It's really strange to be a native to a country where you look like a foreigner, and to be a foreigner in a country where you look like everyone else. It's even more hilarious when the natives ask the foreigner for directions. I've gotten really good at making that confused I'm-not-from-here-even-though-I-look-like-I-Am look and saying, "모르겠습니다." [Translation: Dunno]
On Tuesday, I ate lunch with my family at a restaurant that serves a meal called Han Jung-Shik aka the Never Ending Meal. Seriously, I only eat well with my relatives. [Oh, and I can only afford to eat fruit with relatives. You Californians that can get a gigantic box of cherries at Costco for $8 ... take advantage of it for me, because here, a small bag of cherries costs nearly $20. Not joking.]
Okay so back to my story, the meal consisted of 8 banchan (side-dishes) style dishes that came out in waves. I think in total there must have been close to 40 dishes - small dishes, but nevertheless, 40 dishes. And at the end, rice and soup came out. It was excellent. :) And it was nice to have most of my mom's side of the family (in Seoul) together... Grandma, Grandpa, 2 Aunts, 2 Uncles, and 4 cousins. My next good meal should be sometime next week, when my aunt visits from LA. We're all supposed to go for Japanese buffet, much to the delight of my younger, growing boy cousins.
I LOVE having a big family. I wish it was like this all the time. :(
School is ...whatever. It could be much better, but the explanation behind that would probably require a dissertation on Korean culture and it's negative effects on the Korean educational system. I won't even go there. I'll just end up getting grumpy.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Yeaaahhhhhhh
When I woke up to the gray and rainy day, I didn't realize it would foreshadow the difficult day that was to come.
I started school today ...I had my first classes. The media class is divided into three different classes and my class is the lowest level. I guess my teacher equated our lower Korean level with a lower level of intelligence and taught in the most condescending way. He spoke as though were were Korean 101 speakers - slow and with easy vocab. There were also some other factors that made the class experience HORRIBLE, but as a result a cloud descended over my head and stayed there all day. I was in such a bad mood, and all I could do was complain. :(
Our day was long. We started class at 9:30 a.m. and had a full schedule of classes and meetings until 5:00 p.m. Afterwards, I was totally pooped. Dave (almost my neighbor) and I decided to splurge and take the taxi home ....only 10 cents more than the bus. I took a nice nap, and then met a program friend for coffee.
What a day. Thank goodness God is faithful and is my Comforter!! I hope I can have a sunny attitude despite the rainy days.
**ObSerVatiOns:
1. All Korean men carry one or more of the following: briefcase, backpack, European carry-all (Seinfeld reference), and/or sporty "purses."
2. People here walk up stairs and cross the street on the left side, despite the fact that they drive on the right.
3. The latest trend in cell phone usage: video calling and watching TV. So cool huh? America is still so far behind.
I started school today ...I had my first classes. The media class is divided into three different classes and my class is the lowest level. I guess my teacher equated our lower Korean level with a lower level of intelligence and taught in the most condescending way. He spoke as though were were Korean 101 speakers - slow and with easy vocab. There were also some other factors that made the class experience HORRIBLE, but as a result a cloud descended over my head and stayed there all day. I was in such a bad mood, and all I could do was complain. :(
Our day was long. We started class at 9:30 a.m. and had a full schedule of classes and meetings until 5:00 p.m. Afterwards, I was totally pooped. Dave (almost my neighbor) and I decided to splurge and take the taxi home ....only 10 cents more than the bus. I took a nice nap, and then met a program friend for coffee.
What a day. Thank goodness God is faithful and is my Comforter!! I hope I can have a sunny attitude despite the rainy days.
**ObSerVatiOns:
1. All Korean men carry one or more of the following: briefcase, backpack, European carry-all (Seinfeld reference), and/or sporty "purses."
2. People here walk up stairs and cross the street on the left side, despite the fact that they drive on the right.
3. The latest trend in cell phone usage: video calling and watching TV. So cool huh? America is still so far behind.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Lord's Day
So it's been a pretty eventful and fast-paced week.
Thursday: I took my placement test and did HORRIBLY. I totally froze and freaked out. Dunno why. So I have been placed in the lowest class. Humbling, yes. Definitely. Afterwards, our program watched a show called Nanta, a kitchen rendition of Stomp. I've actually never seen Stomp, so I'm not quite sure how similar they are, but it's the same make-music-by-thumping-on-any-and-all-inanimate-objects concept. It was entertaining but apparently it's part of every tour package out there cuz there were way more foreigners than Koreans.
Friday: My uncle and aunt took me to dinner in this trendy part of Seoul, somewhat close to the old palace near City Hall. The area reminded me of the Village in NYC or Robertson Blvd. in LA. We had flavored rice mixed with a few mussels and 16 kinds of side dishes (banchan) plus pa-jun (it looks like a large pancake with veggies) and 2 types of soups. It was awesome.
We also got our homework assignments today. Not so awesome. This summer program is going to be tough!!
Saturday: We went to Myung-Dong, a very trendy area with tons of restaurants and stores. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was insane. We watched Harry Potter, and it was so funny because right when the kissing scene came out, some ahjuma (older korean lady) exclaimed "OH-MEH!" which is equivalent to OH MY GOODNESS. Haha ...we all got a kick out of that.
In the evening I had dinner with an unnie (what we call older, but not ahjuma, women) I just met through my uncle and she took me back to that trendy area. Haha ...we had a restaurant famous for the soo jae bi (a type of soup) and then we went to this bakery that has the BEST green tea chiffon cake. SO GOOD. Then she dropped me off at City Hall and I decided to walk down a man-made river in Seoul called chung gae chun (청계천).
This picture is the beginning ..or end of it, depending on how you look at it. And then I just kept walking until I hit Dong Dae Moon, one of the largest shopping districts in Seoul. It was 10:30 p.m. by then but it was PACKED!! So many people shopping. Crazy. I looked around the first floor of one of the large malls (I think there are 10 floors?) and I got dizzy and left.
Afterwards, I came home and attempted to do some homework and then I passed out.
Sunday: I'm going to check out an EM church in Kang Nam with one of my friends in the program, Miny. I'll let you know how it goes. Not too hopeful.
Thursday: I took my placement test and did HORRIBLY. I totally froze and freaked out. Dunno why. So I have been placed in the lowest class. Humbling, yes. Definitely. Afterwards, our program watched a show called Nanta, a kitchen rendition of Stomp. I've actually never seen Stomp, so I'm not quite sure how similar they are, but it's the same make-music-by-thumping-on-any-and-all-inanimate-objects concept. It was entertaining but apparently it's part of every tour package out there cuz there were way more foreigners than Koreans.
Friday: My uncle and aunt took me to dinner in this trendy part of Seoul, somewhat close to the old palace near City Hall. The area reminded me of the Village in NYC or Robertson Blvd. in LA. We had flavored rice mixed with a few mussels and 16 kinds of side dishes (banchan) plus pa-jun (it looks like a large pancake with veggies) and 2 types of soups. It was awesome.
We also got our homework assignments today. Not so awesome. This summer program is going to be tough!!
Saturday: We went to Myung-Dong, a very trendy area with tons of restaurants and stores. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was insane. We watched Harry Potter, and it was so funny because right when the kissing scene came out, some ahjuma (older korean lady) exclaimed "OH-MEH!" which is equivalent to OH MY GOODNESS. Haha ...we all got a kick out of that.
In the evening I had dinner with an unnie (what we call older, but not ahjuma, women) I just met through my uncle and she took me back to that trendy area. Haha ...we had a restaurant famous for the soo jae bi (a type of soup) and then we went to this bakery that has the BEST green tea chiffon cake. SO GOOD. Then she dropped me off at City Hall and I decided to walk down a man-made river in Seoul called chung gae chun (청계천).
This picture is the beginning ..or end of it, depending on how you look at it. And then I just kept walking until I hit Dong Dae Moon, one of the largest shopping districts in Seoul. It was 10:30 p.m. by then but it was PACKED!! So many people shopping. Crazy. I looked around the first floor of one of the large malls (I think there are 10 floors?) and I got dizzy and left.
Afterwards, I came home and attempted to do some homework and then I passed out.
Sunday: I'm going to check out an EM church in Kang Nam with one of my friends in the program, Miny. I'll let you know how it goes. Not too hopeful.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Singing in the Rain...
The rainy season in Korea hasn't ended yet ...so I woke up to rain. But it's still quite warm. Actually, the weather in Seoul has been unusually nice ....obviously God's grace and blessing!!
Last Sunday I went to church with my Aunt, who lives a good hour away (at best) and I heard a great sermon on how the Lord is present everywhere ...pretty appropriate for me considering I was still adjusting to the newness of life in Seoul. I was actually starting to have a hard time by Sunday ...I wasn't feeling well and I think I had a touch of homesickness...it was really really strange. I never get homesick. Nevertheless, I have passed that point now. Haha...
I finally organized my apartment ...I had clothes and suitcases everywhere and it drive me up the WALL. So I was convicted at 2 a.m. to get a move on, and I did. I put all my clothes away and now my place is much easier to look at. I just need to find a few organizational drawers and such ...
Yesterday was orientation and we finally met the Hawaii students. There weren't very many of them! One was much older ...he's already married and is also working on a Ph.D and there were four others. Apparently a few didn't come because of financial reasons and a few were missing because of illness or other reasons. So we're a small group ....14 total but we'll only be taking classes with 12. And we'll be split up into three groups for some classes.
In the evening, my mentor from last quarter was in Seoul, so her other former mentees and I went to have Shabu Shabu. You start with veggies and thin slices of meat, followed by udon noodles, and then finally they mix rice and veggies at the end. Sounds like a lot of food? It was...and it was goooood. Afterwards, we found this ALL green tea dessert place (I was so happy ..i love green tea flavor everything. yay!!!). I finally started taking pictures so I'll post those soon.
I have my placement test tomorrow and then I will be church hunting this Sunday. Please pray for me to have wisdom in which church to go to and what language I should choose for ministry. When I went to church on Sunday I understood 90% of the sermon so I was pretty satisfied with hearing the sermon in Korean, but I'm still not sure ....we'll see.
Time to shower and head out for the day! I gotta make a bank account ...finally!
Last Sunday I went to church with my Aunt, who lives a good hour away (at best) and I heard a great sermon on how the Lord is present everywhere ...pretty appropriate for me considering I was still adjusting to the newness of life in Seoul. I was actually starting to have a hard time by Sunday ...I wasn't feeling well and I think I had a touch of homesickness...it was really really strange. I never get homesick. Nevertheless, I have passed that point now. Haha...
I finally organized my apartment ...I had clothes and suitcases everywhere and it drive me up the WALL. So I was convicted at 2 a.m. to get a move on, and I did. I put all my clothes away and now my place is much easier to look at. I just need to find a few organizational drawers and such ...
Yesterday was orientation and we finally met the Hawaii students. There weren't very many of them! One was much older ...he's already married and is also working on a Ph.D and there were four others. Apparently a few didn't come because of financial reasons and a few were missing because of illness or other reasons. So we're a small group ....14 total but we'll only be taking classes with 12. And we'll be split up into three groups for some classes.
In the evening, my mentor from last quarter was in Seoul, so her other former mentees and I went to have Shabu Shabu. You start with veggies and thin slices of meat, followed by udon noodles, and then finally they mix rice and veggies at the end. Sounds like a lot of food? It was...and it was goooood. Afterwards, we found this ALL green tea dessert place (I was so happy ..i love green tea flavor everything. yay!!!). I finally started taking pictures so I'll post those soon.
I have my placement test tomorrow and then I will be church hunting this Sunday. Please pray for me to have wisdom in which church to go to and what language I should choose for ministry. When I went to church on Sunday I understood 90% of the sermon so I was pretty satisfied with hearing the sermon in Korean, but I'm still not sure ....we'll see.
Time to shower and head out for the day! I gotta make a bank account ...finally!
Friday, July 6, 2007
MOVING DAY
As you may or may not have guessed, I've been staying with my aunt and uncle on the west side of Seoul. For those of you who are not familiar with housing in Seoul, the city is characterized by apartment villages. Basically, there are about 10 apartment buildings, 14-20 stories high and about 2,000 families living in those buildings. And funny enough, if you are pretty well off, you live in an apartment and not in a house. Unless you're baller status ...then you live in a nice private house.
So I'm in one of those apartment villages and it is incredible to think of the number of people living in these buildings. And in the evening, all the kids come out and play...it must be so much fun having so many kids to play with!
Oh, and here the "It Takes a Village" mentality is pretty strong ...the neighboring dads and mom will yell at kids who are making a raucous and the security guard comes by and tells the kids to go home when it's too late.
And grandma's and grandpa's will yell at you for not giving up your seat on the subway or if you do something rude. Gotta love it. Haha .. :)
Today I'm finally moving in to my new place!! I'll have to put up pictures soon ...I keep saying I will but I never seem to have time to take pictures of anything. I'm always walking around or cleaning or something. Having my own place makes things so much more official. I love it! Maybe if I get a job I'll stay a little longer than a year after all.....or perhaps it's too early to tell.
Yesterday I went to this place called Tescos Home Plus (for my London buddies, yes it's the same Tescos that we went to from time to time) and it was probably around 9:00 p.m. but it looked like it was 5:00 p.m. because there were SOOO many people!!! And not just young people ...I'm talking families too! You think New York City is the city that never sleeps? Forget it ...it's Seoul for sure.
I can't wait to get started with school. I'm getting so restless!!
***obSerVatIons:
1. Seoul is SO fast-paced ...much more so than LA or NYC.
2. I miss Epoch and Grace ....a lot!
3. God has been so gracious as to provide decent weather the past week ...otherwise I would have probably wanted to go home.
So I'm in one of those apartment villages and it is incredible to think of the number of people living in these buildings. And in the evening, all the kids come out and play...it must be so much fun having so many kids to play with!
Oh, and here the "It Takes a Village" mentality is pretty strong ...the neighboring dads and mom will yell at kids who are making a raucous and the security guard comes by and tells the kids to go home when it's too late.
And grandma's and grandpa's will yell at you for not giving up your seat on the subway or if you do something rude. Gotta love it. Haha .. :)
Today I'm finally moving in to my new place!! I'll have to put up pictures soon ...I keep saying I will but I never seem to have time to take pictures of anything. I'm always walking around or cleaning or something. Having my own place makes things so much more official. I love it! Maybe if I get a job I'll stay a little longer than a year after all.....or perhaps it's too early to tell.
Yesterday I went to this place called Tescos Home Plus (for my London buddies, yes it's the same Tescos that we went to from time to time) and it was probably around 9:00 p.m. but it looked like it was 5:00 p.m. because there were SOOO many people!!! And not just young people ...I'm talking families too! You think New York City is the city that never sleeps? Forget it ...it's Seoul for sure.
I can't wait to get started with school. I'm getting so restless!!
***obSerVatIons:
1. Seoul is SO fast-paced ...much more so than LA or NYC.
2. I miss Epoch and Grace ....a lot!
3. God has been so gracious as to provide decent weather the past week ...otherwise I would have probably wanted to go home.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Wassap from Seoul, Korea!
DAY ONE: Arrival
The plane ride was pretty uneventful, though long. My seat buddy and I talked and hung out - she's from Korea too so we exchanged info for a possible hang-out in the future. Not by choice, I sat in the window seat, but sitting there has one advantage ....you can see out the window clearly. As we flew over Japan, I gazed out into the sea of clouds and was blown away by the vastness of the sky beneath me. It was then that I was hit by my insignificance and God's deity ....and I was overcome by a new sense of fear and wonder for our awesome God.
I arrived in the early evening and was met by my uncle and grandma. At first, we missed each other so I just walked around like a lost tourist stranded without a phone, or any way to communicate with my uncle and grandma. I think the ten minutes I waited felt like hours. When I walked out of Incheon International Airport I was hit by a wall of humidity that most Californians would only dream about in their nightmares. NOT FUN.
It was nice to see my uncle, aunt, grandma and two cousins. They all greeted me warmly and took me in immediately. Gotta love family. :)
***oBseRvAtioN: Seoul is a busy and bustling city with so many sights and sounds that sensory overload is inevitable.
DAY TWO: Errands Galore
I decided to get going on crossing off my "To Do" list, especially finding housing.
In the morning I paid a visit to Korean Immigration and spent TWO HOURS there trying to figure out what the HECK they were telling me to do ... and where was my Korean-English dictionary? Safe in my backpack back at my uncle's house. In the end, everything worked out but experiencing a sense of complete helplessness for the second day in a row was very humbling. I felt so frustrated by the lack of communication!!
Out of this experience though, there is a highlight ....the comment box. Below the box are two stacks of paper to write the comments on. One stack was titled "Kindness" (as opposed to Friendly) and the other was titled "Unkindness" (as opposed to Unfriendly). Gotta love Koreans and their English translations. Haha...
So out of my exhausting day, one thing I did do was find a place to live (thanks to a lot of help from another uncle)! It's an officetel (aka studio) in Shin-Sol Dong, right by the subway station. It's a 5-10 minute bus ride to my school (Korea University). I also saw part of my school and it's an awesome campus. It's much bigger than I expected considering it's in the city!
oBserVaTionS:
1. The subway is as awesome and clean as ever. Woot woot!
2. There is SO much good food here. Yum.
3. For those of you who know what Paris Baguette is, they are everywhere in Seoul and there is one ONE BLOCK FROM MY NEW PLACE. Hollla!
4. People are just plain rude here sometimes. I know my patience will be tested frequently. I guess it's good training eh?
DAY THREE: Operation E-Mart
I woke up to what sounded like a roaring river gushing by my window, except that I'm on the 5th floor so it couldn't be a river. It turned out to be rain...the type of rain that comes down so hard that you feel like someone is pouring water out of a bucket straight down from heaven. WOW.
My uncle and aunt were kind enough to take me to the Korean version of Wal-Mart called E-Mart. This place is way nicer than Wal-Mart though ...it's like a Target on steroids. I got a cart full of stuff I'll need to live ....like you know ...cups and detergent and stuff. And I finally got my phone!! YAY! You can't live without a phone in Korea.
Oh.
And for those of you who complain about their phone bill, just come to Korea and you'll feel loads better. After all, paying $.20/ 10 seconds will make you appreciate your free nights and weekends, roll-over minutes, mobile-to-mobile ...etc. Those options don't exist here.
I also met with my program coordinator/professor and I accidentally ran into two of the girls in my program from UCLA. One of the girls came with her mom so she treated us to Starbucks. :)
OMG. Don't get me started on Starbucks. Let's just say that the cheapest drink - just a drip coffee - is 4,800 won (about $5). Fraps and other specialty drinks ...you do the math.
And now, it's time for bed cuz I am POOPED. :)
The plane ride was pretty uneventful, though long. My seat buddy and I talked and hung out - she's from Korea too so we exchanged info for a possible hang-out in the future. Not by choice, I sat in the window seat, but sitting there has one advantage ....you can see out the window clearly. As we flew over Japan, I gazed out into the sea of clouds and was blown away by the vastness of the sky beneath me. It was then that I was hit by my insignificance and God's deity ....and I was overcome by a new sense of fear and wonder for our awesome God.
I arrived in the early evening and was met by my uncle and grandma. At first, we missed each other so I just walked around like a lost tourist stranded without a phone, or any way to communicate with my uncle and grandma. I think the ten minutes I waited felt like hours. When I walked out of Incheon International Airport I was hit by a wall of humidity that most Californians would only dream about in their nightmares. NOT FUN.
It was nice to see my uncle, aunt, grandma and two cousins. They all greeted me warmly and took me in immediately. Gotta love family. :)
***oBseRvAtioN: Seoul is a busy and bustling city with so many sights and sounds that sensory overload is inevitable.
DAY TWO: Errands Galore
I decided to get going on crossing off my "To Do" list, especially finding housing.
In the morning I paid a visit to Korean Immigration and spent TWO HOURS there trying to figure out what the HECK they were telling me to do ... and where was my Korean-English dictionary? Safe in my backpack back at my uncle's house. In the end, everything worked out but experiencing a sense of complete helplessness for the second day in a row was very humbling. I felt so frustrated by the lack of communication!!
Out of this experience though, there is a highlight ....the comment box. Below the box are two stacks of paper to write the comments on. One stack was titled "Kindness" (as opposed to Friendly) and the other was titled "Unkindness" (as opposed to Unfriendly). Gotta love Koreans and their English translations. Haha...
So out of my exhausting day, one thing I did do was find a place to live (thanks to a lot of help from another uncle)! It's an officetel (aka studio) in Shin-Sol Dong, right by the subway station. It's a 5-10 minute bus ride to my school (Korea University). I also saw part of my school and it's an awesome campus. It's much bigger than I expected considering it's in the city!
oBserVaTionS:
1. The subway is as awesome and clean as ever. Woot woot!
2. There is SO much good food here. Yum.
3. For those of you who know what Paris Baguette is, they are everywhere in Seoul and there is one ONE BLOCK FROM MY NEW PLACE. Hollla!
4. People are just plain rude here sometimes. I know my patience will be tested frequently. I guess it's good training eh?
DAY THREE: Operation E-Mart
I woke up to what sounded like a roaring river gushing by my window, except that I'm on the 5th floor so it couldn't be a river. It turned out to be rain...the type of rain that comes down so hard that you feel like someone is pouring water out of a bucket straight down from heaven. WOW.
My uncle and aunt were kind enough to take me to the Korean version of Wal-Mart called E-Mart. This place is way nicer than Wal-Mart though ...it's like a Target on steroids. I got a cart full of stuff I'll need to live ....like you know ...cups and detergent and stuff. And I finally got my phone!! YAY! You can't live without a phone in Korea.
Oh.
And for those of you who complain about their phone bill, just come to Korea and you'll feel loads better. After all, paying $.20/ 10 seconds will make you appreciate your free nights and weekends, roll-over minutes, mobile-to-mobile ...etc. Those options don't exist here.
I also met with my program coordinator/professor and I accidentally ran into two of the girls in my program from UCLA. One of the girls came with her mom so she treated us to Starbucks. :)
OMG. Don't get me started on Starbucks. Let's just say that the cheapest drink - just a drip coffee - is 4,800 won (about $5). Fraps and other specialty drinks ...you do the math.
And now, it's time for bed cuz I am POOPED. :)
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