Wednesday, July 4th
I was scheduled to work the AM shift but that was irrelevant for the most part because of the national day ceremony. Everyone had to come in at about 9 am to help out, but we ended up for the most part sitting around since everything had already been taken care of. The ceremony began at 11 am with speeches by, the director of NOAA, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim, and Philippe Cousteau, Jr. Then there was a performance by the Krokodiloes, Harvard's oldest a cappella singing group, and a U.S. military marching band from Seoul. I have to admit the performances were a lot more enjoyable than I thought they would be and I was surprised by the fact I'd recognized the tunes by the marching band. On the other hand, I didn't recognize any of the songs by the Krokodiloes, except for the Korean one they sang since it's like the most famous Korean song ever. After that we had about twenty minutes for lunch and then my shift had work from 1 to 5 pm. As we were leaving from work, we saw one of our retail managers drumming with the Filipino drummers and DJ as part of the US-Philippines Friendship Day. So we went over and cheered him on and then we decided to start a dance party. After about a half hour and the dance party in full gear we went back to the apartments to change.
While waiting for George to finish getting ready, I called Singles House (the place I wanted to live) to ask if they had a room available. I was really nervous because I hate talking in Korean over the phone because it's way more difficult and confusing. But I finally called them and told the guy who answered that I had seen the room the weekend before and was now interested in reserving a room. After a minute the guy asked me in English if I was foreigner and, when I said yes, said he would call me back in a couple minutes. I assumed then he was going to see if he could find an English speaker to talk with me. When the phone rang, I picked it up and a middle-aged man was on the line, who I assumed must have been the previous guy's boss. He asked if I was the foreigner who had just called and when I confirmed, he told me having a foreigner live in their place would be inconvenient for them. Even though I couldn't understand 100% of what he said, he was clearly telling me he had no interest in letting a foreigner live there. I was so shocked all I could say was "yes...yes... I understand" and then hung up. I was just so shocked because it made no sense to me. He was clearly being xenophobic or racist because it's not like there was a big enough language barrier for it to be a problem if I lived there. I was so close to crying, but luckily I had made the call while with Rachel and when she found out what he said, she got mad for me. She was really tempted to call him back, but I didn't think it was worth it. There wasn't anything to be said. I wish that I had gotten angry with him instead of just taking it, but since the call was already over I didn't think anything good would come out of calling the guy back. I was just totally blindsided by it. For about a half hour I went from anger to almost crying repeatedly and quickly. Luckily, Rachel and George were with me and helped me process everything. By the time we got downtown, I decided to just forget it about and come to terms later instead of being an emotional wreck while eating. After dinner, we briefly went to an arcade and then to Caffe Ti Amo for some ice cream therapy. That night, since I no longer had a place I was interested in staying at, I did more housing research with Rachel.
What really got me so upset about this episode was that the man (I assume he was the manager of Singles House) was unable to see me as anything but a foreigner. In Korea, I obviously stick out as a foreigner because the nation is so homogeneous. This is in contrast with the United States, where no one can tell who's a foreigner simply by looking at someone. I'm not saying our country is necessarily the most diverse place ever, but at the very least everyone retains a bit of anonymity there. People may come to the conclusion that you must be an immigrant or foreigner if they hear you using a language besides English, and there are plenty of people who are ethnocentric/racist/otherwise bigoted. However, the difference is how Koreans and Americans view identity. In Korea you are Korean if and only if you are ethnically Korean. If you have Korean citizenship, but don't look Korean, then you're not Korean. The Korean identity is ethnically based while I would argue that American identity is more citizenship based (or even simply that you live in the United States). Anyone (for the most part) thus can be American if they choose. You can only be Korean by birth. As I am obviously not Korean nor from any other Asian country, there are people (especially children or creepy men) that stare at me. The staring can be annoying at times, but for the most part it doesn't bother men. (The exception being when it's the creepy men.) I don't even get phased by complete strangers randomly yelling English at me because it's simply not worth getting annoyed over. These are more of the benign manifestations of the inability for some Koreans to see people only as foreigners. To them we lack any other defining feature besides our foreignness. However, this perspective took a turn for the more serious when that man refused to give me housing. He was unable to see me as a person. To him I was simply a foreigner. I don't know what preconceptions he holds about foreigners, but they're obviously not positive and he projected all of those stereotypes onto me. By denying me housing, he in one blow made my weeks of housing searching and trips to Seoul pretty much useless. He made me even more stressed because I had to start my housing search over again. Even more, he just showed complete disrespect for me as a person. All of this I was completely unprepared for and that is why I got so emotional. Now that it's been a couple weeks, I sincerely do regret not pushing him to justify his prejudices towards foreigners, but at the same time, I am glad I'm not living there because I don't want a bigot as a landlord. I'm glad that I learned he was prejudiced against foreigners before living there because otherwise I would have had a miserable time there I'm sure. The experience I think will definitely help me get thicker skin for when this happens again because I have no doubt that I will encounter more xenophobia or racism. I think it's pretty much unavoidable in any country.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
July 2nd and 3rd
Monday, July 2nd
I got lunch with Rachel and then went to bank to learn the art of using the ATM machine. Luckily you can change it to English so it's not that complicated and it takes even less time than depositing money in the US.
Afterwards I had the PM shift and then I went to Anne's apartment to eat some watermelon, but I had to bow out and go to bed by midnight.
Tuesday, July 3rd
I had the AM shift and then I met up with A and his girlfriend who had just arrived from Thailand. We went out and got dinner along with Rae and Boram at a local restaurant. We then went back and chilled at A's place and then went upstairs to what was described as a party, but would be better labeled as bored people sitting around doing nothing. We all just hung out, chatted, and listened to music, but then A left, leaving Boram and I with two Thai tech guys who didn't speak English. The next hour then was an interesting attempt to communicate without language for the most part. We mainly just played and sang different songs we all knew while having separate side conversations.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Sunday, July 1st - Day Trip to Jeonju
I had the day off since Eric covered my shift. I headed to 전주 (Jeonju) on the 10 am KTX, so I arrived in Jeonju at about 11:15 am. I met Winston at the station and it was surprisingly way less awkward than I thought it would be. Both of us had thought it might be kind of weird at first to finally get to meet again after two years, but since we'd kept in touch it really wasn't. I really think Facebook and Skype make it easier to keep track of people and stay in touch , which in this case was a good thing, but can admittedly also be a bad thing.
I pretty much let Winston show me around since I know practically nothing about Jeonju. The first place we went was 한옥마을 (Hanok Village), which is a village consist of traditional Korean housing called Hanok. It's a really logical name in case you missed that. The area was gorgeous, so it was really relaxing and interesting.
We also got to wear some traditional clothing of royalty and take our pictures.
After that we got 비빔밥 (bibimbap), which Jeonju is famous for and it was pretty delicious. Then we went to the shops selling traditional crafts and items. I bought some 한지 (hanji), which is traditional Korean paper. The paper, which I think was like 3x3 fee, was being sold for only 1,000 won and it was gorgeous paper. I bought one sheet of blue paper with a design on it simply to hang on my wall when I move to Seoul in the fall to add color to my room, which I'm sure will be a drab white no matter where I end up staying.
We then chilled in a 정자, which is like a traditional Korean style gazebo.
After chatting for a couple hours, we took a taxi to the neighborhood around the university to get dinner. We ended up splitting a veggie pizza at Papa Johns and it was great to taste American style pizza again. Korean pizza tastes sweet in comparison to American pizza and they usually don't do thick crusts. I was honestly surprised they even have veggie pizzas on the menu here.
After that we went to the park, which had a huge pond of lilies.
Afterwards we went to Caffe Bene for drinks and we decided to sit outside since the weather was nice. All of a sudden, Winston told me to not freak out but that there was a spider about to land on my head. I took a deep breath and then jumped out of my chair and started brushing at my head to get off the imagined spider. Luckily it hadn't actually landed on me, but I had no interest in trying my luck a second time, so we moved indoors. From inside, you could see spiders everywhere on out the outside canopy over the patio area. It made me keep feeling phantom spiders crawling on me just seeing all of them. I seriously think Korean insects are scarier than American ones. Mosquitoes are bigger and nastier and there are way too many spiders for my liking.
Afterwards we went to the train station and got there about an hour early. Winston wasn't sure how long it would take to get there and I obviously didn't have a clue, so we didn't want to risk it. Since we had so much time, we walked along the neighborhood, but the only place that was even open was a sex shop. On the way back, I looked up to see the largest spiders I had ever seen in my life. I'm talking the size of about an inch and a half diameter -- their body that is, not including their legs. I freaked out and was paranoid the rest of the trip that there were spiders everywhere, although at that point I'm not sure if could really qualify as paranoia or a healthy dose of caution.
I pretty much let Winston show me around since I know practically nothing about Jeonju. The first place we went was 한옥마을 (Hanok Village), which is a village consist of traditional Korean housing called Hanok. It's a really logical name in case you missed that. The area was gorgeous, so it was really relaxing and interesting.
We also got to wear some traditional clothing of royalty and take our pictures.
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| The head piece was really heavy in case anybody is wondering. |
We then chilled in a 정자, which is like a traditional Korean style gazebo.
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| The view from where we were sitting, using the newly discovered panaroma function on my camera. |
After that we went to the park, which had a huge pond of lilies.
Afterwards we went to Caffe Bene for drinks and we decided to sit outside since the weather was nice. All of a sudden, Winston told me to not freak out but that there was a spider about to land on my head. I took a deep breath and then jumped out of my chair and started brushing at my head to get off the imagined spider. Luckily it hadn't actually landed on me, but I had no interest in trying my luck a second time, so we moved indoors. From inside, you could see spiders everywhere on out the outside canopy over the patio area. It made me keep feeling phantom spiders crawling on me just seeing all of them. I seriously think Korean insects are scarier than American ones. Mosquitoes are bigger and nastier and there are way too many spiders for my liking.
Afterwards we went to the train station and got there about an hour early. Winston wasn't sure how long it would take to get there and I obviously didn't have a clue, so we didn't want to risk it. Since we had so much time, we walked along the neighborhood, but the only place that was even open was a sex shop. On the way back, I looked up to see the largest spiders I had ever seen in my life. I'm talking the size of about an inch and a half diameter -- their body that is, not including their legs. I freaked out and was paranoid the rest of the trip that there were spiders everywhere, although at that point I'm not sure if could really qualify as paranoia or a healthy dose of caution.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Saturday, June 30th
I took 10 am KTX train to Seoul, meaning I arrived there at 1:30 pm since even the KTX, which is the fastest train, takes 3.5 hours. I spent that time though doing housing research because the KTX has complimentary wifi, one of the reasons I'm willing to pay 90,000 won for round-trip KTX tickets. It means that I can actually be productive instead of just trying to kill time. Once I got to Seoul, I looked at 원룸 (one rooms) with Rachel and her boyfriend Sungchol. I had originally decided not to live in the dorms at Yonsei because foreigners are only allowed to live in the foreigner dorm, meaning the language used there is almost always English. I wanted to try to get away from making strictly English-speaking friends through, so I decided to forgo the dorms and find a 하숙집 (hasukjip or boarding house). I didn't think it would be that hard and so my first trip to Seoul I looked mainly at those. I was hoping by living in a 하숙집 (hasukjip), it would have the atmosphere of like a KU scholarship hall because they provide meals and I thought that way everyone there would become friends. However, I had gotten mixed responses from both Koreans and Americans as to whether or not that perceived image I had was really true. Thus since I hadn't found any 하숙집 (hasukjip) I liked on my last trip to Seoul, I decided to branch out and look at 원룸 (one rooms) too. 원룸 (one rooms) are pretty much one room that may or may not contain a bathroom that you rent out. They usually come with a bed, desk, TV, and sometimes fridge. Then as you move up the price range, they can also have their own bathroom and window. I had realized from the first trip I needed to have a room with a window if I were to avoid getting claustrophobic in the space. I had also decided I wanted my own shower because most places otherwise only had one bathroom for the whole floor, which consisted of five or six people, and I had no intention of competing for the bathroom every morning with five other girls.
Anyway, during the search, I really liked Singles House. I was super glad I had decided to look at it because I was initially turned off by its name when I discovered it online during research on the train. I thought that maybe it was meant only for people who were single who wanted to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. However, I soon realized many of the places had odd names. One was named Herb Livingtel for instance and another one Recovery House, which at first made me think it was a halfway house. They really just are random English words used by the owners when naming their places. English sounds cool is all I think it amounts to.
Here are some pictures of Singles House. The left photo shows the gap between the bed and the bathroom pictured in the middle. Having that type of space and even that size of window was a first in the places I'd looked at, meaning I would have real space and natural light, something I'd been craving.
I needed dinner afterwards since I had skipped lunch and was feeling tired. Since 신촌 (Sinchon) has a lot of meat places due to all the college-aged people living there, I decided to ride with my friend and her boyfriend to 압구청 (Apguchung) for dinner, since they were headed that way. When we got there, her boyfriend explained to me how to get to the nearest subway station and the basic layout of the place and then we went our separate ways since they had plans. I wandered around for a bit in the area with all the restaurants before deciding to just get 비빔밥 again since it wouldn't take long. There was nobody in like any of the restaurants though, so it was really weird. It was 6 pm and a Saturday night, so I had thought there would have been more people. Afterwards I made my way really easily to the subway station and headed to 용산역 (Yongsan Station) in order to catch the 7:45 pm train home. I got there an hour early, so I killed an hour at the adjoining iPark Shopping Mall. I was intrigued at the thought that Gap was on the foreign luxury goods store and it was pretty expensive. It only carried sizes 0-4 and shorts were $30-$40 while dresses were $50-$60, which seemed really expensive to me, especially for Gap.
I slept the first hour on the train ride back and then just watched Secret Garden, a Korean drama I've seen before, for the rest of the way to practice my listening skills in Korean.
Anyway, during the search, I really liked Singles House. I was super glad I had decided to look at it because I was initially turned off by its name when I discovered it online during research on the train. I thought that maybe it was meant only for people who were single who wanted to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. However, I soon realized many of the places had odd names. One was named Herb Livingtel for instance and another one Recovery House, which at first made me think it was a halfway house. They really just are random English words used by the owners when naming their places. English sounds cool is all I think it amounts to.
I needed dinner afterwards since I had skipped lunch and was feeling tired. Since 신촌 (Sinchon) has a lot of meat places due to all the college-aged people living there, I decided to ride with my friend and her boyfriend to 압구청 (Apguchung) for dinner, since they were headed that way. When we got there, her boyfriend explained to me how to get to the nearest subway station and the basic layout of the place and then we went our separate ways since they had plans. I wandered around for a bit in the area with all the restaurants before deciding to just get 비빔밥 again since it wouldn't take long. There was nobody in like any of the restaurants though, so it was really weird. It was 6 pm and a Saturday night, so I had thought there would have been more people. Afterwards I made my way really easily to the subway station and headed to 용산역 (Yongsan Station) in order to catch the 7:45 pm train home. I got there an hour early, so I killed an hour at the adjoining iPark Shopping Mall. I was intrigued at the thought that Gap was on the foreign luxury goods store and it was pretty expensive. It only carried sizes 0-4 and shorts were $30-$40 while dresses were $50-$60, which seemed really expensive to me, especially for Gap.
I slept the first hour on the train ride back and then just watched Secret Garden, a Korean drama I've seen before, for the rest of the way to practice my listening skills in Korean.
June 28th and 29th
Thursday, June 28th
I worked a full day since I covered one shift for Eric, who was stuck in Japan with a flight that had been delayed for 17 hours. After that I got dinner with a couple people from shift C at the 분식 place in Expo Town and then I went over to Peter's apartment to make a powerpoint.
Friday, June 29th
The powerpoint was for a presentation Peter, Bjorn, and I were giving at 조선대 (Chosun University) to students studying abroad in the US and the Philippines to study English. We headed out at 7:40 am, which turned out to be unnecessarily early. We arrived in 광주 (Gwangju) at about 9:30 am for an 11 am presentation. But since we had all skipped breakfast in order to be on time for departure, we got breakfast there in order to kill time and silence our stomachs. I got a cinnamon muffin and it was incredibly delicious. I think our presentation went well although I felt bad for all the students going to the Philippines since our presentation was obviously about college life specifically in the United States. After the presentation, the Study Abroad Coordinator took us out to lunch at a local restaurant. I got 비빔밥 (bibimbap) once again.
They also served sweet potato noodles, but I don't like sweet potatoes, so I didn't try them. Koreans use sweet potatoes for a lot more things than Americans do. Sweet potato cake and bread are common, for example.
We were planning on staying in 광주 (Gwangju) for the day and taking a bus back, but Pete felt sick and it started raining, so we all just decided to leave right after lunch. At first I was regretting the decision because I didn't know if I would make it back to 광주 again during the summer, but once it started pouring I was glad was in the car and not wandering aimlessly around the city. We eventually all just ended up passing out in the car from exhaustion anyway.
After going back to the apartments for a bit, I got pizza and 팥빙수 (red bean shaved ice) with Bjorn for dinner. I then went and got my train ticket rescheduled for Seoul. I had been planning on taking the 5:20 am train, meaning I would have to be up at 4 something, but that sounded really unappealing. It then became unnecessary once 민성 언니 (Minsung) told me she'd be unable to meet me in Seoul to fix my cell phone stuff. That meant all I had to do was check out housing with Rachel, so I decided I would rather have a couple extra hours of sleep.
I worked a full day since I covered one shift for Eric, who was stuck in Japan with a flight that had been delayed for 17 hours. After that I got dinner with a couple people from shift C at the 분식 place in Expo Town and then I went over to Peter's apartment to make a powerpoint.
Friday, June 29th
The powerpoint was for a presentation Peter, Bjorn, and I were giving at 조선대 (Chosun University) to students studying abroad in the US and the Philippines to study English. We headed out at 7:40 am, which turned out to be unnecessarily early. We arrived in 광주 (Gwangju) at about 9:30 am for an 11 am presentation. But since we had all skipped breakfast in order to be on time for departure, we got breakfast there in order to kill time and silence our stomachs. I got a cinnamon muffin and it was incredibly delicious. I think our presentation went well although I felt bad for all the students going to the Philippines since our presentation was obviously about college life specifically in the United States. After the presentation, the Study Abroad Coordinator took us out to lunch at a local restaurant. I got 비빔밥 (bibimbap) once again.
We were planning on staying in 광주 (Gwangju) for the day and taking a bus back, but Pete felt sick and it started raining, so we all just decided to leave right after lunch. At first I was regretting the decision because I didn't know if I would make it back to 광주 again during the summer, but once it started pouring I was glad was in the car and not wandering aimlessly around the city. We eventually all just ended up passing out in the car from exhaustion anyway.
After going back to the apartments for a bit, I got pizza and 팥빙수 (red bean shaved ice) with Bjorn for dinner. I then went and got my train ticket rescheduled for Seoul. I had been planning on taking the 5:20 am train, meaning I would have to be up at 4 something, but that sounded really unappealing. It then became unnecessary once 민성 언니 (Minsung) told me she'd be unable to meet me in Seoul to fix my cell phone stuff. That meant all I had to do was check out housing with Rachel, so I decided I would rather have a couple extra hours of sleep.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Seoul Trip: The End
Sunday, June 24th
I met Rachel in the morning to look at a few more places we didn't get a chance to see the day before. After that I met Minsung and her mother to look at phones, but the plans were going to be so expensive it wasn't worth it. I was going to have to pay about $60 a month for 2 years. After that, they took me out to this restaurant in the countryside for dinner. The food was absolutely amazing and exactly what I needed after a stressful weekend.
After we finished eating, we went to the tea house next door to drink some tea and help our food digest.
Then I headed back to the my host family's house, which turned out to be really awkward. Apparently, my host sister had stayed out drinking until 3 am or something the night before and my host mom (her mother) was furious with her. So I got to sit through a 40 minute argument between the two of them while they went at it. I had texted my host sister earlier about going out that night and doing something, so she kept asking me if I wanted to leave and I just kept saying whenever, but then she would just get back into the argument while I sat on the side pretending to watch TV. When I thought it was finally over, my host sister got into another fight with her mom about money. Finally, we ended up leaving and just went to the local Lotte Department Store to do some shopping and eating. We ended up getting quesadillas at Taco Bell, which taste way less delicious without guacamole, which they didn't have. Then we got crepes, which also weren't that good. Lesson learned. Cheap foreign food, especially fast food, is 9 times out of 10 going to taste really really bad. Anyway, we went back to the apartment around 9:30 pm and then watched another episode of that drama my host sister is watching.
Monday, June 25th
I took the KTX train back to Yeosu in the morning. It was way easier going back than getting to Seoul thankfully. I left early just in case, but everything was really easy. I sat in the middle section between cars again since I didn't know what to do with my standing room only ticket status. Another guy got on though and an old man told him he could sit anywhere in the car. It turns out that guy was American, so we both started talking about how we both were confused that you could sit with a standing room ticket. It turns out that everyone who was in car 8, the car we were assigned, had those tickets too. So instead of being standing room, it was more like unassigned seating. I don't really understand then why they sell those tickets, but whatever. We ended up going to the 9th car since the 8th car was full, but that didn't seem to be a problem. When the attendant checked our tickets, she didn't tell us we had to move or anything, although that may have been because she didn't want to attempt that conversation in English. Regardless, we got to sit in a practically empty car simply because we had bought the cheaper tickets. It was fantastic. I got back at noon and I went out with Jenna (one of my roommates) and grabbed lunch. Then I went to work the PM shift. The same guy came through our queue line so I talked with him a bit and recommended some other pavilions.
Tuesday, June 26th
I worked the PM shift. I have no idea what else I did.
Wednesday, June 27th
I worked the AM shift. I don't remember what I did during the afternoon, but that night I went to the USAP meet-up with the staff from the Mexico Pavilion. All but the two managers are Korean and speak no Spanish. They speak English to varying degrees. It was a lot of fun though, but I left early to get some sleep since I had work the next day.
I met Rachel in the morning to look at a few more places we didn't get a chance to see the day before. After that I met Minsung and her mother to look at phones, but the plans were going to be so expensive it wasn't worth it. I was going to have to pay about $60 a month for 2 years. After that, they took me out to this restaurant in the countryside for dinner. The food was absolutely amazing and exactly what I needed after a stressful weekend.
After we finished eating, we went to the tea house next door to drink some tea and help our food digest.
Then I headed back to the my host family's house, which turned out to be really awkward. Apparently, my host sister had stayed out drinking until 3 am or something the night before and my host mom (her mother) was furious with her. So I got to sit through a 40 minute argument between the two of them while they went at it. I had texted my host sister earlier about going out that night and doing something, so she kept asking me if I wanted to leave and I just kept saying whenever, but then she would just get back into the argument while I sat on the side pretending to watch TV. When I thought it was finally over, my host sister got into another fight with her mom about money. Finally, we ended up leaving and just went to the local Lotte Department Store to do some shopping and eating. We ended up getting quesadillas at Taco Bell, which taste way less delicious without guacamole, which they didn't have. Then we got crepes, which also weren't that good. Lesson learned. Cheap foreign food, especially fast food, is 9 times out of 10 going to taste really really bad. Anyway, we went back to the apartment around 9:30 pm and then watched another episode of that drama my host sister is watching.
Monday, June 25th
I took the KTX train back to Yeosu in the morning. It was way easier going back than getting to Seoul thankfully. I left early just in case, but everything was really easy. I sat in the middle section between cars again since I didn't know what to do with my standing room only ticket status. Another guy got on though and an old man told him he could sit anywhere in the car. It turns out that guy was American, so we both started talking about how we both were confused that you could sit with a standing room ticket. It turns out that everyone who was in car 8, the car we were assigned, had those tickets too. So instead of being standing room, it was more like unassigned seating. I don't really understand then why they sell those tickets, but whatever. We ended up going to the 9th car since the 8th car was full, but that didn't seem to be a problem. When the attendant checked our tickets, she didn't tell us we had to move or anything, although that may have been because she didn't want to attempt that conversation in English. Regardless, we got to sit in a practically empty car simply because we had bought the cheaper tickets. It was fantastic. I got back at noon and I went out with Jenna (one of my roommates) and grabbed lunch. Then I went to work the PM shift. The same guy came through our queue line so I talked with him a bit and recommended some other pavilions.
Tuesday, June 26th
I worked the PM shift. I have no idea what else I did.
Wednesday, June 27th
I worked the AM shift. I don't remember what I did during the afternoon, but that night I went to the USAP meet-up with the staff from the Mexico Pavilion. All but the two managers are Korean and speak no Spanish. They speak English to varying degrees. It was a lot of fun though, but I left early to get some sleep since I had work the next day.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Seoul Trip
Friday June 22nd
I woke up at 9 am and wandered around Minsung's apartment for a bit before realizing there was nothing I could really do while she was still asleep. I also still felt tired, so I went back to sleep at 10 am and woke up at noon. Minsung and I ate lunch and watched an episode of some drama she's watching before heading out to the phone store. We went to a multi-level tech mart that had a whole level dedicated simply to cell phones. I thought that looking for a phone would be overwhelming then since there were so many to choose from, but it quickly became apparent that was not the case. The first place we tried, we found out that even though I can buy alcohol in Korea, I can't buy a cell phone because I'm a minor. I don't really understand how that works. But the sales clerk kept asking if my parents had come to Korea to and I kept insisting they hadn't to his surprise. Besides that, my current visa is an Expo visa, not a student visa, because I can't change my visa status until I'm done with my summer internship. He just kept telling me my visa status was wrong though and I had to have a student visa to get a phone with contract. So that totally failed and we ended up just going shopping for a bit on the first floor since even though it was a tech mart, the first floor consisted of clothing. That night I met my host mom and we went back to my host family's apartment, which was definitely a more awkward experience than I thought it would be. Even though I had tried to keep in touch with my host family throughout these two years, there was still an obvious distance both due to the language barrier and the fact it had been such a long time since I had seen them. Eventually it became less awkward though as we just sat around and watched TV. My host dad came back home next and joined us, followed by my host sister who I hadn't actually ever met before. She didn't get back until about 11 due to her job. We watched the show Gag Concert, which I had heard of, but never seen. It was really over-the-top humor so I didn't really find it that funny, but my host family was dying. Around midnight we headed out to a neighborhood cafe since I needed to use the internet and there was no wifi in the apartment. After that we watched an episode of some Korean crime drama about a super competitive high school.
Saturday, June 23rd
I met Rachel in the morning to look at 하숙집 (boarding houses) for the school year. The first one was absolutely frightening. It was essentially a box. There weren't any windows and the room consisted of a bed, desk, and clothing rack made out of piping. Those three things filled the room it was so small. I had an internal freak out because if all the 하숙집 looked like that it was going to be a disaster. I can't live in a such a cramped place. I need some breathing room. I don't need a gigantic room, but if there is that little space in a room, I will have nowhere to put my two suitcases, which would be a huge problem. The next couple kept improving though and I found one I legitimately liked. The lady wasn't sure if she would have an opening, but she said we could contact her to find out. After that I went shopping with Rachel at U-Plex, which had prices akin to US malls, hence we didn't buy anything. Malls here are also more iffy as to whether they'll let you try on clothes. I pretty much on principle try something on before I buy it, but here sometimes they won't let you at all or, in one place, you couldn't try on clothes that were white. After that Rachel left and I headed back to Yonsei to find the bus stop so I could go visit my host cousin. I saw a whole bunch of buses going by, but I couldn't figure out where they were all coming from. I stopped by one bus stop and it had only 2 local buses coming to it, so I figured that maybe I wasn't at the main entrance of campus. Thus I headed into campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. There's a whole wooded area, which is a surprise since Seoul is so crowded and cramped. It was really relieving though to walk around after getting so stressed looking at housing and feeling like they were all just little boxes. I could finally take some deep breaths. Anyway, 15 or 20 minutes later when I reached the other side of campus, I finally realized that the place I had entered campus was the main entrance, so I turned around and headed back in that direction. I ended up in the medical area of campus, which was a bit of a spider web to navigate, but I knew the general location of the main entrance, so it wasn't that bad. However, getting back to the main entrance still didn't solve my problem of not knowing where the buses were stopping. I finally realized that the buses were stopping in the middle of the roads. Yes, the bus stops were in the middle of the car lanes, meaning you had to walk halfway across the intersection to get to them. So I tried one that looked promising only to find out none of the eight buses I could take came there. So I had to cross another three intersections or so to get to the right one. By the time I found the right one I was pretty tired, so I didn't even bother to ask the bus driver if it was going in the right direction. I just sank into the seat and called it done, only to realize I was not going in the right direction. It didn't matter that much though because it just went in a 15-minute loop arriving back to Yonsei before heading off in the right direction. Another 20 minutes and I was finally at the right bus stop. I got off and called my host cousin, but she couldn't see me, so I had a brief internal groan, thinking I had messed up yet again. A moment later she saw me though, so that was good. We walked back to her parents'-in-law apartment, where she is living with her husband and baby until sometime in July when they move out to their own place. Her baby is absolutely adorable with the fattest cheeks I've ever seen. I also learned that Korean babies have what appear to be bruises on their feet and butt when they're born, but they disappear when they're toddlers. She didn't know the English word and I had never heard of it before, but I just looked it up and apparently it's called a Mongolian Spot in English. (Wikipedia link if anybody's interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_spot). Since I'm vegetarian, she didn't really know where we could eat out, so instead, she taught me how to cook some vegetarian Korean food. We made 호박 파전 (squash pancakes), 김치 파전 (kimchi pancakes), and 감자 파전 (potato pancakes). I was planning on going back to my host family's apartment afterwards, but it was about an hour and a half away and a bit complicated, so I decided to just spend the night there. I stayed up late doing more housing research before going to sleep at around 1 am.
I woke up at 9 am and wandered around Minsung's apartment for a bit before realizing there was nothing I could really do while she was still asleep. I also still felt tired, so I went back to sleep at 10 am and woke up at noon. Minsung and I ate lunch and watched an episode of some drama she's watching before heading out to the phone store. We went to a multi-level tech mart that had a whole level dedicated simply to cell phones. I thought that looking for a phone would be overwhelming then since there were so many to choose from, but it quickly became apparent that was not the case. The first place we tried, we found out that even though I can buy alcohol in Korea, I can't buy a cell phone because I'm a minor. I don't really understand how that works. But the sales clerk kept asking if my parents had come to Korea to and I kept insisting they hadn't to his surprise. Besides that, my current visa is an Expo visa, not a student visa, because I can't change my visa status until I'm done with my summer internship. He just kept telling me my visa status was wrong though and I had to have a student visa to get a phone with contract. So that totally failed and we ended up just going shopping for a bit on the first floor since even though it was a tech mart, the first floor consisted of clothing. That night I met my host mom and we went back to my host family's apartment, which was definitely a more awkward experience than I thought it would be. Even though I had tried to keep in touch with my host family throughout these two years, there was still an obvious distance both due to the language barrier and the fact it had been such a long time since I had seen them. Eventually it became less awkward though as we just sat around and watched TV. My host dad came back home next and joined us, followed by my host sister who I hadn't actually ever met before. She didn't get back until about 11 due to her job. We watched the show Gag Concert, which I had heard of, but never seen. It was really over-the-top humor so I didn't really find it that funny, but my host family was dying. Around midnight we headed out to a neighborhood cafe since I needed to use the internet and there was no wifi in the apartment. After that we watched an episode of some Korean crime drama about a super competitive high school.
Saturday, June 23rd
I met Rachel in the morning to look at 하숙집 (boarding houses) for the school year. The first one was absolutely frightening. It was essentially a box. There weren't any windows and the room consisted of a bed, desk, and clothing rack made out of piping. Those three things filled the room it was so small. I had an internal freak out because if all the 하숙집 looked like that it was going to be a disaster. I can't live in a such a cramped place. I need some breathing room. I don't need a gigantic room, but if there is that little space in a room, I will have nowhere to put my two suitcases, which would be a huge problem. The next couple kept improving though and I found one I legitimately liked. The lady wasn't sure if she would have an opening, but she said we could contact her to find out. After that I went shopping with Rachel at U-Plex, which had prices akin to US malls, hence we didn't buy anything. Malls here are also more iffy as to whether they'll let you try on clothes. I pretty much on principle try something on before I buy it, but here sometimes they won't let you at all or, in one place, you couldn't try on clothes that were white. After that Rachel left and I headed back to Yonsei to find the bus stop so I could go visit my host cousin. I saw a whole bunch of buses going by, but I couldn't figure out where they were all coming from. I stopped by one bus stop and it had only 2 local buses coming to it, so I figured that maybe I wasn't at the main entrance of campus. Thus I headed into campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. There's a whole wooded area, which is a surprise since Seoul is so crowded and cramped. It was really relieving though to walk around after getting so stressed looking at housing and feeling like they were all just little boxes. I could finally take some deep breaths. Anyway, 15 or 20 minutes later when I reached the other side of campus, I finally realized that the place I had entered campus was the main entrance, so I turned around and headed back in that direction. I ended up in the medical area of campus, which was a bit of a spider web to navigate, but I knew the general location of the main entrance, so it wasn't that bad. However, getting back to the main entrance still didn't solve my problem of not knowing where the buses were stopping. I finally realized that the buses were stopping in the middle of the roads. Yes, the bus stops were in the middle of the car lanes, meaning you had to walk halfway across the intersection to get to them. So I tried one that looked promising only to find out none of the eight buses I could take came there. So I had to cross another three intersections or so to get to the right one. By the time I found the right one I was pretty tired, so I didn't even bother to ask the bus driver if it was going in the right direction. I just sank into the seat and called it done, only to realize I was not going in the right direction. It didn't matter that much though because it just went in a 15-minute loop arriving back to Yonsei before heading off in the right direction. Another 20 minutes and I was finally at the right bus stop. I got off and called my host cousin, but she couldn't see me, so I had a brief internal groan, thinking I had messed up yet again. A moment later she saw me though, so that was good. We walked back to her parents'-in-law apartment, where she is living with her husband and baby until sometime in July when they move out to their own place. Her baby is absolutely adorable with the fattest cheeks I've ever seen. I also learned that Korean babies have what appear to be bruises on their feet and butt when they're born, but they disappear when they're toddlers. She didn't know the English word and I had never heard of it before, but I just looked it up and apparently it's called a Mongolian Spot in English. (Wikipedia link if anybody's interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_spot). Since I'm vegetarian, she didn't really know where we could eat out, so instead, she taught me how to cook some vegetarian Korean food. We made 호박 파전 (squash pancakes), 김치 파전 (kimchi pancakes), and 감자 파전 (potato pancakes). I was planning on going back to my host family's apartment afterwards, but it was about an hour and a half away and a bit complicated, so I decided to just spend the night there. I stayed up late doing more housing research before going to sleep at around 1 am.
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