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.

Some Topics I Should Have Discussed Earlier

Recently, I had lunch with a girl from my sorority, who studied abroad in China last semester. We shared stories, much that were the same. Then, I realized that there are some things about Korea that I probably should have mentioned:

For those of you who don't know, I attended Ewha Womans University. It is the top womans university in Korea and ranks 4th among all Korean universities. The girls usually come from wealthy families, but still complain that the tuition is too high. Any guesses on how much it costs for a semester? $4 000 is the tuition rate (per semester) for this prestigious school. I told those girls not to complain.

Traffic: The idea is to flow like a river. If there's space that you can fit, go there. Red lights are a polite suggestion. Motorcycles and scooters go to the front of traffic to wait at a stoplight. Motorcycles also have big hand mits. I personally find them quite hilarious. Taxi drivers are crazy and drive quickly so they can get more business. However, it is fairly reasonable to take a general taxi (as opposed to deluxe taxis that charge more for higher quality service). Flat fee is 1900 KWN or about $1.90 for the first 2km. Additionaly 10 cents for every 144 meters or 35 seconds if sitting in traffic. Bus drivers drive like they're in a nascar race. They also don't know how to shift properly and must be killing the transmission.

On the Streets: It is so easy to barter on the streets. The numerous clothing shops make it easier to shop, although I found it difficult to shop for pants. Many places didn't have places to try things on. Some shops wouldn't let me try on clothes or unfold shirts. That's when I got stressed out and bought ice cream instead. I couldn't complain much though. I bought two shirts for $10. I won't start on the fashion, because I don't understand it. Besides clothing, there also are cheap street food and fruit sold. There was even a guy with a "Cocktail Take-out" stand. He sold multitudes of cocktails for about $4. I never had the enthusiasm to buy one, but I thought it was interesting to sell it in front of a womans university.

American restaurants: Subway, Burger King, Quiznos, Cold Stone, Baskin Robbins, Bennigans, Outback Steakhouse, McDonalds (they deliver in Seoul), Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts -Koreans really love donuts. I don't know why- Starbucks, Caribou Coffee, and probably more that I can't think of right now.

Jeju Island and the Trip Home

Simon and I flew down to Jeju at 4pm. It only takes an hour from Seoul, which is awesome. We had booked a pension called Herb Beach. Our taxi driver from the airport was crazy. He stopped quite frequently and even got out of the cab to ask for directions to the pension. The first night, we scoped out the surrounding area and then ate sushi bibimbop.

Saturday:
*We had the nice lady at the pension call a cab for us. We went to the information center to find out some things to do. We went to the Dragon Rock. From a distance, I suppose it looks like a dragon. At the same place, we saw some of the old women divers. Afterwards, we went to Samsunghyeol, the origin place of the three demi-gods. When we were there, it started raining. It continued until early the next morning.

*We took a bus (only 3000won) to the Mongalgul (lava tube cave) towards the east side of the island. I'm fairly certain the cave was my favorite thing of the day. We nearly missed the stop though. I'm sure the bus drivers was thinking “stupid foreigners.” We had to walk about 2km from the bus stop to the cave. Fortunately, a cab stopped and picked us up halfway.

This was at the end of the lava tube. I wish I could remember everything about it...

It became extremely windy by the time we left the cave area. Simon's umbrella hilariously blew inside out.

Sunday:
We met up with Ralf. Oh, it was a blast. We took a bus out east again, to Sunrise Peak. I didn't realize we were going to climb the thing. It just proved how out of shape I am. One of the old women pulled the octopus out of the tank and diced it.

*After the funky mountain, we took a cab out to see a huge crater. This crater was really huge, but quite overpriced.

This is a harubong. They're all over Jeju. No one really knows why they're there, but they are. Then, we had to wait for 45minutes for the next bus to come. In the mean time, while we were wasting time, again, we got someone to take a picture for us, and we played a lame version of baseball with our umbrellas and pinecones.
We found samgyeopsal for dinner. It was alright. Simon and I went back to our pension and said goodbye to Ralf. We were quite exhausted from the day of traveling and sightseeing.

Monday:
We rented a cab for the day (10:00 – 6:00) picking us up from the pension and finally dropping us off at the airport all for about $75-80. Our cab driver kept asking if we were on our honeymoon. There were many embarassed looks and awkward moments.

First, we stopped at Hallim Park. That was really cool, because it was so big. It had many gardens: palm tree, botanical, bird, water, and even caves.

Then, we quickly stopped at the beach to take a picture. After that, we were off to the south. Our driver suggested the Osulloc Cha Museum (Tea). We saw many tea fields and a bunch of tea cups. Since everything was in Korea, we didn't really spend much time there. At least it was free.

We skipped the next botanical garden and instead went to take a boat ride around rock cliffs. Then, we actually went to see the rocks. We whipped through that a lot faster than we thought. So, once we got through that, we went to see the Chyeonji Falls. It really was beautiful. There were prayer areas, too. The whole site was relaxing. We saw a scuba diver in the river, picking up money around the statue. I think he was just trying to pick up a few bucks. We also went to the Mysterious Road. The car was turned off and put in neutral. Then, it starts to roll uphill. It was crazy, just bizarre. I have no idea how that could happen.

This was at a rock museum that was our last quick stop before the airport. See how strong I am?!
It was all scrambling and packing as much as I could in my suitcase. I ended up leaving all my books there. Simon said he'd send a huge box with all my stuff. He brought me to the airport this morning, but he had to leave before I got everything checked. We got my drum packed. I hope it makes it safely through the luggage.

My first flight was long. The old guy next to me kept sucking stuff out of his teeth. It was so gross. Connecting flight: originally, it was supposed to leave at 1:15. Then, when I checked in, it said departure was at 12:50. So, I was happy about that. However, the plane coming in had to land early in Austin, TX, due to the bad weather around here. So, my flight was delayed 3 hours. BUT, I made it home. Now, I'm just trying to get through the jetlag.

Where Did June Go?

No idea where June went. It has gone by so quickly. I can't believe I haven't posted yet. I suppose I've been very busy, ill, and whatnot. I don't remember most of what went on either. I remember there was a week of humidity and heat. Then a week of rain. That was disgusting because the rain here is acidic. Plus, it got really cold. I do remember meeting up with Mary and her friend. I also did a bit of last-minute shopping. Shopping for clothes makes me stressed out. It's so difficult to find what I actually think looks okay. Half the shirts here would be okay if they didn't have the big bow on it or was made in a solid color instead of crazy patterns. It's the Korean style.

I brought one of my Dutch friends to the tailor to get a suit. (Yes, this is the same tailor that kept messing up on my brothers' orders.) Anyways, I decided to get two more shirts. When I went back to pay for the shirts, he only charged me for one, since I had brought another friend. How awesome is that?! I was really excited. So, I have three tailored shirts now, but I only paid for one. I would consider that a great deal. The tailor is in Itaewon, which is a high touristic place for foreigners. It's next to the US military base. Anyways, the Belgian Embassy is also in Itaewon. Simon came with to apply for a driver's license.

More recent happenings:

Last Sunday, I got food poisoning. It was the worst stomachache ever, in addition to a high fever, and a bit of vomitting. Let me tell you, that was definitely the worst way to go into finals. I pretty much didn't move for a couple days.

I just finished my finals...Let summer begin.

Today, there is a farewell party for the international students. I've been promised a hilarious slideshow, a 'Miss Ewha' Contest with only male entries (the international program is co-ed, even though Ewha is a women's university), and free pizza. This afternoon, I'm going to Jeju Island. It's a famous island, south of the peninsula. It's particularly known for being windy, its statues, and many women. Supposedly, there are no beggars or thieves on this island, and the homes don't have front doors. It's very touristic and popular for honeymooners. So, it should be really interesting. I get back late Monday night, and then my flight home is early Tuesday. I will post pictures when I get back to the US of A.

Recent Happenings

I updated "So My Brothers Came to Visit!" article. I added a video of them stuffing bulgogi in their mouths.

Simon and I went to Eastern to visit the babies. They are quite adorable. Simon really loved this little guy because he was so calm and happy.

This little guy was so hungry. He fell asleep while eating, but would wake up every time I tried pulling the bottle out of his mouth. It was like victory when he finished--extremely tiring but satisfying. He passed out immediately.
The international program also had the 'Mini-Olympics' last Friday. It consisted of a soccer game, dodgeball (although, a bizarre version), group jump rope, dangerous relay, and 6-legged race. It's difficult to take interesting pictures of these events. So, I shall not bore any of my readers with those ones.

Other news: I have 4 more days of Korean class, then finals... I am quite nervous for those finals, because we've learned so much new material in the last month and a half. It's amazing how quickly a semester goes by.

Some Random Bits of Information Part II

On Wednesday, I went on a boat ride on the Han River with a bunch of international students. The international program put together a free ride for the first 28 students who responded.

We stopped at an island. The water is cleaned through the aquatic plants.

I went to see the babies at Eastern Child Welfare Society on Thursday. It's the agency that I was adopted through. I must say, those babies are adorable. Simon came with me, and he pretty much had a great time talking in Dutch and Korean to the babies. In the nursery, I met a couple from Minneapolis that are adopting a baby. They were so nervous, because it's their first child. I also filled out a form about being an escort. The guy said that it was unlikely that they'd need my help, since more and more parents are coming to Korea to get their children.

This is Simon holding YuTae, who passed out shortly after he was held.

Sarah and Cindy -both Korean adoptees- are here now. I met with them yesterday for dinner. They brought me reeses peanut butter cups, so I'm pretty excited about that.

It's difficult to believe that the semester is coming to a close so quickly. Now, I just need to study like crazy for my Korean final. It's becoming a bit more difficult to study, since the weather is nice most of the time. Although, It's been a humid and hazy for the last few days.