Okinawa

Man, getting back to the water felt fantastic. Snorkeling, paddleboarding, scuba diving, even just walking on the beach - I needed that. I needed all of that. I already need to go back, honestly. I was finishing up my last month at my current academy and was about to start moving to a public school at the start of September, and it was lovely to be able to take a break from all the things I have to do and just play in the ocean.

I actually didn't plan this trip until May or June. I had initially hoped to plan a trip to the US this summer, which would have meant either I stayed home during my school's summer break and visited between jobs, or I spent my super short break flying to and from Ohio. Neither one was really a good option, so my US trip got pushed back to winter (sad times).  I suddenly had a break that I could use. I didn't know where to go until it was brought to my attention that Okinawa isn't far from Seoul (about 2.5 hours by plane) and apparently has some lovely places to go scuba diving.

Scuba diving? Close by? In warm water? Sold.

I booked a guesthouse, got in touch with a dive shop, packed my bag, and went on my second solo diving trip at the end of July.

This is all I need, right?

At this point, Incheon Airport and I are good friends. Got there, had a quick lunch, got checked in, made it through security, and plopped down at my gate with plenty of time to spare. Going to Jeju Island I flew with Jin Air; this time I flew with Jeju Air. While I liked the overall atmosphere with Jin Air more, I have no complaints with Jeju Air. Punctual, clean, no hassles, totally fine in my book.

Upon arriving in Naha Airport, I found myself a vending machine for SIM cards. I initially had not planned on getting a data plan for my stay, but I wanted to play Pokemon GO while I could. (Niantic, please hurry up and get it to the rest of Korea. I already made a trip to Sokcho and would like to be able to play it in my own neighborhood.) After swapping out SIM cards, I found the airport limousine bus that I would be taking to a hotel near my guesthouse. I caught several Pokemon while waiting for the bus, and I even saw the outline of a Farfetch'd (which is an Asia exclusive) while on the bus. Didn't actually find it, but it was nearby.

Once I got to the hotel, I borrowed their wifi to message the owner of the guesthouse that I had arrived. He came and picked me up, and offered me the option of going straight back to the guesthouse or going to dinner with him and his friends at an Italian restaurant. Uhh, okay, dinner sounds awesome. I got to listen to quite a bit of Italian conversation and had some excellent pasta, then got settled in to the guesthouse where I would be spending the next few days.

Friday, my first full day in Okinawa, was diving day. It was my first time diving after completing my open water course, so in my head it was my first time diving as a real diver and not just a student. I will admit, I was pretty damn nervous. Would I be able to equalize? Would I have issues with buoyancy? Would I forget anything important? What would the dive site be like?

The dive company I had booked with picked me up from my guesthouse at around 9am and we drove to a dock near Maeda Point. There were four of us in the group - the instructor, a girl who was preparing to start her divemaster course, a guy who was doing his advanced open water course, and me. We got our equipment all set up, carried it to the boat, and set off. Two of us had never used a backplate/wing BCD, so we spent some time familiarizing ourselves with them.

Once we got to the dive site, I had another first: my very first back roll entry. While I was getting my certification, I only did giant strides. Rolling backwards into the water is pretty damn fun, I have to say.

After our initial descent, I had some issues with buoyancy. I kept going higher than I wanted to be and couldn't quite get the hang of releasing the air from my BCD, since it required me to kind of roll backwards. It was really awkward maneuvering until I got the hang of it. My instructor pulled me down by hand once or twice while I was trying to adjust, and he ended up strapping an extra weight onto my tank, which helped a lot. After I got all settled, buoyancy was much easier (though still a bit tricky for a bit).

Are you ready for pictures? Because I'm ready for pictures. I brought my GoPro with me and have so many pictures of fish and coral - it's ridiculous.

There was so

much

cool

stuff.

This little guy is a type of anemonefish/clownfish. They love to get all up in your face if you go anywhere near their anemones. That's right, Nemo is cute but meeeean.

Our goal/turn around point was the famous Blue Cave. I've never done any cave diving, but apparently since you can surface at any time in this cave, it's suitable for all divers. It was a little nerve wracking when it got darker and darker, to the point where I could barely make out the outline of my dive group, but it got lighter pretty quickly. There were waaaaay too many people in the cave, though, so we didn't stick around too long. I got an awesome shot on the way out, too.

On the way back, I even caught a glimpse of a titan triggerfish lower down on the reef wall. They can be pretty aggressive when guarding their nests, so it made me a little nervous.

The second dive was at Yamada Point, which has really cool coral gardens. This dive was pretty shallow - a lot of the time we were between 3 and 5 meters (10-16 feet) down. There wasn't as much to see between the entry point and the coral gardens, so I spent a lot of my time focusing on my buoyancy technique and swimming efficiently. The gardens themselves were pretty cool, and I got to see some giant clams.

The next day I had originally planned to go learn how to surf, but the weather just wouldn't allow it. It was thunderstorming most of the day, so I ended up reading for a lot of it.

The following day looked to be about the same, but the weather eventually broke and the guesthouse owner asked if I'd like to try stand up paddle boarding. He was about to go teach two more students, and there was space for me if I wanted to come along for the lesson. Uhh, yes please! It turned out that the other two students were Korean, and since they were having trouble understanding our instructor, I got to translate. It was one of the first times I've had to demonstrate my Korean ability for someone else (not just so I can get things done) where I actually felt confident in my ability to do so.

Paddleboarding was a fun experience, but I think it would be more fun if I had a snorkel and mask so I could pop my face into the water and see what I was paddling over more clearly. I only fell off once, and getting back on was a cakewalk. I thought I was going to have to try several times before I finally managed to get back on the board, but it was crazy easy.

The beach near the guesthouse was small but pretty. I managed to see a nice sunset and a nice sunrise there, did some swimming along the beach with my GoPro, and collected a bunch of sea glass.

Okinawa was nice, but I actually was ready to move on by the end of the trip. The diving is definitely worth doing (and doing again), but I think not having a car made my trip less interesting than it could have been. I also wish I would have booked two days of diving instead of just one, but now I know for next time, and I'm pretty sure there is going to be a next time.

Jeju Island

One of the big items on my to-do list in Korea was visiting Jeju-do. It's considered one of the most beautiful parts of Korea and has fantastic beaches. Unfortunately, the only practical way to get there is by plane. Sure, there's a ferry, but by the time I arrived I would have to turn right back around. I put it off as something I would try to do eventually, since whenever I looked plane tickets seemed to hover around $300.

I was looking at what to do over my summer break (since 3 days in the US was not sufficient for the effort it would take to get there), and decided to look at prices for Jeju flights just to take a break from figuring out my trip to Japan. (Yup, stay tuned, I'm going to Okinawa.) With Coupang, the Korean equivalent of Groupon, my coworker and I found tickets for...drumroll..$116.

Done.

Ideally we would have gone over Memorial Day weekend since it was three days instead of two, but we would have had to pay quite a bit more. We decided on the next weekend instead.

Instead of trying to find a hotel, we decided to crash in saunas. It ended up giving us more flexibility - we decided at the last minute to switch up our itinerary and stay the first night in Seogwipo instead of Jeju-si. It was also significantly cheaper: less than 10 dollars a night each. Granted, we were sleeping on the floor in a community area, but that's nothing new to us. Saunas are our friends. (LonelyPlanet has a lovely guide to Korean bathhouses/saunas that might give a clearer idea of why this is a good budget accommodation.)

Day 1: Going to Jeju!

I have Korean classes every Saturday and Sunday from 9-2. Fortunately, our flight left at 5pm, so I didn't have to miss Saturday's class. As soon as class was over, I booked it out of there and went straight to the airport. I'd never gone through Gimpo before, so I was very curious how different it would be from Incheon.  It definitely has the feel of a smaller airport, but checking in and getting through security was really fast. (Side note: not having to take off your shoes at the airport is wonderful. I've never had to take off my shoes anywhere but the US.) On top of that, since it was a domestic flight, I was a little excited that I could get on a flight without my passport for the first time in years. Obviously I still brought it just in case, but I ended up only ever needing my Korean ID.

Along with many other firsts, this was my first experience with a budget airline. We flew with Jin Air, and I was pretty impressed. Check-in was quick and easy, we got nice seats (you don't get to choose in advance), and everything was clearly marked. Our flight did get delayed by about half an hour, but that was no big deal. There was no screen on the back of the seat in front of me, but unless I'm on a flight that's longer than 6 hours I hardly use that anyway. What I think I liked best, though, was that it felt very relaxed and casual, yet still professional. The Jin Air employees all wore uniform polos or button down shirts with nice jeans and Converse (high tops, of course), and they were all very nice and helpful. I was actually disappointed when our return flight got canceled and we were moved to a Korean Air flight. (Korean Air is Jin Air's parent company and is known for being all-around excellent.)

After we landed in Jeju, we had no checked luggage so we went straight for the bus. The first bus was easy. The second one we waited for took a bit, but it wasn't too bad. The third bus....well, the third bus never showed up. According to the tables we found online, we figured there would have been one or two more buses that were going to the "station" (post on the side of the road) where we got off. Nooope. We sat there for an hour before deciding to just hail a taxi to take us to the sauna.


Day 2: Adventure day!

We got up at 5 a.m., got ready, and left by about 6ish. We caught a bus to the first destination: 천지연폭포/Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. I'm pretty sure that this bus and the first bus we took from the airport were the only ones we didn't have to wait forever for on this trip.

At the waterfall park entrance, we had our first encounter with the dol hareubang (돌 하르방): the famous "stone grandfather" statues.

People say the hats are supposed to look like mushrooms. Yeah...mushrooms. Right.

It was drizzling, so the park was practically empty. There was a small stream with beautifully clear water, and the waterfall at the end was gorgeous. I really wanted to go swimming, but we were short on time (plus I don't think swimming is allowed there, even though I didn't see any signs). My coworker wanted to jump off the top, but I'm not quite brave enough to want to try something that daring. We ended up agreeing that it would be a bad idea, though - the water at the bottom was probably too shallow.

Next stop was Jusangjeolli Cliff (주상절리). It was a long bus ride followed by a bit of a walk to the ticket booth, but once we actually got to see the cliffs...man, it was worth it. The water was a gorgeous emerald color, and the dark color of the volcanic rocks made it pop even more. At first there were just average volcanic cliffs with beautiful water...

...but then we got around the bend in the path and saw what we had come for. Somehow the lava here had naturally formed into hexagons.

Look at that water. Absolutely gorgeous.

I wish there had been a little more space where we could stand and look. Even on a cool, overcast Sunday with near-constant mist/drizzle, there were quite a few people competing for space next to the railings.

After that, it was off to 만장굴 - the lava tubes! We made the long walk back to the bus stop, where we caught the first of three buses we intended to take. Our planned route had us going (roughly) clockwise around the island, from the cliffs to Seogwipo City, from there to Jeju City, and then from Jeju City to the lava tubes. We were the only two people on the bus when we first got on, so the bus driver asked where we were going. I told him, he asked how we were getting there, and he insisted that there must be a faster route. He then proceeded to call the Jeju Island information center, ask them for a better route, and then after the phone call he forwarded me the text message they sent him with directions. We thanked him and took the new route, but halfway through the insanely long bus ride we realized it was a counterclockwise route that had us going for nearly three hours on the same bus. I had deliberately planned on avoiding that route simply because we would be spending so long sitting on the same bus. Oh well.

We finally got off the bus after what felt like forever, and we walked 2km to the lava tubes. Once we got there, we discovered that there were lockers where we could store our backpacks. Score! Then we went down into the cave. As soon as we went below ground level, the temperature dropped dramatically and I found myself wishing for the jacket I left back home in Seoul. It was pretty cool to see all the different parts of the cave and read about how they formed.

This was once an underground river of lava.

Leaving the lava tubes was the biggest bus SNAFU of the whole trip, and that includes the bus that never arrived. We missed the bus to Jeju City by about 5 minutes, and we had to wait an hour for the next one. While we waited, a dude in an OSU shirt walked by and we chatted for a bit before he grabbed a taxi. We thought we were the smart ones for fending off the pushy taxi drivers. The bus finally got there...and it didn't go where we needed it to go. Whaaa? Apparently all the buses with the same number don't actually go the same route. The driver said he would drop us where we needed to transfer, so we figured that would be the end of it. Nope. We had to wait another hour at that stop as well, and we spent a decent chunk of that time trying to figure out if it was even going to show up.

Lesson learned: Jeju buses are ridiculous. You might think you have them all figured out, but that is a lie.

Eventually,after quite a bit of effort, we made it to Jeju City, sat in a Starbucks and charged our phones for a while, and then made our way to that night's sauna for dinner and relaxing.

Day 3: Going home

We thought we woke up in plenty of time to walk to the airport, but we ended up catching a taxi halfway through because we realized there was no way we would be able to walk there in time. Oh well, no big deal. The person at the check-in counter had trouble with our names and how they were processed in the system, but in the end we got our tickets without too much extra trouble. Then we saw the line to check the tickets. Not get through security, just go from the ticketing area to the place where we would go through security. There were probably three different massive travel groups ahead of us, and we started to worry that we might be cutting it close.

We got in line, and I finally learned firsthand why Chinese tourists have a bad reputation. We were waiting in line between the poles and ropes, just like any other reasonable and rule-abiding travelers. The line was double-file, but there was a little space on either side because nobody likes to be squished up against the boundaries and/or other people. Instead of waiting in line properly, a huge Chinese tour group starts pushing through the line. There was space to move? They took it. An orderly line became total anarchy. I ended up getting death stares from an old grandma because I wasn't letting her pass, and then returning those death stares when she eventually managed to barge past me.

Eventually we made it through the line and through security. I picked up a quick breakfast at a convenience store and we waited at the gate. Soon we were joined by a large group of deaf Chinese tourists. The language nerd in me was really excited because sign languages are fascinating and I got to see a non-English one being used in real life and not videos.  On top of that, I figured the previous group must have been the odd group of rude people, so this group was probably much nicer and knew how to queue properly. HA, wrong. Once it was time to board the plane, they were worse than the first group. There was an older Korean family in front of us (in the LINE where you are supposed to WAIT YOUR TURN because that is how queues WORK) and they actually turned around and made a great effort to convey to us that the people being rude were not Korean and this was not how Koreans acted. Seriously, how rude do you have to be to cause locals to turn and try to make sure foreigners don't look at their country poorly because of your behavior?  I'm sure not all Chinese people act like this when they travel, but still, geez...

Despite the delayed flight, my coworker and I still made it back to Seoul in enough time to drop our things at home, change, and relax for a little bit before heading in to work to teach at 1:00. Another nice thing about flying in and out of Gimpo is that it's actually in the city of Seoul and not an hour away in Incheon.

Overall, I had a lot of fun on Jeju Island. I definitely want to go back sometime and actually experience the beaches (and some nice weather), but I don't think I want to rely solely on buses again. That was a nightmare.  My experience with a budget airline was also a pleasant surprise, and I'm much less antsy about my upcoming budget airline flight to Okinawa.

'Tis the season for...beverages.

I've posted a lot about food, but I haven't really talked about drinks much on here. I've been on the search for specific things recently, so I might as well write about it.

Alcohol here is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, soju is everywhere and it's pretty inexpensive. On the other hand, have fun finding something stronger than beer that isn't soju. There are fun flavors that are popular right now, but it's like flavored vodka - everyone defaults to the original.  I know stores where I can find vodka and Kahlua, but I have yet to find spiced rum. Maybe one day I will find Sailor Jerry on a shelf and do a happy dance in the middle of the store. One day.

Beer is...well, I don't care much for beer, so it probably says something for how tasteless it is that I can drink Korean beer without any problem whatsoever. In most places, you can find Japanese beers and possibly a couple American and German options alongside the Korean ones. Sometimes you'll even see Guinness, but that's much less common.

Cider is starting to pick up in popularity, albeit very slowly. I've seen Strongbow and Somersby's in a couple marts and convenience stores, but very few. I've been missing Angry Orchard like mad and thought it would a long time before I could have it again, but apparently Korea started importing it in August. I never would have known if a friend of a friend hadn't stumbled across it. My friend remembered the name because I've been constantly mentioning how much I miss it, so she immediately told me.

What did I do? I went out on an adventure with nothing but vague directions, high hopes, and a picture of the bottle my friend had received from her friends and passed on to me. (I drank it before leaving. I couldn't resist. Who cares if it's 2 p.m. here? It's midnight back in Ohio.)

I had two destinations in mind. The first was an import beer shop in Hongdae that I found on Naver, which is basically Korean Google. I didn't know if they would have what I wanted, but since it was waaaay closer than the other one, it was worth a shot.  The second was an unnamed craft beer/import beer shop somewhere in the French area of Seoul. I didn't even know there was a French area of Seoul.

The Hongdae shop was pretty easy to find, but it was tiny. Itty bitty. They had individual bottles for sale of various different beers, and I was surprised how many I actually recognized. They only had one cider, but it was the one I was looking for. Victory!

On to the mystery shop. The people who originally found the cider remembered the area of town the shop was in, but nothing beyond that. Luckily for me, it's not a huge area. I didn't even have to walk down the main street for very long before I caught sight of a sign for craft beer, and it turned out to have exactly what I was looking for. This was a combination bar/shop, and the shop area wasn't much bigger than the one in Hongdae. They also only sold by the bottle, but they had a lot more variety (and a lot more of each). Their Angry Orchard was slightly more expensive than the Hongdae shop, so I picked up a couple ciders that I haven't tried before instead.  I had no idea if it was good or not, but there was a deal where I got a free glass if I bought two bottles of it, so I figured I might as well.

So, all in all, it was a productive adventure!

(One of these days I'm going to remember to start taking pictures of everywhere I go so I don't have gigantic boring chunks of text on my blog. One day. Maybe. Possibly.)

FC Seoul

This past Sunday, I got to see another professional sports game in Seoul - soccer!

It was a special event that I heard about through Facebook: foreigners got discounted tickets, and there were special performances before the game. It sounded fun and was at World Cup Stadium, which is pretty close to my neighborhood, so I figured I'd give it a go.

First of all, the area around the stadium is really nice. There are lovely little parks nearby and it's right next to a stream with a bike path (which I happen to use all the time because it leads straight to the Han River). There's also a movie theater and a grocery store on the lower levels of the stadium, so while I've never actually been to a soccer game here, I've been to the stadium a few times before.

It wasn't exactly packed, but it's October and a bit chilly in the mornings. It also didn't seem to be an important game, so that might have had more to do with it than the weather.  Before the game started, I went ahead and bought an FC Seoul scarf. Why not, show some spirit for the home team, right?

The tickets were open seating, which was nice. We got pretty good seats, but also ended up behind a bunch of super fans. They were standing and cheering the whole time, which was simultaneously fun and annoying. It was cool to have such team spirit right by us, but they kinda impeded my view of the game. Maybe I'm weird, but I go to sports events more for the game than the cheering.

 I was a bit surprised at how few people were there...but then I remembered that the stadium was originally built for a global event. No way would they be able to fill it on a regular basis. I also hear way more from my students about Korean baseball teams than about soccer. Not that I'm complaining - soccer is fun, but baseball is still my favorite.

Everything was going great, but then I managed to lose my phone within the first ten minutes of the game. Go me.  I hit the restroom, went to grab refreshments, and realized when I got back to my seat that I had set my phone down in the bathroom and never picked it up. I went back to find it and it was gone. I used my friend's phone to call it...nobody answered. Worry worry worry, ask for a lost and found, get told there isn't one, walk around with a stadium employee who doesn't really know what to do either, start trying to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to get a new phone...and suddenly the guy I'm walking around with notices some of his coworkers huddled over something: my phone. Woo! Safe and sound.

After that, it was all about the game...ish. I was really amused by the kids behind me, who were screaming like banshees and cursing out the players for this and that. In front of me, there were some really enthusiastic people with flags who knew all the cheers. In particular, there was a drunk dude (who sounded American) and he was kind of obnoxious. His poor Korean friend kept trying to rein him in, but it was a losing battle.  He and another one of his friends (who also sounded American) ended up taking their shirts off in the later part of the game and a lot of people were looking at them really awkwardly. The Koreans they were with told them to put their shirts back on multiple times, but they kept taking them off again. It wasn't even warm out - why did they think it was at all necessary to cheer half-naked? Somebody please explain. (Actually, don't.)

This was actually the first professional soccer game I've ever attended. I always meant to go to a Crew game back in Columbus, but I never ended up doing it. This would definitely be an awesome thing to do with a group of people...why did I never do this in college? WHY? It would have been fantastic!

So, yeah! Good times were had and I would definitely consider doing this again...minus the bit where I lose my phone.

The little things

I get frustrated with my language learning progress a lot. I feel like I'm not improving, even though I'm taking classes and self-studying. There are TV programs with foreigners who speak Korean extremely well, and whenever I see a program like that I get a little sad. I worry that I'll never be that good. How does one even DO that? I'm trying to read a book intended for kids right now and I'm struggling through, even with a dictionary. It takes me forever to say anything because I'm always searching for the correct words or grammar. I often have to ask people to repeat themselves or explain what they mean because I couldn't understand one or two key words.

I'm learning - and constantly reminding myself - that improvement shows itself best in the little things.

For example, I hate phone calls. Hate them. Hate them in any and every language. I don't communicate well over the phone. When I first got here, I would put things off for days if they required a phone call. Hair appointment? It can wait, right? Not really, but I don't want to call. Whenever one of the Korean teachers ever offered to make a phone call for me to make an appointment, I would feel so relieved. It's been a year now and I still hate phone calls, but I can call my hair salon the same day I realize I really should get a haircut this weekend. It's something.

In fact, just the other day, I had to call and reschedule a doctor's appointment. One of the Korean teachers offered to do it for me, but I told her I could do it. And I did. I rescheduled that appointment and - with a separate phone call to a separate place - cancelled a follow-up appointment with a dentist I didn't like. No extra time spent with a dictionary and a notebook, writing out what I would need to say. I decided it needed to be done and 5 minutes later, it was.

I always knew I could muddle my way through things if it came down to it, but I worried about not being good enough. I don't worry quite so much anymore. I know there will be times I'm not good enough, but I'll get through them anyway.

Korean beauty products

I never used to care much about makeup. All through high school and college, makeup was for special occasions only. I didn't bother with it for day-to-day things. Class? Nah. Grabbing dinner with friends? Maybe, if I feel like it. Bar or party? Yeah, I probably should. My rule of thumb was if I paid particular attention to wearing nice clothes, I should throw on some eyeshadow and mascara.  I didn't even learn how to wear foundation until just before I studied in Korea...at 21 years old.

When I was here last time, I bought a pack of face masks and used, like...three.  I didn't bring a lot of eyeshadow colors with me when I moved in August, so I picked a few up when I first got here.

That is when I learned about the samples.

I mean, I already knew that makeup/beauty stores usually gave samples, but I'd never gotten any before.

Ohhhh how times have changed.

Not pictured: all the samples I have already used or packed up to send to friends/family

I have a skincare routine now. It's weird to think about. I used to resist all forms of skincare/makeup/anything even remotely resembling any of that, and now I love going into makeup/beauty stores.

Face masks are 10+10? Whoops, now I have 20 more face masks.

There are stores for this stuff pretty much everywhere, and stuff is generally pretty reasonably priced. I have favorites for different things - I get my eyeshadow here, my face masks there, my nail polish at that one...it's great.  Most of all, I love trying out the different product samples I get. It lets me explore new stuff without worrying about being stuck with a jar or bottle of something I don't like.

The U.S. needs to up its game in regards to this stuff. Seriously. If I ever end up leaving Korea, I'm going to miss the beauty products so much. SO much.

Korean classes!

Apologies in advance for the long post with no pictures. It's a blog, not a novel, so I should insert pictures to break up the text...but I don't have any. Whoops. 

I finally started Korean classes today! I've been putting it off because I didn't know where to look for classes that fit my schedule - definitely one of the downsides of being an afternoon teacher. This place was recommended to me by one of the newer NETs (Native English Teachers).  She wanted to take classes there, but couldn't quite commit herself to taking classes for various reasons.  I went to check out the school a couple of weeks ago, and since it seemed nice I went ahead and signed up that day.  They have a pronunciation class that would LOVE to take, but it's during my work hours so I'm out of luck for now. Maybe eventually I'll switch to a public school and get an average schedule, but for right now my only option is weekend classes. Fortunately for me, this academy offers classes on Saturday mornings.

Signing up was an adventure in and of itself. The map led me to a building...that was gutted and under construction. The school sign was still on the side of the building, so it looked like I was SOL. I was about to give up, but I really wanted to take classes...so I braved my fear/hatred of using my phone for its true purpose and called the number on the sign. It turned out that they had just relocated to somewhere very close by. The woman on the phone was incredibly patient with me. I had trouble finding things and getting to where she was trying to have me go, and it didn't help that there were a few words I didn't understand. Normally I can get past unknown words, but these were kind of key to the sentence...there was a lot of difficulty and embarrassment involved. BUT. But but but. I eventually found it and the woman in the office seemed very happy to see the lost foreigner from the phone actually arriving in the office.

I knew from the website and brochures that my coworker had shared with me that the academy used Sogang's textbooks for most of the levels, which was good news. I had gotten through level 3A when I studied at Sogang, so I bought the 3B books to study from back in winter.  The website mentioned a level test, so I was nervous about that. I didn't know if they only offered it on certain days, how long I would have to wait to take it, if I would totally flunk it and get in a really low level, if I would somehow manage to accidentally do really well and get put in a level I wasn't ready for...so many worries. It turned out that I didn't need to be concerned. I mentioned that I had studied at Sogang previously and that we finished the 3A book, and the woman at the desk just basically went "well, cool, you can go to 3B." Easy peasy.

I got into class today a little bit early, still feeling very nervous. Whenever I do anything that involves people knowing I speak Korean (or, even worse, that I studied it at university), I feel like I have to perform to a very high standard or I'm letting all of my professors down. Even though I hear Korean every day and speak it multiple times a week, it's been over a year since I last took a Korean class. I had nothing to back up my suspicions, but I figured that while my speech fluidity may have gone up, I was probably going to have trouble with things like conjugating and applying certain grammatical rules. You know, the school stuff that you don't really practice when you're out and about.

As always happens, I was nervous for no reason. I didn't quite catch why, but our class had missed one class day in May so we were still on the last bit of 3A. I didn't have the books but it was a nice bit of review for me. There were a few words I didn't fully remember, including two that I always mix up - to turn off and to turn on. The class was entirely in Korean, which is what I was expecting (and, honestly, what I'm used to). My instructor is really nice, and she encouraged us to talk even if the subject wasn't entirely related to the material we were supposed to be learning.

My teacher says my classmates are all Japanese men, but only one was there today. I haven't interacted at length with any native Japanese speakers, so there were a couple times when I couldn't quite understand his accent. Give it a few classes, though, and it'll be much easier for me to understand him. The linguist in me kinda geeked a bit (internally, of course) when I could hear certain patterns in his Korean pronunciation that I could tell came from this or that rule of Japanese pronunciation...though I'm struggling to remember how I came to know anything at all about Japanese phonology. I don't remember it being one of the languages we worked with in my phono class...did I randomly look it up? Did someone explain it to me? I had to work with hiragana once in my crypto class, but that wouldn't quite do the trick...

Anywhos.

I feel like being a teacher has definitely made me a better student. Up until now, I was always on the quiet side in classes and I hated being called on because I felt like it put so much pressure on me to perform well. It felt like a quiz or mini-exam every time. I paid attention, took good notes, and did my homework (well, usually), but participation was scary. Now, I think about what I'm always wishing my students did or didn't do and try to follow those guidelines. I'm super-conscious about making sure I don't speak up significantly more or less than other students, asking questions even if it's a minor thing that I'm trying to clarify, getting creative during dialogue practice and not just repeating the example with minor changes, talking around the words that I can't remember or don't know, and other things like that.

I'm really happy that I'm finally taking classes and doing something to improve my Korean.  I've been self-studying vocabulary, but it doesn't feel like enough. I don't practice my Korean on a daily basis...or even a weekly one, for that matter. The most I usually speak in a week is a couple short interactions with whatever cashier happens to be at the convenience store or mart I go to. I hear Korean at work a lot when the Korean teachers talk to each other or when my students chatter during break, but I almost never contribute to conversations. Hopefully these classes will help me give my Korean the boost it needs.