Today in language class we spent a little over an hour trying to learn some Korean songs. Here is one of the songs they were trying to get us to learn.
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Also, you know those songs you hear on the radio that you get tired of hearing because you there them way too often? Well there’s a song like that here, except I don’t listen to the radio, stores have it on all the time. Every time I go out walking down the street I’m bound to hear it at least 2 or 3 times. It’s driving me crazy. Honey Honey, Honey Honey etc… etc…
I finished my last mid term today. Luckily that is well behind me. My Korean language class has started up. The class starts at 9am and goes till 1pm Monday through Friday. That ontop of my other two classes has really increased my work load. Also the American Football team is ramping up. We have our first game on May 3rd and we are nowhere near ready! We are going to be practicing a lot these next two weeks to prepare.
I’ll share a little info about my language class. I am glad I am in the class, much of the language that I had learned before is starting to come back to me now. Sure it sucks getting up for class every morning, but I think of the many things I’d like to take away from my experience here, picking up more of the language is definitely high up on the list.
The language class is pretty small, there are 14 of us in the class. There is only one other student who lives in the international dorm house with me and who is also a Yonsei student. The rest are just Korean Language Institute students. The KLI is part of Yonsei university, but many attend just the KLI. The girl who is in my class that is the other international dorm student is from Taiwan. There is one other American in the class, a guy from Canada, a guy from France and one other guy from Taiwan. The rest are girls, and all but one are from Japan. So I’ve made friends with several people from Japan now.
I am also now hoping to get the opporutunity to visit Taipai. The tickets from Seoul are really cheap, just over $200 round trip. I also intend to go to Japan at least once and hopefully twice. I will visit Tokyo and then visit somewhere more south later like Osaka. I will also go to Beijing, and if time and money permit I’d like to visit Hong Kong or Shanghai.
For now I am done with mid term exams. I think I did ok. Probably not stellar, but I think I did fine. Now it’s on to a tough couple weeks of practice.
I almost forgot, last Saturday I went to the horse races here in Seoul. It took me a little bit to figure out how to bet (it’s all in Korean of course). But I was able to do it. I lost $10 on my first bet, I then bet $15 on my second bet and won $15 dollars back… then I decided to stay for one more race. That race I bet $14 and I won $24! So I broke even. That’s about it for now. Hopefully I’ll have some more exciting things to share soon.
Sorry for the delay, my computer crash held me up. But back up and running again!
April 1st I went with several people to go watch the World Cup qualifying match between North Korea and South Korea at World Cup Stadium in Seoul. Earlier in the day I was able to buy a jersey to wear to the game. There was a large group of us, maybe 60 or so from the international house headed to the game. The subway was packed for people headed to the game. At one point on the subway my cell phone was ringing in my pocket but I couldn’t answer it because I couldn’t move at all.
– Click the images to enlarge –
Phong and I with our jerseys. Phong has the white away jersey and I have the red home jersey.
part of our group at the game
We were able to sneak a bunch of bear and soju into the stadium. It just took a simple sneaky bag pass over the fence. We had over seven liters of beer for the four of us. We had finished it all by half time.
The game was pretty good. I imagined that North Korea (DPRK) would have bussed some supporters down, but it didn’t appear as though there were any North Korean’s at the game. I took some video of the game, it was interesting to see that during DPRK’s national anthem they don’t place their hand on their heart whereas the South Korean’s do.
North Korea in white, South Korea in red.
The game was a tie of zero to zero until the last three minutes of the game. South Korea scored a goal and the end of the game was 1-0. We then headed to a bar to go celebrate!
sporting the flag at the bar!
Check out this video from the game. Here you’ll see a bit of the opening, the DPRK national anthem, the ROK national anthem, and finally the goal that won the game!
Last Sunday I went with a group of friends to go see a fashion show in Seoul. You buy tickets and you attend the catwalk shows. They were pretty cool. I was looking forward to seeing what the Korean models would look like. I was surprised. They were really… really… skinny. In a not so attractive way. The show was pretty cool though. The first show of the day I really liked, it was dark and the music picks were great. It was much different than the rest of the shows we saw that day where the music that had been picked was pretty much all recognizable stuff. I felt like the first show had more character.
The mayor of Seoul attended the second show. I got to see him as he walked passed me about five feet away.
Here’s a little montage clip I threw together of the fashion show.
My buddy Matt Ball came out and spent several days in Seoul last week. He arrived Saturday night, the night I was still recovering from the Football Members Training. Sunday we met up and went to the MyungDung area. Down there is an old cathedral and a major shopping district. We then went to Dongdaemun stadium to another shopping area. The place is filled with hilarious t-shirts. Phrases that don’t make sense and so many t-shirts with just ridiculous typos.
Click to enlarge - Sunday mass
Click to enlarge - Read the quote
Monday Matt paid for a tour and visited some palaces. When he returned Mike and I met up with him and went to Itaewon so Mike could buy some shoes. Mike and I went to football practice and Matt met us up after and we went to the all you can eat meat buffet place for some BBQ.
Tuesday Matt went on the DMZ tour while I was in class. Then we went out to dinner that night and went out to Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is located near the middle of the city up on a big hill, it’s kind of like the stratosphere and you get a 360 view of the city. We then went back to meet up with friends for a couple of bars and then after drinking a whole lot we went to the norae bong or karaoke room. There was about seven or eight of us and we sang songs for almost two hours. It was soon 4am and we went home to bed.
Click to enlarge - Ate some fish.
Seoul Tower
Matt singing his heart out
Wednesday Matt and I trekked down to the Korea National Museum. The museum was very nice, it was very big and had a lot of history inside. We spent several hours there. It was also free!
Korean warrior
We went back to the nearby area of the hotel and went to the Ewha area and had some bulgogi at a place I like to go to often. You get a full meal that is really good and it’s only 5,000 won ($3.75). We then went to Coldstone ice cream for desert. We had decided we didn’t want to stay out too late because of the early plane ride in the morning so we headed back toward the hotel, I was planning on getting my haircut the next day so I wanted to cruise by the area to make sure I knew where the place was that I wanted to go to. I was shocked to see that at 10:10pm they were still open cutting hair so we walked in. We waited for about 20 minutes and then they were ready for me. No one there this time could speak any English. I had to tell them how to cut my hair but I couldn’t do that, so somehow I had to show them. I picked up the GQ and Esquire magazines thinking I’d surely find something in there that would look similar to my hair style… but all the models are swapped out with Asian models in the Korean versions of GQ and Esquire! The closest thing I found in there was George Clooney, and that isn’t very close. Luckily there was a soccer magazine and I found some white guy with hair about the length I wanted it, so I showed her that photo. She cut it to about the right length however she used the thinning shears for the entire cut. So now I have very Asian looking hair. It was a nice place for a haircut, my roommate and I had went there before and it is only 10,000 won ($7.45).
We shoved off, went to bed and Matt flew out. We had a good time, it was nice getting to share some of my Seoul experiences with one of my long time friends.
My friend Leah reminded me of something that I had heard once before but I had forgotten. A few years back at the University of Washington I had a visiting professor from Seoul National University in Korea, the class was on modern Korean history, 1860’s – present. This would cover the decline of the Joseon (Chosun) dynasty in Korea, the Japanese colonization and the post war building up of Korea. The professor’s specialty at the time was on the Japanese colonial period of the Korean peninsula. He was working on a book at the time so much of the course was about the Japanese occupation.
My friend Leah that I met here in Korea would write Korea with a ‘C’ (Corea) in our emails back and forth. I also noticed the ‘C’ a few times in random graffiti. I asked her why and she reminded me that during the Japanese colonial period (1905-1945) that Japan had standardized the spelling from ‘C’ to ‘K’ so that Japan would appear first alphabetically. Both American and British records from the 19th century spell Korea with a ‘C’. It was one of many changes made to Korea to make Japan appear as Korea’s “bigger brother” in a way.
Now in the Olympics, Japan is named before Korea. But I’ve found here that it is not uncommon to see Korea spelled with a ‘C’, you see it in some cases where it’s meant to be a statement.
Friday night we had football practice. Earlier in the week I was told that we were all going out after practice for dinner and drinking, however as I was heading down the stairs to go to practice I was told we were heading out of town to a resort and we would be staying the night there. It was called “Football MT” or Member Training. Sort of like a induction for freshman to the team.
A whole group of us from the team piled up into the subway, we almost all didn’t make it on the subway but as the doors closed the team manager was right in front of me and we were running to get on and his feet made it in the subway but the doors closed on his backpack. I started pushing him through and the doors opened again for a second and the remaining four of us jumped on the subway.
The commute was about an hour and a half outside of Seoul. We took the subway, to a train station, then from there took a taxi to out in the middle of nowhere. Up in the hills there was this big resort, we had rented out a single room. The team had brought bags full of meat and some grills so we could bbq in the room. They also brought a big box of Soju (Korean liquor) and a bunch of beer.
On the subway the team manager had asked me “Do you drink soju?” I said “Nope. I hate it.” and he replied “Well I think you’ll have to drink a lot.”
At the room we are all sitting around eating and drinking beer with dinner. Then comes the soju. They take a big silver bowl and started pouring bottle after bottle of soju into the bowl. They said that all the freshman players (new players) would have to drink from the bowl. This unfortunately put me in that category.
If you’ve never had soju before, basically it’s a clear alcohol that is about 22%. It tastes like a cheap vodka. If you’re still unsure, just check out this video and watch the facial expressions of the last guy to drink. That pretty much sums it up.
(I know there’s video out there of me drinking from the bowl. If I ever get it I will be sure to post it.)
A lot of things happened that night. We got kicked out of a lot of different areas in the resort. Girls wanted nothing to do with us. I think we had several complaints. Everyone except maybe a couple people got drunk, but everyone was just having so much fun. The very last picture that I took was when I laid down to go to sleep, there was a big pile of guys laying on the floor, I laid down took a photo and fell a sleep. I later checked the photo and it was taken at 7:39am. I didn’t wake up until a little after noon.
You can just barely see my hair in the bottom of the photo, then you can count at least five other guys in that little area.
The commute back was the worst… some people still felt pretty drunk, some people were incredibly hungover. I was somewhere in between that. We had to wait for the bus, to take us to the train station, so that we can take the train to the subway station, and the subway back home. Not the most ideal commute for being in our condition.
Waiting for the bus.
We all had a lot of fun. We bonded and had a great experience. That one night alone was enough for my entire weekend.
Yesterday was St. Patrick’s day. I was the only one in class who bothered to wear green. I was surprised and at the same time disappointed.
Mike and I went to the London Bar (a western bar) where they had a special for St. Patrick’s day. If you drink four Guinnesses then you will get a free St. Patrick’s day Guinness t-shirt. We arrived at about 7pm, and got our t-shirts about an hour and a half later. We played some shuffle board with some other folks we knew there. A group of us then went to Itaewon which is the area of Seoul where there is a lot of Americans because of the nearby military base. There they have an Irish bar. We went there for another beer, then grabbed a sandwich at KFC and went home.
In other news I now have another roommate. My roommate’s buddy moved in Monday, so he is sleeping on a little pad in between the two beds. He is here until next Monday. So it feels like it’s back to normal having three of us share the same room like when Bojan was here in the beginning.
Monday night’s football practice we got to put on pads and helmets. I was a little surprised to see that the gear looks to be several decades old. Not only did I find a helmet that fits me, but It’s actually tight on my head. Who plays this sport with a head smaller than me? My shoulder pads are also incomplete, they don’t have the attachment pads that hang over your shoulder, just the pads on top of the shoulder. My face mask is a little bent and has some rust on it. So far that’s the only equipment I have. I am hoping we’ll get the leggings. One guy told me last semester he had to take a sock and roll it up and put it in his knee pad pocket. In some way’s its kind of funny playing with some scrappy equipment and we don’t have a coach, we just seem to work together. I ordered some football cleats online, along with a pair of gloves like that of Deion Branch for receiving. My buddy Matt from Seattle will be bringing them with him when he comes here on Saturday.
Been a while since I’ve updated… so much has happened. So here we go.
Wednesday night was Football practice. We then went out to eat with the team for all you can eat meat buffet. Then we went to a bar and played shuffle board. The Korean guys hadn’t played it before so we got to teach them how to play.
Thursday I had class then went and met up with my friend Leah in MyungDong, I wanted to buy some shoes and jeans. After some food and looking in several stores I finally found a nice pair of shoes at Fred Perry and a pair of jeans from Zara.
I then got on the subway and met up with my friends. We went to a bar in Hongdae area where we drank for a little while. A group of us decided to then go to a Karaoke room. There we did some singing and stayed out real late.
Friday afternoon I woke up, ate some food, took a nap, then went to meet the guys at a bar here in Shinchon. There were several people out from the international house. I got there met up with the gang, we played some pool, drank some beers, then we went to Hongdae again. We ate at KFC and went to a nearby club.
Saturday woke up in the afternoon and went to meet my friend Leah this time in Dongdaemun stadium area. We ate in one of the street tents. You go inside this little tent and they have food cooking. If you ever watch Anthony Bourdain in Korea he goes into one of these. They are not all the some, many of them serve different kinds of food. The one we went to, I didn’t like it at all. I’m not going to lie the food tasted like manure. I didn’t want to be a pansy though so I ate as much as I could stand, I was eating pretty slowly though, and at times swallowing just avoid puking. We then continued looking around the area, they have a lot of knock off items. Purses, belts, shoes (endless amount of shoes), jeans, socks, underwear, shirts, luggage, wallets, suits… anything really they had just about anything.
It was so cold out we then went to a movie theater where we watched “Undead” an American horror film. We thought it was going to be pretty bad but it was actually not that bad. I wouldn’t call it a great movie, but it was alright.
We then walked out and I was a little hungry now. We tried to find a place to go into, we walked into one but the smoke smell was overwhelming. We walked out and I saw a sign that said “Seattle” on it. So I had to go check that place out.
There’s nothing Seattle about this place aside from the sign and a picture of mountains inside the cafe. They serve Starbucks. Aside from that, I was disappointed they didn’t have any pictures or memorabilia from Seattle.
After this I left to go meet up with my friends who were in Hongdae (yeah again…) We went to a bar that was a pretty classy place, then we went to the singing room again.
Sunday got up in the afternoon, feeling pretty tired. Three days in a row going to bed at 6am. I was exhausted. We were going to the mall though, I had a jacket I wanted to return. I met the group at the mall around 6, returned the jacket. I went to the Hyundai department store in the mall where they have a Kiehls store (the american grooming brand, I use a lot of their products). I bought some shampoo and conditioner.
We then went to eat at a mexican restaurant chain called “On The Border”. It was great! I had been craving mexican food for so long. I love chips and salsa, beans, tortillas… In the States I eat mexican probably a couple times a week. The portions here were huge just like Mexican places back home. It was great.
Our group then went back to Shincon a 40 minute subway ride. A few of us fell asleep on the subway. We met up with the other group to see the movie Dragonball. Normally I would not have gone to see the movie but a number of my friends were Dragonball fans as kids so they felt as though they needed to see it even though it was likely going to be a bad movie. It was a bad movie. It could be a good kids movie though. But… I can’t really think of any good qualities to mention about the movie. I’m glad its cheap here.
Now its time to recover. Football practice tonight.
Everyone here would think I meant soccer. But no I mean the American Football. Myself along with Mike joined the American football club here at Yonsei. We thought it would just be a typical university club where we show up and just play games for fun out on the field, but it is quite a bit more than that. Today was our first real practice, 2 1/2 hours. We didn’t do any playing, we just did drills. Apparently we joined a real team and we’ll be getting pads and gear and we play against other schools and that national championship will be held in Pusan. I was really excited to find out about that. Back in the states I probably wouldn’t last very long on a football field given my size, the guys that play football in the states are just enormous, but here not so much. There are several small guys on the team and the guys who seem to be real good hardcore players are average sized american guys. So I’m looking forward to the season! After the practice today we went out to dinner with all the guys. I have to take some video of this its hilarious. We’re in a restaurant and they start doing the huddle chant which is basically like when you hear marines go “Hooah!!” or whatever it is they say. They do that like 15 times, really lound and everyone is staring at us and we all do a shot of Soju, which is the Korean liqour. Then we do it outside the restaurant and this group of girls outside just go crazy over it.
I expect to be pretty sore tomorrow. I woke up this morning and went to the gym and worked out for an hour. Then did 2 1/2 hours of these football drills.
Lot of fun, looking forward to playing some games!
