Thanksgiving and venturing out to the countryside

My week and especially my weekend has been filled with consistent loads of delicious food. I love food but I'm actually looking forward to taking a break because my stomach almost couldn't handle all the food in front of me. Thursday was Thanksgiving, so about a month ago I made reservations to eat a buffet dinner at a restaurant in Itaewon, Bull and Barrel. Even if I wanted to make my own dinner I couldn't have because I and all my friends don't have ovens and unfortunately 90% of Thanksgiving food requires an oven. So after my Korean class a group of friends and I headed to the restaurant and started gorging ourselves on food. I was actually really impressed by the quality of the food; it tasted exactly like home; the only thing that was missing was the green bean casserole. The pumpkin pie came out at the end and everyone at the table almost started crying when we took our first bite because it was real pumpkin pie. We were all expecting a Korean sweet potato pie or something resembling a pumpkin pie but this was the real deal. It was interesting eating Thanksgiving at a restaurant with friends and not with family, but I was glad to get a taste of home in some form. Unfortunately, my stomach got super bloated afterwards and it became quite painful because I'm so used to not eating Western food (my stomach couldn't handle all that bread and butter). It's amazing how your stomach can change when you eat the same diet for over 3 months. I look forward to observing how my stomach will be affected when I fly back to the United States.

A plate of Thanksgiving food from Bull and Barrel.

A delicious slice of pumpkin pie.

After a long day of class on Friday, I headed to a New Zealand bar that a guy from my Korean class works at (he's from New Zealand), the Cheeky Kiwi. I decided to indulge myself in the kiwi burger which ended up being a very delicious decision. This burger consisted of a toasted bagel as the bun and then inside was beef, cheese, a beet slice, a slice of pineapple, an egg, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and aioli sauce. It was incredibly messy to eat but I enjoyed every bite. The kiwi burger was definitely the most unique burger I've had but all the ingredients worked together. I look forward to having it again in the future.

Eating at Cheeky Kiwi with friends from my Korean class.

The infamous kiwi burger.

Those two days were just the start to the rest of my weekend as far as consuming good food goes. A couple of weeks ago a sign-up sheet went around in my Korean class for a trip to the countryside. The only things I knew about it were the dates of the trip, that we were going to visit villages and make kimchi and alcohol, and that the trip was free. Everyone else in my class was hesitant to sign up but I signed up right away (who doesn't love free trips?) and two other classmates finally signed up with me as well. This trip ended up being the biggest jackpot of all time and you'll know why as I explain.

The trip started when me and around 25 other KLI students loaded onto a tour bus at 8 a.m. in front of the KLI building on Saturday. A KLI teacher and two guys from the company sponsoring the trip accompanied us. After receiving bread, milk, and name tags, we headed about 4 and a half hours outside of Seoul to Yeongyang county. I did a quick Wikipedia search about the county before we left and I found out that it's so isolated that it's like an inland island and that it's pretty much the countryside of the countryside, so I was going to get a feel for the real Korea. After stopping once and making our way through mountains and incredibly windy roads, we arrived at 두들마을 (Dudeul village), the home of Lady Jang Gye-hyang, the first woman to write a Korean cookbook and to do so in Korean instead of using Chinese characters. The cookbook is called 음식디미방 (eumshikdimibang), which literally means "ways to discern tastes of food." We stopped for lunch after we arrived and then took a tour of the village. We visited the Lady's tombstone, walked around the traditional houses, and went into a museum dedicated to the cookbook she wrote which included 146 recipes on all types of food and drinks consumed in the 17th century. 

Lunch we had at Dudeul village.

A map of the village.

One of the traditional houses in the village.

Another traditional house.

We then headed to a building to make a traditional alcohol, 칠일수 (chililsu), which is made entirely from rice. The experience was unique and actually pretty tiring. After watching how it's made downstairs we headed back upstairs to make our own. A lot of the work was already done for us so all we had to do was take the rice and crumble it up into pieces, pour the starter liquid (I don't know the actual name for it), and then for 15 minutes press the rice down with the palms of our hands. We all let out a collective groan when found out that we had to do it for 15 minutes. By the time we were done my wrists were quite sore. We then put the mixture into a jar and were told the directions for the next month of how to keep the mixture so it'll turn into alcohol. So in one month I'll be able to drink my chililsu! Hopefully it'll turn out decent, haha. Also, throughout this whole trip everything was in Korean and we would occasionally have things translated for us if we really didn't understand what was going on. It was a good test of my Korean listening skills and luckily we were in a group so if I didn't completely catch all that was said I would just follow what the group was doing.

Before the alcohol-making process: the starter on the left and the rice on the right.

The finished product. In one month this will turn into alcohol!

We then headed to dinner which was my favorite part of this trip. The dinner was a traditional royal dinner using the recipes from 음식디미방. Even though I've had plenty of Korean food since I've been here, I ate things I never had before and many things I couldn't recognize. Even the Koreans who were with us didn't know some of the foods because the recipes were so old. The meal consisted of four courses: the appetizers before the appetizers (I don't have a name for those), the appetizers, main course, and dessert. It was such a struggle to make it through the entire meal because there was so much food. But, I was determined to at least try everything. It was kind of fun looking at the dish, not knowing at all what it could be, and putting in your mouth and not expecting the flavor you were about to get. I also want to emphasize that this entire trip was free. This dinner alone was 50,000 won a person. The phrase "this is too good to be true" kept ringing in my head the entire weekend because it really was too good to be true.

The appetizers before the appetizers. What was interesting about these dishes was the "pudding" to the top left. It's basically a pudding of chililsul, something I never had before. I couldn't finish it though because the alcohol was so strong.

One of the appetizers among many. On the right is lotus root and on the left is some sort of bean patty.

The main course. So much food!

Dessert. On the left was a honey rice pancake and on the right was rice cake. Korean dessert is traditionally not very sweet but it was delicious nonetheless!

After a very filling dinner everyone headed to their assigned traditional house (hanok) that they were to stay in for the night. We also got snacks to take with us (more free food, which I couldn't believe we kept getting). I lucked out though and instead of staying in an empty house, I stayed in the same house that the descendants of Lady Jang lived in. They were incredibly hospitable and the room was stayed in was AWESOME! It was big, had a giant TV, it was clean, and the pads and blankets we used to sleep with were so comfortable. Meanwhile the rooms that other people stayed in were much smaller and didn't have a TV (which we didn't end up using but it was nice nonetheless). I was also happy to find out that the bathroom (which was detached from the house) had warm water so the quick shower I took in the morning was bearable. Overall I really enjoyed my stay in the hanok house. It was cozy, warm, and made leaving the next morning that much harder.

One end of the room we stayed in.

The other end.

Unfortunately, all day on Sunday the weather was awful: it was cold and consistently rainy. The weather made everything gloomy and it was not fun walking around with wet shoes all day, especially since in East Asia you have to take off your shoes every time you walk inside a building so my socks ended up getting pretty dirty and wet. That's one I look forward to coming back to the U.S.: not having to always take your shoes off. After awhile it becomes quite annoying. After waking up and getting ready, we headed to breakfast and then got on the bus to head to another village, the home of the famous Korean poet Cho Ji-hun. We toured the village and entered a museum about his life and his work.  

Cho Ji-hun's house.

Photos of Cho Ji-hun in the museum.

We then hopped back on the bus and headed to the nearby kimchi festival. This part of the trip was super overwhelming. There were cameras everywhere that were shooting us and we even met the mayor of Yeongyang county. Of course we met him on the day that I looked like crap and same with everyone else because it was the second day of the trip and it had been raining all day so everyone's hair was crazy. But like I said, it was very overwhelming. They were people pulling us in different directions, asking us questions, taking photos of us, asking us to say things, taking videos of us. It was all such a blur. And we were the only foreigners there so we got all the attention. The "making" kimchi part was kind of fun. I was expecting to actually completely make kimchi, from making the sauce to cutting the cabbage, but instead all we did was take the sauce and put it in the layers of the cabbage. I now have a ton of kimchi though (two heads of cabbage worth), enough to probably last me the whole year, haha.

Outside the kimchi festival tent.

Making kimchi: before with the sauce and cabbage.

Making kimchi: the final product.

We then headed on the bus again (I'm probably forgetting stuff we did because we packed so much into one day) and headed to a museum area about mountain village life. The museum was actually really nice and I enjoyed learning about all aspects of mountain life in Korea, from the foods eaten to the way people dressed to how they farmed. After the museum we walked in this trail for about 10 minutes which ran through a mountainside. If it wasn't raining I would've actually really enjoyed that walk. We went up and down hills, over bridges, through the woods, and over a river until we finally reached the place we were to have lunch. This area of Yeongyang is known for gochujang, a sauce made from fermented red peppers. We had bibimbap for lunch with the sauce and then after taking a short break we hopped on the bus yet again for our final stop.

The museum area of the mountain village life.

Part of our walk to lunch.

The bibimbap lunch we had.

Our final stop was in another village but we stopped there mainly to take our last group photo and to fill out a questionnaire about how we felt about the trip. That was it: all we had to do was fill out one page of paper to get this whole trip for free. I am still shocked that I got everything we did for free and I barely had to do anything for it. Now you can understand why this was a major jackpot and it was indeed too good to be true.

We headed back on the bus for 5 hours and finally arrived in Seoul. At this point I was exhausted so when I came back I unpacked, went on the internet, talked to Henrik, and then went to sleep. 

This will probably be my last blog post for awhile. I have finals in two weeks and then Henrik comes here for four weeks. I want to concentrate on studying and my time spent with him so I don't expect to write another blog post until he leaves, which will be in January. Until then I will keep everyone updated through social media and I highly recommend browsing through the other photos I posted on Facebook because I barely scratched the surface of my trip by posting them here. 

I will see you all in January!

Movies and visiting a Korean army base

During my normal week of classes, I went to see the new Hunger Games movie Thursday night. I haven't read the books so I can't be the best judge, but the movie was pretty good. We went at 9:30 p.m. on a premier night and the theater wasn't nearly full which would have never happened in the U.S. We even reserved our tickets the day before and got perfect seats, so I guess it's a good thing the Hunger Games isn't as popular in Korea. 

This week and the following weeks have also been dominated by me watching Breaking Bad. I never went past the first three seasons so I figured now would be the best time to finish off the show since I have so much free time. So in between class, homework, errands, and making trips, I've been watching Breaking Bad which I don't regret at all; sometimes you need a taste of home to get through the foreignness of living abroad. I finished the show on Friday and all I can say is that it's seriously a perfect show. I look forward to forgetting the show so I can watch it again in the future, haha.

On Saturday I was invited by Hisu to visit his army base. I met with another Korean who went to school with us in India who's currently finishing off his military service by working in Suwon (south of Seoul). We travelled together to the army base, which was an excellent idea because I would've had trouble traveling by myself. The army base is unfortunately out in the middle of nowhere so it took us awhile to get there. I took the subway from Sinchon all the way to end of line 1 which took about an hour and a half. We then jumped on a bus for about 45 minutes that took us the entrance of the base. It was nice catching up about our times in India together during the whole ride. Whenever I talk about India it's always hard to believe that I lived there 8 eight years ago because talking to my friends it feels like it was just yesterday.

Across those mountains is North Korea. I am facing away from the entrance of the base.

The base is all the way north and somewhat east; we were merely 4 kilometers away from North Korea. When the bus dropped us off we walked a short distance to the entrance where we had to hand in our IDs and fill out a short form and that was it. I was expecting to be patted down but it dawned on me that unlike the U.S., Koreans don't carry around guns and even if I did, I'd be taken down within minutes since I was in an army base. It was also very, very interesting being not only a woman, but a foreign white woman in a Korean army base. Let's just say I received ALL the stares. Hisu later told me that from his knowledge I'm the only foreigner he's ever seen at the base and the guys kept asking him why I was there. I guess I gave Hisu some pride when he was able to say that I was his friend, haha.

The name of the base.

The guards called for Hisu to come to the entrance and it was so different seeing him in full uniform. All of sudden everything he was saying about his time in the army became real. He was really happy to see us and I was glad my simple visit could make him feel that way. I could see why though: the base is incredibly depressing and everything looks like it's falling apart. Hisu's days are filled with work in an isolated, barren area with crappy food and a dilapidated building to sleep in.  And ever so often, him and the other men are summoned to the barracks in the mountains when they hear that North Koreas are being rowdy nearby. I was unfortunately not able to take photos within the base, but the base is pretty typical of what I would think most bases are like: there were the living quarters, ammo storage, places for recreation (including a noribang which I thought was interesting), the dining hall, and the building for where visitors are supposed to stay. The visitors room consisted of just a few tables with chairs but it was warm, which Hisu enjoyed because the rest of the base wasn't like that. This army base is also smaller than the other army bases, so the place was pretty quiet and calm when we were there.

Hisu, Wonjoon, and I. 

After walking around we went to the visitor's room and ordered lunch. If you have visitors at the base you are able to order food from outside, so Hisu was ecstatic to order something other than army food. We ordered copious amounts of fried chicken and spent time catching up with each other's lives. Afterwards we walked around again and then said our good-byes (at that point we had been at the base for two hours). This was my first time in a military base so it was eye-opening to see how the soldiers lived and how they interacted with each other. Hisu, being outgoing as he his, went around and introduced me to his friends but being a foreign woman they were all really shy. It was amusing to say the least. I'm glad Hisu has such a positive attitude in general though, because like I said the base is very depressing and he still has 7 months to go. My visit allowed me to understand what life is like for every South Korean man and how their service isn't a piece of cake.

After saying good-bye, Wonjoon and I headed back to Sinchon where I showed him my apartment. He was shocked to know I had an accessible rooftop and the whole time I was showing him around he was saying how jealous he was. I guess I won the apartment jackpot with my place. After showing him around we got bubble tea and pretzels as a snack, since we were both still full from lunch (just eating meat for lunch really fills you up for the day, haha). We parted ways since he was visiting his cousin in Edae and we plan on hanging out in the future since he has the freedom to leave when he wants and doesn't live too far away. 

Afterwards during the same night, I went to see another movie, Interstellar, which blew me away. I loved the cinematography and the themes the movie explored. I wasn't too surprised though because Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors and I knew he wasn't going to make a disappointing film. I highly recommend the movie (I would tell you more of what it is about but I don't want to provide spoilers) and I wouldn't mind seeing the movie again.

I ended my weekend with a group meeting for a presentation in my North Korea class, errands, and homework. It's hard to believe the semester ends in less than a month. Luckily I'm here for a year otherwise I'd feel like I barely scratched the surface of Korea if I was only here for a semester. As always, I will see you next week!

KINU conference and Andong

This week was probably my busiest week yet. It was filled with numerous deadlines and meetings, such as group meetings for class and deadlines for housing back at MSU. I applied to live in Owen Hall when I return to the U.S., since I'm only studying at MSU for an extra semester in the fall, so I'm anxiously waiting to see if I actually did get the housing space I wanted. The good news is that I think my financial situation has been figured out and that I will be receiving both the Boren Scholarship and FLAS Fellowship and the funds I will be receiving will cover exactly what it takes to be here (so less than the full FLAS amount, which is slightly unfortunate because I was hoping to use the extra money for traveling). This means I shouldn't have to worry about taking out an extra loan or borrowing money to pay for the rest of my stay here.

My professor from my North Korea class works at the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) which hosted the 4th Chaillot Human Rights Forum on Thursday. He graciously invited our class to the conference which includes talks from very important officials and academics as well as a free lunch. The conference took place at the Westin Chosun Hotel, arguably South Korea's most famous, and fanciest, hotel. The conference consisted of three sessions after an opening ceremony where the President of KINU, Jinwook Choi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Unification, Nam-Sik Kim, and the Former Chairman of Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly, Jin Park, spoke. The first session's topic was "Evaluation on the Status of North Korean Human Rights and Plans for Practical Improvement." The speakers included Robert King, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues and Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. Special Rapparteur on the Human Rights Situation in the DPRK. Jung-Hoon Lee, the Human Rights Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, acted as the chairperson. This was the most well-attended session as it should be; Mr. Darusman is the person responsible for pushing the human rights agenda regarding North Korea in the U.N. As a member of the Commission of Inquiry (COI), he is responsible for the COI's 2013 report on the violations of human rights in North Korea, an extremely important report that has now linked human rights violations with accountability in North Korea which has not been done before. Instead of the leaders in the DPRK getting away with crimes against humanity, they will now face consequences if this report is discussed in the U.N. Security Council and then passed to the International Criminal Court where sanctions will be taken against those the most responsible for the human rights violations. With this report, the DPRK also became more concerned with their human rights which has never happened before. This is evidenced by their presentation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the U.N. where they made effort to show that progress has been made. For the first time, the DPRK played by the rules which is very, very significant. There is now a paradigm shift in how the international community deals with North Korea; the DPRK can no longer divert the international community like it has been doing for decades. I am so fortunate to live in a time when these events are occurring and I even had the chance to meet and introduce myself to Mr. Darusman. I now realize what K-pop fans feel like at a concert because I was fangirling the whole time with these important policymakers, haha.

From left to right: my classmate, Mr. Darusman, me, and my professor.

Mr. Darusman also emphasized that accountability and cooperation is needed when dealing with the DPRK, and not one or the other. Additionally, Darusman discussed that if the COI had more time to write the report, it would have looked into the deep structures of the North Korea set up (such as the flow of policy processes), would have included targeted sanctions, and would have included issues of North Korean workers abroad and whether it is forced labor or not.  Mr. King commented on Mr. Darusman's words throughout the session and emphasized the support the U.S. has for South Korea regarding policy towards North Korea and his praise for the COI report, which he said was the best report the COI has ever written. He also commented on the recent release of the American citizens from North Korea which he said was not done on a secret deal with North Korea. He honestly did not know why North Korea decided to release the individuals at that time, but it might have been related to the U.N. resolution and the DPRK wanting to make a good gesture.

Robert King, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues.

The first session ended with a delicious lunch, which I still can't believe I got for free. The second session's topic was titled "Human Rights Situation in North Korea -- Ordinary Prison Camps (Kyohwaso)." For both session two and three, there was one chairperson, three presentations, and three discussants who commented on the presentations. The title of session two is slightly misleading because while one presentation did focus on the prison camps, the other two focused on health, specifically how we can research human rights violations in North Korea and how we can deal with those affected with psychological disorders after going through human rights violations. What stood out for me from this session is how we should think of about human rights as health so as not to offend governments. For example, instead of accusing a government that they are violating human rights, instead say they are hurting the health of their citizens. I think this way of thinking is very important and if adopted maybe more change towards eradicating human rights violations can be brought about.

The lunch that was provided.

Some of the press that was at the conference. There were a lot more represented in session one. 

After a short coffee break, session three began which was titled "Practical Ways to Improve Human Rights in North Korea -- Maternal and Child Health Program." The title for this session is explicit and it is exactly what the participants discussed, child and maternal health. One detail that stuck with me from this session is that at the U.N. level, the DPRK is grouped with the East Asian region, but at the WHO level, the DPRK is grouped with the Southeast Asian region. Therefore, research about the DPRK and how it is compared regionally can get really confusing really fast. There are obviously many, many more details I am leaving out from this conference and my opinions toward what was discussed, so if you want to hear more feel free to contact me.

Over the weekend I finally took the trip I've been meaning to do all semester: to go to Andong, specifically Hahoe Folk Village (prounced Ha-Hway, despite the English spelling). The village is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a valuable part of Korean culture because it preserves Joseon period-style architecture, folk traditions, valuable books, and old tradition of clan-based villages. Lea, Marisa, and I met at 7 a.m. in Sinchon on Saturday, took the subway to the bus terminal in East Seoul, and then took a 3-hour bus ride to Andong. From there we took a taxi to the village (although coming back we realized there was a bus that goes directly from the terminal to the village which would have saved us money). The taxi dropped us off in the part of the village that had the museums and restaurants but we had to pay an admission fee and then take a short shuttle bus ride to the actual village (a lot of traveling!). We made a reservation to stay in a guesthouse so our first order of business was to find where it is so we can put our belongings in there while we explore for the rest of the day. I wanted to stay in a traditional house to get a real feel for Korean traditional life, so this included sleeping on the floor in a tiny room with the bathroom in another building. For many Westerners this set-up would have probably been uncomfortable, but I actually really enjoyed my stay and I found the room to be very cozy despite sleeping on the floor and it was largely due to the floor heating. The owners were also very, very nice and if anyone wants to visit the village, I highly recommend staying in the guesthouse we did.

A photo of the guesthouse. This photo only captures a part because the house is formed in a square with several buildings and rooms.

A corner of our room: tiny but very cozy!

A photo of me sitting by the sign listing the village as a World Heritage site. 

After setting down our stuff, we walked back to the entrance to watch the mask dance that the village performs every day. The mask dance consists of 10 stages and it was really amusing. Marisa told me that commoners would criticize the upper class back in the day because they could get away with it by wearing masks. After the mask dance we walked to the edge of the village by the river (the river encloses the entire village which makes it very scenic) to take a very short ferry ride to the other side where we climbed a cliff to be able to see the whole village. The hike was very therapeutic and it was nice being out of the city in a quiet, peaceful village which had mountains, trees, fields, and a river surrounding it. In fact I felt as if I went to a spa after we returned to Seoul, which I think demonstrates how relaxing the trip was.

One of the stages of the mask dance: castrating the bull.

A view of the village when we were on the cliff.

After the hike to the cliff, we went back to the village across the river where we walked around to view the various traditional houses, some with thatched roofs and others with tiled roofs. The village is not large so you can easily walk around the entire village in half an hour. I loved being able to appreciate the architecture of the houses and how well-preserved the houses were. We then headed to dinner in the market area where the restaurants were. I had tofu and kimchi, and the kimchi was delicious and I knew exactly why: it was homemade and fresh. The village had several cabbage fields (cabbage is used in kimchi) and when walking around I saw that a couple of the houses were in the process of making kimchi which made sense because kimchi is typically made before winter where it stored for the winter months. After dinner we walked around looking for an ATM and for some snacks to buy for breakfast in the morning. At this point it was already dark even though it was only 6:00 p.m. and unlike the city, the village suddenly becomes very dark and silent after sunset and almost everything closes. So we walked back to the guesthouse for the remainder of the night where we ended our day playing card games and talking. Since we wanted to be up early tomorrow, we ended up going to bed at 9 p.m. (which actually felt like midnight since everything in the village was closed).

Some of the tiled roof houses.

A thatched roof house.

We woke up nice and early at 7 a.m. on Sunday and headed toward the shuttle bus because we wanted to see a temple on the other side of the mountains surrounding the village. After seeing the temple, which wasn't as large as I expected it to be but beautiful nonetheless, we headed back the village and walked around again. We found a cafe where we sat and had hot chocolate and we also found a folk playground which had some very large swings we went on. Unlike swings I'm used to, for these swings you stood up, making swinging that much more difficult. We also visited a couple of shops in the village which sold the traditional masks that Andong is known for. I bought two as a remembrance of my time in the village.

A photo of part of the temple.

Another photo of the temple.

We then grabbed our stuff from the guesthouse to check out and we said goodbye to the village to head back to Seoul. We wanted to leave around 12:00 p.m. because we wanted to be back in Seoul by dinnertime. After traveling by shuttle bus, bus, and then subway, we made it back to Sinchon where we had dinner together and then headed our separate ways.

The bus back to Seoul.

I ended my Sunday night with homework and laundry (which was much needed at this point). I highly, highly recommend visiting Hahoe Folk Village for all of those who are in Korea or planning to visit Korea. The village is incredibly scenic and relaxing, exactly what I needed after a very stressful couple of weeks. The village was such a contrast to the bustling city of Seoul and it made you appreciate what Korea has to offer with its history, food, culture, and scenery. Similar to the conference, I could talk about the village a lot more and I'm leaving a lot of details out, but if you would like to learn more feel free to contact me. I will see you all next week!

A stressful week that ended with a stressless weekend

This week has been dominated by financial stress. I have been awarded both the Boren scholarship and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) and because they are both federal government scholarships, I have had to go through a lot of bureaucracy to make sure I am actually receiving the awards. Right now Boren is withholding my award until FLAS is figured out. In other words, FLAS needs to determine the exact amount of money they are giving me so I can report it to Boren so Boren can still deposit their award money in my bank account. Both scholarships need to make sure that the money they are giving me doesn't overlap. For example, Boren would pay for plane tickets and room and board while FLAS pays for tuition and program fees. Boren has given me a deadline of November 15th to report FLAS funds and the silver lining to all of this is that MSU has given the Asian Studies Center, who administers the FLAS, the same deadline for reporting FLAS funds to MSU so I should theoretically be okay. This has been especially stressful because I need to receive both scholarships in order to keep studying over here. If I don't receive FLAS funds then I have to take loans to cover tuition costs next semester. Additionally, the Office of Study Abroad has been incredibly incompetent with providing essential information, like tuition and program costs, which has not lent help to the situation. My rant about the OSA will be saved for another blog post because this is not the first time that department has failed to serve its students. I look at the bright side to all of this though, and it's that if I can handle this situation, I can handle any bureaucratic situation that comes my way in the future. I think the people I'm dealing with fail to realize I barely turned 21 and I'm handling everything the best I can as a young adult who's living in a foreign country by herself. The last part of that sentence has been stressful enough.

Fortunately the weekend took away the stress from the week. After finishing up with five hours of class on Friday, I headed to dinner with a classmate from my Korean class, Anna. Anna is exactly what I needed because she's my Nisreen over here. In other words, Anna understands me and I understand her and we are able to share what's going on with our lives with empathy. We ended up talking for four hours about a myriad of things, from problems of making friends in Korea to lack of support for foreign students to racial problems. It was very relieving to have someone on my side over here considering everything I've faced so far. I plan on writing a blog post soon that doesn't sugarcoat my experience over here and explains the dilemmas and problems I've been facing as a foreign white American female student.

We went to a BBQ restaurant in Sinchon near the Hyundai Department Store that always has a long line of Koreans outside any day of the week. We ended up waiting for 45 minutes but the wait was very worth it. We ordered kalbi sal (beef) and the quality of meat there was very high. The restaurant also offered several items for free (unlike most restaurants which is probably why there were so many customers) like steamed egg, twae jang chigae, and coffee. After dinner we were both craving a taste from home so we headed to McDonald's where I got a Oreo McFlurry. That night was a testament to what I knew before, and that is that food is the greatest therapy one can receive. I was instantly in a better mood because I had delicious food. And afterwards we went back to my apartment and looked at the amazing view from my rooftop and realized this, this is why we're in Korea. We just wish there were more of those moments here.

Lea and I went to Hanok village on Saturday, a tourist spot in the middle of Seoul. The village is modeled after a Korean traditional village, so it was neat seeing how Koreans probably lived back in the day. I wanted to check the village out to see if it was worth bringing visitors over when they come here and I think it is. Afterwards, since we were nearby, we walked and shopped around Myeongdong. I was planning on a buying a specific sweatshirt later in Seoul in Dongdaemun but I saw this exact sweatshirt in Myeongdong as a surprise so I bought it there. The sweatshirt says "ㅅeoul" on the front and the back has names of other major cities with one letter in each city changed to a letter in Hangul. I've been meaning to find one with "ㅅeoul" on the front and in a gray color and I guess that was my lucky day.

Front of the sweatshirt.

Back of the sweatshirt.

We then headed to the lantern festival in Gwanghwamun that opened this weekend and will last for another two weeks. There were a ton of people there so we took a couple shots of the lanterns and instead of waiting in line and going in closer, we decided to come back another time, possibly during the week, to avoid the large crowds. The night ended in Hongdae, where we had a couple of beers in a bar and because I was so tired from walking around, I headed back to my apartment where soon after I fell asleep.

One of the lanterns at the festival.

Another lantern.

Patrick and I met up on Sunday to go to the kimchi museum in COEX mall near Gangnam. It wasn't until we got there that we realized the museum is closed for construction and won't re-open until March 15th, which is a bummer because I wanted to bring visitors to that museum. So we walked around the area instead and it was very strange because the buildings were so massive but there was barely anyone or anything inside of them. We walked into a building and we were very, very confused because it was like an airport. There was a check-in for luggage and everything, but it wasn't the airport. We thought that since this in the business district of Seoul, perhaps businesspeople check in their luggage there and then get a ride to the airport so at the airport they can just immediately go to their gate. It was very strange. We eventually found a Hyundai Department Store so we headed to the food court to grab lunch. While grabbing lunch I looked up things to do in Gangnam besides shopping and eating, and I came across a cafe that has dogs who perform tricks. We decided that would make for an interesting afternoon, so we hopped back on the subway for two stops and found the cafe which did indeed have dogs that perform tricks. There were both small dogs and large dogs, and even a dog painted as a panda, and they did tricks ranging from shaking hands to riding a skateboard to ringing a bell. It was nice being around animals again and I'd be willing to take friends there because it was definitely a unique experience that you wouldn't have in the United States.

COEX mall.

The dog cafe: Puppy Spoon. So many dogs!

A panda dog riding a skateboard.

We headed back to Sinchon after the cafe and because I had errands and homework to do, I went back to my apartment. I spent the rest of the night taking it easy while also being productive. It was hard not watching more seasons of Breaking Bad, which I began watching last week. This week was filled with so many ups and downs and I hope things will settle themselves out soon. I will see you next week!

Halloween and a giant rubber duck

This week was relatively low-key which was nice because relaxing weeks are needed once in awhile. I had a normal week of classes but during Korean my class on Monday (or Wednesday, I forget which day) we watched three videos depicting three gatherings: alumni, college club initiation, and co-worker. We were learning about the different kinds of gatherings in Korean so the videos displayed how those gatherings would typically be acted out in real life. One somewhat disturbing detail stood out to me. After watching one of the videos our teacher would write down phrases that were spoken in the video and then translate them to English. Two phrases that were spoken in the alumni video between two female friends were "You gained a little weight" and "You're aren't getting plastic surgery?" My class was shocked to find out that this woman was saying these things so nonchalantly to her friend. In the United States this would be considered extremely rude, but in Korea it's commonplace. Beauty is very emphasized here from the numerous plastic surgery advertisements to cosmetics stores. Have you ever looked at K-pop stars and wondered why they all look exactly the same? Well the beauty standards in Korea and the extreme pressure both women and men face explains how so much effort is put into appearance. I find it very sad and discomforting and probably an aspect I dislike the most about Korea.

Since Halloween was this weekend, the mentor's club threw a Halloween party at a club in Gangnam on Thursday so me and my friends went. Halloween is really only celebrated in the foreigner-populated parts of Seoul and usually only in clubs. Instead of going all out on Halloween with my costume like I usually do in the United States, I brought my leopard ears I bought in Lotte World and didn't put them on until we reached the club. We took the subway there and no one was dressed up except for us, but our costumes weren't outstanding in anyway so it looked like we were just wearing normal going-out clothes. The club was fun because it was decorated for Halloween and I enjoyed catching up with some of my exchange student friends. A 7-11 was also conveniently located right outside of the club so instead of paying for $15 club drinks we were able to buy bottles of soju for $1 or $2. While I had a lot of fun, one thing that bothers me about clubs here is that you are allowed to smoke inside, so the air is so smoky because the smoke can't escape that it becomes hard to breathe after awhile. Your clothes and hair also get saturated with smoke so you have to wash them pretty well when you get back home.

Clubbing in Gangnam!

I had five hours of class on Friday and I was still worn out from the previous night so I decided to take it easy. Back in the summer someone on Reddit posted a map of Seoul's subway that I really wanted. I was thinking about ways to decorate my walls in the apartment and I remembered that the artist for that particular map is in Seoul. After further research it turns out his store is only a subway stop and a 15-minute walk away, so Lea and I (since Lea is also a fan of maps) went to the store to buy the map. I absolutely love the map especially for how it depicts the Han river, which looks like the inner part of South Korea's flag. The artist also has subway maps of other major cities. I highly recommend checking out his website: zeroperzero.com. It was hard not buying more items at his store, haha.

A photo of the subway map hanging in my room. The website provides a clearer image.

Lea and I then grabbed some dinner and then headed to Hongdae to people-watch those who decided to wear a costume. Compared to the U.S. there was a significant less amount of people dressed up but it was still cool seeing those that did dress up. We also headed to the Hello Kitty cafe and relaxed there before heading back to Sinchon. Even though it was Halloween it didn't really feel like it, which is to be expected when you are in a foreign country. This is the first of several holidays I will experience here where it won't be the same as the U.S. I already know not celebrating Thanksgiving will be tough, since it's my favorite holiday, but I'm determined to see if a restaurant in Itaewon serves Thanksgiving food. Or maybe the American army base opens up to American citizens that day, but I'm doubtful.

The Hello Kitty desserts at the cafe.

The green tea latte I ordered. Isn't it cute?

A giant rubber duck made by artist Florentijn Hofman has been traveling the world since 2007 and for one month it's in Seoul! Out of curiosity I wanted to check the duck out, so me and my KLI classmate headed to Jamsil to see the duck. It's located in the lake right next to Lotte World and it was indeed giant! I still wonder how the artist was able to make an inflatable so large. There was also a pop-up store nearby so I bought a couple of postcards to decorate the walls in my apartment. We wanted to get another view of the duck further up so we walked into the nearby Lotte World Shopping Mall and went to one of the top floors where we took photos of the duck on the lake. They also had a mini version of the rubber duck so of course I had to take a photo with that one too, haha. This mall was incredible! Inside there was an aquarium and movie theater and I have to say it was the best movie theater I've ever been in. I definitely want to make my way back to the mall just to watch a movie in that theater.

Posing by the giant rubber duck.

A photo of the duck taken in the Lotte mall.

A mini version of the duck.

At this point we were both starving so we headed across the street to the Lotte Department Store. As if you couldn't tell already, this part of Seoul is filled with Lotte everything. We decided on Japanese food and so I got a huge meal of beef teriyaki, udon, rice, tempura, kimchi, and salad. It was by far one of the best meals I've had here and I ate every last bite despite how large the meal was. Afterwards we headed to an outlet mall for department store clothing at the Gasan Digital Complex where I went to earlier to buy my winter coat. One of the outlet malls called Mario Outlet is simply awesome. I was able to buy a quality winter coat that was originally $400 for $60! When I went the second time I wasn't planning on buying another coat but I came across a perfect fall coat that I know I wouldn't be able to find in the U.S. that was originally $350 but was selling for $40! Not all coats had that good of a deal. I actually had to look around a lot and scope out the correct stores to find a coat that was under $100. I highly recommend the Mario Outlet for anyone in Seoul if they need to find a good but affordable winter coat. I now don't even consider shopping in department stores anymore (and I'm glad I haven't) because this outlet mall is the way to go. I'm actually looking forward to the weather becoming colder just so I can wear my coats more, haha.

The delicious meal I had at the Lotte Department Store.

Today on Sunday I've been taking it easy and completing a lot of errands I've been putting off during the week. I've done laundry, cleaned, and now I'm working on homework and this blog. I also have to do some grocery shopping. It's great being an adult, isn't it? But I really do enjoy and have enjoyed living in my apartment thus far. With my new decorations it's starting to feel like home and with the weather becoming colder it's gotten a lot more cozy.

Additionally, before I moved into my apartment I was interviewed by a Korean newspaper about my homestay experience. The article is now published and it's really cool seeing my face in a publication written in a foreign language! It can accessed here: http://www.newscj.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=263263. In short, I discussed how I learned about Korean culture and ate delicious Korean food everyday. I also talked about how speaking with my host family everyday greatly improved my Korean speaking skills and because of that I did well on my speaking midterm.

A screenshot the newspaper home page. You can see my face on the left!

The article wanted to promote the benefits of Koreastay, the website where I found my host family, so the article discussed the program to get more families involved. If anyone wants a full English translation, let me know and I'll do my best. Anyways, I will see you next week!