Oh Korea

Dang, this is quickly becoming the blog where I post once or twice a month. I'm sorry for the serious lack of posting. Life has still been as exciting as usual however things have become to slow down to the pace where I feel like I am actually living in the city, instead of going around all the time and looking at all the novel new things. However Seoul constantly is surprising me with new and interesting things.

So what exactly have I been up to recently? There were mid-terms that went amazingly well in everything except for Korean, which incidentally had be to withdrawn from :(. There have been the countless lunches/dinners/hang-outs with Korean people who are amazingly nice and fun to be around. There have been the shopping adventures. There was the time when I played soccer with these Korean guys and then they attempted to get me to go to church with them. There were the crazy nights in Itaewon where I got to go into a house party and eat fresh cheese (that wasn't pre-sliced and in plastic). There was the amazing 12th anniversary Seoul GSA party. There was the Halloween party where only the foreigners dressed up and the Koreans just gawked at us. There was the video-art installation of Nam June Paik where I saw the most amazing representation of a giant turtle with tv screens. There have been the countless coffee shops and street wanderings and subsequent random sights.

Actually it has continued to be fairly insane but I am loving every moment of it.

연고전

What does 연고전 mean? Basically it is this massive event where the two rival universities, and the only rival universities in all of Korea, compete in various sporting events, such as soccer, rugby, basketball, baseball and ice hockey. Also, the Koreans from both Yonsei University and Korea University come out in mass to support their schools, the point of almost insanity. I was not really sure what I was getting myself into but when I stepped into the bleachers of the soccer game I knew it was going to be crazy.

First, Koreans have this amazingly stamina for cheering at the top of their lungs. Each school had about fifty some cheers (but only about twenty were sung) that they rotated through, and while in the States the fans stop cheering once the game starts the Koreans just continually cheer for the entire game. I don't know how the players on the field have the ability to concentrate on the game when you have about 1,000 plus fans screaming and synchronizing cheer moves. So in a sense there was some order to the chaos, a person dressed like a power ranger would tell the crowd what cheer would come next and then direct you through the motions while people with mics connected to about ten massive speakers would sign the song. Still, how the Koreans managed to keep going for the entire seven hours of the day is a mystery to me. I eventually had to sit an rest, but there were some who definitely went for the entire day. Also, leave it to the Koreans to make up a cheer that is a cover of the song from "Dreamgirls" "One Night Only"...

In terms of the actual games, (which often took a back sit to the cheering, sometimes you didn't even know the game started), we lost miserably. Soccer was the only game that we didn't lose and that we tied at 0-0 (no kick off which was sad and anti-climatic). Ice hockey, the one sport we are suppose to be good at never started because of allegations of Yonsei paying off the refs.

After the games the night continues though as everyone (both Korea university students and Yonsei students) come back to the Sinchon area. It has become a tradition where the two groups of students will go around to the local restaurants and bars knocking on the doors and chanting for the owner. Once the owner appears they start singing/cheering/dancing, etc. to get food and drinks for free. I was amazed that it actually worked rather well, and after the three hours or so you have enough food to fill your stomach, and way too much alcohol. What is perhaps more striking though is that there is relatively little conflict through out this whole event. The two schools will poke fun at each other, calling the other stupid 바부, but rarely will fights occur. I have a feeling if you put any of the States schools rivals together especially when it comes to a competition for free food when drunk there would inevitably be massive brawls out in the streets.


- I went with a group comprised of a mixture of Koreans and International students call IYC (International Yonsei Community). The guy in the center with the strap across his chest is our group leader. He is amazingly nice, and introduced himself to us first as "handsthumb guy", his English has a bit of lisp which makes everything he says funny. His Korean name however is 종욱.

Update No. 1 - Fashion Show

Again I have been horrid about writing. It simply is the combination of school, friends and not having any time. Life just seems to be moving far too quickly and I cannot believe that mid-terms are coming up. As I have probably stated this whole experience is continuing to feel a lot more like summer camp than it is school. I need to bunker down though and start seriously studying for the mid-terms that are in two weeks though. Although I have a feeling that the mid-terms are not actually going to be that difficult.

Anyway, I've decided to break up these updates into major activities done in Seoul. These past few weeks I have gone to everything to fashion shows, to major sporting events, to art galleries. It seems like every weekend there is something new and exciting that is going on. Honestly it can get a bit overwhelming when you walk around and realize that there seems to be a festival every day of every week.

I believe it is now two weeks ago I went to a fashion show done by students who attend the Ewha Women's University. I was amazed at the stage and set-up because I am not use to such elaborate sets for a was wearing a space suit that made him look like a sumo wrestler and had a shaved head but painted on what looked to be cornrows...oh Korea being all strange again. However it started to rain during the show and humorously the moment rain occurred about twelve people ran out to where he was sitting to give him umbrellas. I think they might have though his paint hair would start to run, although he definitely used a kind that is immune to water.

The students clothes were also impressive but suffered from the Korean plague of putting on that one last detail that throws everything off (as in a massive bow that stands out like sore thumb). Still I guess it is all about the Korean style. The designers also put all the men into high collared jackets, sweaters, basically anything with a collar had one that covered his entire neck...I hope this does not become the trend. Here are some student show. However it appears that they got both school funding but also corporate funding. There was even this famous Korean fashion designer who attended. He pictures of the general set-up and then of some of the fashions...enjoy!

A JOB!!!

Yeah!! After not really searching very hard I finally found one of the elusive Korean jobs (basically tutoring or using English in some manner). Through some Korean friends I now have a job making audio tapes in English. Beyond that fact I am not really sure what the rest entails. I have an interview/first session next next Monday and if anything it should be an experience.

Updates are coming less frequently but that is a symptom of not having time to write, not having a lack of things to write about. The past few weeks have been a blast and contrary to my original belief things are not exactly slowing down because school started. I am finding that I can't seem to find enough time to get everything I want to do done.

The weather has been absolutely amazing, as in it feels like the beginning of summer and not mid-Sept. Last week was full of going out to random places around Sinchon to get dinner and then hanging out with friends in pc bangs or bars. It has been nice because I have gotten a lot of chances to meet various Korean people through student groups at the university. I now have about three language partners that I meet maybe once or twice a week. They all are extremely helpful and a lot of fun to just hang out with.

This weekend I also went on something the Korean call MT, or Membership Training, for another language/culture exchange group. Basically what happened was a group of Koreans and a group of us Foreigns were bused off into the mountains to this lodge place. There we just hung out for the entire day/night/early morning with activities that ranged from learning Yonsei cheers to playing drinking games. In typical Korean fashion the drinking games were the primary activity. However I did learn some interesting cheers for this upcoming big rivalry event between Yonsei and Korea national (the two school get together and play soccer, basketball, and three other sports in a big competition thing). Overall it was a lot of fun with actual Koreans.

Alright, Korean class in about fifteen minutes, I'll try and get better about posting.

The First Week of Classes!

Sorry it has again been forever since I last updated. It appears that when I get more busy I simply write less, which is fairly sad because the busy stuff is the most interesting. Anyway, this last week has just been one week of crazyiness as everyone is trying to meet everyone and I can barely remember the copious number of names.

We had a week before classes started, and during this time we moved into the international house and had a one day orientation. Then we were let loose on our own. Silver and I have been hanging out a lot recently which is cool, we reminisce about Wesleyan a lot. She also loves to go to Itaewon which is great because I was slightly worried about trying to convince people that they really do want to go to 'homo hill'.

So Saturday we went out to Itaewon with another guy that we met, Pat, from Canada, extremely cool and very Wesleyan. Silver, because she hung out there a lot during the summer, knew some guys who we met up with and hung out with for the rest of the evening. They were all very sweet and really friendly. Around 5:00 am when most reasonable people would decide to go home we decided to fulfill our craving for waffles by going to this amazing brunch place. The breakfast was divine and my waffle was the best American food I've had here. Still this side tour meant we stayed out to oh...10:00 am. As one can imagine I crashed after that.

Otherwise the other days were spent going out to eat with new people every night and meeting up with folks on the hallway to go to PC bangs or other outings. Everyone here is still in the really friendly stage and there are a couple of cool guys who live on the hall. My roommate is a Chinese exchange student and really nice. It is a little strange being outside of the Wesleyan bubble and definitely makes me realize how the student body there is skewed to a certain demographic. A lot of the students are from big state schools, usually from the south or west.

Classes just started yesterday and I had my first one at 9:00 am, Modern Korean History. The professor seemed a little out of it but still was nice and the class readings have been interesting. Everyone says that they dull down the intensity of the classes for international students. Something that I actually right now find annoying. We'll see how it goes. Alright I've got class in a couple of mins. just a quick update.

National War Museum

There is something to say about a country and its militarism when the National War Museum/Memorial is about fifty times larger than its National Art Museum. Yesterday I spent the morning and early afternoon walking around this huge museum, which traces the history of Korea and its various wars/invasions starting from the BC's. It felt like any conflict Korea has ever been involved in was represented in the museum which spanned two massive wings and three floors. A huge majority of the exhibit space was devoted to the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. I felt the information was fairly accurately presented, at least the English translations, and the exhibits were all well created. There were the video installations, artifacts, and this strange Star Wars-esque presentation of battles, where holographic characters come on a screen and bad voice acting accompanies them. They also had a replica of admiral Yi's famous turtle ships.

Perhaps the most powerful room was the memorial hall, a circular room with a fountain in the middle producing the calming sound of running water. As you look up the ceiling slowly comes to a point and is entirely black. Mid-way up the ceiling is a painting on the walls, a redish color with jagged points. I couldn't tell what the purpose was but standing at the bottom and looking up it felt like purgatory. I get the feeling that was probably not the intended effect but that is now I felt.

Outside and to the West of the museum was a giant garden where everything from military airplanes to tanks to what amounted to big guns stood. It was a little unnerving to see little children running around and climbing on all of them knowing that in fifteen years they had a good chance of operating them. There also stood a massive statue devoted towards reunification, I liked the small slit that symbolized the separation but overall it looked a little too phallic for my taste. My favorite however was one called "Brothers in Arms" sadly my finger got caught in the camera frame.

Class Registration!!

I just finished class registration!! A process that always feels like it should be more painful than it actually is. So, these are the classes I am currently taking:

1) Understanding Contemporary Korean Popular Culture and Korean Culture Wave
2) Modern Korean Society and Culture
3) Modern Korean History
4) Introduction to Korean Philosophy

However I just added Korean Language to see what it would look like in my schedule and realized they count that class at six credits, the rest are all are three. Meaning I might be taking 18 credits unless I drop one of the classes. 18 just seems like a lot considering I'm use to my usual 4.5.

I also interestingly enough ran into some people who are also studying abroad at Yonsei, (yah for using computers in the common room where you can awkwardly watch what other people are doing on their computer screens). They both seem very nice and it is good to know that there are some other people living here from the same program, hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out more in the next week. That's about all, just a quick update.

The Hostel Days

Upon arrive back to Seoul I spent the first night at a friend's apartment and the next day moved into the International Youth Hostel. Again I was expecting a sketchy broken down facility but was pleasently surpirsed at the facility. They had clean towels ever day, a nice shower, and air conditioned rooms. The other roommates were also all friendly and nice. Amazingly even though we all came from different countries (France, Canada, Indonesia, Switzerland and Japan) the common language between all of us was English. I guess this is just another example of American globalization, but it did make things easier to communicate between roommates.

The days at the hostel felt like they flew by. The first night I said good-bye to Chikae and Kana as they left for China and Japan. It was a little sad, especially because I knew I would probably not see Kana again, but I knew that Chikae and I would meet back up at Wes.

The next day, and subsequent five, it rained :(. I still went to Olympic Park and between showers got a chance to walk around. The park was originally constructed during the 1987 (yeah the year I was born) for the Olympics. It has about five huge stadiums for everything from cycling to tennis. I thought it was funny that the Koreans still use the cycling stadium but now bet on who will win the races, I guess there form of horse racing. The park itself was beautiful and well landscaped. Besides the stadiums the park has two museums both of which I visited. The first I went to was the Olympic Museum which highlights the Seoul Olympics. I am a bit of a sucker for anything based on the Olympics and when they go on find myself watching it twenty-four seven. Still the museum was a little lackluster. They had various donated sporting equipment and statues of Olympic champions. Still, it was fairly small and I guess you really can't make the Olympics too interesting after the fact, beyond reporting on how each country and did and showing some small highlights. The visit ended in a virtual reality ride that felt more random than relevant. You sat in a chair that moved and watched a massive screen in front of you, very Disney. However the show transported you to scenes of ancient Greece and this virtual museum (that actually had nothing on display but did have plenty of fancy lights and special effects).

The second museum was a contemporary art gallery. The exhibit at the time was called X-Neuvou Pop and, as the name suggests was all new pop art. The exhibit was fairly brief but interesting. Still the pieces lacked something that really struck an emotion. My favorite piece was a room where about twelve plastic child-size pink penguins and green bears who stood staring into the distance. It was extremely cute. However the most interesting park of the museum was the building itself. It was very modern in architecture and had huge windows that opened into the green of the park. These windows then flooded the gallery with natural light that helped to highlight some of the work.

Olympic Park is also famous for its 200 some sculptures. My guidebook said that almost none of them made much sense but they looked interesting none the less. My favorite was this one:

When I visited the Park there also was a video game festival/competition. I got a program and decided to check out a music festival. The concert opened with a video game fashion show. The fashions can best be described as very videogame-ish? A lot of swords and bows and arrows and leather costumes. However, one model did have the most amazing abs I have ever seen. Again, much like the Busan concert there were the pop acts but this time there was also a hip-hop act. I knew something was wrong when I first saw the "preppy" appearance and when they started "rapping" (if you can call it that) I couldn't help but laugh. The English lyrics were horrible, (yo you are so beautiful, so just do me do...blah) and the whole sound was just off. I left after that performance as another hip-hop group was stepping out on stage. I went to the next venue where there was a dancing video game competition. The people on stage were amazing and didn't seem to miss any of the trillion of steps. They also managed to throw in some fancy footwork dance moves and I was blown away.

I also got a chance to go to the National Art Museum during this time. The building was oddly stuck in the middle of government buildings but still stood out because of its modern look. I was shocked that the tickets for the main gallery/exhibit were ten thousand won (the most expensive museum ticket I've seen yet). That exhibit was of Monet and since I've seen a lot of Monet already I decided to pass and purchase tickets for the cheaper but smaller gallery. The exhibit title was Text in Bodyscape and had a general theme surrounding the human body and the ideas of memory, movement, and feeling. It is a bit of difficult concept to explain but the pieces did all relate nicely to what the theme was. I found one piece especially powerful, a grid of pictures of Iraqi children but sporadically inter-placed were those of the dead. An interesting way to represent the war and its impact on the human bodily experience.

The last major point of interest during this time was a dance that I went to with Jinny, who is now in Korea!! The dance was about the Korean Comfort Women and was extremely powerful. The dance was very modern in both concept story and dance style. Some of the most memorable scenes were the opening where the primary dance slowly moved in a way where you could tell it was an act of remembrance while a group of four other women very slowly advance towards the audience with expressions of hurt and anger. Also the dance represented the stages of grief and remembrance quite well, with scenes of the act of rape and the act of todays protest especially well. Jinny and I are seriously thinking about try to transplant the dance to Wesleyan and I think it would be a good activity for AREA to get involved in.

These were the major sights that I saw during this time. During the rest of time I hung out with a few friends who were still here from Yonsei. I also had another meeting with the Come Together glbt group.

I cannot believe that I only have another week before classes at Yonsei start back up again. It is crazy to think that I have been in Korea for almost two months now. The time has simply flown by.

Picture Time!!

National park: (sorry for the little formatting)

The Adventure Around Korea

Now, for the ‘slightly’ more elaborate version of everything:

The Summer Program at Yonsei ended with no great blow out blast. It was a very quick closing graduation with no grand pomp. It felt a little strange afterward as everyone was leaving, crying and saying there good-byes but Chikae, Kana and I knew we would stay together for another week or so. We ate our last meal with Maki and Joey at our regular restaurant and said good-byes. Afterwards we went back to the dorms and all rushed to pack everything up because the next day was the start of our big adventure.

The next day I put some of my stuff in a friend’s apartment on what could have been the hottest day in Korea. I then met up with Chikae at the bus station and we headed to our first destination, starting our nine day adventure around Korea, Gangneung. We arrived late at night so it was good thing we made reservations at a resort about twenty miles away from the town. The resort operates mainly as a ski resort so the prices were reduced yet it was still amazingly nice and the service great. It definitely was the nicest place that we stayed during our trip. Kana unfortunately could not come with us initially because she was feeling ill and wanted to stay in Seoul to get better.

After a pleasant nights rest Chikae and I boarded a bus and headed to a national park in a city about three hours away. However we quickly found out that buses never follow schedule and always take a good hour longer than they should. So we finally (after about two bus transfers) we arrived at the park. Our first major sight seeing adventure was a hike into the mountains to see some waterfalls. The hike was not strenuous and when we reached the top we were greeted with the sight of a 30 ft waterfall and a cool pool of water perfect for weary feet. We wanted to spend more time but needed to meet Kana and start the long bus journey so we headed back to the resort in the early evening.

Kana came in the late evening and our trio was complete. We headed out the next day towards the middle of Korea to the town where our next hostel/boarding was located. But before we got there we stopped in a town famous for its saunas, and the sauna experience is one that I will not easily forget. This being my first time in the saunas I was not exactly sure what I was getting myself into. It pretty much was a massive pool where about fifty some older naked Korean men sat sweating. Okay, in all fairness it was not bad as it sounds but it definitely was a shock to see the casualness of the naked bodies moving around (I thought Korea was suppose to be a conservative country). The water was certainly hot and nice for a while and thankfully they had a cool bath once it became too much. I was also amazed at the number of other things they had in sauna which included, a wood sauna, a haircut/shaving palor, a sleeping room, a wash/shower room, and a service bar. It felt like a hotel lobby at sometimes, just one where no one wears any clothes.

After the sauna we headed towards the youth hostel which was located in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly it was quite nice with a large room, a computer with internet in the room, and a nice woman who opened her closed restaurant to give us a free dinner. We were very impressed and thought the place didn’t really seem like a youth hostel except for the “out in the middle of no where” location.

We all were feeling a bit lazy after the constant traveling so we got a late start to the day, finally boarding another bus to a town called Dangyang. Right outside of the town there are some famous limestone caves that we explored. It felt a little creepy knowing you were stuck in a mountain and the cave path was definitely made by Koreans for Koreas as fat Americans would never make it through the narrow passage ways. The caves were quite beautiful and inside the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees so it was a relief from the Korean heat and humidity. After the caves we went around the town and saw two of the eight wonders of Dangyang. One was a pagoda on an island in a river and the other was a natural stone bridge. Even though we wanted to see the other six we had to rush back to catch the next bus back to our hostel.

We left our cosy hostel and also left Kana as she was beginning to feel bad again. She took a bus back to Seoul while Chikae and I traveled down to Busan and where we had made reservations at a hotel borderline motel. However, before we went to the hotel we checked out a much sketchier motel. The owner was very insistent that we stay and I had to take my bags away from him before he started carrying them up to the room. After seeing the rooms with the dangling light we knew it was best just to stay at the better hotel.

Busan is an interesting city with a definite different feel from Seoul. The subways are efficient yet often give off this ominous feeling as they are frequently are empty. The city also can be a mismosh of brandnames and Korean family stores. Still the people were quite amiable and when we said we were Americans would instantly fall in love with us helping us find whatever we needed. Case in point we were trying to find a restaurant that the guidebook said was owned by a former North Korean, yet when we arrived at the supposed location it was no where in sight. We asked a convenience store clerk and before we knew it all the other customers (a total of three) had come over and were trying to help out. Eventually some one said that the place had closed but they could take us to a different restaurant and we were led to a very nice place where we ate kalbi.

In Busan we visited an amazing temple up in the mountains. The views from the temple of the sky, mountains and nature were beautiful, as the temple buildings conveniently covered the Busan skyline. The temple was also full of monks walking and doing their daily business. I guess from the pamphlet the temple allowed you to do a temple stay for two or three days and live like the monks do (which requires a 3 am wake up call). The temples were also beautiful but no pictures were permitted inside. After the temple Chikae and I split up. I ended up going to this outdoor concert, part of the Busan International Sea Festival. The music and stage performance was, for lack of a better word very Korean. They had the female vocalist who sang her sad melancholic love song and then an upbeat Korean pop song; the male vocalist sang the happy go lucky pop song and the American song; and the fireworks going off over the stage. The banal show was enhanced however by the sea which provided a very nice backdrop for the concert.

On our last day in Busan I went to the beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean, or more specifically the East Sea (or the Sea of Japan). The water was freezing but still the Koreans were out in mass. After a short time I was shivering and wondering how in the world the Koreans can swim in their intertube floats for hours on end. It wasn’t the best day for the beach either because there was a constant light drizzle. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel and Chikae and I went out to check out the Busan nightlife, but ended up just chatting at a bar til the early morning. It was nice way to end the adventure around Korea. The next day we took a bus back to Seoul, which amazingly only took four some hours when the bus to Busan (which left from a location closer to Busan) took the same amount of time. Um…it is getting late so here I think I am going to end the post and continue updating about my adventures in Seoul at a later date.

Ahhh Seoul Again!

So, I definitely need to write quite possibly the longest blog post ever in order to update everyone on what has occurred these past weeks. The extremely short synopsis goes as follows: End of the Yonsei Summer Special Program, traveled around Korea (East coast, Central, South), arrived back in Seoul and moved into a hostel, went sight seeing in Seoul, and now am in the Beewon boardinghouse!! Yeah!! And for those worried yes I am still alive ;).

Weekend Update No.2

The week has seemed less busy but that was mainly because of finals. So...another short list of activities.

- FINALS ARE OVER!!! Now lets just hope I passed.

- I finally got around to seeing Harry Potter. I quite enjoyed the movie and thought it was one of the better ones made, exciting and generally fast paced. Although, my opinion might have been swayed by my general lack of recollection for events in the 5th book. I think if I knew what they skipped over I might generally be more annoyed with the movie. But as it stands I couldn't even remember Hagrid had a giant he was hiding....um...maybe I need to re-read some books before starting the 7th. I can't believe the series is over.

- Met up with some people from the Come Together group to have dinner and coffee. It is generally nice to know that a community exists and I am beginning to become better friends with them.

- Probably most important for the week was getting the visa information figured out. Too bad it is a little to late to buy a plane ticket to Taiwan. :(. It does give me a chance to travel around Korea.

Later today I am going to meet with Kana and Chikae to figure out our 10 day adventure traveling around Korea. I am excited for the trip and I think it includes visiting Chikae's great grandfater's historical house (he was a famous writer in Korea) and the Busan Sea Festival. I am constantly amazed at how many various Festivals Korea has, it seems like there is a new one ever week.

Speaking of Festivals, I need to talk about the last one I visited which was the mud festival. Overall it was an amazing time. The weather was near perfect for the beach, hot and sunny. It was so funny because the mud was something that you pretty much painted on yourself as sun screen. For some reason I had the conception that there were mud flats or something. Still, we followed suit and soon were covered head-to-toe in painted on mud. The mud slide was amazing fun, but the excess sand made it painful to go down, in that you-laugh-the-whole-way pain. There were also various other mud activities including mud wrestling, mud prison (where the concept is you can't leave until you are covered in mud) and mud skin care products. However the one activity that we both participated in was this obstacle course thing where you had to run across these floating pads to reach the other end (think those Japanese/Korean game shows where people try and do crazy obstacles). There really was no purpose but it was entertaining. When you first step up to go there is this Korean woman who does a mini-interview and then sends you on your way. It was nice being able to understand and answer her questions in Korean (yah!). Although her questions were pretty much what is your name and where are you from, so I was found out as a non-native Korean pretty fast. Sadly I don't have any pictures because I thought a camera and mud wouldn't really go well together. Still to get the general idea here are some pictures of others: http://www.worknplay.co.kr/buryeongsites/index.html

Visa Success

So the main adventure today was getting the visa extension and alien registration forms filled and processed. Thankfully the process was a major success. All is now well on that front and it only took an awkward moment of silence and a nod from the visa/immigration officer. I felt bad for my Korean friend who I brought along in case serious Korean interpretation was needed. So now all I have to do is wait and next next Monday pick up the new student visa and alien registration card! Yeah, for administrative things. Actually I am just glad it was as easy as it was.

Mud Festivals and Finals

So I would update more but currently I am procrastinating in a major way and really need to study for the Korean finals which begin tomorrow. So right a quick update is I went to a Mud Festival on Sunday which was an absolute blast. However will post more on that later...after finals that is.

Tuesday Holiday!!

I have been fairly confused with my days this week because Tuesday was a national holiday in Korea! I think it was Korea's Constitution Day, although I am not entirely sure. However I do know that it meant a day completely free to do whatever we wanted. So Chikae and I went to the 11th annual Puchon PiFan film festival. We had seen a lot of ads in the subway stations for it and thought we might as well check it out.

I initially had no conception of how large the festival would be. They had seven different theaters all playing movies and the festival itself ran for a good two weeks. We sadly missed the movie that Chikae wanted to see but went and saw different movies later on in the day. I saw "Whispers and Moans" a movie from Hong Kong about the lives of prostitutes. It intertwined about five different women and one transgendered man's story with the common link between them of being prostitutes at the same hotel. It was sad but also uplifting in a way. Watching it however proved challenging as the screen was covered in text, on the side were Korean subtitles, English subtitles on the bottom, and Chinese subtitles above that. It was a little difficult to follow it all.

I also still need to see Harry Poter :(...its in Korea, I just need to go to it at some point.

Monday I went to this massive underground shopping area. I had heard that the shopping center had a bookstore with a decent English book selection. I bought a few books about Korea, one on modern history (Korean war-Present), one on Globalization and Feminism in Korea (I needed a reminder of Wesleayan, ha), and a book of old Korean love poems. The shopping center was borderline overwhelming. First off it was massive and all underground, so unnaturally lit. Secondly it was quite easy to get lost, since things started to blend together; I think I strolled the circumference of the mall at least three times. Third, there were a huge number of people making it more confusing. So I pretty much went in a few stores, bought the books, and left.

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that it has almost been a month already. As in the language program ends NEXT WEEK. Dear god, where did the time go. I also need to seriously study.

First Time Out of Seoul

So this Sunday was our first trip out of Seoul. We (Kana, Chikae and I) decided to go to a beach close to the international airport, a good 70 min. away from the city by subway. Of course it couldn't be as simple as a subway ride, and getting to the final destination required a sequence of subway-bus-ferry-bus rides. We left late afternoon and by the time we got to the beach it was already early evening. The water was a little cold so we didn't swim much, and neither did the Koreans (who interestingly don't seem to wear swimming suits, just regular clothes). After building an amazing toilet shaped sand castle and wading a little we walked over to a playground to continue our wholesome summer fun. As we were swinging and playing on the bars a group of about seven some Korean girls, ranging from the ages of 7-9 slowly starting approaching us, whispering various Korean words which included Japanese and American. The group finally approached us and asked in English if we were Japanese. Our answer (two Japanese and an American) sparked a giggle from the group as they promptly ran away. This same process occurred another five some times as they came back asking our names, favorite Japanese/American singers, favorite food, etc. This however was not the end of our encounters with them...

Chikae wanted to wash her feet because of the sand so we asked them where the nearest shower/bathroom was, at which point they decided they would led us there. As Chikae was in the bathroom one of the girls asked if she could take our picture (or to be exact kept saying the word picture and making a picture taking motion). Kana by now was acting increasingly nervous/terrified of the kids, mainly because she had no clue what they were saying (little English and Korean) and also Kana's not exactly kid friendly. I was trying to get them to pose and take their picture with us but that wasn't exactly what they had ind mind. They pointed at Kana and said your face is so...beautiful! At which point all seven some whipped out cellphone cameras and simulations *clicks* could be heard. Kana, who is very modest and hates her picture being taken, let out a little yelp, covered her face, hid behind a telephone pole and started yelling Chikae's name. The kids all looked amazingly confused and kept saying STAY STAY while I stood awkwardly trying to comfort Kana and shield her from the kids-turned-paparazzi. Chikae finally came out of the bathroom and we made our hurried escape back to the buses. Kana's infamous last words (translated from Japanese) were, "how can you do this to me on my day of rest" and directed towards the kids "die". Words that simply made Chikae and I start cracking up. Ah the woes of being confused as a Japanese model.

More Pictures:

The Japanese Beauty ----->
Beaches Shots (notice the lack of swim suits also in the second picture can you see the reminder of home?)

I Forgot About Sunday

I totally forgot about Sunday which was actually a rather packed day as well, but slipped my mind until I was reminded by the cellphone pictures of Seoul Tower.

Maki (another Japanese student who is friends with Kana and Chikae) wanted us all to meet her husband. Maki who is older than us (33), and Maki's husband, took us to this nice seafood restaurant where I again ate octopus (still as chewy as ever). I kind of just sat there and ate because they all spoke in Japanese, yet I am starting to develop liking for the way Japanese flows. After dinner we had our first and thankfully only supremely awkward moment as we stood on the stairs leading up to the restaurant and Maki and her Husband (who had just paid for our dinner) stood at the bottom of the stairs. It is at this point that we started bowing, and thanking, and bowing, and thanking for a good two mintues, it was a bit of a tennis match back and forth. It became more awkward as Kana later pointed out that you are suppose to bow lower than the person who is being respected (in this case Maki's Husband) yet we were on stairs making us seem really high up and them really low down. Awkwardness just all around.

We then walked up another massive hill to a ski lift which took us up to the top of the mountain where Seoul tower is located. It was alright night when we got there so we saw the tower and city illuminated. We opted out of going all the way up because it was dark outside but took pictures, walked, talked, around the base of the tower. Eventually we headed back down and took the subway back to Yonsei.

Seoul At Night:

Gahhhh...My Legs

A combination of hills, a jazz dance class, and Taekwondo is starting to spell disaster for my legs. This Tuesday I went and checked out a dance studio located in the neighborhood called GNI Dance. I brought clothes but wasn't expecting to dance much. I figured I would scope out the place see how the classes were, level/experience, costs, etc. But the instructor asked me my name and simply through me right in. It was a bit awkward at first being the only guy in a small room with about 25 Korean girls all saying the word for guy combined with some verb/adjective combination that I do not know. Still, the class was great, fast paced, around my level, and I think I am going back tomorrow.

However my legs are telling me maybe not such a good idea because the whole Mon-Wed-Fri Taekwondo class was enough to make them a little sore and the Tue-Thurs Jazz dance might just push them over the edge. It doesn't help that Yonsei is built on a hill and Mu-Auk is located at the top. Still, we'll see, depends on how I feel tomorrow morning.

Other news, watched Transformers with Chikae and this actual Korean (as opposed to us fake Korean-Americans) guy I met. Also had the pre-interview for the campus glbt group, which I guess I passed, since they invited me to their meetings. Overall a busy first few days of the week.

A View from My Window

It was the first almost cloudless sky in Seoul.
This is a picture of my view.
I never knew there were mountains in the far distance.

Weekend Update

Hi all, this week has been a bit action packed and I feel like this is the first time I've been able to sit down and write. It is strange but I feel as if I have been in Seoul for a long time already even though I am only on my third week. The weeks are also flying by which means I know it will be over before I even know it.

Classes are now officially in full swing. We are moving very quickly through the book and doing a lesson a day. The teacher is extremely nice, almost too nice, as in no homework or tests. Still, I can't be complaining too much about it, just forces outside study time. The classmates are a mix of kids who want to be there and some who don't, but the don'ts usually end up sleeping or don't really show up. This only reduces the smallish class size even lower, although four people at Wes is hard to beat.

Seoul is this massive, bustling metropolis. It appears that there is a little bit of everything for everyone. Still I am surprised at the amount of English, usually in neon sign form, that appears in the busier areas. Sometimes I can get sucked in and begin to think that I am not actually in a place where people speak a different language...and then I try and order food/buy something.

So, what have I been up to? Well I laid low Monday and Tuesday, going out to get food, met up with a study partner and generally had a relaxing two days. Then on Wednesday I went out to a swing dance club with my friend, Chikae, who can actually swing dance. It was a blast. Right when we walked in we saw about 30 some Koreans doing one of the most elaborate line dances I have ever seen, but in about half an hour it broke up and they started play the swing music. The crowd was a surprising mix but skewed a little older than us. Chikae danced and for a while I just watched. I did try my hand when Korean women came up and asked to dance. However the few times I tried it ended in stunted disaster. However when we were about to leave one of the people Chikae had danced with came up and told us about other dance clubs. He also said that there are clubs where they do free beginner lessons, so we will probably check one of those out, (picture to the right: Chikae doing her thing).

Friday night turned out to be another jammed pack night. After class and some rest we decided to go out to a big shopping area called Dongdaemun, but not for the purpose of shopping. A friend, Kana, from Japan had found out that there they were filming a music act show for tv, where popular Korean singers come and sing on stage outside of a department store. As we walked from the subway we passed about three department shows all of which had stages with people playing music/singing. It was a battle of the which department store could attract the biggest crowds. We did eventually find the biggest of the stages and the one with the cameras filming. It was quite a scene with a huge group of high schoolers standing in front of the stage, many people slightly older standing behind them, and crowds of on lookers who were just passing by. The music was typical Korean pop, a mix of hyper-dance-pop tunes and love ballads. Still it was fun to par-take in Korean pop culture.

Afterwards we headed to Itewon, a district known for catering to the foreigners but also (and interesting from a sociologist perspective) where Korea's gay district is located, to check out one of the local gay clubs. We had an interesting encounter as we were walking up the street (which literally is one street) when we saw one of the tour group leaders. He looked equally if not more befuddled than we did, and initially asked if we were horribly lost. Still, we had a nice drink with him and hung out some. The people were all really nice and one of the owners of a cafe came up and sat down with us, told us about the area and where we should head. We ended up at a club called Trance where there was a good number of people and at 2:00 am a drag show occurred. It was the typically pride songs and I must say the Koreans put on a very good show with ladies who had a lot of very well done plastic surgery. Overall I had a great time and again had to come back to the dorms at 5:30.

Um...well the mosquitoes are out in force so I need to go buy one of those home smelly things to stop them from biting me. I was doing well with them but then woke up with about seven bites on me. Thats the only annoyance though, that and perhaps that the bathrooms don't have paper towels, so maybe I'll buy those as well.

Three Hours with a Cellphone

Well, I finally got the pictures off the cell phone, an operation that took a good three hours. Without getting too technical the program was missing various files so I had to get them from the same program but in a different language and stick them in which magically worked. Anyway...so here are some of the pictures from the 6-6 night.


The Japanese music artist in the underground cafe. ---->





<------------- Going to the Club (third from the right is Terry whose birthday it was)










< ------ McDonalds Ketchup in Korean




Alright I really need to study now, which was suppose to be doing all afternoon before I got wrapped up in this cellphone nonsense. Although I must say having a camera on a cellphone can be very handy.

6 To 6 in Seoul

So, the big weekend adventure...or perhaps a challenge. First some preface information - Our dorm, and more specifically the Yonsei program leaders thought it would be a good idea to have a curfew set for 12 pm. The dorm closes and you can't get in or out past that time until 5:30 am. I guess it is suppose to discourage us from staying out late but in fact, it just encouraged us to stay out ridiculous late.

The adventure/challenge: stay awake/entertain ourselves from the hours of 6-to-6.

More preface information: Friday night it was my friend Terry's birthday so we thought we would go out to the clubs and miss curfew. This Friday night also happens to be the "Club Night" in Seoul where you can pay for one club and get into a whole host of others for free.

The adventure began far too early at around 6:00 PM. We walked down to the iHouse (which fortunately for next semester does NOT have a curfew) to meet up with some of Terry's sister's friends. We then proceed to take the subways to an area called Hyunday, or something to that effect. One of Terry's friends wanted to go to this underground Japanese folk/electric singer performance which sounded cool so we all tagged a long (a group of about seven of us now). As with most entrances in Seoul the place looked dark and foreboding on the outside but once we went down a couple flights of stairs a door led us to this amazing cement/modern architecture performance space. The artists was crazy, but cool. He periodically played the guitar with everything from a shoe to his chin, and did a lot of hopping around the stage. Still the music was very impressive and he had some amazing guitar solos.

After listening to the music we found a quaint restaurant to eat, not knowing it only served seafood. I was feeling ambitious so I ordered 낮지 비빕밥, which is actually octopus with rice and hot pepper sauce. The octopus was not actually that bad, just a little slimy but what got me was how spicy it was. I only managed about half before my mouth was burning too much to eat more.

When we finished it was around 9:00/10:00 so we slowly started walking to the area where a lot of the clubs were located. The first one we stopped in was actually one I had already been to early this week, N.B. It was pretty quite at first because we were early but after two hours around 12 the place was jammed packed. A lot of Koreans, a lot of hip-hop, and an overall great time of dancing. When we left that club after three some hours of dancing we were amazed to see how much the city area had changed. Waiting outside of the club was a line of people that stretched a good 100+ people back waiting to get in and the streets were crowded with youngish Koreans going out. I guess the Club Day event is fairly big because the next five some clubs we entered were all equally packed and finally around 3:30 am we stopped trying.

By now we had met up with some other people from the Yonsei program who were also out and we decided to take a taxi back to the Yonsei University area to stop by the McDonalds which is open 24 hours. We arrived and ate a little but then four of us decided we wanted to do something beside sit for the next hour and a half so we walked a little ways to a DVD 방. 방 stands for room, so a DVD 방 is basically a business where you can rent out little rooms which consist of a big couch and a movie projector. We picked Bridget Jones II and all promptly fell asleep on the couches. That is all of us expect Chikae who was smart and slept from 5-9:00 PM before going out. When the movie ended it was about 6:30 AM so we took the bus back to the North gate of Yonsei where we meandered back to the dorms to crash.

Thus, I successfully completed my first night out in Seoul. Hopefully not something that is repeated too often because I am still recovering from the hours on feet and almost 24 hour no sleep. Oh...and I'll add pictures of the adventure once I learn how to use my cellphone.

A Quick List of Accomplishments in Seoul

~Opened a Bank Account with amazing simplicity - Somehow they understood what I wanted to do even though I probably broke a record for "the most un/wrongly conjugated of verbs ever".

~Went to a Night Club - I went with Chikae, KaNa (a friend who is Japanese, and speaks only a little English and almost no Korean, which leads to some interesting conversations), and Felix. We all thought the club was called Envy, but it turned out to be NB. The music was only hip-hop but the crowd was of decent size and young.

~Took my first class of Taewondo - I was a little ambivalent at first because it meets three times a week (as opposed to the other classes which are twice) and because it meets in a gym which is extremely humid. However the teacher turned out to be very joy able and energetic.

~Got Passport Photos - again an adventure where broken Korean was used.

~Shopped and Walked around the Shincheon Area - many many neon signs, 노래방 (karaoke bars), restaurants and two giant department stores.

~Met up with Korean Wes students, a total of 7. It was good to see familiar faces.

and more, but this is just a quick list.

Entering Seoul + Field Trip

Fast forwarding a little but still not in the present...

I arrived in Seoul on Friday around 5:45 PM. The plane ride surprisingly was not too bad. Korean Air had a huge selection of movies/in flight entertainment to keep one busy with. So I got lured in and did not really touch any of the five books I packed with me. I sat next to this older Korean couple who were very cute. I think it must have been one of the few times they had flown on a plane because the older gentleman wanted to switch seats in order to be next to the window. I gladly accepted so I could more easily go to the bathroom. They also proved to be the first subjects for the I-can't-speak-Korean-what-is-there-reaction-test. I am pretty sure they thought I was Japanese...

At the airport Ju-Young, one of my Mom's grad students met me and did the very Korean mother thing to do, feed me at once. After a delicious dinner at an airport restaurant we started the hour and a half drive to Seoul. It was def. night time and the city was lit up much like LA. Commercial neon signs in Korean were everywhere. Seoul had a very different feeling from New York City. It felt darker but safer as you would see old ladies walking around at 10 PM.

We checked into the dorms, which I must say are spare but still provide everything that you might need. I still have yet to meet my room mate even though it has been three days now. I'm beginning to think he does not exist. Anyway, to the field trip.

Bright and early Saturday morning we were loaded onto a bus for a lovely six hour drive to the Gyeongbuk area. Actually we first stopped at a fake Korean Folk Village. It felt a little like Disney World with the commercial venders trying to sell you stuff. However I did see two women doing this interesting see-saw jumping acrobatics. It was pretty amazing how high they went and what they could do before landing on the small platform again. I guess they did it in order to look beyond the castle walls where they were trapped. Um...sounds like Korean patriarchy to me.

Once we arrived in the Gyeongbuk area we had a nice big dinner at the hotel. The hotel itself was actually fairly nice, I think in Korean standards it was a five-star. Relatively big and with decent entertainment during the evening. That first evening we had a lesson in the art of fan painting, where I managed to pull of this masterpiece. Later night I met up with Chikae, who made friends with a couple of Japanese women, and we got some Shochu. We checked out the hotel's night club where was of course populated with students from the field trip. The club had a very select number of songs with amounted to the Black Eyed Peas and other pop hip-hop groups being put on repeat. Still, it was nice to relax.

The second day of the trip felt a little too full. We visited about six different places (a Buddhist temple, another Buddhist temple called Bulguksa, an ancient observatory called Cheomeongdae, Tombs in the shape of Mounds, a 3-D Movie Theater, and the Gyeongju National Museum) with a wake up call around 7:00 AM. Sadly most of the places did not allow pictures but I shot what I could. Although I must say after a while the places began to look the same. Still, I must say it was an interesting experience and allowed a lot of us to mingle/get to know each other better.

The last day of the trip was pretty calm, another six hour ride back after visiting the Hyundai ship building yards. It was perhaps the fastest tour known to man as they took you into one room where the claim to fame was a dancing robot hand, and then loaded you onto the same bus for a 15 min. tour of the ship yards. The ships were massive and they had interesting techniques for building them. As in they built them underground and then flooded the area with water after everything was finished. We arrived back at Yonsei in the evening, where I pretty much crashed from the trip.

<------Lanterns at the first Buddhist temple. Inside the temple was a massive Buddha with a diamond in its head that I guess when the sun hit it right cast a reflection onto monk plaques above the Buddha.





The entrance to a larger temple that was more like an enclosed city. There were many minor temples within the walls.

LA - Where the Sun Always Shines

I arrived in LAX to see Meredith and Meredith's Mom waiting to give me a massive hug. It was amazing to see Meredith after such a long time. After a minor crisis of a missing bag (which was found after some searching), we drove back to Meredith's house. I must say, I know LA is known for its vastness but it hits you when driving around and flying over. Everywhere there seemed to be some sort of commercial business and advertisements/billboards (also interesting that many signs were in Korean so I got the sense that I was already in Korea). The city also felt different from most big cities I have been to because nothing is built up. You could see the open blue sky from anywhere you were. It was also a surprise to see mountains from behind the smog, which serves as an elegant back-drop to the city

We began our adventures that night as Meredith successfully drove through LA traffic to get us to a place to eat. I forget the name of the place we went but it essentially it was Greek fast food. The next day we headed out to the beach where we walked along the pier and I swam a little in the ocean. I forgot how much I enjoyed just wading in the waves, there is something invigorating about it. However the highlight of the trip was seeing a big group of dolphins out in the water. They jumped, flipped, and generally entertained the rather large group of beach goers whose attention they grabbed. Also they were quite close to the beach, enough so that when they jumped you could see the distinct white underside.

After the beach I went out to dinner with Meredith's family. Everyone seems to be doing fine and even though they are in the new environment nothing has changed a huge amount. I spent a fairly quite evening with Meredith awaiting the twelve hour plane ride to Korea. Overall a relaxing downtime before the beginning of the next adventure.