Learning to Fall in Love with Busan

Korean class day 3 went a lot better than the previous days. The teacher finally realized we were all struggling with her teaching method. We started off the class by playing Bingo. That helped so much because we had to call out the words. I was one line away from winning sadly. After class was over we were dismissed for one hour. Rachel, Allie and I decided to go back to the dorm room and have a snack from the store in the basement.

The 2^nd part of the day was spent recording the audio for the HangGilDong story. My one line was still very unentertaining. Due to technical difficulties the 10-minute recording took around 2 hours to finish. There was a representative from the Dong-A Taekwondo team there to listen to us and make sure everything was correct. So I enjoyed the view while he was there. After finally finishing the recording we were dismissed for the day.

It was only around 4 o’clock and all of our buddies wanted to so something with us. We all decided to go to the Nambodong area to look around all the different shops. Very few people bought anything because we are going on a field trip later on in our visit. We took the subway there. The area was very cool it had knockoff merchandise and street food vendors.

We all were getting hungry by this point so we all decided we wanted bulgogi. One of the Korean students knew of a good cheap place to go. We sat on the floor and got to cook our own food. My table had pork. This was the 4^th time we had experienced this kind of meal so we were professionals at it. The meal cost only around $4, including a bottle of Soju per table.

After dinner we took the city bus back to the bus stop for the school bus and ended up waiting an eternity, as always, for a bus. Tomorrow we will go on a field trip to an old town. And tour around there. It has a lot of traditional type places.

The group of KSS students are all coming our of their shells. We all getting comfortable with one another and make friendships. I know after this trip I will have made some life long friends. I'm beginning to fall in love with this town named Busan!!


Highlights of the evening:
I ate a caterpillar at dinner and the hottest pepper that i ever ever put in my mouth.. I almost cried it was so bad. 

Annyounghasehyo... Hello

The 2^nd day of Korean class was a little bit better… I still need to make flash cards because I can’t remember all of the letters and sounds they make. But we learned how to introduce ourselves today basically. Daniel (the Korean-American) said I spoke with a Southern Korean accent when he was helping me. After class was dismissed the whole KSS group decided to go into town and have lunch. We all made the trek down the 108 steps from the main building to the street. We found a whole in the wall Korean restaurant. All 14 students piled into it. There were pictures on the walls of some food and prices. We all made our decisions form the pictures or by looking at what other people had. Thankfully Daniel ordered for our table. I’m not sure how the other table ordered but they managed. I had something to the effect of country fried pork (like country fried steak) and of course rice and some veggies. It was delicious. I cleaned my plate. The prices there were really cheap, my meal cost 3500 Won ($3.50).  After we finished lunch we all hiked back to the main building and went to class for a Korean Politics lecture. It was really interesting. I learned a lot, and will be very interested on the next South Korean Presidential election next year. The professor that did the lecture believes a lady will win. This would be the first time a female will be president.  

After the one-hour lecture we met our buddies and our group to work on our school mission. My groups project is slowly coming together. Today we made most of the artwork we will use at the school. We are all getting comfortable with one another and learning each other’s personalities and picking on one another. The group I am in is very diverse. I am the only American girl, and then the rest are from the UK. One guy is Chinese but born in London, another guy is Israeli, there is a girl that is from Bangladesh and then the lady who is 61 and going back to school. Our buddies are also in our groups with us. So with that combination there is a lot to be learned, but very entertaining.

We were released at 5 to have dinner. Some caught the bus just in time while the rest of us had to wait at the bus stop for 15 minutes. After the bus finally came back around we went to the dorm and got our tickets and went to the cafeteria. Rice, kimchi and fish were tonight’s choices. I had rice. After dinner we had to go back and work on another mission. We are sound dubbing the Korean folktale “HongGildong”. I wanted a main character part but they were all male parts. So I got stuck with the secretary part… that is one line sadly.

Ps: I am currently making note cards to study with.. joy!

Korean class begins

After being in Korea for over a week now we finally started our Korean class. Sadly I’m already lost. It is very difficult. The teacher speaks Korean the entire time, which I know is the right thing, but the class is already difficult. We learned the basic alphabet today and how to read basic words. I need them spelled out phonetically instead of listening to be able to grasp the concept. So hopefully JiHyun, my buddy, can help me.

The guy from California that is full Korean and speaks it fluently but reads on a very low level said the class was even hard for him. So that made me feel a lot better. Being able to read is the beginning of speaking the language so hopefully this will get better. Tomorrow’s unit looks to be on basic conversation.

Oh yeah, late last night around midnight the speakers in the dorm went off saying something, in Korean, so we didn’t know what they said. About 30 minutes later someone came knocking on all of our doors to check the rooms. So obviously the announcement said they were having a random room check to make sure everyone was in. we have a curfew of 12 or either 1 we are unsure. But if you are late they will not let you in so you have to find a comfy place outside. We learned random room checks are normal when asking around today.

Back to today’s events… after class we met our buddies and had lunch. Lunch consisted of a lot of different types of danishes and sweet bread. I had a danish with a hotdog in it. I’ve seen this a lot so I decided to try it. It was different, but I don’t believe I will be eating it again. After finishing up with lunch we took an hour bus ride to a small village area to make pottery.

But in order to get to the building we had to hike up a huge mountain in the heat. We were all beat by the time we made it there. The pottery experience was fun. I tried making a bowl, but the man who owned the place came and completely redid mine.  We finished off our pottery class with tea, green tea of course. We watched the man make traditional tea and we were served rice cake. Lane and Allie liked these cakes more while Rachel and I like the ones we got to make in Incheon better.

After a picture we waited for everyone to finish looking around and taking pictures of grass, like they had not ever been around grass before (UK kids), it was blistering hot. Rachel and I decided to lead the pack back down the mountain. The bus ride was very pretty we got to see the green mountainous area that we all hear about when we hear of Korea. But I decided I would take advantage of the quiet bus ride. I had a great nap on the way back into Busan.

It was dinnertime when we got back to campus so all of the Korean Summer Session students (KSS, all of the foreigners in this program) went to the cafeteria and had dinner. This was much better than the food was this weekend. We were all pleased. Rice and kimchi were on the menu as always and either chicken or pork I could not tell, but it was great. And to change it up instead of hot green tea with the meal they served what was a combination of tea and lemonade… little do they know that it is called an Arnold Palmer in the States.

After dinner we took the bus back to the academic building and met with our groups for the elementary school mission. My group is planning on doing something with fairytale characters and super hero’s. I’m really not sure of the direction we are going, but we will figure it out. I got assigned Snow White. I joked and said I had to have 7 men if I was going to be Snow White. Ms. Na surprised us all and got us pizza to snack on while we were working. We had traditional Korean pizza, from Dominos.  My group’s pizza had cheese, ham, sweet potatoes and kiwi. Surprisingly it was sweet and delicious. We were all starving because dinner is served at 5:30 every evening.

Tomorrow we have class again and then a short lecture on Korean politics. I know this will be fun for me to hear how this country’s political system works. I think tomorrow afternoon and evening is dedicated to working on the mission again. Everyone is starting to warm up to one another. The UK kids (as I call them) are starting to acknowledge us more, this weekend will be the test when we go on an over night trip together.

Maybe in my next post I will be able to say Hello and Good Night!!

PS:  Ms. Na informed me this evening that Monday the Lander students will get to have lunch with the President of Dong-A. This makes me very proud to know we are the only ones invited.

Happy 4th... from Korea

Our first Monday at Dong-A started off with orientation. We met our buddies at the bottom of the steps and rode the bus to the education building. They took us to the classroom to meet the other international students. We went over rules and the schedule and then introduced ourselves. There are 10 students from the UK, 4 girls 6 guys. And then there is a guy from California who is actually full Korean and speaks fluent Korean, but doesn’t read it well.

After the introduction of the program we walked to the cafeteria that is used for staff and had a good meal, much better than the cafeteria used for the students. After lunch we all got on the bus with our buddies and headed to the other two campuses of Dong-A, both about 15 minutes apart.  The first one we visited is the original campus and is very old looking, but is home to the medical school and art school. But on this site they have the Dong-A Medical Center. Dong-A has a pretty well known medical school. After walking through the nature trail area we got back on the bus and went to the other campus, which is the newest, and in the center of town more so. There we went on a bridge that connected two of the buildings. It was a pretty awesome view from there.

At the newest campus they also have the Dong-A University Museum. That has artifacts from the ancient days. The Lander group didn’t have much interest because we saw many of the same types of things in Seoul at the National Museum of Korea. Our buddies and the lady in charge understood us, thankfully.

Once everyone decided they had enough of the museum we went to Lotte Mart, this is similar to E-Mart that I mentioned we went to in Incheon. We got more snacks. And I got some flip flops to wear in the horrid shower. After everyone finished their tour of the 5 story store we dined at a buffet style restaurant. The food was delicious. We all went around once again and introduced ourselves. And got our “missions” for the rest of the month.

1.     We are going to a kindergarten class and have to tell a story and act it out or play a game with the kids.

2.     We have a final presentation with 2 others on something that we have learned. The topic list was given to us.

3.     We must act out a Korean folk tale… the recording will be sent back to our school.

Today was the 4^th of July. I spent is with a bunch of English kids that didn’t seem to want to get to know any Americans. Maybe they are just mad that on this days years ago we decided to leave them and run things the way we wanted to. Just a thought. Hopefully the next 4 weeks will get better with them, some seem pretty cool. If not the buddies that we were placed with are perfect matches for us. Mine is just like me, we looked at each other so many times today and could tell what each other w thinking. I am supposed to go stay with her family this weekend, hopefully it will all work out because I know we will have a lot of fun!!

Tomorrow morning we start Korean language class. It will be a challenge but I am looking forward to learning a new language. Hopefully I will be able to grasp it well so I can at least learn how to order a pizza next time we want one. Hope everyone back hope is having a Happy 4^th of July. I can see the ocean from my window… but no fireworks…                                                                 

Kimchi Rice... Pizza Hut... New World...

Our first full day at Dong-A started off with us sleeping really late. It felt really nice to not have to wake up at a certain time. After we got ready we went down to the basement to eat lunch. Today we had kimchi rice basically. And some other things that we didn’t have because we couldn’t tell when kind of vegetable it was. We were also served seaweed soup and strawberry yogurt. After this meal we decided we would have to figure out a different plan for dinner.

Throughout the rest of the day we played on the internet and napped. We were told the buses didn’t run on Sundays so we didn’t think we could go into town to look around. But we did see the buses running so we were unsure. I took a nap because there wasn’t much else to do.

It is very humid in our rooms. Air drying our clothes that we washed last night is a little difficult because of the dampness in the air. Along with straightening my hair, it goes right back to being wavy. So it is pointless. It is still very quiet around here. The students from the UK arrived late last night and this afternoon. I have not met them yet but the other girls met 2 girls that are on our hall.

I didn’t mention this yesterday but the bathrooms in the dorm are bit of a challenge to use. The shower is all in the same room as the toilet and sink. The showerhead is connected to the sink faucet. In order to shower you have to hold the showerhead. This is going to be a crazy 4 weeks when it comes to showering.

We all came to the conclusion that we did not want to eat in the cafeteria for dinner tonight so we went on a mission to figure out how to order pizza. This was hard. The Pizza Hut website was in full Korean so we couldn’t order online. The group of us went downstairs to the internet café to try to make a new friend to help us order pizza. Rachel and I got very frustrated and took a walk around the basement. Luckily Lane and Allie have patience and looked very needy and got some help. A really sweet girl figured out what they wanted and called pizza hut for us. We got a large cheese pizza but no breadsticks. We were unsure of the time it would come but understood that we need to go to the bottom of the steps and wait on the guy on the moped.

It came within 15 minutes. And it was the best pizza I had ever put in my mouth. We were all in need of a little bit of American food. The 4 of us devoured the pizza and decided we would make it a tradition, probably more than once a week. It was only around $17 delivery included, so it was definitely worth it. I’m so happy we now have the number and a receipt that we can just show someone to know what to order for us.

Tomorrow our buddies will pick us up and go to orientation and on a campus tour will pick us up. Tomorrow evening we will have a welcome dinner. So at least tomorrow we will be busy and around other people, today my dorm room got smaller and smaller. But Rachel, Allie, Lane and I are getting along great and are becoming really good friends. After pizza we all just laid around and talked like we had known each other for years. We all understand this is a great learning experience being placed in an environment that we are not used to. We are learning how to adapt while learning a lot about ourselves. I can’t wait for the next 4 weeks and what they will bring. 

Good Bye Incheon... We will meet again.. Hello HOT Busan

Leaving Incheon was very sad this morning. EunJi, Wansai and Mr. Choi picked us up at the hotel at 9:30 and took us to the train station. Before boarding we got a sandwich at a café in the station to take on the train. Saying good-bye to the group was hard. The past week in Incheon was a great experience. We were treated like royalty. Mr. Choi was always looking out for us and doing what ever he could to help us and make us happy. Wansai always tried to make us laugh and pick on me. And EunJi was so sweet to us. I can’t wait to see her when she gets to Greenwood!!

Boarding the train was done in a rush because the train only stops for 2 minutes at each stop. Once again the luggage was a chore to get situated. Next time I go somewhere I am only packing 3 outfits. And not taking my big duffle back pack that I have named “Big Bertha”. Everyone has laughed because it is so heavy. Thankful this always helps because my luggage is always carried for me.

When we arrived in Busan after the 2 and  half hour ride our buddies greeted us at the doors. JiHyan is my buddy here. We are a perfect match to be paired up. She was dressed so cute and speaks great English. She is an English and French major.  After a 20 minute taxi ride we were finally at Dong-A. After getting our luggage in our room and learning to work the air we took the bus to town to buy some food and things for the room.

The town of Busan is so cute but large. It is very different from Incheon or Seoul. We went into a market that had the necessary items; even the cute little bananas that I saw for the first time in Incheon. We all got a few drinks and snacks to keep us happy. We learned that the Dong-A bus goes into town all the time so we can catch it whenever we need to go. On the way to the market we saw a Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut and Starbucks. I think once we learn our way around we will explore more.

After the ride back to school we counted the steps it is up to the door of our dorm … 93 steps.. so this will be a 4 week diet and work out plan for sure! When we got back to our rooms we said bye to our buddies. We will be back with them on Monday. We all unpacked and washed clothes. Dinner was served in the basement of the dorm at 5:30… on the menu.. kimchi and rice. Needless to say I feel like we stood out like a sour thumb in the cafeteria. We had no clue what to do. But the security guard motioned for us to come sit as his table and he showed us the green tea and napkins. This s a whole new learning experience being in a dorm on our own in Korea.

The view from our room is amazing. I will take more pictures tomorrow because we have all of tomorrow to relax. The other foreign students form the UK will be here late tonight. 

Lotte World.. Last Day in Incheon

We began at 9:30 this morning. The group met us and we rode to Seoul to go to Lotte World. This is an amusement park that is part indoor part outdoor. It was like 6 Flags just a little smaller. The mascots for Lotte world are Lotty and Lorry. The rides were really fast to be at a park that size. While waiting in line for the last we got Smoothie Kind, which is amazing! There was a parade through the indoor park with the mascots and other dancers, which was pretty cool.  We had a lot of fun today with the group of buddy students. We came back to Incheon and changed clothes to go to dinner. We dined at a traditional restaurant that you can cook you on food at. EunJi and Wansai each gave us a gift. And we had a few toast to our great time in Incheon.

I have enjoyed my time in Incheon so much. Tomorrow is going to be very tough leaving the great friends we have made here. I know after one week I have made great friendships. I can’t wait to have EunJi in Greenwood come August 23^rd. but hate that Wansai and the other can’t join here.

We will leave Inchoen tomorrow and head to Busan for 4 weeks. Our buddy students will pick us at the train station. I am very excited to meet a new group of people and start a new journey in another part of Korea. This trip has been amazing so far. The group that Lander chose to represent them here is amazing. We all are so different form one another, but yet have things in common. If it were not for this trip I don’t believe some of our paths would have ever crossed but I am thankful that they did. We are all learning a lot about Korean Pop Culture thanks to Rachel. Or as she became at dinner Rachel Ray because she took charging of cooking our meal.

I love Incheon and everyone that we met!! See you in Busan!!