Happy Belated Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving travel comes another hotel room tour

Enjoy

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 10 - Hotel room tour and so long for now...

[HOTEL]

Another business trip means another hotel! And another hotel means another room tour!

For this trip I was at the JW Marriott Seoul. This hotel was fairly close to what is considered the "Gangnam" area of town. In Korean, Gangnam literally means south of the river so actually, a lot of Seoul is south of the river. The actual Gangnam neighborhood is just east of where the hotel is located. 

The hotel is actually connected to the express bus terminal, a shopping center, a department store, and a subway station. It is actually quite convenient for many things - a little shopping, eating, getting around Seoul, etc. I often would take the subway to other parts of Seoul and the subway station is what I would consider the 'bottom' of the stack. Going up one level you hit Central City, which is like a small shopping mall area complete with restaurants, a movie theater, and many shops. In fact, a recent addition was a huge UNIQLO. The next level up is the express bus terminal. The terminal itself also housed quite a few restaurants and shops...it more or less acts as an extension of Central City. Going up another level is part of Shinsegae department store. You can also access Shinsegae from Central City and the subway station I think... 

--

I had a room on the 23rd floor that was very close to the elevators. I thought this would be an issue but the room was quiet enough and I wasn't even in it most of the time during the day. I would say the most impressive aspect of these rooms are the bathrooms, you can check it out in the video below.

Below is the hotel room walkthrough:

[WRAP UP]
It was a busy but fun and productive trip. I got to see my friends and I also believe the work aspect of my trip went smoothly as well. Honestly, every time I return from Korea I go right to planning my next trip back. It's a matter of finding time in my schedule as I work full time here in the USA. I also have a strong urge to continue studying Korean. I recently perused a local community college course listing but it sounds like I know or have learned almost all they offer. I believe total immersion is really the only way to effectively learn a language later in life (that is past grade school age). If I was learning here in the USA, I would never have to use Korean and would probably rarely practice it. Heck, I rarely practice now. Anyway, I hope to go back to Korea in the near future and maybe continue my language education.

Until next time...

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 7 - 끝!

It was Friday and the trade days of the air show had come to an end. It had been quite a busy week for me with work and trying to see as many people as possible in Korea while I was there. Add in the jet lag for the result of not much sleep and when I did get sleep it wasn't always that peaceful, restful sleep one needs on trips like this. Anyway, I believe the whole show went quite well; there was a lot going on at our booth most of the show.

After wrapping up the logistics of sending everything back to the USA that needed to go back, I headed back to the hotel. I grabbed a quick bite with one of my friends who actually works for the hotel we stayed at. And in addition to this meal, I was invited out by some colleagues for Korean BBQ as well later that evening.

Saturday and Sunday are considered the public days of the exhibition and typically most of the business/trade participants do not show up on this day. This is unless the company exhibiting has a public demo or event to show. In our case, we did not have any demonstration for the public so...it was finally time for a break!

I spent the weekend seeing my friends in Seoul and just enjoying the free time.
Saturday I splurged and ate at the hotel steakhouse/western restaurant with two of my friends. It was amazing~

I also saw the movie Thor: The Dark World which I learned is pronounced like TOE-ruh in Korean. I was confused at first when my friend said that the two American movies out were Gravity and TOE-ruh...she showed me the movie poster and it hit me..."OH! You mean Thor!"

Sunday I hopped from Hongdae to Itaewon to Anyang to see a variety of friends. It was a great day. I honestly do not get to see these friends half as much as I wish I could due to the distance...so I try to maximize every visit to Korea with seeing folks I know in country.

My time in Korea is coming to and end...next up...a wrap up and walk through of my hotel room!

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 6 - 회식...not really

Well, I wouldn't call the dinner I had with my co-workers a full on 회식 but it's as close as we could come to one. We all gathered in the hotel lobby to walk to a traditional Korean restaurant just a block from the hotel. I know there is probably an official Korean name for the type of meal we ate but it escapes me. Basically it was a bunch of different courses of Korean food, along with beer and soju.

We had a private room upstairs where we all removed our shoes and sat at a long banquet table. I thought that we'd be sitting on the floor initially since we took off our shoes but...I was wrong. I waited to be told where to sit as this seems to be the norm when dining with Koreans, especially people you work with. I was probably the lowest man on the totem pole so I waited off to the side. Eventually we all found an appropriate place to sit down and prepared to eat.

We had a ton of courses, this included salads, different types of kimchi, soup, various meats, and rice. A few speeches and drinks were shared...it was overall a very pleasant evening.

Also at this establishment was an area where you could try on classic king or queen clothing from back-in-the-day and take your picture on a fancy looking chair/throne. A few of us partook in this activity, complete with headgear. I won't embarrass myself or my co-workers by posting pictures :)

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 5 - Getting to know you

After a long day at show site I had arranged to have dinner with two of my former teaching assistants from the Korean Immersion program I attended this past summer. We decided to meet by campus for some BBQ and drinks. 

After a 30 minute subway ride, I was back to my old stomping ground. Exiting the station it seemed a lot of Korean students were out and about with friends. Most were sporting their class jackets, unique to each major. This concept is similar to letter jackets athletes wear in the USA except these have the year you started school and a special design depending on your major. I was told that the jackets are designed by a senior class for the new incoming freshmen.

Anyway, we eventually met up and went to a 갈매기살 restaurant which I think is skirt meat from a pig (not seagull as it translates to). We got the regular kind and a spicy kind; both were excellent. I had actually been to the same restaurant in another part of town. They also pour some scrambled egg around a little well at the edge of the grill which cooks up as you BBQ. After dinner my TAs gave me a choice of drinks or coffee...I chose drinks...my excuse was that I was still jet lagged and needed to sleep ^^

We found a small cafe/restaurant/drinking establishment and ordered some beer and what I think was plum wine. I was not a fan of the plum wine as it reminded me of cough syrup...but the beer was great :) We talked and caught up on things for a while longer and decided to call it a night after a few hours due to one of them having class the next morning and me having to get up early for work.

I really enjoyed talking with my former TAs as we didn't get that much time to sit and get to know each other during the summer. The TAs did act as chaperones for our field trips & excursions; and were often running around campus helping teachers...but I personally didn't get many chances just to hang out with them. I hope to keep in touch with them and also hope to see them in the future soon!

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 3 - Seoul ADEX 2013

The main reason I was in Korea this October was a large aerospace and defense trade show called Seoul ADEX. It doesn't actually take place in Seoul but in a satellite city northwest of Seoul. The venue this year was moved from an airbase southeast of town due to construction. I had never visited this new venue before and I must say, it was quite an improvement in my opinion. The only thing was that the air demonstration part of the trade show had to take place before the actual event at another airport. Even with this change, the air demonstration/air show aspect of the show drew over 150,000 people!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of some of the humongous indoor booths. The Korean companies dominated the scene with the largest stands (booths) bathed in white walls and bright display areas. One stand even had an area for a set of those quadcopter machines that did a synchronized performance. Many of the largest stands were double-decker, often accommodating dining areas, office spaces, and meeting rooms.

If you have ever attended a car show or any other type of similar exposition. Most all of them start with a blank concrete expanse. Just an open room with nothing in it. No electrical lines run, no phone lines, plumbing, etc. All of the booths are constructed and then fed electricity/Internet/whatever from the venue. At a lot of these large international exhibitions, the booths are considered "build-and-burn". In other words, nothing is saved after the exhibition is complete (save for company products or items).

This particular show ran for four business days and two public days.

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 2 - See you soon?

It is Sunday evening and I have made some ad-hoc plans to see my friend who studies at a local university. During my trip I was south of the river, fairly close to the now famous Gang-nam area of town. My friend was coming from the opposite side so we picked a large mall in between us.

I got there early and decided to walk around and scout out some possible items to purchase later. In Seoul there are a few fairly large bookstore chains that not only sell books but stationary, writing utensils, office supplies, and a wide variety of different accessories. I browsed here for a bit and decided to pick up a leather shielded passport folio. With my frequent traveling, my passport has begun to get quite abused, so I justified the premium price :)

Anyway, I met my friend and we strolled around the mall for a bit and caught a glimpse of a T-ARA fan signing event in the main atrium. I don't really follow the group but there was definitely a large crowd gathered around to get a chance to get something signed by the idol group.

After many walks up and down the food court area, we decided on 부대찌개.

While I know a lot of Korean food is spicy by default, this dish didn't look all that spicy on the outset. I was wrong. The spiciness built with each bite. Noses were running and my mouth tingled at the end of the meal. Delicious, filling, but don't forget...spicy. The bowl you see above had tons of stuff in it...a lot of hot dog type meats and veggies plus we added ramen noodles for just a buck.

The evening continued at the coffee shop where I actually didn't have coffee but a smoothie, since I knew I should try and get some real sleep that night. This shop closed when the mall did so by 9:45PM they were making announcements that you don't have to go home but you couldn't stay there. The English version of the announcement was almost perfect...save for two words I think...

###

The goodbyes I tend to have with my friends abroad is a kind of "I'll see you when I see you". It's so great to see them when I can but also sad to not know when I'll see them again.

It is the bittersweet aspect of my travels I suppose. Knowing that every meeting must come to an end...and not knowing when the next one will occur.

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 0 - Airplane!

It is October and I am off again to Korea but this time for work. My journey to the motherland should be much more comfortable as I am flying business class and even first class on my leg from Narita to Seoul. My mind set for these long haul flights is normally just to get them over with. I have flown so much over the years the actual flying does not bother me...it's mostly everything that goes with flying (security lines, waiting for baggage, waiting at immigration, etc.).

The flight from the USA to Narita was quite uneventful, I watched a few movies and slept maybe 4-6 hours total so it was not too bad.

Getting off the airplane in Narita, I had a mission! One of my Korean friends requested I look for some cosmetic products in the duty free shop for her. I'm no makeup expert so luckily I had a picture of the product to look for. I also speak about 2 words of Japanese. Thankfully the girl working in the shop spoke a moderate amount of English. I was greeted in Japanese as expected then showed the picture to her. As she was working to pronounce the name written in English she went over to a drawer and pulled out exactly what I was looking for. Great success! The product was much less than the price my friend was quoting so I was satisfied.

Another great success was being bumped to first class from Narita to Seoul. This also netted me access to the exclusive first class lounge area (quieter, less populated). After relaxing there for about an hour my co-workers and I lined up to board and off we were to Korea. I power walked my way off the plane straight towards immigration after landing because not only were all the people from Japan landing, but a very large flight from the Philippines touched down around the same time.

Long story short I had a safe and successful flight from the USA to Korea. Stay tuned for more regarding my time in the motherland.

~

Ordering at McDonald's in Korea

Sometimes you just need some greasy fast food in your diet. And sometimes, you are not in an English speaking country.

I've only ordered meals (sets). This is more for reference for you all who want to brave the fast food scene in Korea.

The below all takes place in Korean. If you don't speak Korean, sometimes the workers gesture like "For here?" they point down indicating eating in the restaurant:

Me: One (Insert Set Menu item) please.
Worker: Is cola okay for your drink?
Me: Yes (If it's not, just say what you want)
Worker: For here? (If not say "Take-out". I've not had good luck with saying "to-go". Maybe do that thumb-over-the-shoulder gestures as well)
Me: Yes
Worker: (Insert Price) (If you blankly stare at them, they'll probably point to the price)
Me: (Hands over the money)
Worker: Do you need a receipt? (Probably the last question they ask so just answer yes/no)
Me: Nope
Worker: Wait on the right for your food - they will call out the food when the order is all there, just listen
Me: (Nods head)

Just a quick post but I'll have more details coming up in my next series of posts, "My Korean Autumn".

~

잘 했어요! (Good job!)

I requested that my transcript from my summer Korean class be sent to my parents' house as I was kind of in the middle of a move when I left the USA. I finally had the opportunity to get my transcript from my parents this past weekend!

As promised a sealed copy and a regular copy were delivered! I'm sure you are all dying to know how well I did...

Elementary Korean: A+
Korean Language & Culture - Beginner: A0

..."A0" what is that? I affectionately call it "A-naught". They probably put a digit after the "A" so crafty students can't add "+" signs or anything else to their transcript.

So with that being said, it looks like I passed my summer courses with flying colors!

Now you may be saying, "Wow, you must be so good at Korean now."

DENG!

Haha, I am not all that good. I did, however, do well in the class. I heard via one of the advisors that the summer course I did was abbreviated compared to what they do in the normal quarter schedule of their Korean program. I am ok with that though. I am much more comfortable with my elementary understanding of Korean than I ever was. I also got to practice a ton with classmates, teachers, and other Koreans daily. It's completely different than any western language so while many Koreans speak or understand some English...I highly advise knowing at least some Korean if you travel over there.

For instance, you may be able to get away with saying "toilet? bathroom? I GOTTA GO!!!" but it's just easier to know the Korean. And then if they have to give you directions (because many times the toilets are not always inside the restaurant/bar/etc...you are out of luck...again...there will be a lot of gesturing.

Anyway, I'm headed back to the motherland soon so I hope to do more blogging during or after.

As always, safe travels.

~

Hilton Garden Inn South Bend

Unfortunately, this most recent trip of mine was a whirlwind so I didn't get a chance to snap any decent pictures (or video for that matter) of the hotel room. As you may (or may not) know by now, I'm fairly loyal to Marriott brands but a) this was a block of hotel rooms for a friend's wedding and b) the hotel was attached to the reception venue.

I haven't really experienced many Hilton Garden Inns but this one was quite nice. The lobby and restaurant area were well lit with lots of natural light in front. The check-in counter was easy to locate and the elevators were about where you expected them to be (I walked right in and took a wild guess).
The breakfast available was decently priced ($9.99) and included a hot station where you could get made-to-order eggs, pancakes, or french toast. There were other hot items available as well as yogurt, cereal, breads, etc.

My friends and I were sharing a Queen room (2 Queen beds, desk, microwave, mini-fridge). It was nicely appointed, I liked the comforter. I do, however, have a couple of gripes about the room. Yes it was clean, the AC worked great, nice to have the fridge and microwave...BUT...you would think they would have fitted sheets that actually fit the mattresses. Both beds had fitted sheets that barely fit...in fact, in the middle of the night the one on my bed just pulled off. The whole corner of the mattress was exposed. One other little complaint was that the bathtub did not drain very quickly. It could not keep up with the shower head (which was great by the way).

I had a horribly early fight the day I left so I had the front desk arrange a taxi. This was all fine, the taxi was there on time but they had arranged for me and some other random guest to share without asking either of us...I was alright with this but I wish they had asked me before hand. It saved me about $10 but still...it was a weird ride to the airport.

Overall, my small gripes with the hotel wouldn't prevent me from trying it or another Hilton Garden Inn again. I guess I should be explicit in that I want my own taxi next time? Oh, and sheets that fit...

~

Fresh and Clean: Fairfield Inn & Suites Stafford Quantico

Sometimes staying at a new hotel can be stressful. Perhaps the staff isn't trained up on all the inner workings of the hotel. Maybe they haven't quite figured out how hot the water heater needs to be. Regardless, for me, I'd much prefer staying at a very new hotel than a really old one. 

I believe the Fairfield Inn & Suites Stafford Quantico is less than a year old (I could be wrong though). It still has that "new" feeling about it. The lobby is bright and easy to navigate. Entering through the main doors has the check-in counter on the left and the eating/sitting area on the right. There is a small snack shop area just left of the check-in desks.

I stayed in one of their King Guest Rooms (they also have 2 Queen bed and studio rooms available). Below is a short video tour of the room.

It had plenty of outlets and was well lit. The HVAC was kind of central...it had the below window unit but the unit was controlled by a wall thermostat. There were a variety of TV channels but I normally stick to the Food Network or Discovery Channel just for white noise as I relax or work.

If you are in the Stafford/Quantico area or need a stop-over on a road trip. I recommend this Fairfield. Free WiFi and breakfast to boot!

Until next time...

~

[PHOTO POST] Filet-delphia

I took an overnight trip to Philadelphia to see a friend that moved up there recently. She also hosted a dinner and night out at a local Korean restaurant / Karaoke bar. It was all around a fun time. Here are the pictures!

[HOTEL]

We stayed at the Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City. It was all right. The breakfast was tasty but the room seemed a bit dated. The phone had the wrong room number (we were actually room 1213). I had requested more towels late at night and they never showed up...oh well

[OUT & ABOUT]
I didn't actually take many pictures when we were out on the town...due to the fact my phone had very little hard drive space left and I didn't want to lug my nicer camera out. But below are a couple shots:

Until next time...safe travels

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 37 - Home is where the heart is

[끝]
This will conclude the series on my summer in Korea.

Day 37 was my last and final day in the motherland. It actually took a while for it to hit me - that this was my last day. I was actually quite busy in the morning packing and cleaning. After checking out of my room I went and visited the InKAS office to have lunch with one of their staff. After eating I quickly went back to my guesthouse to pick up my luggage and head to the airport.

I had wanted to say goodbye to the guesthouse proprietor but I ended up leaving earlier than expected...luckily I had done a semi-goodbye the night before. I hope to pay a visit to the guesthouse whenever I return to Korea - it was my home for all this time and the staff was wonderful!

In the subway station I ran into one of my classmates and one of her Korean friends. We all chatted on the 45 minute train ride to the airport. I tried out some of my Korean skills, just a few phrases but, apparently those sounded pretty good as I was complimented on my accent~
Unfortunately I didn't manage a formal goodbye to my classmate or new Korean friend as we were all running around the airport returning cell phones and such. I actually changed clothes because I had sweated through my original set due to the oppressive Korean summer heat and humidity.

Long story short I made it back to the USA via Canada...

[Epilogue]
It was the summer of a lifetime. I met so many amazing people from around the world; people I would have never met had I not participated in this program. I experienced a classroom setting for the first time in many years and had great teachers who were enthusiastic about teaching. I got better at a language I wish to improve even more on. I experienced a culture that I have a great affinity for...

I also got to meet adoptees from around the globe. I found that Korea brings so many different people together - the common bond we share. I continue to expand the network of adoptees I know and made some great friends.

I hope to share more adventures with you all soon.

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 35 - Exploring Hongdae, Insadong, and Samcheongdong

It rains, a lot, during the month of July in Korea. It is monsoon season and there is no doubt about it. The weather is hot, humid, and downright nasty some days. There are those "it's raining sideways" days where the wind is a-blowin' and it's raining cats and dogs.

It was the rain that originally washed (haha) my Saturday plans away. Originally a friend and I were going to go to the open air market in Hongdae but apparently if it rains, no one shows up...not even to wait out the rain. After going home, I got a message that my friend was still in the area so I trekked back into Hongdae to meet her. From there, the afternoon/early evening was filled with an unplanned but fun adventure!

[Hongdae - take two]

My friend wanted to visit the cafe where Coffee Prince was filmed so we headed there first. It currently functions as a working cafe but for some reason today they were not open to the public. They said we could take pictures outside but not of the inside...weird. 

Pretty good Engrish right?

The next stop for us was a very famous bingsu place. This place was so well known there was a line out the door! We probably waited for...20-30 minutes? I'm not exactly sure but the longer we waited in the heat, the more I wanted any bingsu...famous or not. The menu was simple from what I understood, you could get the classic milk bingsu or the one with green tea. We opted for the classic...it was quite tasty and refreshing.

[Insadong]

After bingsu, we headed to Insadong because I still hadn't bought any souvenirs for my co-workers. I decided to get the mother-of-pearl inlay business card holders. These are sold many places but I wanted to scout out a good place to try and haggle with the vendor. I'm sure most of these vendors buy from the same source and it's just a matter of finding a vendor that is willing to haggle a bit (regardless of if there is a price sticker on the merchandise). Now you can't haggle everywhere in Korea, but Insadong is ok with it. It helps if you are 1) paying in cash and 2) buying in bulk...I was doing both that day. Oh...and also, if you speak some Korean. In actuality, you don't need all that much vocabulary. 

After finding a place that had a variety of the business card holders, my friend said we wanted to buy 15 of them and asked if we could get some kind of break. The vendor gave us a number, then we countered and she agreed...easy enough! The hardest part was picking out 15 different ones. Luckily, the vendor had some extra stock that wasn't on display. 

Souvenirs in hand, we made our way out of Insadong to Samcheongdong.

[Samcheongdong]

Samcheongdong is known for its cafes and shops. Dynasty era palaces flank its left and right with Insadong to its south. It's a very nice area and was bustling with activity when we arrived. It was also terribly hot and humid so we found a small tea cafe to take a break. 

It was getting late and hunger started to settle in. We decided to go for cuisine other than Korean and found an Italian restaurant just down from the tea cafe. After browsing the menu, we agreed to stay and have dinner. And for some odd reason, Koreans love to give pickled items as side dishes with Italian food (this includes pizza places).

Overall, a good day spent...all improvised at that! I only had one more day left in the motherland...how quickly these 5 weeks flew by...

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 33 - Snowpiercer!

I was excited to see this film because 1) it has no set release date in the USA, 2) it was a combined production Korean/American/French and, 3) it has some big name stars.

The general plot is that in the future, to stop global warming, humanity releases a chemical into the atmosphere to cool the Earth. Well, it works much better than expected and drives the planet into another ice age. Almost all life on Earth parishes (including humans) except for the chosen few that board a large train which runs a year long circuit across the frozen terrain. A class system develops over time with the tail end of the train being the lowest class and the front of the train containing the ones much better off. The movie picks up with a plot of the tail end of the train wanting to overthrow the front end inhabitants and take over the engine of the train - which the front end people seem to worship. How does this engine never run out of fuel you ask? Perpetual motion! (Google it ^.^).

Anyway - I met up with 3 of my classmates to see this movie at the Sinchon CGV. A very nice theater, we actually sat in what they call "Veatbox" seats. They actually vibrate during certain parts of the film like if some guy gets punched in the face on screen the seat shakes at the punch's impact. It is a novel concept but overall I could take it or leave it.

*SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT*

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 32 - Sogang KIP Graduation Ceremony & Dinner ㅠ.ㅠ

슬프다 (sad)...the last and final event with all my dear friends & teachers I have met this summer. The program had prepared a graduation/closing ceremony for us all where there was actually a lot of student participation. The MCs were level 4 students and fit the job perfectly. Sometimes one would translate for the other but the translations didn't always match perfectly (on purpose) or the way the delivery was made was just humorous. You sometimes heard a huge paragraph in Korean and the English version was "We learned much about Korean culture!"

There were speeches given by the head of the department and the head of the program. Another level 4 student gave a speech which included using the phrase YOLO which I later had to explain to my 선생님 (teacher). The teaching assistants made a movie trailer style video chronicling our TaeKwonDo class. It was quite entertaining. We also got to hear some class presentations detailing life and culture in Korea.

The one thing I was not expecting was the amount of dancing that took place...which was awesome. Two student groups and a group of teaching assistants did dances. The TAs danced to the Crayon Pop song "빠빠빠" (embedded below):

One student group danced to Monster by BIGBANG:

Another did a compilation of many songs but one was Wild by 9Muses:

After receiving our certificates there were many hugs and photos (and some tears ㅠ.ㅠ). While we only had a short 4-5 weeks with each other, many of us bonded quite closely. This included the teachers as well.

Next was dinner! A giant buffet dinner was arranged for us at a near by hall. More hugs, photos, eating, and yes...more tears were exchanged.

Even though I go back to the USA tomorrow, it's still hard to believe I am leaving Korea. I spent many hours with my classmates in and out of class, meeting people from all over the globe, sharing the common interesting of learning more about this tiny peninsula in Asia. I know I will be back very soon. To my classmates, teachers, and TAs - we will meet again someday!

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 31 - Last day of class

How sad, the last day in the Sogang Korean Immersion Program. The schedule for the day consisted of a written exam and an interview assessment. The exam was quite brief actually, I'm guessing this was done to make for easy and quick grading by the teachers. In fact, our teacher had all of ours graded by the next morning. We had reviewed and practiced heavily before the written test so I wasn't actually too nervous about taking it. I was more nervous about forgetting a key vocabulary word or verb conjugation. For me, the only thing that got me points off was spelling...

The interview was another story. I was extremely nervous about this part. We were told our normal teachers were not going to interview us (which was kind of expected). They said that we would probably feel a little too comfortable and it wouldn't seem like a real assessment (something to that tune as they explained it in Korean). Fair enough.

I had practiced a lot with my classmates and the upper level students before hand. I also had a fairly large break between the written exam and when the interview was. Regardless of how many times I went over the interview questions, I still felt I might completely choke during the actual assessment. My classmates and I joked that we should make some funny comments or answer in humorous ways. But, honestly, I was too nervous when I stepped into the interview room to try any of those antics.

The final interview went very similarly to the placement interview...except I spoke a lot more Korean during the final, which felt really good. I had never seen my interview teacher before so, the feeling I got was very similar to the initial placement interview.

I sat down and the teacher asked me what my name was and then we jumped right into the questions. After about 12-13 minutes I guess I had talked enough. The next student was ushered in and I was DONE!

It kind of felt surreal after being in language class for a month now at 4 hours a day...

I've been told our actual letter grades would be sent in the mail.

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 29 - IKAA Closing Ceremony and Brunch

[IKAA Closing Ceremony & Brunch]
You could say this was the final final event of the IKAA (save for the after party/concert) Gathering 2013. At the Lotte Hotel a buffet-style brunch was served (Korean food) along with some closing remarks from the IKAA leadership. As I am one of the representatives for an IKAA member organization, I said a few words thanking all those parties involved with the planning and execution. I hope to see another gathering in the year 2016 in Korea. I think it still boggles people's mind when they see a bunch of Korean people speaking a ton of different languages...sometimes even I am surprised :)

The winner of the scavenger hunt that took place during the week was also announced. It was done amazing race style where the team's time and tasks counted towards the criteria for winning. The winning team completed the most tasks within the time given.

I later had some meetings with the IKAA leadership up on a high floor of the Lotte Hotel. To me, we looked like a "real" board of directors all sitting around a huge table with our iPads/Laptops and such. We looked professional/official to say the least ^^
I believe it is great that so many organizations across the globe can come together and collaborate as we did for this Gathering. Some of our organizations are having some very big anniversaries this coming year as well!

Below are some photos of the view from the conference room (built-in miniature mode was used for the color photos):

~

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 28 - IKAA Gala Dinner

[IKAA Gala Dinner]
While I did not get to attend much of the actual IKAA Gathering due to language school, I did go to the closing ceremony/gala dinner hosted at the Grand Hyatt and sponsored by Samsung. Yes, the same Samsung that made your Galaxy S4 and flat-screen TV. IKAA and Samsung go way back (10+ years) and they put on a great gala this year.

They even had an ice sculpture made!!!

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 26 - National Palace Museum of Korea (PHOTO POST)

Hi everyone! We had a guided tour of about 25% of the National Palace Museum of Korea. We only had about an hour or so of class time during this day. I snapped a couple of pictures within the museum. The story is that most of the relics, treasures, and documents from all the palaces in Korea are preserved and kept in this facility. This is why most of the palaces you see in Korea are mostly empty save for some key furniture and decorations. Anyway, enjoy the photos:

My Korean Summer 2013: Day 24 - Sogang KIP Cooking Class!

Korean food is delicious and if you ever get the opportunity, please try it. My culture class traveled to a training kitchen to make some delicious and fairly well known Korean dishes. I'll write the Hangul and romanized versions for you, we made...the English descriptions are very generalized just to give you an idea of ingredients:

• Bulgogi (불고기) - thinly sliced marinated beef

• Japchae (잡채) - noodles with mixed vegetables

• Kimbab (김밥) - rice, vegetables, fish and/or meat products rolled up in seaweed

First we grabbed some rather fashionable aprons (not) and then headed to the front of the kitchen to see the demo. The chef demonstrated the bulgogi and japchae first. She spoke mostly in Korean and I might have understood half of what she said but it was pretty easy to simple watch what she did. She was cooking at a blazing heat, there were flames engulfing the pan at times...

I won't bore you with the details but I will mention one of my classmates tasted a lot of stations food and said we had the best bulgogi. The chef also complemented my cutting of the carrot in the dishes :) Here are some more pictures:

Many people say kimbap is like Korean sushi...even though kimbap looks very much liked sushi rolls, the taste is completely different. They are seasoned differently and the ingredients don't always overlap. Many times in Korea you can come across some interesting things included in kimbap (spam, fish cake, cheese, potato, lettuce, mayonnaise, etc). Even on campus we have a kimbap called something like "Ugly but Tasty Kimbap". 

Bulgogi and japchae are safe bets for people trying Korean food for the first time. I mean, who doesn't like beef and a pasta-like dish :) The chef assistants even gave us some kimchi to eat as a side with our main dishes we made!

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My Korean Summer 2013: Day 20 - Doosan Bears VS LG Twins Baseball Game

[Baseball]
I have been to a number of baseball games in the USA and frankly, I can't remember any of them being as exciting as the game I saw here in Korea. Sogang university arranged for us to attend a Friday night game at Jamsil baseball stadium. It actually acts as the home stadium for both the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins. This game had the Bears as the home team.

After arriving, we grabbed a quick bit to eat outside the stadium. The prices were very reasonable...they even had a small convenience store to buy all sorts of beverages and snacks. All the food we bought we were able to bring into the stadium, all bags we had were allowed into the stadium...there was no real bag check that I saw. Also, no one asked up to lift up our shirts and our pants cuffs to check for weapons. I don't think it's that they had a lack of security; I think it is that they don't really have to worry too much about violence at these large public venues.

Our seats were very close to what I will call 'the stage'. The stage area was for cheerleaders and now I need to explain how cheerleading works in Korea because it's completely different from what I have experienced in the USA.

[Cheerleading]
There was a team of 6 female cheerleaders that had choreographed dances to many songs. They included pop songs and the fan chant songs. Almost every player had a fan chant. I'm still bad at Korean but I imagine they mention hitting home runs and winning.

BUT the thing that seemed drastically different was the one male cheerleader that was dressed in full baseball garb. Besides the female team of cheerleaders, he would get up and coordinate all the cheers, fan chants, applause, etc. He had an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm. It was also in the 80s in regards to temperature so I don't know how he didn't have a heart attack during the game. (He even did small golf-claps if the batter got a strike like saying "No worries, you'll hit next time").

[The Game]
When your team is at bat, you are on your feet fan chanting at the top of your lungs while the pitcher warms up and then as he winds up we all get quite to (hopefully) watch a hit. While the team is fielding it's not quite as crazy but there was still huge cheers for ever out. In general, it was nuts, and the crowd when completely bananas if there was a home run.

The teams' battering averages ranged from abysmal to actually quite good. The game we saw was almost all offense with the final score being 15-12. The field had the measurements in meters but it looked about the same size as an American baseball stadium...save for the amount of seats. I'm sure American stadiums cram more boxes and seats in (there were only two club boxes at Jamsil).

[Food/Drink]
Again, like the movie theater, all prices were reasonable. One of the best things I saw in the stadium was the vendor with the beer backpack (price for a glass was only KRW 3000!):

All the rest of the food and drink seemed like a much better deal than any American baseball stadium.

[Conclusion]
If you can, go to a baseball game in Korea. I was with a lot of other people from countries that don't really have baseball and they still had a fun time. The stadium is accessible by the Jamsil subway stop (at least I'm pretty sure ^^).

If I think of anything else I'll update.
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My Korean Summer 2013: Day 18 - Korean Buddhist Temple Visit

[Over the River and Through the Woods]

This past Wednesday, my culture class visited a Buddhist temple romanized as "Geumseonsa". We met on campus and then headed to the subway for a somewhat long ride to the northern edge of Seoul. Upon arrival, we had a bus ride up the hillside and then a hike up the side of the mountain on a road/stone incline. Check out this house on the walk up:

While the weather had cleared up for us, it was still fairly hot and humid. I was sweating bullets by the time we reached the main gate, but the smell of fresh air was nice.

[The Temple]

The temple had a variety of buildings, the tour guide led us to only a few but we got to walk around most of the other ones. We were shown how to properly bow to the Buddha in one of the halls containing the main Buddha statue. (I apologize as I'm not very well read regarding Buddhism). We also saw another hall where the monks also gather to pray, meditate, and worship. The center entrance is reserved for the monks of the temple while non-monks enter through the sides.

Near the entrance to the temple are some very large instruments. These all have significance when played; see the picture below:

[Chatting with the monk]

We had tea set up for us in one of the buildings and a monk greeted us and let us ask whatever questions we wanted. They said every time someone asks how to become enlightened...we were no stranger to that question either. The monk said you will just "know". Through our teacher who did a lot of translating from Korean, it sounded like once you are enlightened, you see reality as it is - not through your physical eyes, not through any type of filter, just as it exists. 

Others asked about life at the temple and how monks interact with the "real world". The response to that question was one of needing to balance wisdom with practice. The way I took it was needing to balance gaining wisdom from life in the temple to practicing a good life with others. The monk said it was a constant...not struggle but maybe challenge for the monks.

We took a few pictures afterwards with the monk and then said our thank yous and goodbyes before heading down the mountain. It was quite a relaxing and serene experience. This may have been because of the streams and small waterfalls and nature all around us but I definitely felt somewhat at peace up at the temple.

[Post-temple]

After returning to Seoul I met up with my friend at the "팔색 삼겹살" restaurant in Sinchon. Their special is 8 different types of pork belly. In addition to all the pork, we got a big seafood soup/stew.

Maybe some of you have met my friend before here (TTMIK). 

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