors in an actually pretty nice hostel. It was better than the first one we stayed in. Anyway, so I had to leave the house at like 7AM to get to our meeting point before 8:20. (this was Saturday morning- July 23rd - day 28) Anyway, so we got on the coach bus and we drove down to Bucheon and then went to the hostel first and dropped off our belongings. We then met up with the Korean high school students participating in this camp and then headed for city hall where we had the opening ceremony along with a few ice breakers. One of the ice breakers we did was to memorize everyone's name along with the action they put to their name. Have I mentioned...my memory is equivalent to the attention spam of a baby...aka not very good. ^We had teams and I was in team 1 (there were 10 teams that were decided ahead of time by the coordinators and staff). Then with our teams we had to come up with a team dance slogan while we ate lunch together. So we had a difficult time coming up with a dance/slogan and Youngmin who was one of the dance/slogan judges didn't make it easier for us to pass to go to the next stage to get our mission. We finally passed after a lot of trouble and got to the second task which was a quiz which we easily did. Our mission was to go to this manhwa museum and this rose garden. We had to draw a comic and then take a picture in the rose garden. We only had 4.5 hours to do all of this and the places were a bit far away. So we went to the museum first and saw all the cartoons and such. It was pretty interesting. We then sat down in a random corner to draw this comic. We were slightly still resentful for having such a hard time trying to pass the dance slogan stage of this mission that we decided to draw our comic about Youngmin. The story line goes something along the lines of Youngmin is at a karaoke place and then he sings horribly and then he wants to put love locks on Namsan tower but the girl he likes rejects this idea and then pushes him down the tower and lands in the nearby market where there is a restaurant where he eats something really spicy and has to go to the bathroom but there is no toilet paper. From there it is "to be continued." Yes I realize this makes hardly any sense but that was the point. We had to present this later (which I will get to later). I should probably mention we had a group leader who is a college student. His name was Saehwan and he was pretty cool and quite attached to his camera. Anyway, we basically had no time to do our second mission so we decided to just go back (on the lovely so crowded bus). However we stumbled upon a stand that was selling roses so we bought a dozen and then each of us got one and we took a picture in a park nearby the hostel. The picture turned out really cool. I'll have to get it from someone but anyway then we got back to the air-conditioned hostel where we had dinner. I sat with Gooseul and Haemi. Then ...it was presentation time. Our group presented 4th and it was so hilarious because we had Katarina act as Youngmin speaking in an Indian accent and Abel narrating. Everyone in the room was laughing...it was that good (trust me). Anyway, we ended up winning the best presentation award and got neck pillows which are nice might I add. I think our group picture was the prettiest but no one except Youngmin voted for us because our picture was shown first and people didn't know which one to pick but it's okay. Anyway, we then had to practice for the talent show that was to be on Sunday. I had nothing to practice for because I wasn't singing with this one group anymore but instead I wasn't doing anything. Hehe. Anyway, so I just walked around for the longest time and I even went to go get ice cream for the YES people and myself. Then I went to my hostel room where I took a shower and hung out with one of my new Korean friends 예영 in our room. It was basically a party outside the rooms. It was super crazy. I ended up sitting in the room with all the staff with Eunice for a while where I talked to 혜미 for a while. Talking to Haemi is always entertaining because she's always so calm (she's like the head coordinator from YES International for our program). She could be placed in a Buddhist temple with a gourd and a stick to hit the gourd with. She seriously is very calm and chill and she also keeps up a "I am a scary person so behave" act which isn't true at all because she really isn't scary at all. Anyway, I also talked to everyone else in the room. I ended up learning a few new Korean hand games and Eunice and I played them with Jonghyun and Gooseul. Then I got a hold of Youngmin's phone and looked at that for a while. People were playing truth or dare outside in the hall and Youngmin went out there for like five minutes and dared Ellen to kiss Jonghyun on the cheek. When they came hunting for Jonghyun he was like Nooooooo but then Youngmin said he was embarrassing Ellen so it ended up happening and it all got on tape. It was pretty funny. Then I ended up watching Hyemin and Jonghyun practicing for MCing for the talent show. I really got to talk to Youngmin more. There was pieces of foam board sitting around and we ended up throwing them at each other (which trust me we were pretty bored). For a while it was just me with the staff because Eunice had left but later Caroline walked in and all three of us talked but in English (earlier it had been Korean). Anyway, it was all pretty fun and we ended up leaving the room at 3 in the morning. I was there for like 4 hours. The hall was too much of a hostile environment for me to try and get past earlier that night. Anyway so we got back to the room and we talked for a little and then all went to sleep.
That morning (Sunday July 24th day 29) we had breakfast at like 8:30 and then we went to the talent show venue where I learned that I would get to do a last minute piano performance which could have gone better but whatever (the first time I mixed Yiruma with Lady Gaga) -___- Anyway, we practiced and then had our talent show and then went to eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Then we went back to the hostel and had our closing ceremony. We then grabbed our belongings and then left the Korean students :( we took many pictures to remember the moment though. I was going to get a picture with Saehwan and Yeyung and we asked Christina to take the picture but then she was like so I'm not in the group anymore and we were like noo...and then we asked Katarina who said the same thing and eventually the group got really big and we had someone take our picture. It was cute. We got on the bus and headed for 홍대. On the bus Gooseul and Youngmin had some weird antics...and I thought I was weird. Anyway after we got off the bus we decided we were going to go do some karaoke on Tuesday possibly after school so yeahㅋㅋㅋ that is all for now. Man I'm sleepy >.<..typing blog posts out on the iPod touch is not easy.
No, this wasn't an outdoors camp but rather it was indoors in an actually pretty nice hostel. It was better than the first one we stayed in. Anyway, so I had to leave the house at like 7AM to get to our meeting point before 8:20. (this was Saturday morning- July 23rd - day 28) Anyway, so we got on the coach bus and we drove down to Bucheon and then went to the hostel first and dropped off our belongings. We then met up with the Korean high school students participating in this camp and then headed for city hall where we had the opening ceremony along with a few ice breakers. One of the ice breakers we did was to memorize everyone's name along with the action they put to their name. Have I mentioned...my memory is equivalent to the attention spam of a baby...aka not very good. ^We had teams and I was in team 1 (there were 10 teams that were decided ahead of time by the coordinators and staff). Then with our teams we had to come up with a team dance slogan while we ate lunch together. So we had a difficult time coming up with a dance/slogan and Youngmin who was one of the dance/slogan judges didn't make it easier for us to pass to go to the next stage to get our mission. We finally passed after a lot of trouble and got to the second task which was a quiz which we easily did. Our mission was to go to this manhwa museum and this rose garden. We had to draw a comic and then take a picture in the rose garden. We only had 4.5 hours to do all of this and the places were a bit far away. So we went to the museum first and saw all the cartoons and such. It was pretty interesting. We then sat down in a random corner to draw this comic. We were slightly still resentful for having such a hard time trying to pass the dance slogan stage of this mission that we decided to draw our comic about Youngmin. The story line goes something along the lines of Youngmin is at a karaoke place and then he sings horribly and then he wants to put love locks on Namsan tower but the girl he likes rejects this idea and then pushes him down the tower and lands in the nearby market where there is a restaurant where he eats something really spicy and has to go to the bathroom but there is no toilet paper. From there it is "to be continued." Yes I realize this makes hardly any sense but that was the point. We had to present this later (which I will get to later). I should probably mention we had a group leader who is a college student. His name was Saehwan and he was pretty cool and quite attached to his camera. Anyway, we basically had no time to do our second mission so we decided to just go back (on the lovely so crowded bus). However we stumbled upon a stand that was selling roses so we bought a dozen and then each of us got one and we took a picture in a park nearby the hostel. The picture turned out really cool. I'll have to get it from someone but anyway then we got back to the air-conditioned hostel where we had dinner. I sat with Gooseul and Haemi. Then ...it was presentation time. Our group presented 4th and it was so hilarious because we had Katarina act as Youngmin speaking in an Indian accent and Abel narrating. Everyone in the room was laughing...it was that good (trust me). Anyway, we ended up winning the best presentation award and got neck pillows which are nice might I add. I think our group picture was the prettiest but no one except Youngmin voted for us because our picture was shown first and people didn't know which one to pick but it's okay. Anyway, we then had to practice for the talent show that was to be on Sunday. I had nothing to practice for because I wasn't singing with this one group anymore but instead I wasn't doing anything. Hehe. Anyway, so I just walked around for the longest time and I even went to go get ice cream for the YES people and myself. Then I went to my hostel room where I took a shower and hung out with one of my new Korean friends 예영 in our room. It was basically a party outside the rooms. It was super crazy. I ended up sitting in the room with all the staff with Eunice for a while where I talked to 혜미 for a while. Talking to Haemi is always entertaining because she's always so calm (she's like the head coordinator from YES International for our program). She could be placed in a Buddhist temple with a gourd and a stick to hit the gourd with. She seriously is very calm and chill and she also keeps up a "I am a scary person so behave" act which isn't true at all because she really isn't scary at all. Anyway, I also talked to everyone else in the room. I ended up learning a few new Korean hand games and Eunice and I played them with Jonghyun and Gooseul. Then I got a hold of Youngmin's phone and looked at that for a while. People were playing truth or dare outside in the hall and Youngmin went out there for like five minutes and dared Ellen to kiss Jonghyun on the cheek. When they came hunting for Jonghyun he was like Nooooooo but then Youngmin said he was embarrassing Ellen so it ended up happening and it all got on tape. It was pretty funny. Then I ended up watching Hyemin and Jonghyun practicing for MCing for the talent show. I really got to talk to Youngmin more. There was pieces of foam board sitting around and we ended up throwing them at each other (which trust me we were pretty bored). For a while it was just me with the staff because Eunice had left but later Caroline walked in and all three of us talked but in English (earlier it had been Korean). Anyway, it was all pretty fun and we ended up leaving the room at 3 in the morning. I was there for like 4 hours. The hall was too much of a hostile environment for me to try and get past earlier that night. Anyway so we got back to the room and we talked for a little and then all went to sleep.
That morning (Sunday July 24th day 29) we had breakfast at like 8:30 and then we went to the talent show venue where I learned that I would get to do a last minute piano performance which could have gone better but whatever (the first time I mixed Yiruma with Lady Gaga) -___- Anyway, we practiced and then had our talent show and then went to eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Then we went back to the hostel and had our closing ceremony. We then grabbed our belongings and then left the Korean students :( we took many pictures to remember the moment though. I was going to get a picture with Saehwan and Yeyung and we asked Christina to take the picture but then she was like so I'm not in the group anymore and we were like noo...and then we asked Katarina who said the same thing and eventually the group got really big and we had someone take our picture. It was cute. We got on the bus and headed for 홍대. On the bus Gooseul and Youngmin had some weird antics...and I thought I was weird. Anyway after we got off the bus we decided we were going to go do some karaoke on Tuesday possibly after school so yeahㅋㅋㅋ that is all for now. Man I'm sleepy >.<..typing blog posts out on the iPod touch is not easy.
This Week...
Day 23 Monday July 18th: So there was school today also...like every weekday. After school Uyen, Tatiana, Nhi, Izzy and I went shopping at the Ewha/Sincheon area. It was pretty fun and then after shopping Uyen, Tatiana and I had some lappokki which was delicious. :)
Tuesday July 19th (Day 24): We went to the Changokbung Palace today with our supporters. It was a big group with the three other supporters along with our supporter Kang-yoo. On top of the supporters we also had YES International people tag along (Hyemin and Youngmin). Man it was really hot today...every time we stopped during the tour ^We would all look for shade. I thoroughly entertained myself by picking on Youngmin ㅋㅋㅋ. It was quite entertaining. One of the supporters (Sun) decided I have split personalities when I speak English and when I speak Korean. Eventually we lost the tour guide although I'm pretty sure we paid for the tour. On top of that we didn't get to go to the Secret Garden (Huwon) because it cost extra and we had like no time. Anyway, after our escapade at the palace we went to eat lunch at this random place called the 김밥창구 or something close to that. Practically everyone at my table got the 왕동짜수 (king cutlet)...anyway. After lunch half of us were waiting in the relatively cool subway area while I have no idea what happened to the other half of the group for that 15 minutes. While we were down there some of us exchanged money while others just stood around. I forget what I said but Youngmin almost made my face a different shape...so I don't think I'll be saying whatever I said. I tend to say things in Korean that make people want to "hurt" me aka clever things no one else in the group can say (like you have to step on people to get to the top---->Mishil quote from Queen Seon Deok). Anyway, we got on the orange line and then off for the transfer to the green line. While we were waiting for the transfer Kyungnam and his friend showed up. Talk about random coincidence. He asked me about Youngmin and I said Yongmin was better than him and he hit me -_- maybe I should stop saying things to purposely mess with people ...or not. It's fun. Anyway, Kyungnam said he would help me figure out Kakao talk which seriously that app is super annoying. All of us in that part of the subway had a mini Spanish conversation in which I made myself sound like I speak Spanish well...which I don't. But anyway- success. Then we went to school where they made me switch classes again. AGAIN. Ima get this fixed soon... So then after class I ended up going with people to YES International to practice for the "talent show" this weekend. I have no talents aka there is no available piano/violin for me to play then so I'm doing something with Easter eggs. Anyway, then Kyungnam showed up and since some specific people caused a ruckus on Monday, he had to stay during their practice but he and I made a deal where I'd clean up and lock up and in return he promised to buy dinner one day...we'll see how that goes haha. Anyway, as promised I did everything properly and now he owes me. After practice I ended up walking the streets of 홍대 at night in order to find something to eat while Caroline texted some random number about "doing it" as a joke and really I don't know what else. I ended up going home instead of eating at the pasta Italian place because I didn't want to get on the subway at like 10:30 and end up walking home at midnight. So that was what happened on Tuesday and this entry ended up being really long because I'm writing it on my hour long subway ride and I'm about to get off on the next stop so I think timing wise I did a good job.
Wednesday, July 20th Day 25: After school Valerie, Caroline and I went exploring in 남대문 which wasn't that great but there was some interesting stuff there. Then Dean showed up and we all got lost in 홍대 trying to find food .ㅠㅠ We finally did find food though thank goodness. I didn't eat all day...it is too hot to want to eat.
Thursday, July 21 Day 26: 깡유언니, Caroline and I went to 남산 Tower after school. It was really pretty there and we saw the love locks on the fence too. Then we ate at this famous restaurant and then Caroline went somewhere while 깡유언니 and I went shopping in Myeongdong. It was pretty fun.
Friday, July 22nd Day 27: We had the mid program evaluation today which was just informative and all. Afterwards we had lunch and after school I met my cousin 인선. She took me shopping and then I ate raw sushi for the first time at this sushi buffet restaurant. After that we split ways. It was pretty fun hanging out with her.
Bucheon Camp this weekend with everyone. I'll post separately for it :)
Tuesday July 19th (Day 24): We went to the Changokbung Palace today with our supporters. It was a big group with the three other supporters along with our supporter Kang-yoo. On top of the supporters we also had YES International people tag along (Hyemin and Youngmin). Man it was really hot today...every time we stopped during the tour ^We would all look for shade. I thoroughly entertained myself by picking on Youngmin ㅋㅋㅋ. It was quite entertaining. One of the supporters (Sun) decided I have split personalities when I speak English and when I speak Korean. Eventually we lost the tour guide although I'm pretty sure we paid for the tour. On top of that we didn't get to go to the Secret Garden (Huwon) because it cost extra and we had like no time. Anyway, after our escapade at the palace we went to eat lunch at this random place called the 김밥창구 or something close to that. Practically everyone at my table got the 왕동짜수 (king cutlet)...anyway. After lunch half of us were waiting in the relatively cool subway area while I have no idea what happened to the other half of the group for that 15 minutes. While we were down there some of us exchanged money while others just stood around. I forget what I said but Youngmin almost made my face a different shape...so I don't think I'll be saying whatever I said. I tend to say things in Korean that make people want to "hurt" me aka clever things no one else in the group can say (like you have to step on people to get to the top---->Mishil quote from Queen Seon Deok). Anyway, we got on the orange line and then off for the transfer to the green line. While we were waiting for the transfer Kyungnam and his friend showed up. Talk about random coincidence. He asked me about Youngmin and I said Yongmin was better than him and he hit me -_- maybe I should stop saying things to purposely mess with people ...or not. It's fun. Anyway, Kyungnam said he would help me figure out Kakao talk which seriously that app is super annoying. All of us in that part of the subway had a mini Spanish conversation in which I made myself sound like I speak Spanish well...which I don't. But anyway- success. Then we went to school where they made me switch classes again. AGAIN. Ima get this fixed soon... So then after class I ended up going with people to YES International to practice for the "talent show" this weekend. I have no talents aka there is no available piano/violin for me to play then so I'm doing something with Easter eggs. Anyway, then Kyungnam showed up and since some specific people caused a ruckus on Monday, he had to stay during their practice but he and I made a deal where I'd clean up and lock up and in return he promised to buy dinner one day...we'll see how that goes haha. Anyway, as promised I did everything properly and now he owes me. After practice I ended up walking the streets of 홍대 at night in order to find something to eat while Caroline texted some random number about "doing it" as a joke and really I don't know what else. I ended up going home instead of eating at the pasta Italian place because I didn't want to get on the subway at like 10:30 and end up walking home at midnight. So that was what happened on Tuesday and this entry ended up being really long because I'm writing it on my hour long subway ride and I'm about to get off on the next stop so I think timing wise I did a good job.
Wednesday, July 20th Day 25: After school Valerie, Caroline and I went exploring in 남대문 which wasn't that great but there was some interesting stuff there. Then Dean showed up and we all got lost in 홍대 trying to find food .ㅠㅠ We finally did find food though thank goodness. I didn't eat all day...it is too hot to want to eat.
Thursday, July 21 Day 26: 깡유언니, Caroline and I went to 남산 Tower after school. It was really pretty there and we saw the love locks on the fence too. Then we ate at this famous restaurant and then Caroline went somewhere while 깡유언니 and I went shopping in Myeongdong. It was pretty fun.
Friday, July 22nd Day 27: We had the mid program evaluation today which was just informative and all. Afterwards we had lunch and after school I met my cousin 인선. She took me shopping and then I ate raw sushi for the first time at this sushi buffet restaurant. After that we split ways. It was pretty fun hanging out with her.
Bucheon Camp this weekend with everyone. I'll post separately for it :)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Part 2
7.16 Day 21: Went to the 63 building where there was a ton of things to do from the wax museum to the aquarium to the sky art deck. It was pretty cool and I had fun but gosh it needs to stop raining. Pretty much spent all day here.
7.17 Day 22: Another day with family except this time it included another aunt, uncle, cousin, uncle, aunt, cousin...you get the idea. We went to eat kalbi and my cousin kept giving me food so basically I probably gained like a kilo today -_-. Everyone here tries to feed me constantly. I need to lose weight not gain a bunch. Anyway we went back to my older aunt's house where we chilled for a while and then I went back to my younger aunt's house where I went Internet shopping and then had Chinese food at this really nice restaurant and then bought some 봉숭아 powder stuff and now my fingernails are orange...why I did this I don't know but I guess it is fine since it is all natural. Anyway...that's all for now.
7.17 Day 22: Another day with family except this time it included another aunt, uncle, cousin, uncle, aunt, cousin...you get the idea. We went to eat kalbi and my cousin kept giving me food so basically I probably gained like a kilo today -_-. Everyone here tries to feed me constantly. I need to lose weight not gain a bunch. Anyway we went back to my older aunt's house where we chilled for a while and then I went back to my younger aunt's house where I went Internet shopping and then had Chinese food at this really nice restaurant and then bought some 봉숭아 powder stuff and now my fingernails are orange...why I did this I don't know but I guess it is fine since it is all natural. Anyway...that's all for now.
Day 22.
So it's been a while since I've updated so here goes:
7.12 Day 17: I really don't remember what I did. I'm pretty sure I went to school though lol. Probably complained about classes too...hmm what else.
7.13 Day 18: My group and I went to Indadong and it was raining like crazy. Anyway we went to this tea house and then we ate lunch and then we went to school and then I went to the YES headquarters/office and talked with 해미 for a couple of hours. (and 구슬 for a few minutes too...they kept offering me juice and drinks. -__-) lol.
7.14 Day 19: TaeKwonDo day. guess what. Stupid me decided to get up at 5:30 AM and then go to sleep and wake up at 9:30 AM ...which was the time we were supposed to meet. GAHHH. I was in like panic mode for about 10 minutes and then I contacted the RDs and then got there at like 10:30 when the thing started at 10. Turns out all I missed was stretching so it was all good. I broke a board and learned some arm attacks...hehe. Then we went to school and then I went home...but not really because a bunch of us went out to eat...yeah.
7.15 Day 20: I don't think anything interesting happened on this day except we went to this place and made masks and fans and lanterns. Then I went to school and then after school I went with 구슬 to buy Harry Potter tickets at 홍대 for like 7 other people who were too lazy to go with us. But on a side note, I got to see 경남 struggle with carrying an injured student down the street. I think he aged a few years after that.
7.16 Day 20: went to see Harry Potter in the morning and might I say it was SOOO GOOD. Then we went to school and after school Kaitlyn and I went to Dongdaemun but it took a while because ^We wanted to go to Namdaemun but my Yeager gave us bad directions so we ended up walking through a really shady part of Korea near Dongdaemun. Don't trust teachers to give you directions is all I will say. Blogging on an iPod is annoying when the post is long so part 2 will be in existence in a while.
7.12 Day 17: I really don't remember what I did. I'm pretty sure I went to school though lol. Probably complained about classes too...hmm what else.
7.13 Day 18: My group and I went to Indadong and it was raining like crazy. Anyway we went to this tea house and then we ate lunch and then we went to school and then I went to the YES headquarters/office and talked with 해미 for a couple of hours. (and 구슬 for a few minutes too...they kept offering me juice and drinks. -__-) lol.
7.14 Day 19: TaeKwonDo day. guess what. Stupid me decided to get up at 5:30 AM and then go to sleep and wake up at 9:30 AM ...which was the time we were supposed to meet. GAHHH. I was in like panic mode for about 10 minutes and then I contacted the RDs and then got there at like 10:30 when the thing started at 10. Turns out all I missed was stretching so it was all good. I broke a board and learned some arm attacks...hehe. Then we went to school and then I went home...but not really because a bunch of us went out to eat...yeah.
7.15 Day 20: I don't think anything interesting happened on this day except we went to this place and made masks and fans and lanterns. Then I went to school and then after school I went with 구슬 to buy Harry Potter tickets at 홍대 for like 7 other people who were too lazy to go with us. But on a side note, I got to see 경남 struggle with carrying an injured student down the street. I think he aged a few years after that.
7.16 Day 20: went to see Harry Potter in the morning and might I say it was SOOO GOOD. Then we went to school and after school Kaitlyn and I went to Dongdaemun but it took a while because ^We wanted to go to Namdaemun but my Yeager gave us bad directions so we ended up walking through a really shady part of Korea near Dongdaemun. Don't trust teachers to give you directions is all I will say. Blogging on an iPod is annoying when the post is long so part 2 will be in existence in a while.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Day Uh...16?
Well recap time!!
Day 13 (7.8) So after dreadful school Kaitlyn, Tatiana, Tatiana's host sister and I went to the DBSK, GD&TOP, and 2PM concert!!! First Kaitlyn and I hadto pick up our tickets which as shady as it sounded, they were legit tickets hehe ^^. We bought some food from the nearby Burger King and then ate while we walked to the concert arena. Kaitlyn took a picture with some weird fake GD&TOP and then we went in to see the concert. We had flashing sticks for each group and basically the whole concert was amazing. <3
Day 14 (7.9): So Kaitlyn, Marina, Breauna, Alexia and I went to COEX...we went extreme shopping and then ate at mcdonalds. Afterwards we were about to leave when it was learned that the k-pop group T-ara was going to have a signing at COEX. We decided to wait it out although only people with tickets would get their cd signed. I collected money and went and bought 5 T-ara CDs and Kaitlyn and Marina used their white southern charms to gain us permission to get their signatures on our CDs. YAY.
Day 15 (7.9): I met up with my relatives and I went extreme make up and accessories shopping. I need to stop spending money. ㅠ ㅠ
Day 16 (7.11): so today Kaitlyn and I went sock shopping. Some how I ended up with 3 taeyang socks and no TOP socks :(...so now I need to go find myself some TOP socks!!
Day 13 (7.8) So after dreadful school Kaitlyn, Tatiana, Tatiana's host sister and I went to the DBSK, GD&TOP, and 2PM concert!!! First Kaitlyn and I hadto pick up our tickets which as shady as it sounded, they were legit tickets hehe ^^. We bought some food from the nearby Burger King and then ate while we walked to the concert arena. Kaitlyn took a picture with some weird fake GD&TOP and then we went in to see the concert. We had flashing sticks for each group and basically the whole concert was amazing. <3
Day 14 (7.9): So Kaitlyn, Marina, Breauna, Alexia and I went to COEX...we went extreme shopping and then ate at mcdonalds. Afterwards we were about to leave when it was learned that the k-pop group T-ara was going to have a signing at COEX. We decided to wait it out although only people with tickets would get their cd signed. I collected money and went and bought 5 T-ara CDs and Kaitlyn and Marina used their white southern charms to gain us permission to get their signatures on our CDs. YAY.
Day 15 (7.9): I met up with my relatives and I went extreme make up and accessories shopping. I need to stop spending money. ㅠ ㅠ
Day 16 (7.11): so today Kaitlyn and I went sock shopping. Some how I ended up with 3 taeyang socks and no TOP socks :(...so now I need to go find myself some TOP socks!!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Day 12?
Day 10 (7/5): My supporter, Caroline and I went to this study room thing and we "studied"...yeah. Then we ate and then we went to the lovely Sogang. Yeah. Nothing absolutely interesting happened today oh wait nevermind. WE GOT LOST and by we I mean Katarina and I. The whole dang group decided to leave us while we went to the convenience store for like 5 minutes and so we walked around trying to find where they went and I even asked some guy who goes to Sogang where said building where the group probably was and he didn't know. Yeah. Uh...I don't know. Anyway, then we ran into another group who also led us in the wrong direction. Eventually we found our way but we were late to class. Yay :P
So yesterday...
7/6 Some of my friends and I went to Hongdae and went to Coffee Prince and the Hello Kitty Cafe. I decided to be Asian and wear heels. BAD. IDEA. BADDDD. I don't know how people (pretty much all females in Korea) wear heels EVERYWHERE. It is crazy and my feet are currently paying the price for being that crazy. After school my host sister and I went to Dongdaemun where I got a new dress, shoes and a necklace. Gosh, I'm spending money like crazy -___-. I need to save.
7/7 Today, my supporter group thingamajig went to Gyongbok Palace and saw a bunch of guards and all the buildings. We also saw the statue of King Sejong (who made Hangul) and Admiral Yi Sun Shin (one of the most esteemed military officials in the world). In front of the palace we had some random Chinese guy with an olympic flag with stamps have us take pictures of us with them and then random pictures of us too. I have no idea what the heck he was doing but whatever.
As for class...sure I can speak but gosh darn it I am as illiterate as it comes (although I've improved a lot...I don't want to be in the advanced class). Seriously, TAKE ME OUT. PLEASE! I swear, I better be taken out of that class by the end of this week or I will go get myself run over by a bus. You think I'm kidding but I'm not.
So yesterday...
7/6 Some of my friends and I went to Hongdae and went to Coffee Prince and the Hello Kitty Cafe. I decided to be Asian and wear heels. BAD. IDEA. BADDDD. I don't know how people (pretty much all females in Korea) wear heels EVERYWHERE. It is crazy and my feet are currently paying the price for being that crazy. After school my host sister and I went to Dongdaemun where I got a new dress, shoes and a necklace. Gosh, I'm spending money like crazy -___-. I need to save.
7/7 Today, my supporter group thingamajig went to Gyongbok Palace and saw a bunch of guards and all the buildings. We also saw the statue of King Sejong (who made Hangul) and Admiral Yi Sun Shin (one of the most esteemed military officials in the world). In front of the palace we had some random Chinese guy with an olympic flag with stamps have us take pictures of us with them and then random pictures of us too. I have no idea what the heck he was doing but whatever.
As for class...sure I can speak but gosh darn it I am as illiterate as it comes (although I've improved a lot...I don't want to be in the advanced class). Seriously, TAKE ME OUT. PLEASE! I swear, I better be taken out of that class by the end of this week or I will go get myself run over by a bus. You think I'm kidding but I'm not.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Day 9!
Yup so today was my first day at Sogang. I actually took the bus and subway all by myself (total of like an hour and 10 minutes + a walk) to Sogang. We had like a test thing-a-majig thing for placement today...but it was really "write all about yourself in Korean" and "talk to this random lady" for the writing and speaking exams. Yeah....and after that a few friends and I went shopping near Ewha. It was pretty cool.
So, while I'm at it, I'll recap the past few days :D (I'm actually sitting at a computer now....oh how I've missed the computer).
Day 1 (6.26): Got on a plane, got to NYC...had to wait for a super shuttle for an hour. Sat in the super shuttle for 2 hours in a scary ride to Columbia...and might I add- the rear view mirror was useless since all the luggage was stacked up to the top of the super shuttle -.-; Got to Columbia, unpacked, met people, etc...oh yeah and Kaitlyn will tell you all about ajusshi haha.
Day 2 (6.27): Orientation day...yay. Not. It was a bit...idk. Anyway, after the who knows how many hours it was orientation, went back to the dorms, met up with some friends, went out for dinner, then went to the hobo park...yes. hobo park. Actually it has a proper name but it shall be called the hobo park. Don't ask. Then my dorm room had a lovely conversation about a lot of things including kpop. That was fun :)
Day 3 (6.28): Packed bags, waited for the bus...oh wait. I had to take the super shuttle. Oh well, at least the super shuttle people got dropped off at the right place unlike the bus people who had to walk around the airport because they got dropped off at the wrong place. Anyway, got on the plane...wheeee. Yeah. Very long plane ride which I did not sleep on. Actually, I spent most of my time watching the movies they played. It wasn't all that bad minus the fact that my butt hurt afterwards.
Day 4 (6.29): Got to Tokyo :D Went shopping for some random Japanese looking keychains and then hopped on the plane to Seoul and pretty much slept the whole plane ride. It was only 2 hours though. Anyway, got to the airport where the YES International people were waiting. Might I add, the Tokyo and Seoul airports are WAYYY cleaner than the airports in the US. Anyway, hopped on the bus to the youth hostel which was like an hour away. The coach bus was like a karaoke bus...but we were all too wiped out to do any karaoke. Plus it was midnight and after like 15 hours on a plane...you really don't want to do anything. Then we got to the youth hostel where we got to our dorms of 10 people and then proceeded to create a shower line. Shower = <3
Day 5 (6.30): Got up...Uh...what did I do? Oh yeah, we went to the US Embassy in Korea for the opening ceremony and then went and ate lunch and looked around the area. We then met with our supporters and then we had a mission (aka me getting sent to Noryanjin aka the fish market). Then we went shopping in Myong-dong which was really fun. My supporter (Kanya) took Caroline and I to a place to eat mul-naengmeung and then popingsu :D. It was tasty. Then we went shopping and walked around and then walked all the way from Myong-dong to the youth hostel which a) none of us really knew where we were going and b) it was really a long walk. We ran into one of the Resident Directors on the way there (Kyung nam) who was going to go find some lost people and was going the opposite direction and then when we finally got to the top of the hill and to the youth hostel...HE WAS ALREADY THERE. Our supporter walked in and she was like O_O how'd he get here already?? Turns out, he took a taxi because he didn't want to walk up the hill. Talk about lazy (thus is why he should be called haraboji) Seriously.
Day 6 (7.1): We had another orientation today and it actually wasn't that bad. It was quite entertaining because the coordinators stuck in games and made it fun. Sure beat the orientation back in NYC...no offense. Anyway, after the orientation, everyone else got to run around Myong-dong while I got notice that I was to pack my belongings and get ready to be picked up by my host family early! Luckly as I was rather clean and conscious about packing and unpacking, I really didn't have much to pack. I was to be picked up at 7 and it was 6 so I just sat in the lobby for an hour talking to the YES people and the RDs. That was quite interesting I must say. Once again I was made fun of for this Korean dialect accent that I some how have acquired. I've been asked if I came from a certain part of Korea because of this dialect accent thing I have. (There are 3 area dialects in Korea and I happen to sort of have one that is not of the area) Great. Anyway, my host sister came and picked me up and then my host father came with a big bus to pick both of us up. Rather convenient I must say. So I got to my host family house, unpacked, took a shower, and went to bed. I actually have my own room! Rather exciting.
Day 7 (7.2): So my host sister took me shopping and to Sogang. We also went to Ewha which is the university she attends. The shopping district around Ewha is pretty cool. She also bought me lunch which was delicious and then I bought dessert. Yum. Then after shopping, we went back home and then chilled.
Day 8 (7.3): I went to church alone. It was...different. I mean, they made everything seem like it was part of a kiddy song. It was really. weird. Anyway, it was like monsoon raining all day so I got to stay home. SO. BORED. REALLY. BORED. I WAS SOOOOOOOOOO BORED.
Day 9 (7.4): I took the bus and the subway to Sogang, took the placement test and then went shopping and went out to eat with my friends. It was pretty fun. We had korean-american-idk pizza and some street food. Street food in Korea is safer than street food in the US...you don't have to worry about there being like drugs in your smoothie. After roaming the streets, I took the subway back home and I made it! Alive! Yes...I am still alive as I am typing this. Anyway, fo-cereal-class starts tomorrow...so we'll see how that goes.
So, while I'm at it, I'll recap the past few days :D (I'm actually sitting at a computer now....oh how I've missed the computer).
Day 1 (6.26): Got on a plane, got to NYC...had to wait for a super shuttle for an hour. Sat in the super shuttle for 2 hours in a scary ride to Columbia...and might I add- the rear view mirror was useless since all the luggage was stacked up to the top of the super shuttle -.-; Got to Columbia, unpacked, met people, etc...oh yeah and Kaitlyn will tell you all about ajusshi haha.
Day 2 (6.27): Orientation day...yay. Not. It was a bit...idk. Anyway, after the who knows how many hours it was orientation, went back to the dorms, met up with some friends, went out for dinner, then went to the hobo park...yes. hobo park. Actually it has a proper name but it shall be called the hobo park. Don't ask. Then my dorm room had a lovely conversation about a lot of things including kpop. That was fun :)
Day 3 (6.28): Packed bags, waited for the bus...oh wait. I had to take the super shuttle. Oh well, at least the super shuttle people got dropped off at the right place unlike the bus people who had to walk around the airport because they got dropped off at the wrong place. Anyway, got on the plane...wheeee. Yeah. Very long plane ride which I did not sleep on. Actually, I spent most of my time watching the movies they played. It wasn't all that bad minus the fact that my butt hurt afterwards.
Day 4 (6.29): Got to Tokyo :D Went shopping for some random Japanese looking keychains and then hopped on the plane to Seoul and pretty much slept the whole plane ride. It was only 2 hours though. Anyway, got to the airport where the YES International people were waiting. Might I add, the Tokyo and Seoul airports are WAYYY cleaner than the airports in the US. Anyway, hopped on the bus to the youth hostel which was like an hour away. The coach bus was like a karaoke bus...but we were all too wiped out to do any karaoke. Plus it was midnight and after like 15 hours on a plane...you really don't want to do anything. Then we got to the youth hostel where we got to our dorms of 10 people and then proceeded to create a shower line. Shower = <3
Day 5 (6.30): Got up...Uh...what did I do? Oh yeah, we went to the US Embassy in Korea for the opening ceremony and then went and ate lunch and looked around the area. We then met with our supporters and then we had a mission (aka me getting sent to Noryanjin aka the fish market). Then we went shopping in Myong-dong which was really fun. My supporter (Kanya) took Caroline and I to a place to eat mul-naengmeung and then popingsu :D. It was tasty. Then we went shopping and walked around and then walked all the way from Myong-dong to the youth hostel which a) none of us really knew where we were going and b) it was really a long walk. We ran into one of the Resident Directors on the way there (Kyung nam) who was going to go find some lost people and was going the opposite direction and then when we finally got to the top of the hill and to the youth hostel...HE WAS ALREADY THERE. Our supporter walked in and she was like O_O how'd he get here already?? Turns out, he took a taxi because he didn't want to walk up the hill. Talk about lazy (thus is why he should be called haraboji) Seriously.
Day 6 (7.1): We had another orientation today and it actually wasn't that bad. It was quite entertaining because the coordinators stuck in games and made it fun. Sure beat the orientation back in NYC...no offense. Anyway, after the orientation, everyone else got to run around Myong-dong while I got notice that I was to pack my belongings and get ready to be picked up by my host family early! Luckly as I was rather clean and conscious about packing and unpacking, I really didn't have much to pack. I was to be picked up at 7 and it was 6 so I just sat in the lobby for an hour talking to the YES people and the RDs. That was quite interesting I must say. Once again I was made fun of for this Korean dialect accent that I some how have acquired. I've been asked if I came from a certain part of Korea because of this dialect accent thing I have. (There are 3 area dialects in Korea and I happen to sort of have one that is not of the area) Great. Anyway, my host sister came and picked me up and then my host father came with a big bus to pick both of us up. Rather convenient I must say. So I got to my host family house, unpacked, took a shower, and went to bed. I actually have my own room! Rather exciting.
Day 7 (7.2): So my host sister took me shopping and to Sogang. We also went to Ewha which is the university she attends. The shopping district around Ewha is pretty cool. She also bought me lunch which was delicious and then I bought dessert. Yum. Then after shopping, we went back home and then chilled.
Day 8 (7.3): I went to church alone. It was...different. I mean, they made everything seem like it was part of a kiddy song. It was really. weird. Anyway, it was like monsoon raining all day so I got to stay home. SO. BORED. REALLY. BORED. I WAS SOOOOOOOOOO BORED.
Day 9 (7.4): I took the bus and the subway to Sogang, took the placement test and then went shopping and went out to eat with my friends. It was pretty fun. We had korean-american-idk pizza and some street food. Street food in Korea is safer than street food in the US...you don't have to worry about there being like drugs in your smoothie. After roaming the streets, I took the subway back home and I made it! Alive! Yes...I am still alive as I am typing this. Anyway, fo-cereal-class starts tomorrow...so we'll see how that goes.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Day I don't know 7?
So yesterday I got picked up first-well I was one of the first people to get picked up. I had to wait in the lobby for an hour while everyone else went shopping :/ oh well. I got to talk to some of the people that work and coordinate the program and that was pretty fun...especially making fun of them hehe :D. So apparently I was given the name hyun soo Or Hyun su which I think is a guy name but apparently not? Then I found out I have a Korean name being Da hee which now leads me to believe I have no identity lol. Btw, if y'all thought Indiana was hot, come to Korea and experience monsoon season. Land of hardly any A/C and humidity. But I've gotten used to it. Anyway, time to wake up my host sister...hopefully she won't be too grumpy ^^;
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