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.

DE 4

I've decided to call the events that my school's director finds and coaxes her foreign teachers into - mostly volunteering and special guided tours - "director's excursions" (DE for short).

The first DE was a trip out to Namhansanseong, which I wrote about in a previous post.  After that was a trip to a palace garden, which also got a post.  A few weeks ago, we went out to a mountain and were part of a campaign to prevent forest fires.  (산불을 예방합시다! <-- I swear I said this, like, a couple hundred times. Never going to forget the words for "forest fire" and "to prevent," that's for damn sure.)This past excursion, we went to North Jeolla Province/Jeollabuk-do (전라북도), which is in the southern area of the peninsula.

We had to be downtown at 8:30, which meant an early morning and a crowded subway ride. Luckily, we already knew basically where we were going, so we didn't have to plan too much extra time into our commute.

When we arrived at the meetup point, we encountered a Vietnamese couple whom we had met on the first DE. It was definitely nice to see some familiar faces, but they were on the other bus so we didn't see them nearly as much this trip as on the other one.

Unfortunately, it was the weekend before Children's Day, so the traffic was insane. We were supposed to arrive around noon and eat lunch right away, but we didn't get there until nearly one and had to eat very quickly. The food was really good, but there was a lot of seafood so I didn't eat very much.  There was an awesome mushroom soup that I really wish I knew how to make, though. Maybe someday I'll find a recipe somewhere.


Right after lunch, we went to see a 농악 (nong-ak) performance.

I was behind a few people, so I couldn't get many pictures (or see very well, actually). Luckily, I had seen something similar before, so I didn't miss too terribly much while I tried to see past the heads in front of me.

After that, we listened to a lecture on Ganggangsullae (강강술래), which is another traditional dance.  We had an interpreter whom we could listen to via headphones, but I did without for most of the lecture just so I could test my Korean ability. I definitely missed out on some things, but I feel like I understood a fair bit about the history of the dance.

Before we went to the hotel, we walked to the local mulberry festival for some special events. We didn't get to spend much time there, but it was still neat to see a local festival in a smaller town instead of just in a part of Seoul.

The hotel was about an hour away (I think...I fell asleep on the bus, to tell the truth), and it was by the ocean.

Yay surprise beach trip!

We only had a little time in the room to clean up before dinner, which was very enjoyable barbecue. There were 6 people to a table, so we sat with our two Vietnamese friends and two of their friends (another Vietnamese couple).  After dinner it was completely dark, and the beach wasn't the long type you can walk along for ages. The plan was to get up early and explore the rocky area under the balcony, but the tide was in when we woke up so there was no way to get there but to swim. Rather than attempt that, we went back to sleep. Still, being by the beach was still awesome, even if there weren't many opportunities to enjoy it.

After breakfast, we took a trip to learn about the Saemangeum Seawall.  It was cloudy, so we couldn't really see much from the center where we learned about the project's construction and the future work that would be done in the area.  We got a tour that explained all about the project (the interpretation was sequential rather than simultaneous this time, so I listened carefully to the original Korean and the translation this time) and learned about the plans to develop the area. The seawall is a really cool accomplishment, but I'm not sure how I feel about the project as a whole. They plan to build a city there that's supposed to be a center for trade or something...but how do you just plan a whole new city and say it's going to be super important? Important cities aren't built up all at once; they just kind of...grow. And then there's all the argument about the environmental impact, which they entirely skimmed over with a couple sentences. I would have liked to hear more about that.  Still, it was a really interesting tour.

Traffic back to Seoul was crazy once again. We had to make multiple stops at rest stations (which are 1000 times better than the ones I've stopped at in the States), and we ended up taking around 6 hours to get home.

Overall, definitely a really awesome event. Each person paid ₩10,000 (~$10 US) for this trip, and that included food, hotel, bus, and all the events. Preeeeetty ridiculously awesome. There were also some fun people that I hope I see again if I get to go on other trips this group puts on.

Cycling!

I've taken multiple bicycle outings since the weather started warming up.

The first one I went out with a coworker and we rented bikes. I'd bought a bike back in fall, but she didn't have one yet.  (That problem has since been remedied.)  We took a train to the other end of town, rented bikes with no fee but a two-hour limit, and rode out to Seoul Forest Park. It was a bit chilly and everything still looked dead, but it was still a very enjoyable ride. I'm really looking forward to returning once everything is a bit greener.

The second time, I set out alone from home on my bike and rode for the trail that starts at Eungam Station and leads all the way to the Han River.  I had no particular end point in mind, which was nice.

I had a great view the whole way.

 

 

I even saw some gorgeous little flowers next to the bike path.

Eventually I made my way to the other side of the river via the Banpo Bridge (반포대교) and tried to figure out the best place to get myself some lunch. I had meant to stop at a kimbap place and pick something up before I hit the trail, but I completely forgot.  Eventually I picked a random side-road and followed it. I had no idea where I was or where I was going, which made me a bit nervous.  I had to keep reminding myself that everything was fine - I could always just ask for directions or use my phone to find the nearest subway station.  Eventually I found a really nice kimbap place, got a roll to go, and took it back to the river.

The wind going back was terrible. It was very strong, very cold, and very annoying. I couldn't feel my hands by the time I got to Yeouido (여의도), where Ingrid was going to meet me.  I ended up hanging out by a river monster while I waited.

It even made sound when you stood in front of it.

We decided it was far too cold to ride all the way back home with no gloves, especially as it was dusk at that point, so we caught the subway back.


Sunday was supposed to hold a trip back to Yeouido for the cherry blossoms, but it was too rainy to be worth it. This weekend ought to have better weather, though, so hopefully I can make it back out for the flowers.

It's not freezing!

Warm weather has FINALLY arrived!  It's still a bit chilly at times, but I've been able to leave my gloves at home and cut down on the layers.

In the colder months, there was a conversation between the Korean teachers and the American teachers regarding the weather. Neither party could make much sense of the other because the Koreans only knew the temperatures in Celsius and the Americans only knew Fahrenheit. After that, I resolved only to use Celsius and have removed Fahrenheit from my phone's weather notifications.  It was a bit rough for quite a while (My daily thought process was basically "is it above zero? I can survive today. Under zero? I'm gonna die.") but I'm finally getting a good guesstimate for temperatures.  Unfortunately...I still can't do mental conversions on the fly.  Thanks to some conversion tools online, I know it's been in the 50s and 60s here as of late.  However, in my head, it's been in the teens. Lately it's been tending toward the upper portions, and there have even been days where we hit 20 or 21.

Yes, this DOES mean I have been out and about doing things. In turn, that means that YES, there will be more posts from me coming up. I've been out cycling, and I'll be hiking (I think?) for some school thing (I have no idea what I got dragged into but I'm going so we'll see) tomorrow.  Well, it's past 2am here, so technically it's today.  9am. Buhhuhuhuh whyyy.

Anywho. Be on the lookout for photos from my bicycle outings, hiking, random walks through the city, and whatever other shenanigans I get up to~