After we left the Immigration Office, I headed back to campus to open up my Korean bank account. I wasn't planning on opening a bank account but it makes everything a lot easier here as far as payments go (such as rent, phone plan, etc.) Opening the account was also relatively easy and it was free, so it would almost be silly if I didn't open one while I was here, especially since I'm here for a year. I then headed to class for the whole day (1:00 to 6:00 p.m.).
On Tuesday I FINALLY got my phone plan! I forgot how much I missed having data at all times to talk to people and listen to music. Seoul has an abundance of wifi but the majority of the ports cannot be accessed if you do not have a Korean phone plan. I ended up paying for a sim card through Olleh and now I am able to access Olleh wifi which is found literally everywhere in Seoul, inside and outside. I bought 4G for now because I plan on using my phone a lot but if I find that 4G is too much I'm going to go back in and switch to 2G to save money. My host mom also accompanied me which was a prerequisite because no one at the phone store spoke English and even my host mom said that she could barely understand the lady's Korean at times. Who knows what I would have ended up with if I went alone.
On Wednesday I met with my language partner for about an hour and then we had lunch together in the cafeteria. We spent the first half going over informal, slang Korean. My calligraphy club has a Kakao group chat and a lot of the members use slang. It's difficult for me to understand what they are saying because they use a lot of abbreviations. My partner and I went through some of the group conversations and he taught me some vocabulary, grammar points, and common abbreviations. During the second half I taught him some English grammar points. I explained the differences between would, could, and should and when to use articles with nouns. I always forget how hard and irregular English is until I have to teach it to someone. But, he seems to have understood my examples and explanations so I hope I did my part well in the language exchange. I look forward to meeting him again next week.
Where Jeong Bin and I meet for our language exchange! The Yonsei Global Lounge in the student center.
I also went to my first calligraphy lesson on Wednesday. The lesson was from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. but because I had Korean class on the other side of campus at 4:00 p.m. I had to leave early. The class consisted of the student members watching the older instructor draw characters. They also showed him their "homework" and asked for his comments. The entire lesson was in Korean so I didn't quite catch everything he was instructing, but I hope that as time goes by I will be able to understand more and more. I think next week (or I guess this upcoming week) we are going to go out and buy brushes and supplies.
On Friday Marisa, Patrick, Lea and I (Patrick and Lea are other Boren scholars who are also studying at Yonsei) went to see Maze Runner since it was the movie premier. Compared to the movie theaters I've been to in the U.S., Korean movie theaters are SO much better. They are much more fancy and clean, they sell gourmet popcorn and even have coffee drinks, and you have to reserve your seats beforehand. I like having the requirement of reserving your seat because you can get there right before the movie begins and know that you will have the seat you prefer. Additionally, because this movie theater is in a city, there were multiple floors which had one or two theaters on each floor, which is different than the U.S. where most movie theaters are only one level. Maze Runner was also excellent. I have not read the novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Highly recommended. And watching it in a Korean cinema? Even better. The only slightly annoying thing was that the movie had Korean subtitles, but at the same time I actually appreciated the subtitles because it helped me learn more Korean phrases.
Some of the popcorn flavors they were selling at the movie theater.
Lastly, on Saturday I attended my first MT for calligraphy club in Cheongpyeong, a town about 2 hours outside of Seoul if you take the subway. Steven Bammel in his blog explains what MT is pretty well: "MT", which stands for membership training, is a modern phenomenon in Korea. It is basically a retreat where a group of people from an organization go away together for a day or more and carry out a variety of group-bonding activities and training activities. It is a rite of passage for university students who might go on several MT retreats for the various clubs and associations they have joined and is a good way for the younger students and older students to bond with each other and establish and strengthen the all-important "senior-junior" relationship. (See the feature article in the previous edition of the eZine for an explanation of the senior-junior relationship.) Drinking alcohol together is considered by Koreans to be one of the best ways to bond with others, so naturally there is lots of drinking when people go on MT.
Flowers in a local garden in Cheongpyeong.
Scenery of the mountains in Cheongpyeong. The Korean peninsula is 70% mountainous so there are mountains everywhere!
We stayed in a pension for the night, which is basically a large room with a bathroom, kitchenette, pillows and blankets for sleeping, a karaoke machine, and tables and a barbeque outside for cooking. After we arrived we split off into groups to introduce each other. I taught my group the game "Two truths and a lie" because I figured that would be a good way to introduce everyone. 20 people attended MT which was a good number because if too many people came then it would be a little too overwhelming to get to know everyone. We then all went outside to play Korea's version of dodgeball. After that we went back inside and played some card games and Korean games, including Korean mafia, while the group leaders went out to the grocery store to buy food, drinks, and snacks. All of the conversations were in Korean and unfortunately learning games like mafia in another language is quite difficult. Fortunately some members spoke English so they served as translators. I was able to understand the general gist of the rules but in order to follow the game correctly you have to understand the rules in detail. The leaders came back so we headed outside to start eating some dinner. We had traditional Korean BBQ, which usually and most likely always includes pork and beef meat, kimchi, a red pepper sauce, garlic, rice, and lettuce for wrapping everything up. And of course there was an abundance of soju, Korea's most popular liquor which is basically like a weak vodka (I prefer the taste of soju a lot better though). One of the ways you can drink soju is by mixing it with blueberry vinegar and taking it as a shot. It sounds strange and a little gross but it actually tasted really good. As we were sitting we played a little drinking game where you go around the table and try flicking off the metal strip on the soju bottle cap. Whoever flicks off the metal strip gives out two shots. We finished off our meal eating some patbingsu (red bean bingsu). They bought more food than we ate so I was stuffed by the time dinner was over.
The part of calligraphy club that went to MT!
After dinner we headed inside to start the night of drinking. We all sat in a large circle and we put bottles of soju, mixers including the blueberry vinger and Chilsung cider (which is basically like Sprite), water, cups and shot glasses (which were actually like Dixie cup shot cups, something I've only seen in Korea), and an abundance of shrimp and potato cracker snacks (which were soooooo addicting). We started off by playing a game called "kimbap mari." You go around the circle with one person saying "kim," the next "bap," then "kimbap," "mari," "kimbap mari," "myeot (this is so difficult writing Korean using Latin letters) jil," and then the next person saying the number of "jil" (or rolls), and then that number of people after that person stand up. If you stand up incorrectly by miscounting then you have to take a drink, which is usually a shot of soju. Unlike American drinking games, Korean drinking games are much more vocal, cheery, and in my opinion, more fun. And before someone drinks the entire group does a little chant to encourage the person to take the drink.
Another game we played was "kay, mi, hal, ki." The game goes around the circle with each person saying each word, except "hal" has to be at a higher pitch. And each round another "hal" is added but at a higher pitch. So round one: "kay, mi, hal, ki." Round two: "kay, mi, hal, hal, ki." Round three: "kay, mi, hal, hal, ki." And etc. The game ends when the person can't make a higher pitched sound so they take a drink. It's such a funny game and I really want to teach my American friends back at MSU.
Yet another game again went around in a circle and this time you count up to 51 and then to 71. The person who gets 51 and/or 71 has to take a drink. Each person can count either one, two, or three numbers. So the game can go like this: Person one: 1, 2, 3. Person two: 4, 5. Person three: 6. Person four: 7, 8. Etc. The game is very fast paced and let me just say that by the end I got really, really good at counting in Korean.
The night simmered down after awhile and we finished by playing an abundance of card games such as Egyptian Ratscrew, Bullshit, and Uno (in Korean is called "One Card"). I ended up falling asleep around 2:30 a.m. We had to sleep on the floor, which wasn't a huge deal, but because I wasn't used to sleeping on the floor I woke up pretty sore the next day which didn't make the two hour subway ride that enjoyable. Overall though, my first MT was really fun and relaxing. I enjoyed bonding with other members in the club, practicing my Korean, and learning Korean drinking games. I also really liked leaving Seoul and entering the countryside. Seeing green and houses instead of tall apartment buildings and skyscrapers was a nice change of pace. I look forward to going on my next MT!
I will end this blog post by discussing beauty standards in Korea. Beauty standards in Korea are very high and sometimes this pressure can be discomforting. You will often see people carry umbrellas in the sun because they do not want to get tan (being pale is seen as more beautiful), there are an abundance of cosmetic stores in Seoul, plastic surgery advertisements are everywhere, and Koreans will constantly comment on your appearance (for better or for worse). While it does kind of stink that I have to worry about my appearances more here, I have taken advantage of the copious amounts of beauty products. One product I just bought is blemish spot stickers. Basically they are clear stickers than you put on a zit, usually overnight, and after a day the zit should be gone. I just put a sticker on today to try it out for a little troublesome zit on my face and I'm curious to see if it actually works. Koreans swear by them and I often see people with them on their face so I have faith.
The blemish stickers I purchased. I'm so curious to see if they actually work!
Next week I plan on running some more errands and also booking some weekend trips in Korea. See you next week!
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