Fun Things Thus Far

In the haste to complain of my ailments, I forgot to mention all the fun stuff I have done.
So, here goes:

I went to Everland, again. This time Suji (Simon's buddy at Ewha), Andreas (Simon's brother), and obviously Simon made the trip. This time, I rode the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. The line was about half an hour wait, but it was definitely worth it. I was pumped with adrenaline, scared of falling out of the train (it was only a lap bar). However, it was one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on. It started with the huge drop (77 degrees of free fall). The dips and turns, though not always big, created enough force to make me feel like I was falling or going to be thrown out the side. To say the least, the thrill was maintained throughout the duration of ride. It's too bad that none of us brought a camera with that day.

I also went to Namsan Tower.
The fencing around the base observatory decks were heavy with locks. Sometimes they were simple locks with just the names and date, others were complex set of 12 red locks in the shape of a heart...

The War Memorial was very interesting. I kind of skipped over a whole lot, because I had a headache and couldn't read without adding to the pain. So, I would like to go again, before I leave.


LAST WEEKEND, Simon, Andreas, and I met up with Jimmy. He was an exchange student at Ewha last semester. He's Korean, but his family is in the process of moving to Canada. (I'm only mentioning this because otherwise the story is bizarre and unlikely.) His dad used to work for a company that has housing in Sokcho, where we wanted to go for the weekend. So, his dad booked a room for us, which ended up being free. Isn't it bizarre that a company would still offer a former employee a free room, which wasn't even for the former employee, but his son and friends? This is Korea.

We originally planned on going to the beach one day and mountain hiking the next. Saturday, the weather was okay in the morning, but it got cloudy and rained later in the afternoon. At the beach, I noticed that all of the Koreans just wore their regular clothes. If they got wet, they got wet. No Koreans wore swimming suits, which made the foreigners really noticeable. Although, most didn't even go swimming. They may have gotten a bit of their pants wet, but that's it. I think it's because many Koreans don't know how to swim. Jimmy was saying that swimming lessons aren't really a priority, and hardly any schools (besides large universities) have pools for people to learn. He was afraid to go in too far, because he doesn't know how to swim. This is just amazing to me.

This is Jimmy. We buried him well, with his favorite shirt to keep him warm.

Side note: my roommate and some other int'l students decided to go Seokcho the same Saturday. So, I ran into my roommate on the beach. I guess we had the same thought, but just didn't invite one another...

We also visited the Expo Tower. I gladly took the elevator up the 15 stories. Besides, I don't think we could walk up.

The weather was soooooo nice the next day, so we decided to hit up the beach again. We went speed boating, which was fun but too expensive. Simon really wanted to go, because he had never gone cruising around at high speeds in a boat before. We ended up discussing the differences in American and Belgian summer leisure time. Basically, Americans seem snobbish for owning toys like boats, jet skis, cabins, etc. He has never been water skiing or tubing in his life. I was rather shocked. I'm fairly certain that all of my friends have been speed boating, have gone water skiing/tubing/wakeboarding, or been to someone's cabin. Maybe Americans really are spoiled by such luxuries.

How Quickly a Semester Becomes a Year

So, my semester abroad has turned into a year abroad. I'm happy that I got to go home for 2 months, but I really missed Korea. Don't worry, dear family, I will be home for Christmas.

I went home June 17th, volunteered at a Korean culture camp (this time as a resident counselor) and I worked at 3M to pull in some extra cash. Here's the good news: I finally got a 30 cent raise. I am grateful they gave me a job when I came back, after skipping town for so long.


Before I came back to Korea, I went to Belgium for 9 days. That was a great adventure. I saw old buildings, small towns, ate wonderful mussels, fresh bread, rabbit, fries with mayo and ketchup...it was all delightful. Simon and I went to Amsterdam, too, to meet a friend from spring semester. We hung out at the zoo, which turned out to be quite an eventful day. We made it to Antwerp, which I thought was a lovely city. We found shelter inside a mall, since it was raining quite hard. I found a nice scarf when we were shopping. Then, we went to the seaside (Ostend), where I met his friends. They were very nice, except when they were throwing bread in my direction so the seagulls would flock over me. That was a frightening moment. The movie, Birds, came to mind. The next day, we went to Bruges, wandered the city, and took a lovely boat ride on the canal. I went to his university (Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven), ate a huge kebap, adventured on the outside of a cathedral (we couldn't find the entrance door...) We also went to an open air museum that showed the traditional parts of Belgium. I don't think much of the Midwest has museums like this. We have civil war reenactments. That's not really the same though. Maybe the east coast? I had a great time, and I want to visit again. I know there was so much that I didn't get to see.

Since I've been back to Korea, I've gotten really sick. Now, let me put this in a time frame for you. Classes began on September 1st. That day, I went to the clinic on campus. They basically give the same drugs for most ailments. Somehow, I made it to my classes that day, but obviously feeling terrible. On September 2nd, around 5am, I went to the ER. This was a very frustrating situation, because the nearest ER was apparently full. We were sent to a much smaller one, where the doctor kept asking me if I spoke Korean. I was in no way condition to practice speaking Korean when I was sick. The diagnosis: viral pneumonia. They gave me super strong medication, and I basically slept for 5 days. I slept through the rest of my classes that week. Good thing my schedule has free Fridays.

After sleeping for nearly a week, I was able to stay awake for Simon's birthday on the 7th. Simon's brother, Andreas and I went out to buy a cheesecake from Baskin Robbins. This is the time that I curse being lactose intolerant. I absolutely love cheesecake, and it doesn't matter how many lactaid pills I take, cheesecake is too much dairy in one serving. Take a smaller slice you say? I tried that. Maybe I can only have a bite, but that's just mean and tortuous to myself.

My second week of classes went much better. I was still exhausted, but at least I attended all of them. It's a holiday weekend here. This holiday is supposed to be the time that everyone can be with their families. No class on Monday! Happy Chuseok everyone.

Side Note: If you haven't seen Wall-E, go see it. I thought it was a great movie.