[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!

~