Arirang

NY Philharmonic in North Korea

Interesting to note that while the (Korean) television news and CNN have made a note that the Philharmonic played "Arirang" - a traditional Korean song that EVERYONE knows - the English language newspapers made a point of saying that the concert "focused on American music." I'd link to the article, but I can't because of the love of flash-built web sites here.

Anyway.

Being home is nice. I like the coffee here (granted "here" means "in my apartment") but it seems like half the time I don't have hot water and I'm not sure what is up with that. I have a few more days of vacation, and then head back to work on Monday, though I have been told it would be nice if I could show my face at school today for some meeting for new and old teachers, which I'll probably do on my way to the gym.

Heading back

We get kicked out of our room in about two hours, but so far I'm doing well on the packing up of stuff. I need to shower and pack the last of that stuff, shove the laptop in the bag and I'm ready to go. I will probably try to hit one more bookstore before I take off, but it was really nice to realize that other than restaurants and a couple of little things, everything I REALLY want I can get within about an hour of home (if you include the fact that one of the bookstores delivers, as does costco now).

I have really liked being able to live here for a while, and I'll miss how easy everything is in Seoul, but I'm looking forward to being back home in Mokpo again.

Bombed it.

I bombed the test. And I think I'm the only one in my class who did that badly.

I know that this really doesn't mean anything, but I actually studied (although, granted, by the time the test came around, I had sort of resigned myself to my likelihood of failing, and sort of gave up) and so feel bad.

The class is over, and tomorrow I head back to Mokpo. I'll miss being in Seoul, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to being able to sleep in my own bed.

Doing my bit for the economy.

To add to the list of things about Seoul that bring me joy, I was able to find Addi turbo needles for $4/pair today for the 80cm cord (a little less than 32in). Last week, the 40cm (about 16in) were $5. Between the two days, I bought 10. I'm looking at it as a cost effective investment.

But sock needles? Crazy expensive - when I can find them.

(Translation for the non-knitters - I bought stuff that I will use a lot for much less money then they would cost in the States.)

Testing done!

Today was my final, and while I'm still pretty sure I bombed it, in the end it really doesn't matter even a little bit except to my overinflated-pseudo-intellectual ego. Which is to say, it DOES matter, but not really. At least I did better than I thought I would, which good. I still don't think I did WELL, but better than what I imagined.

We still have class on Monday (not so much making with the sense, but whatever) and I have about a million verbs to conjugate, but other than that, I'm starting the review process and the actual using of Korean part of learning Korean. Which is what this whole thing is all about, right?

There is climbing happening this weekend at Ganhyeon, which is a few hours outside Seoul. Because I'm not down with the freezing my ass off, I'm only going for the day on Sunday. Given the rain right now, I'm thinking that I made the good choice on this one. In news of the mundane for most folks, I'll be getting my eyebrows waxed, buying yarn, going to an international food store, and book shopping this weekend. For most folks, these things are no big deal, but since they are for the most part novelties for me at this point (especially given that I get to do them all in one day, and will maybe go to more than one bookstore) this is a BIG DEAL for me.

Seoul

+ Seoul is lots of fun with stuff to do, people to see, and food that isn't Korean to eat. All in all, lots and lots of good.
+ I understand a lot more Korean than before I got here, and feel like I'll have a base to do a language exchange once I get back to Mokpo.
+ Mexican food. This was probably covered in the "lots to eat" bullet, but it really is good enough to warrent it's own entry. So.Darn.Good.

- I just took a test that was not unlike the horror and stupidity felt in the face of elementary school spelling tests. Which is to say, lots and lots of horror and a general feeling of bad and not smart. UGH.

brain, shopping, climbing

I'm not sure if it is the lack of humidity in my room, that I'm not drinking enough water, that the ramyeon I had for lunch yesterday was loaded with MSG, or if Korean alcohol breaks my brain. It well may be a combination of all of the above, because there was no way that the amount of booze I drank should make my head feel the way it did in the middle of the night last night.

Lots of things are still closed down here. Some friends went for a never-ending hike yesterday (which, when recounted, was actually described as "Jess's version of Hell on Earth") and are going ice climbing today. ICE CLIMBING. HIKING. In 12 degree weather. People are crazy.

And speaking of crazy, it looks like we will be climbing at O2 on Saturday, which is nice and indoors and awesome. A few days ago I climbed at one of the local bouldering gyms, and it was great to see some of the stuff I was working on in Vietnam has stuck - thinking more, staying calm, better footwork - and so I'm psyched to try some vertical things this weekend.

Tuesday I went to a HUGE market for all things craft-related. Like, six stories of yarn, fabric, beads, any sort of frippery you could imagine, purse handles, zippers - EVERYTHING. Tons and tons of vendors. Any bobble or bangle your heart could desire. And most of the stalls were closed because of the holiday. I'll be heading back next week, as I have heard stories of Addi turbos for $5.00, and I'm willing to use a lot of bad Korean, smiling, and charades in order to find them in the maze of shops. Walking through the stalls, it was SO AMAZING - people were nice, but they left me alone to look. After being in other Southeast Asian countries where a series of shops like that would have been staffed by people who were hawking and begging me to buy things, it was really, really nice.

I wish more things were open - I might be going to the National Museum this afternoon for a "new year/calligraphy" class, and I will probably camp in a coffee shop for a while to study, basically as a means to get out a little bit.

class

I spent a while studying last night, and feel a little better about where I am. I still need to work on spelling and the rote memorization of things today, but I feel better about the general knowledge of what we did.

One of the hard things for me is that everything we are doing is in the "high form" language, which is fine in Seoul, but in schools and with most of what I need language for, the regular level is more easily understood and more appropriate. Though I think that once I master the higher form to be at the point where it is more than just word regurgitation, it shouldn't be too hard to break down.

Did I mention that the class is almost all immersion? As in, the teacher very rarely will use a word in Korean - written or spoken - to clarify something. And that the text book is all in Korean? There is a sort of dictionary we can buy that helps a bit, but WOW. I mean, it is AWESOME and I know that my comprehension is okay in terms of getting the gist of things, but I have more sympathy for most of my students right now (though it is also a good point that I'm at a beginner class, and my students have been studying English for a lot longer than I have been studying Korean AND have more support by having more information in Korean, so they should be able to do the same thing, one would think).

Seollal

Today starts Seollal - AKA Lunar New Year, AKA Chinese New Year. The fact that it sounds so much like "solar" was confusing, but then sometimes I'm simple like that.

Anyway, Sollar is a BIG BIG deal. The day before and after are also holidays, and I guess the buses and trains were and will be a mess, especially as this year it attaches to a weekend, giving people five days off - almost unheard of.

Koreans refer to this as the year of the mouse, which sounds a bit nicer than year of the rat. Mouse, rat, either way, if you are a rodent (like my baby brother - no, really, this really is his sign!), this is your year. If you want to find out your Chinese zodiac sign, here you go.

This means that I have five days to study and roam around the city, but there aren't a lot of places to roam TO - today so many places are closed and this was the day there was a better chance of finding things open.

Which is good on the study front - I feel like the course is a good level for me to be in, but it is challenging and I'm not at the top of the class, which is hard for me. I feel strong in the first session of the morning, but by the last session, my brain has ceased processing information.

Also, most folks know that I'm not a world-champion speller in English, and it seems that this is also an issue in Korean. Yay.

Living in Seoul

Last Friday, I got on a bus and headed up to Seoul, where I'll be for a little more than three weeks. I'm living in the Graduate dorm on the campus of Ewha Women's University, and am living with Nicola. She is helping me to be more of a hippie. This is good.

It was less than 24 hours before we were sneaking boys up to the floor, and the entire time we were giggling like we were 18. While there were many other differences, at least now I'm drinking Pinot Grigio as opposed to Boone's Farm. Go, adulthood. (Just to clarify, some people went bouldering today, so the guys came up last night. I have decided that climbing in below-freezing temperatures is crazy and not in keeping with my new "peace, love and happiness" zen of climbing, so I passed and went and did things like go out to lunch, go to bookstores and get my hair did.)

Saturday I took the placement test for the Korean course I'll be taking for the next few weeks, and was placed in the beginner level, which was sort of to be expected. I mean, if they had tested me on how well I could tell kids they were crazy or had a roll play where charades were allowed, it would have been TOTALLY different. But anyway, this will be good, as I think I'll learn a lot but it won't be overwhelming enough for me to not be able to enjoy living in Seoul.

I have a cool little "T-money" token (subway/bus pass) on my cell phone now, just like all the cool kids do, and I've bounced around this side of the city a bit in the past few days. Book and yarn stores and just learning my way around this place. This will be fun!

Also, I went to get my hair colored and cut, and for the first time I walked out of a salon in Korea with a great cut!! Yay, Seoul! We'll see if I'm able to maintain it without the army of people all blowing out my hair for me.