Author Archives: rnb5064

My Saturday in Hongdae

Text log 121019

If by now, you’re wondering what’s going on…

…this is a Trick Eye museum in 홍대 Hongdae

More like an optical illusion museum…

…and ice museum in the same building.

On the right is a sticker photo, which I didn’t know what it was until my friend HyunHee took me there xD

They’re like those booths in the American malls except after taking the photos, you edit it with a bunch of cute stuff. The concept is Japanese and practices Korea’s love of 셀카 (selfies) ^-^

And while I’m on the topic of photo-taking —

In Korea (and probably other Asian countries), the phones cannot have the shuttersound turned off when you take photos – even when headphones are plugged in. This is because there are creepy folks out there who stalk people on subways and stuff — so phone developers made it so that people can hear when someone take a photo.

Of course, you can get around this easily: there are those free photo editing apps that access the camera, in which case, don’t use a shuttersound. So then you think, why don’t people use this as their primary camera because the shuttersound is annoying ?? It’s kind of a polite thing to use the standard camera ; people may get suspicious as to why you use the silent camera in the first place,

know what I mean ?

Below is the atmosphere of a hookah bar I went to after the museum. So I’ll talk about smoking and drug use here. First, Koreans are known to smoke cigarettes a lot – males and females – in and out of the city. The Europeans here who want to quit refuse to quit here because the prices are so much cheaper — at about $2.50 a pack, you can’t blame them.

And in terms of drug use – there really isn’t any. Mom often tells me to be safe… I respond with “Mom, America has guns and drugs. I might be safer here.” You can feel safer going to clubs and bars and concerts with the lack of drugs. From what I’ve heard, the only way to find them is to maybe find someone in the American military. So I think going to a hookah bar here is different from going to one in the States – because the ones here have less of …how do I say this… a 4/20 nuance. :3

Above on the left is a Korean dish called Cheese and Rice, with bacon and some veggies (you know, to give the entree a purpose). And then on the top right is a caramel macchiato and tiramisu because tiramusi is my favorite dessert ><

This post, I’ll show you what I see at jazz bars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Da-KM08nCQ

The Burgundy actually consists of only a singer and pianist/accordionist with a different bassist, drummer, and guitarist every session.

This last weekend was the second time I saw this duo – and at the same place~

Pictured on the left is the drummer (not pictured above) because he totally looks like Korean Joseph Gordon-Levitt. ㅅ_ㅅ

It’s pre-finals week ; I’m gonna try to upload again sometime next week ; blogging helps me unwind =3 …even though I didn’t write much this post~~

I hope y’all have a good finals week ! =D Or that it doesn’t go too horribly

~Ry

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 홍 “Hong”

and

양반김 Seaweed snacks

Location: Milky Way Galaxy

?? 19-years-old in usa = 21 in Korea ??

Text log 113023

WELCOME TO 12월 !

Welcome to December !

Korea’s winter is coming~ and is said to be brutal every year. Yet.. tomorrow’s weather should be a high of 10 degrees …. CELSIUS (relatively warm late-fall weather) !! But some days this past week haven’t gotten above freezing temperature. >.<

So how can your age be one or two years older in Korea ?

When you are conceived, you are considered 0
When you are born, you are 1
On your birthday, you stay the same age (people still celebrate their birthdays)
Every January 1st, EVERYONE ages 1 year

So this means… someone born on December 31st will become age 2 the next day !

Ex: I’m 21 outside of Korea ; 22 in Korea. I have a July 8th birthday, so I’m two years older from January 1 to July 7, and one year older from July 8 to December 31.

Completely messed up, yeah ? I think it’s illogical, but solely a fun thing to know ^u^

The age system is very very important here ; the biggest thing about the Korean language is that your speech changes depending on how much older the person you’re talking to is. I often hear the question “how old are you?”

Last Tuesday, I went to my first PC방 – Computer rooms – which you can see everywhere on the streets. These are places you can go to relieve stress playing League of Legends, Starcraft Brood War, or Korean or Japanese computer games.

You can also go here to just use the internet.

It’s maybe $1/hr …can’t remember xP

I just wanna point out how cool the East Asian talley system is ; here is the block of five: 正 Stroke order: http://sites.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12412/2013/11/%E6%AD%A3-order.gif

You can use this at some restaurants when you’re given a pad of the menu names and a block for the quantity to order.

Also, money is kinda cool too.

The bills increase a bit in size and include [1 5 10 and 50] thousand Won (KRW, 원, ₩)

The value amount is almost the same as dollar divided by 1000. This eliminates the need for a decimal point.

And they’re color-coded =D

And the backs have cool artwork~

Aaaaand there’s a woman on the 50000 !!

Plus I included my T-money (subway) card in the photo. Idk why~ :3

Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, the only place to find real Thanksgiving food in Seoul is in the Itaewon district (which placed #1 on my personal Top 7 Things to Fear in Korea). SO INSTEAD– Some of the Americans and I went to Outback Steak’ouse – Yes, Aussie-themed American food) – for a decent substitute of chicken and mashed potatoes, which was a fantastic $20 dinner =D …well, really good but expensive. We got a photo with the waiter because he had cool hair~

Earlier that day for lunch, I had one of my get-lost adventures in BongChunDong. There’s not too much interesting there ; I went there because I was really curious and wanted to find the exact location of the setting of this well-known Korean horror comic:

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=31&weekday=tue

(don’t open on a mobile device)

And~

I ate an entire Hot Chicken Pizza (pictured left) in Bongchun-dong …

Outback Steakhouse dinner on the right

..I see a lot of pizzas with corn as a topping on pizzas, like the one above.

If you’ve been skipping my music discussions (it’s okay ; KPOP is a crappy genre), definitely try this one—

How ’bout some really classic 90s music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3zIGP8ATkM

Jaurim 자우림 (meaning “Purple Rainforest) has been releasing albums since 1997 and hits the 90s sound very well. Their singer YoonAh Kim is currently 39-years-old — surprised ?? :3

I’d say the best part about this group is YoonAh’s range of voices ; the best example is probably in her weirder songs.

What’s your age in Korea ??? =P xP xP

Comment with your birthday and Korean age as a guess and I’ll lecha double check

~Ry ^-^

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 월 “Weol”

and

얀얀초콜릿맛 Japanese Chocolate Dip Biscuit Snack

Location: East Asia~

Three Instances of How I Represented PSU

Text log 112419

I’m just gonna dive right into what’s been happening these past two weeks~

I saw my second live professional match of Starcraft last night =D and it was fantastic – even for going alone this time. It was the GomTV studio in the Gangnam district, so there was a much smaller audience than the last venue. I was shown quite a few times on the big screen and on the English and Korean streams, which brings me to my first way of representing Penn State:

Here I am on the stream (with maybe over ten thousand of fans around the world watching) cheering for one of the players (named “MMA”) with my signature as “~PSU” and also being acknowledged by the casters. I knew the Penn State Starcraft club would be watchingㅅ_ㅅ

If I look a bit tired in the photo above~ =/

…it’s because I was hiking for the first half of that day. Next, here’s how I support THON in Korea:

Sorry it’s more of a triangle than the four diamonds =/

This is pretty awesome~ The photo above on the left is a rock formation seen to resemble Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. 0.ㅇ

Thursday afternoon was the exchange fair here, where exchange students got to chat with Korean students looking to study abroad. It was great representing my University, but it was really frustrating having four girls from Ohio State next to me representing their own school, while I was alone >< Here’s my third way of showing my Penn State pride:

It says University of Arkansas, but that’s the one next to me

Here’s something you’ll never see advertised around a Penn State dorm.

This was a party poster in my dormitory (dorm name: Gonzaga).

Alcohol is completely banned in the dorms here, but for one day, the university allowed an exception.

Even some Korean professors came to drink some soju vodka ~~ Hard-workers like to enjoy soju after their work days.

Also, I find the accidental juxtaposition of what’s above that poster kinda funny ^_^

November 18th was the first snow “첫눈” of the season here ; *it*was*beautiful*

Also last week, I went to an underground bar for college bands to play. Mind you that these bands were playing songs that middle school bands play like Wake Me Up When September Ends. It was a total noobfest, but I enjoyed myself.

What I found interesting was that each of the bands had at least two girls as musicians. I have two reasons behind this trend: 1. Female sex appeal is better ; 2. Parents here force their kids to learn to play an instrument (guitar, piano, traditional Korean instruments).

My three favorite things to do in Seoul:

3. Baseball games

2. Starcraft pro-matches

1. Jazz clubs

Vietnamese and Indonesian food that I’ve had earlier this semester:

Two weeks ago, I bought a Girls Generation (Korea’s most popular KPOP group) concert ticket online for only about $100 (make fun of me all you want~ xP) – tickets sold out within seconds. This is a huge deal for me because – as crazy as this sounds – I thank two sources for how I fell in love with Korea’s culture a year and a half ago: Starcraft and Girls Generation.

The show is the night before I return to the States, so this is my going-away present, to me / from me =D

Let’s talk about KPOP boy groups — you know, like Backstreet Boys, but Korean and post-90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8

SHINee is the same label as Girls Generation, so that means they’re all about idols and focus less on quality of music. Boy groups – especially SHINee – dance better than the girl groups. If you learn about East Asia, you may have heard about the very feminine boys, maybe called 꽃미남 or “flower boys.” The guy in the video with long hair is one of them.

I’m only gonna talk about KPOP boys once – because I don’t like boy groups :3 – so here’s another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ULhmadHkg

G-Dragon is the most popular member of the most popular boy group 빅뱅 Big Bang. They’re from a much more respected label that makes popular groups that often end up being anti-KPOP in that they don’t make their members cute.

When I first saw this music video, I thought it was going to be another “Gangnam Style” only not as popular ; KPOP usually isn’t this funny :3

Alright one more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfUlE2LlGro

Boy groups are completely different from girl groups socially since there is no pressure on the male population to look like their idols, unlike the girl groups.

One more month from yesterday until I fly back. I can honestly say that this semester is going at about the pace as I predicted.

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 남 “Nam”

and

남양 몸이가벼워지는 시간 17차 Tea bags

Location: Sogang campus

And this one time at a 찜질방…

Text log 111100

Today is 빼빼로 데이 bbaebbaero day, a commercial holiday like a second Valentine’s Day where you give these snacks to your lovers — which would have been really awkward since I was gonna give it to all my friends … probably in public.

This week I went to 양평 Yangpyun on a field trip – there was a temple and it was raining – I didn’t even take pictures ; I’ve seen enough temples. BUT HEY GET THIS: remember the pupa/chrysalis I talked about eating from last post ? Ta daaaaaaaaaa:

[The cup actually has dimentions, sorry for the bad angle ><]

Yeah this is vendor food at the temple. The fact that they sell it implies it’s okay to eat. It’s not like it’s predominantly crunchy like you’re crushing it’s exoskeleton. It was gross, but .. tolerable. -_-

And I’m gonna be honest: the field trip – consisting of 100 foreigner students and ~40 Korean students – was actually MT (membership training) for the Korean/foreigner club at my campus. So called “membership training” wasn’t training at all ; it was just a rented room for drinking and dancing. And I’m not going all “bro, I partied so hard this weekend” on you all, this says something about the drinking culture. A lot of school-organized clubs here (even the Math club) have these MTs that is like this one. The drinking age here is 19 anyway, so it’s not like Penn State in that they forbid drinking at school-related events for underage purposes (plus other obvious purposes). But having alcohol in the dorms here is banned, but it’s not really a problem for the moderate drinkers here since nobody hangs out in their friends’ dorms anyway ; they go other places around the city.

(Geoblog staff: was that paragraph okay to post ? :3)

That was my week. So I’m gonna tell you about my horror stories from the 찜질방s Jjimjilbangs as discussed in several previous entries (reference previous post: Top 7 Things to Fear in Korea):

I’ve been to two of these so far – both outside of Seoul (fewer English speakers) and both in my first week when my Korean was really bad and both being the only foreigner in the building. The point of these stories is to educate that you don’t do the same mistakes I did …. and to entertain. xD

The first was in Busan where my Korean friend was showing me the city. So far, it’s the typical routine: walk in, watch friend get naked, get naked too, enjoy the spa, hang out playing with phone while it charges. Decide I neeeeeed sleep (jetlag) so I tell him “I’m gonna go out to the sleeping ~~room~~ floor. You can continue to hang out here, and when our phones are done charging, just put mine in your locker. After that, COME FIND ME AND SLEEP NEXT TO MY POSITION.”

Later, 12am, open eyes only to discover – he’s not here. I look around among a crowd of maybe 200 sleeping guests and can’t find him. I’m looking for: a sleeping (eyes closed) Korean male in his twenties with a basic Korean haircut wearing the jjimjilbang issued clothing. That narrows it down to…. every male. This is a disaster because the main ways that I distinguish Asians is by their eyes, hair, and outfit.

I try to sleep, wake up every 30-60 minutes to look around again for him ; I don’t have my phone.

I take a break to watch some American baseball, Korean casted. 😀

I finally approach a PC and pay a dollar for one hour use. I start to think he left the jjimjilbang. I send him a desperate message on Facebook saying I’m lost and come find me, etc. Just as I’m done, I see him walk out of this room that I didn’t even think about checking. It was my fault, because I wasn’t specific in where I was gonna sleep. He thought the guy that he ended up sleeping next to was me.

That’s the end of my torture. Regardless, the remainder of that day in Busan ended up being my best day in Korea, even to this day.

Next was in Daejeon, a few days later, still with jetlag. Because my friend DaHye showing me around the city is female, I didn’t bother insisting that she stayed with me at the establishment. We agree to meet at 10:30am of the next day. I finish enjoying the spa, go to the sleeping room, and fall asleep almost instantly (still haven’t had a full night’s rest).

Later, I wake up from an amazing sleep to check the time. The digital clock on the wall said 12:40pm. PEE EHM !! My sleep was so good, it was a FIFTEEN HOUR hibernation. I’m freaking out, storming to my locker to get dressed, rehearsing what I’m gonna say to DaHye and how I could possibly make it up to her for making her wait two hours. I run out of the building to see —– it’s … still … nighttime. I couldn’t look outside in the first place since there are no windows. I, in fact, slept for three hours, not fifteen. The clock was improperly set ! So now is the real agony. The following scripts are translated from broken Korean to broken English. I tell the lady at the front desk, “I… left. I should go in. I read clock, said PM12. I thought AM12. Sorry. What to do?” along with plenty of body animations to help explain. She calls the guy upstairs to tell him there’s a foreigner coming back up. The guy already doesn’t like me since I gave him a hard time speaking broken Korean to him earlier. ^_^ I try to explain to him the situation. He doesn’t get it. He takes me back down to the sleeping room, wakes up an older Korean man who speaks clear English to me. I tell him the situation and apologize deeply for waking him up. He looks at the digital clock and says “that’s Korean way.” I’m like OOOOOOOH, 12 o’ clock noon is considered 12AM. I go back asleep, waking up frequently from pure embarrassment.

The next day, I look up the time orientation for Korea….. yeah right !! – Korea is no different from the rest of the world. The clock was just set to the wrong time of day.

Looking back, there were two things that should have given away that it was still the middle of the night:

When I woke up, the room was still full of sleeping people
When I checked my phone after I got up, it said 00:42 (24-hour clock) meaning 12:42am.

Like I said, I was on such low sleep, my brain couldn’t process easy things. =/

Those are my stories. Remember, jjimjilbangs are great … as long as you stay with someone~~

My recent purchase of cute socks from a street vendor: Psy, Shin Ramyun (ramen noodles), 수영 Sooyoung (member of my favorite KPOP group)

Why ? Because I’m in Korea. ^-^

Seungpyun, if you’re reading, I hope you’re laughing xD

This is 떡볶이 ddukboggi — rice sticks with the stereotypical red-colored sauce well-known in Korea, a bit spicy. This is the common street vendor ddukboggi, but it’s also common at restaurants and my cafeteria. You can make this in State College – go to the 엄마손 Morazon Korean market on Atherton and ask for rice sticks and red pepper paste. It’s my favorite food =D

About a week ago, 피에스타 Fiestar released a new music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72se2qL33y4

So far they’re kinda undiscovered. I like them because they’re one of few groups with a bit of diversity – a Korean-American girl and a Chinese-American girl – and because I really like the rest of the members individually because they’re simply good members. However, I don’t like them because having an even number of members makes watching their dance formations an eye-sore ; it’s better to have an odd number so you have one person leading the group when the oh-so-catchy chorus comes. I learned that Korea has liked odd numbers for, like, ever – with temples and whatnot. I wish I could validate this more~

This video is a bit unusual because of the implied pervertedness from a male’s perspective, which you don’t see in KPOP videos. This music video also has a sort of storyline, which is also rare. Their rapper (the girl in the video game in the music video) is one of my favorite female rappers. ^u^

….I hope you can pick up more from these discussions besides the fact that I’m ~~a fangirl~~ a fan of KPOP~ :3

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 빼 “Bbae”

and

빼빼로

Location: My room with heated floors

Top 7 Things to Fear in Korea

Text log 110322

Top 7 to Fear:

7. Seafood

First on the list is seafood in general. While there’s plenty of delicious seafood around, there is however the sketchy stuff. For example in the streets, you can find vendors with a shelf of squid, Like so. If you’re going to a restaurant and don’t want to eat something with tentacles comfortably laying in your food, know what the word 오징어 is in the menu, because it means squid. Also, there are places where you can eat LIVE SQUID. Of course, this causes a lot of controversy with my peers since there’s that slight chance the squid decides to save his/her own life and stick in your pipes. Anyway, it’s something to try ; I haven’t. Lastly is 멸치 anchovies served at the cafeteria or restaurants (pictured above). Not bad until you realize halfway into your meal that your food is looking at you.

6. 번데기 “Bundegi”

Infamous street food that is cooked pupa – yes, insect larvae. This is something I’ve wanted to try, since my friends said it was good until they realized what it was. However, walking around in the street and seeing (and smelling) them, my taste buds have rejected this idea. ><

5. Public bathrooms

I’m talkin’ the ones next to traditional Korean food restaurants – that don’t look like they’ve been cleaned in a month, need the soap dispensers refilled, have a BAR of soap instead of dispensers, use rolls of toilet paper instead of hand driers or paper towel dispensers, use CLOTH towels instead of disposable towels/tissues. Also the squatting toilets. Just… yeah. I heard this is much more popular in Japan, so I feel blessed to only have witnessed a few.

4. Exam week

Unlike Penn State around midterms, Sogang university has a week set aside for midterms, which most classes have (rather than quarter-terms or tri-terms). This week and the week before, you lose all your Korean friends because they’re actually being good students while you continue to be on vacation in Korea.

3. 찜질방 Jjimjilbangs (Spa/saunas)

Okay, JJIMJILBANGS ARE AWESOME as I’ve said in previous blogs. You stay here as long as you want and overnight for at or under $10, rather than a $160 hotel that you end up staying at for 5 hours because you hafta catch a bus to Daegu city. But foreigners instantly rule this option out for this reason: nudity. When you enter the men’s locker room (unless you’re female :3, you right away see naked Korean dudes strolling around making no effort to hide their untamed bodies. And then everyone is staring at you because you’re the only foreigner to be in the building all week since you’re not in Seoul anymore. And then you go up to your locker with your friend who’s showing you your first time at a jjimjilbang and you get to see him naked. And then you enter the spa to shower and then go to hang out in the hot tubs and see those old dudes just laying on their back taking a nap or something. And then you lose your friend which is a whole ‘nother story. And then groups of middle-aged guys say only “hello,” showing off their English skills. And then you wear unattractive (yet comfy) spa clothes and enter the massive sleeping room where the ladies are too. And then you sleep on either a mat, a towel, or the wooden floor with a small pillow (unless they’ve all been grabbed, leaving you with nothing). And then you wake up at midnight thinking it’s tomorrow afternoon and go outside because you’re an idiot and hafta somehow convince the person at the front desk to get back in WHICH IS A WHOLE ‘NOTHER STORY. I’m gonna hafta tell you guys these stories in the next blog. Anyway, jjimjilbangs are amazing and I wasn’t as weirded out by the nudity as I expected. But many people new to Korea would find this the nudity to be too much.

2. 할머니 Grandmas

They all have the same haircut and when they speak it sounds like they’re using the last of their breathe even though they’re speaking at the average conversational volume. You’ll find some who are super conservative and are probably not very welcoming of foreigners walking in a dark back alley in front of their house at night (I was super lost :3). They’re also known for shoving you out of the way as you stand in the middle of the walkway looking lost in the subway. The grandmas I see daily are the lunch ladies and the cleaning staff working for the university in aprons and green latex gloves, and they’re friendly if you try to ask them something in broken Korean.

1. 이태원 Itaewon district in Seoul

This is the home of all the nightlife, especially for foreigners. Yes, there’s so much to do with your friends, but you’re gonna spend… a lot. The scary part about this district is the special-case people you’ll see:

A gross Korean guy who goes up to you while you stand somewhere waiting to meet your friend, staring at you until you look him in the eyes, at which point he will start dancing waiting for you to join
KoreanGirl/ForeignGuy couple who are obviously drunk and openly making out in public which is absolutely unacceptable outside of this district
KoreanGoodLookingMale/ForeignBusinessMale <ㅡ not a typo… waiting at the subway who are chatting until they start kissing
And the most striking moment of me in Itaewon — the transgender sector

Let me explain. Korean plastic surgery is very powerful. Very. VERY. Powerful. To the point where some of the “lady boys” in the transgender part of Itaewon look exactly like the stereotypical sexy Korean girl image portrayed in some media. I’m having a hard time explaining this, so here – take Exhibit A. While some of the girls in this part of Itaewon may look like this, the rest have male-sized heads and arms and may make you instantly uncomfortable. If you’re in Seoul, go to Itaewon to experience the nightlife – it’s completely safe. Just be prepared to be disturbed in some cases.

I made this list while eating from a box of 오레오 오즈 “Oreo Os” cereal. Yeah. Only in Korea.

Okay so this weekend I was outside of Seoul for the first time since my second week.

I went to Andong to see a Buddhist temple and then to Yeongju. Both are very countryside.

This was our hotel stay. (Ignore the different display on the tv in the reflection ; it’s a panorama). The kitchen has a rice cooker and kettle for boiling water and fridge and microwave. There are no couches or beds – we slept on provided floor mats and blankets – Korean style ! (pretty comfortable). The trick is to fold them in half and put an extra layer of blankets under you. And of course watching Korean Saturday Night Live without captions is always entertaining. [Interesting – there’s so much pressure for beauty here but when it comes to being funny on TV, the actors value the OPPOSITE of beautiful. I guess being “ugly” while holding a smile makes you funnier.]

On the trip, we walked into a restaurant in the countryside that instantly smelled like fish and gross vegetables. I’ve never had some of these veggies before in my life, but at least the kimchi was pretty bangin’. xP

This week’s Korean music is J Rabbit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wdwWLPfeQ4&list=PLBSMw6fjEMZT4blOzr4W1J0hH70Z7YRuQ

J Rabbit is an internet duo known as the adorable singer and talented multi-instrumentalist. I’ve been listening to this playlist while making this blog. If you like jazzy stuff, try their cover of Take 5. Aside from most of their popularity being on Youtube, they recently played at a K-indie festival. Their constant smiling and laughter during recording makes them stand out in cuteness from some of the greatest KPOP idols.

“Engrish” quotes from this weekend:

ENGLISH MENU. WE HAVE. (posted in front of a restaurant)
“If every day you eat one apple, you will not have to go to the doctor” (our tour guide’s recitation of the English expression about eating apples)

And enjoy some amateur autumn photography:

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 번 “bun”

and

오레오 오즈 cereal

Location: in my thinking position

I need more viewers =3

Text log 102422

I’ve been in Korea for 2 months and a day. Midterms are over. I really don’t have anything in mind to ~~yap~~ ~~blabber~~ talk about, so I’ll talk about random stuff.

I just wanna take a moment to brag about my cell phone plan. Before coming I suspended call, messaging, and data service on my Samsung Galaxy S4 (gotta be up-to-date in Korea :3), leaving me with basic PDA functions, app usage, camera, mp3 playability, and wifi usage — in other words, an iPod touch. I didn’t wanna get an international data plan because expensive and I didn’t wanna get a rental phone here because also expensive and they’re usually super basic. You think “How do you live without messaging friends and calling the Karaoke rooms to ask if they’re open?” And my response is “Remember the 90s.” Actually, I use Skype credit for placing calls (impossible to receive calls unless you get a subscription =/) and apps like Facebook, Kakao Talk (Korean instant messaging app), and also Skype to keep in touch with local friends and pals/relatives in the States. Speaking of which, I just sent out Seoul postcards and cute letters ! =P

I only have access to the internet (and Google translate) in wifi places like cafés, and luckily, everywhere on campus. My point is that it’s very possible to survive in Korea for a semester without our spoiled 24/7 access to the internet — even in one of the highest-tech cities.

The only times I’ve had frustration about my access were in the first week outside of Seoul, where I relied on communication to my friends showing me around the country.

By the way, the employees at the post offices and banks here are super nice – even when dealing with foreigners, since the employees usually don’t know English – nothing like the *cough cough* employees at the DMV and some post offices in State College. ㅜ_ㅜ

Another topic: Theft — a topic asked from… [looks at previous post].. LISA. #shoutout

Thank you Lisa for bringing this up. =D

So at places where you take off your shoes before entering, I was at first worried and had the thoughts of anyone slipping on my shoes and walking about of the place. In Korea, I don’t hafta worry about any theft ; I tell my relatives I always feel very safe — and it’s true ! Even with my stupid “I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing-or-where-I’m-going face, I don’t feel strangers would pickpocket or anything to take advantage of me.

For example (and I really should take a photo of this) in the library, people leave their books and laptops and even phones at the tables when they get up and go around — even my one friend left her stuff there for at least an hour when we went to hang out at a café (cafés are everywhere – Korea likes their caffeine xP). Also you’ll see a lot of street vendors blatantly having spots in their stands where people can walk by and steal some cheap jewelry.

My opinion is that people here simply follow the Golden Rule: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule. I also think the constant threat of CCVT security cameras – or at least the warnings of security cameras – brainwashes the thought of stealing.

I have one exception. At Jjimjilbangs — Spa/saunas – and I’ll definitely blog my amazing stories about them — there is a bad reputation for rotten teenagers stealing cell phones right out of your hand — I was actually warned about it from the lady at the front desk. Walking around seeing people there sleeping, their phones were either in their hand, on top of their chest, or freakin’ PLUGGED INTO THE WALL just begging to be stolen.

Okay, I’ll talk about events now. ^-^ Starting with a snapshot at a jazz bar in Itaewon.

And the other is my trip to watch a Starcraft II pro-gamer match (Starcraft is ultimately the reason I discovered Korean culture, as crazy as it sounds). So amazing~ the Penn State Starcraft club said they saw me on the live stream =D xD xD. Plus I got free mementos and admission was free.

Korean Food:

On the left is cafeteria food – 바게트 피자 “ba-ge-teu pi-ja” Baguette Pizza. There was corn and stuff on it, but it was pretty fantastic since I love hybrid food.

On the right is what I nom-nom’d today at lunch: Breaded chicken and shrimp with rice. Sitting on top is kimchi 김치 — the vegetable served at like every meal – usually free and unlimited — which was the best kimchi I’ve had. =P And I’m sure you all have seen the Kimchi Restaurant on Atherton Street ~ it’s named after the stuff I eat every day here, folks. =3

And how about a picture of me being a cutie: m(^ u ^)m

…to attract viewers xP

This post’s K-indie content: 버스커 버스커 Busker Busker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49oFClQcUEA

I’m a bit late on this discussion ; their new album came out last month and I’m constantly hearing it played at the convenience store – no complaints. Busker Busker (silly name, I know) is known for their romantic lyrics (not like I can understand them -_-) and raw indie sound. I’d say this trio is the most popular K-indie artist – also gaining some attention for having a caucasian drummer from Canada. Get yourself a guitar, learn some chords and Korean lyrics, and prepare to seduce ~~(not really)~~ any Korean girl on the streets ! =O

Yeah – next post I’ll teach some Korean swear words.

Hope y’all learned stuff !

~Ry

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 트 “Teu”

and

닭다리 Bite-sized chicken leg-shaped snacks

** Also, the part about swear words was a lie ~~

Location: Computer lab

Mid-life Crisis in Seoul

Text log 101621

It’s the week before midterms which means only one thing: my job is halfway done — hence the “mid-life crisis” ㅠㅠ

Lying in bed at night is my time to contemplate my life here. I still think I’m in the Honeymoon Phase of studying abroad. I’ll explain according to my own theory- there’re different stages of your time abroad: culture shock, honeymoon, recession, stabilization [puts on glasses]

Culture shock is when everything you find is different, good or bad. This includes taking stupid touristy photos of every Hyundai or Kia vehicle — which is 90% of the vehicles (I seriously thought Japanese cars would be popular, too. Not so much) because it’s fascinating to you, or tipping your waitress at a restaurant which is super awkward in Korea. Culture shock lasts from a few days to maybe 2 weeks.

Random tangent — Topic: GOING TO A RESTAURANT

walk in

no hostess

sit anywhere that’s open

decide what everyone wants, no drink orders, they just bring a jug of water and cups

call the waiter over (this one’s important because otherwise you’d be stuck sitting at the table with a grudge wondering why the waiter isn’t caring for you like they do in American restaurants) (do this by saying ‘juh-ki-yo,’ meaning “here,” or sometimes there’s a magic button on the table)

have one person order for the table – if you want, you can tell the waiter to do it quickly

wait not-a-long-time

receive food and a buncha sides dishes, refillable at no charge

approach the register and pay at nice even prices like 7000KRW (no annoying $6.36)

don’t tip. :3 thank the person and leave satisfied.

Back to my stages:

Honeymoon is when you get to enjoy being a tourist and make local and foreign friends at your school.

Recession is purely when you get sick of red-colored food and you miss burgers, pizza, and your mum =/ The Korean language annoys you.

Stabilization is when you give up on the food and eat at American bars every night. You accept more of the things around you. Maybe this doesn’t apply to people studying abroad for only one semester.

Of course, I made this stuff up on the spot, and like I said, I haven’t experienced other stages, and the order can change (or even repeat) for every person differently.

But these past few weeks, I’ve been having dreams 0.o Dreams where I’m back in the States doing stuff like shopping for groceries at Giant, realizing that I’ve already left Korea and I hafta go back to eating American food TT

I really don’t look forward to resuming my previous life before I arrived. I feel so spoiled being in a big city being surrounded by everything I like ; State College just doesn’t have that for me. Korea to me is a utopia. Follow my blog and I’ll keep explaining why this place is illuded to me as a utopia.

And time for a recap of events:

These are from the fireworks show (on a warm night) above the Han River —

~~~~~~~~~~

A place called called SamChungDong (above)
(below) Exhibit from The National Museum. Bottom right photo is irrelevant.

A view of my campus at sunset after a storm —

Pardon the bad panorama once again

Food time:

Ta Daaaa ! Bulgogi Pizza (marinated beef) and Waffles with ice cream !

I missed out last week on KPOP discussion, so I’ll introduce the 1000lb-gorilla this week – the group that gives KPOP a bad reputation: Girls Generation / So Nyeo Shi Dae / SNSD / 소녀시대

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ (warning: strange to watch the first time)

This 9-member girl group is Korea’s most popular idol group. Their quirky overly-girly looks, dance movies, and voices make them super awkward to the foreign eye, not to mention unusual flirty phrases in English. I’d say their peek was 2009 when they released “Gee,” but since they drifted away from the “cute” aspect these past few years of being idols and entered the “hot/sexy” realm, they started to lose popularity. I think most Koreans are sick of them. But I’ve had some pretty constructive conversations about this group with Southeast Asians and Asian Americans. xD With so many releases of songs and albums in Japanese, as wells as less and less tours in Korea, I think they’re abandoning Korea and trying to appeal to Japan thesedays. Here’s a recent song in Japanese — notice the difference between this and 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6FPJOgfCkc

Being the most popular idols, you see them EVERYWHERE as models in advertisements, pushing tremendous pressure onto Korean females to try to look like them. SNSD is arguably the reason I fell in love with the music, culture, and language. Ultimately, I thank SNSD and Starcraft for introducing me to South Korea.

Shoutout to Grace who’s considering Sogang for studying abroad next year ^u^

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 키 “Kee”

and

홈런볼 bite-sized pastries

Location: feedle position ㅜㅜ

Korean Alphabet Day ! 한글날 !

Text log 100822

Tomorrow, October 9, is Hangul Day ! xD –and no classes

ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣ !!!
Hangul is the Korean alphabet man-made by this guy:

(This smart guy’s on the 10,000won bill (~$10))

I have a huge love of the Korean alphabet just as much as the language itself ; “accidentally” learning Hangul got me excited enough to start learning the language and now here I am !!! in Korea… oops. =/

Sorry, Mom.

From what my Korean teacher says, Hangul is the only written language that was made based on the formations of the mouth.

Hangul is said to be the best of the alphabets, and I hafta agree, overall.

Like East Asian languages (Chinese and Japanese), every character represents a syllable. But the problem with Chinese is that there is really no pattern. Japanese has some patterns but, compared to Korean, Korean comes out on top with organization.

Lemme explain:

These are some consonants: ㅎㄴㄱㄹ (” h n g l “)
Here are two vowels: ㅏ ㅡ (” a u “)

Every character Starts with a consonant in the upper or upper left region, and then a vowel to the right or below. Many syllables end with a consonant.

Example: 가 “ga” and 느 “nu” and 한 “han” and 글 “gul”

(Syllables can have a fourth letter, but they’re stupid and I won’t get into that ㅜ_ㅜ)

Put them together and you have 한글 “han-gul” –WHOA HOLD UP ! THAT’S EASY

— Post script: Oh, and school and tourist life are going well~ :3

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 쮏 “Jjwelh” (not a real letter, I’m just showing off how fun Hangul is)

And

초코송이 chocolate/cracker candy

Location: Sogang Computer Lab

Happy Chuseok 추석 잘 보내요

Text log 92117

It’s Chuseok weekend — The equivalent of Thanksgiving — meaning no class for five days ! ^o^

My “Thanksgiving dinner” consisted of 2 bowls of ramen and 3 rolls of sushi — all purchased from the convenience store downstairs — totaling about $5 xP Not complaining ; just saying~

Many of the foreigners went to travel this break and the Koreans went home to be with family, leaving me with plenty of time to write blogs ! and do other stuff… :3 My main purpose of staying is to tackle some assignments early and explore Seoul some more since I’ve already seen different parts of Korea.

This blog is gonna be about me tourist-ing these past few weeks — you know, travelling in groups of other minorities and getting in awkward poses to snap unnecessary photos of essentially nothing-out-of-the-ordinary.

Like so: (bad panorama..)

This is at Kyungbok Palace during the day. Notice the integration of three kinds of environment:

traditional establishments – palace gates
modern establishments – city buildings in the background
natural establishments – mountains, the furthest back

Reasons like this is why I love Seoul ; I love a bit of hybridity.

So below on the left is the stereotypical Asian shoe-removal culture … even at tourist destinations. The spot isn’t even enclosed by walls.

On the right is of course a demonstration of my love of girls in traditional Hanboks.

Because this is a Penn State blog, here’s a picture another PSU exchange student Yaling and I took.

If you don’t get it, you’re not from Penn State

And Kyungbok Palace at night:

I came back another day with my friends since I couldn’t get enough of it ><

Nextly, I take you to… I don’t even remember where, but it’s another place I was in tourist-mode (Brush calligraphy on the left ; Taekwondo performance beside it.) …

…followed by a Teddy Bear Museum in the Namsan Tower. From the top of the tower, I could take amazing pictures of the city of Seoul, day or night or sunset. There’s just something funny about bears riding horses… x_x

And because I love cities so much:

From Namsan Tower:

^-^ Sleep well~

Introducing 빙수 BingSoo, a popular Korean treat. Some of you may have had a variant of this, but for me, it was completely new. When my friend said I should try it, I thought she said it’s called “bean soup.” I was relieved to discover that BingSoo wasn’t as I had thought. But after a few bites, and a few layers down, you realize the key ingredients are shaved ice and candied beans >> in other words, BEAN SOUP -_- This particular dish is topped with cereals, fruits, ice cream, and chocolate-dipped sticks. Overall, an amazing abomination to eat.

I’m not discussing KPOP this week ~~ instead I’ll be doing my other half of Korean music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go1cIlkJGPk

With a name and genre (acid jazz, electropop) resembling London-based group Jamiroquai, Korean-Canadian electronic trio “Clazziquai” has been my favorite of all bands for the past year. Not so much popular these days, many Koreans however know of the group.

I leave you with one more example of how locals treat foreigners around here. I was shopping in Myungdong last night – a popular destination for shopping. I entered a watch shop and was serious about buying a new Skagen (it’s a big deal for a collector like me to say I bought a watch in another country). The guy offered me 10% off because I’m foreigner. I ended up buying the watch… xD

Until next time~

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 추 “Chu”

and

불닭볶음면 Ramen noodles

Location: Sogang Dorm

STORY TIME

Text log 91123

Week 2 of classes at Sogang.

Firstly, I send my salute to my homeland on this day. However, I don’t miss any of you guys. [talk-to-the-hand gesture]

Okay. This story only pertains to the past 2 hours.

It was 9:30PM. I decide to go on a get lost trip, where I went into the city, purposefully got lost, and relied on instinct to get back home — it’s a way for me to explore the city.

Kinda pretty snapshot:

Photo note (left photo/bottom right): At night, it’s common to see couples my age all intimate off to the side.

>On my way back, I’m not far from campus, and I decide to stop at a street stand

>Google image reference

>People usually stay at the stand and eat in front of the server

>Time for some delicious 떡볶이 ddukboggi — spicy rice sticks.

>Google image reference II

>I love ddukboggi and spicy food so much ; even used to make that in the States

>Basic dialog in Korean

>”Me: Ddukboggi please ^-^ “

>”Owner: Which kind? This kind is really spicy. 0.ㅇ “

>”Yeah that. xD “

>Awkward silence. Other customers grinning -(‘ㅁ’ )-

>Me: “Yeah! It’s fine!”

>”…alright :3 “

>”I… like spicy food. =D I’ll have it to go ! “

>That nice guy gives me free piece of 김밥 sushi — probably because I spoke Korean and he knew that the rice would relieve the spiciness

>Me: “Thank you~~~~” walk away

>Take a bite

>My reaction

>Soooo much flavor =D

>Three bites later

>My NEW reaction

>Maybe…. I’ll save this for later~~

>Spice gets worse

>START TEARING ; walk faster !

>Casually walk into the on-campus convenience store and buy some blueberry ice tea

>One sip. gahhhhh, that’s better

>Start eating the rest of the ddukboggi outside

>Need another sip ; Chug the rest of the tea

>Finish ddukboggi

>Explosion of spice
>Sushi did nothing to help

>You 바보 “babo” (you idiot) ! That’s all the drink you have left !

>Walk into dormitory with everyone looking

>Practically crying
>Book it to the little boys’ room

>Drink the sink

>Come upstairs to my room still “crying”

>Start blog

>Get to this point

Kids, don’t underestimate “spicy” food.

Something else to talk about:

This symbol is common here.

It’s a Buddhist symbol, rather than the symbol of Nazism.

I don’t know why I find it so interesting.

And of course, time for KPOP ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_rwTytAOs
This is 에일리 Eilee, from New Jersey. Her voice is the best in KPOP and you’re bound to hear her music being played if you go to a shopping district.

~~I wish I was as pretty and talented as he~~r~ xD xD xD

And food. Dinner for one ? Price: ~$5

Thanks for reading ! Let me know if you want more stories.

This blog was brought to you by the letter 떡 “Dduk”

and

블루베리 아이스티 Blueberry Ice Tea

Location: Around Sinchon

Education Abroad GeoBlog

Penn State bloggers from around the world