Korean Highschoolers~!!!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted! A LOT has happened since...last weekend? (WOW).

So I figure the biggest thing that has happened isssss: Camp in Bucheon with other Korean highschoolers!
We got to stay overnight on Saturday at a dorm/hostel thing with about...75 Korean Highschoolers? It was a lot of fun!!!!!

So going in order:
We left on Saturday morning at about 8:30 or 9:30 AM on a bus...got to the hostel thing about an hour later, went to a short orientation, and then got paired into groups! I was with Group One with the dark blue bandanas...and we were definitely best group ever. FO SHO.
I didn't get any group pictures (other people did though, so those should be on facebook soon), but I got some individual ones :)

After some ice-breaking activities, we were given a sort of scavenger hunt mission. First, we had to come up with a short logo-performance or something, then go to a Manhwa Museum (Korean manga, or comic books), and then go to a botanial garden and take a picture with some flowers.
Our short performance....didn't really go too well. The YES-International person judging them said that ours was too lame and made us redo it about 5 times. (His name was Youngmin, for future reference). So after our late start, we rushed onto a bus and went to the Manhwa museum (which I was actually really excited to go too...yes, yes, I am a nerd).

The museum wasn't really as cool as I had expected it to be, but I guess I can blame that on my preference for manga instead of manhwa xD

Some pictures...

Just for Angela, in case she's reading this ^_~

Sorry bad photography...camera wasn't focusing, so I the wall didn't end up straight while I tried to fix it >.<

Some of my Korean friends! Eunjin, Jaekyeong, and Yaeyeong <3

This was the "Tree of Fame' or something like that? L-R: Abel, TaeKyung, Brett, and JinSeob

Making our own comic ;D

So the last photo regards my next part. While at the museum, we were supposed to make our own comic...but we had no idea what to do! So we made a comedy about Youngmin (the guy who wouldn't let us go with our "bad" performance) singing really badly at 노래방 (noraebang), then being rejected by his almost-girlfriend at 남산 (Namsan) Tower, and then eating some bad street food and having to go to the bathroom...but finding there was no toilet paper! I think it was a good representation of Korean culture, don't you? ^_~

We then rushed to the next bus to get to the botanical gardens...but we decided we didn't have time, so we bought some roses and found a park and took a picture. Fooled them perfectly >:D

Abel and our group leader, SaeHwan

Everyone on the bus!

My beautiful rose <3

Sitting exhausted back at the hostel

After that, we had dinner, practiced for our talent show the following day, and then spent the rest of the night chatting and playing games with our new friends! No pictures 'cause I was too busy playing, but it was fun. I learned a game called 달기 (Dalgi; strawberry) and 홍삼 (Hongsam; no idea what it means), and마니마니(Mani Mani; again, no idea). BUT THEY'E FUN. and very loud.

The next day, we had our talent show. Almost everyone in the program participated, and it was actually pretty awesome. Me and my group o about 10 danced to Roly Poly by T-ARA (look it up)!
We got first place and 10,000 Won gift cards (about 10 bucks). YEAH!
The video might or might not be up on youtube under my friend Elaine Huang's channel.
Gotta go! finish later :)

SO it was a really eventful weekend, and I made a lot of Korean friends :)
Yay!

<3
~Kat

Fishies!!!

No, I didn't eat them :(
But they were pretty to look at!!

So today a bunch of friends and I returned to that huge underground mall, COEX, and went to the aquarium inside! I have to say, they got pretty creative when it comes to water tank placement. A few examples...

Inside a refridgerator...

Inside a fire extinguisher...

and a washing machine!

Inside a vending machine!





...and a don't forget the typical telephone box, diver and all~



 So yeah! It was pretty cool...they had a water tunnel and penguins and jellyfish and everything. The place was absolutely packed with people (almost as much as the train xD)...crying babies and all. But I think we managed to seee just about everything. A few more highlights:

Best sign of the year!

The picture I got was a bit blurry...but the picture of the turtle's description makes everything all better ;D                       read it if you dare ^_~



the best animal there...this fuzzy turtle plushie. omg it's so fluffy.



So yeah! My day was pretty long...the train ride there takes 1.5-2 hours alone. It was definitely worth it though...and I've fallen in love with this turtle. It's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeeee~!!!!

And on top of it I got a backpack that's really cute (something I've been looking for ever since I got here and realised I didn't want to have lopsided shoulders). So yay! Saw some fishies, some turtles, got a backpack, ate some dumplings (did I mention the dumplings? om nom nom), and sat on a train for a total for about 4 hours during rushour. YEAH!

Signing out~

<3
~Kat

Weekend with the Family~

So this weekend was pretty awesome~
Not only did I find out that my family is comprised of night owls (we went to Home Plus, which is kind of like Walmart, at 1 AM and then proceeded to have a party at home with the food we bought), but we also went to some nice places....at NIGHT! Which just makes everything like 20 times cooler.

So first we went to this one-one mountain thing with an observation tower thing? Sorry I don't really have any more information...I was kind of confused when they told me the name of the place (as per usual). But I haz pictures!!



The Observation "Tower" thingy? It's 8-sided :D



L-R:  Soungyun (bro), Anna (sis), Me, Omoni (mom), and UkByeong (cousin...but pretty much bro)

Haha poor Anna xD

After spending a little bit of time looking at the city of Seoul at midnight (It was pretty...but no good pictures 'cause the lighting was horrible. Plus, there were clouds 'cause of the rain, so you could only see a little),
 we went to 한강 (Han Gang...the Han River) and had midnight snacks and a bit of fun chasing each other around.


I love these guys <3



Abojii (Father) getting a piggyback ride from Anna...talk about role reversal xP

I have no idea how they did this...

So my weekend was great. (and I topped it off this morning with meeting some Indian people at a Foreign Food Market and eating some Indian food in Itaewon...home of lots of foreign things. Now I know how to deal with any culture shock I might have later...go to Itaewon and hang out with my brown friends and eat some Mutter Paneer!! Om nom nom <3

My amazingly tasty brunch <3

So it's Monday, and I'm happy to be back at school so I can learn more Korean, but the weekends are definitely something to look forward to with this awesome family. I can't even hope to express how happy I am that this family has welcomed me into their home for 6 weeks, but I still hope they realise how overjoyed I am to be with them. :)

Seeya later~

<3
~Kat

Kimbap!

So today I made something with my sister called Kimbap, which is basically the Korean version of sushi but with food other than raw fish inside (!). I didn't get any pictures 'cause my hands were dirty, but the ones from Google images are pretty similar to what I did~

I didn't really know what half the stuff I put in there was...but there was those yellow strips (top right), some egg, cucumber, ham, and some long brown veggie? My sister didn't know what it was called in English, so I"ll just be happy to know that it was tasty, whatever it was :)

When I brought all the kimbap I made to the Robot Academy where my host parents and brothers were, everyone was so excited and rushed to eat it. They couldn't believe that I'd made them...talk about a boost to my pride, eh? :P

That was my adventure for today! The rest of the day I've spent relaxing at home and reading after a long (but awesome) week. :)

Maybe a small amusement park tomorrow?

<3
~Kat

Getting Lost

So yesterday I had my first "getting absolutely lost" experience. I think I was almost in tears (actually was) by the time my host mom picked me up. Sadly, when I think about it, if I kept my head, I could've gotten home -eventually- on my own. I think it was the old guy saying (in Korean) "you're nowhere near there" when I asked him how to get back to my neighbourhood. (It was a LIE. I was like a 5-minute bus ride away!)

So basically what happened was:
Everything was going totally fine. I got to 구파발 (Gupabal) station (the station closest to my apartment) totally fine...and then realised I didn't know what bus to take. I'd never actually gone straight home from anywhere...I always went to my host parents' Robot Academy and then we drove home from there. My host mom had said that all the buses from our apartment went to the station...so I figured if I took a bus going in the direction of the apartment, I'd be good to go.
Only I went the WRONG WAY.

When I realised, I was already pretty far away (those bus driver go fast), so I got off at the next stop and tried to find a bus going back. But I couldn't find one. Sooooo I walked a lot, asked a bunch of not-helpful people for directions in Korean (most either glared or ignored me...or gave me the wrong instructions) and eventually, by absolute chance, found myself at the Robot Academy. But it was closed 'cause everyone had already gone home.
So I did the only thing I thought I could do: called my mom. She came like five minutes later to find me in tears and eating some random onigiri (hey, comfort food is good). Secretly, I think she probably thinks I'm an idiot for getting lost when I was so close to getting home...but oh well. At least she came and picked me up <3
Turns out if I had taken the next bus from Gupabal and not the first one, I would've gotten home 100% A-okay. FML.
But it was a good experience! and now I know my way around the complete outskirts of Seoul! ^-^;;

(hopefully it never happens again).

<3
~Kat

The Most Famous Food of Korea!

So I confess: despite being in Korea for 6 weeks and loving the language...I'm not really all too fond of kimchi. It's not that I don't like it...I just don't really...like it. It's definitely not on my "favourite food" list.
For those of you that don't know what kimchi is: you're definitely missing out on the Korean experience. Koreans have this stuff for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snacks in between. It's like rice; they have it for every meal and can never get enough of it. (except I  like rice...not so much the other...)

But anyays! Onto my point. So today I went to COEX mall with my friends Elaine and Christina. COEX is apparently Asia's largest underground shopping mall (straight from wikipedia)...which sounds kind of suspicious, but this place was legit. It's HUGE. I got lost, but luckily there were touchscreen maps all over the place (so hightech, right?). They even have an aquarium! -and as it also happens: a kimchi museum.
We only had two hours before we had to head back to school, so we decided to go to the kimchi museum (it was cheaper too...what can I say? We're Asians...in Asia. Cheap = better).

Only after we got inside did we realise that we weren't actually interested in all the types of kimchi and how they came to exist...or really anything about kimchi...
But the photo ops were great! ^^;;

I love ceiling mirrors~
L-R: Me, Christina, Elaine

This is mainly why xP
L-R: Me, Elaine, Christina

There was this mildly creepy statue woman thing and you were supposed to pose while she fed you kimchi...
Elaine went first~

But Christina doesn't like Kimchi at all xD

So yes. All in all, it was definitely worth the 3,000 won ($3) it took to get into the museum. I think Christina took a video or two of us in there as well...so maybe find her on youtube and you might see me?

Other than that, we really only had time to eat lunch and take a quick stop in a bookstore...where I found the whole series that I'm reading. GG for international shipping...I never thought they'd have it.

Pretty good stuff. The first book is Wizard's First Rule. If you're bored, go read it! ^-^

So, on an ending note, I'll leave you guys with a typical sign from the subway:

Just saying: that would suck if that happened to your bag...

Miss you guys :)
<3
~Kat ^_~

Coffee, Coffee, Everywhere! ;)

Hey guygs!!
So all of the NSLI-Y (pronounced NISS-lee, by the way) are assigned to a university student (3 of us to 1 of them) who is called our "supporter" and is supposed to both teach us to speak Korean and how to get around Seoul.

When we first met, we went to 노래방 (noraebang)...which is the Korean version of Karaoke as well as a market which...I pathetically can't remember the name of (blame the jetlag). But the pictures were pretty!

This morning at 10 was our first meeting with mine, Kim Duri, but I, being the smart and punctual person, kind of arrived at the meeting place (명동 Myeongdong) about 1.5 hours early? Talk about nothing to do. So I decided to walk around and look at some shops...only they were all closed. It seems like nothing opens before 10 or 11 here...except for Starbucks. When I first arrived in Korea, I decided that I wouldn't go to any American places and that I'd only eat Korean food. Plans failed. But I have to say, that Strawberry Creme Frappuccino was pretty great...better than any I've had in the states. Oh, and a bonus? I ordered completely in Korean (20 points to Kat ^-^)

 Strawberries are the best <3

By the way, I totally forgot to mention....TAMS dorms definitely beat Columbia dorms. They had tile floors (like bathroom ones) and their walls, which I'm sure used to be pearly white at some point, kind of look like they're out of a horror film or something. But that's just me being picky. The dorms were actually pretty nice :)  Did I mention their dining hall completely beats UNT dining halls? In appearance, anyways. Breakfast at Bruce will always be the best (especially their scrambled eggs...Columbia scrambled eggs don't even compare).

Sorry for the somewhat misplaced photos....one of these days I'll get the hang of this system...

That's some pretty wood right there...might I point out the chandeliers?


OH!!!! So I met someone FAMOUS yesterday!! Maybe not to most of you, but some drama-lovers might've heard of him. Nam Goong-min...he was in Can You Hear My Heart? (no, I actually didn't know him...but the Korean media doesn't know that!)
So basically what happened was....I was walking around the shops near 이화 (E-hwa) University with some friends and suddenly we come across this crossroads with ridiculous amounts of Korean girls just...standing there. So using our awesome Korean skills, we eventually found out that they were waiting for a Korean actor named Nam Goongmin. The dude finally came and there was this huge stampede of asian girls racing after this guy...so naturally, we did what any other highschool girl would do when finding 1000 other highschool girls chasing after something...we followed them! Somehow, me and my friend Elaine ended up standing right in the inner circle of the poor guy....and seeing that we were foreigners, the camera crew asked us to go to the middle of the circle and meet the guy!! It was actually kind of embarrassing 'cause the tv lady kept asking us questions in Korean and we didn't really have answers 'cause we had noooo idea what she was saying. (We also had no idea who Nam Goongmin was...but errr...yeah. They didn't know that ^^;;)
But HEY! I got to shake a hot&famous guy's hand over a bajillion Korean screaming fangirls just 'cause I'm a fob! Another 20 points? I think yes~
No pics 'cause I forgot my camera, but my friend Christina took a video of a bit of the whole thing...I'm tagged in it on Facebook, if you want to see ^^
Oh, and here's the guy if you want a picture...http://asianmediawiki.com/Nam_Gung-Min

So, all in all, it's only Tuesday and I've met a famous guy, had some really good Starbucks, went to a Korean market, sung a bunch of random songs, and been made a fool of (but an extremely happy one) on Korean TV. Week made? I think so <3

<3
~Kat ^_~

Finally here!!

So it's only been a week (wow O.o) since I got here, and I feel like I've been away from home for a month!
I got pretty lucky with all my flights...no lost baggage, window or aisle seats the whole time, and not-overweight-fat-spills-into-your-seat people sitting next to me.

The orientations (plural 'cause there were like 50) were both kind of boring and kind of fun. Either way, they were pretty necessary, so I can't blame them for having 500.
All the other NSLI-Y kids are really cool...I've made lots of friends, and we already went to 노래방 (noraebang)...aka karaoke ~~ We took sticker pictures too...I'll try to scan some in and post them when I get them back from my friend.

My host family (met them yesterday!) is really nice. If I didn't mention it before, it consists of a mom, a dad, a 13 yr-old girl, a 15 yr-old son, and a 15- yr-old nephew. They're really really nice and easy to get along with, but I secretly feel really bad for not knowing any more Korean to communicate with them >___<
In light of that, I've taken to carrying my dictionary with me everywhere I go and opening it whenever I have free time. Maybe when school starts I'll get all the particles and conjugations right?

Seoul is really really cool....but I'll talk more about it later. I hope everyone's doing well back home :)

<3
~Kat ^_~