Quack Quack
I thought I'd open with a picture of the big rubber duck that is visiting Seoul to bring some cheer to this post. The above duck has made its rounds to many different cities lately. Anyway, back to life since the last post which was about a month ago. Looking back at my calendar I have been rather busy and I'll try not to bore you too much with all the nitty gritty details.
During the beginning of October, a lot was going on with both school and my personal life. I attended a Korean adoptee art event which included works by some of my friends that live here in Korea. After viewing the works in the gallery and attending a short reception I went out to dinner with some friends and also walked around Samcheongdong. The following day was the world festival at school which is put on by the Korean language education center. The various classes cooked food from different countries such as Brazil, Japan, France, Spain, etc. They even had a raffle for some really nice prizes. One of my classmates won a vacuum cleaner! Another friend won what in the USA we would call a varsity jacket or letterman jacket perhaps.
The first weekend in October was a three day weekend which I spent hanging with friends before having to kick it into high gear to study for my midterm exams. I was quite stressed as there was a ton of material to study and we were tested on writing, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and dialogue creation. I put in many hours into studying whether it be reviewing vocabulary or going back through book dialogues and worksheets. Sometimes I struggle with if any of the material is actually soaking in. The pace is so fast that often it takes me awhile for it to fully settle in my brain.
Right before midterms was my birthday. I got to enjoy a nice sushi dinner and cake the night before my actual birthday and then on my birthday I was basically studying most of the day except for in the evening where two of my classmates treated me to dinner and ice cream.
Come test time, I struggled most with listening comprehension and did best on reading comprehension (a perfect score ^.^). The midterm for speaking in level 3 was quite different than level 2. It seems they are more trying to gauge just how you may be able to survive the upper levels. The teachers gave individual feedback to each student via informal interviews that didn't count towards your grade.
Besides exams I saw a few movies recently, one of which is a film by an adoptee called In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee. In contrast to that I saw the horror film Annabelle and the action film Dracula Untold (For some reason this link redirects you to Universal Korea's Facebook page if in Korea, otherwise I think it should work). I also plan to see the movie Interstellar when it comes out the first week of November.
To wrap up, it's hard to believe I've been in Korea for over 5 months now. I remember when I was having Skype calls with one of my friends this past spring about my upcoming life changes that would be happening in the summer. Those seem so recent...
You may be asking how I've been keeping up with people I know back in the USA. I'll admit I've been better with some than others. Then again, there are those that I haven't heard anything from since moving here. On the other hand, I have met some really interesting and amazing people since moving to Korea. People I would have not otherwise had a chance to meet living in the suburbs of America.
Until next time...
~
Right before midterms was my birthday. I got to enjoy a nice sushi dinner and cake the night before my actual birthday and then on my birthday I was basically studying most of the day except for in the evening where two of my classmates treated me to dinner and ice cream.
Come test time, I struggled most with listening comprehension and did best on reading comprehension (a perfect score ^.^). The midterm for speaking in level 3 was quite different than level 2. It seems they are more trying to gauge just how you may be able to survive the upper levels. The teachers gave individual feedback to each student via informal interviews that didn't count towards your grade.
Besides exams I saw a few movies recently, one of which is a film by an adoptee called In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee. In contrast to that I saw the horror film Annabelle and the action film Dracula Untold (For some reason this link redirects you to Universal Korea's Facebook page if in Korea, otherwise I think it should work). I also plan to see the movie Interstellar when it comes out the first week of November.
To wrap up, it's hard to believe I've been in Korea for over 5 months now. I remember when I was having Skype calls with one of my friends this past spring about my upcoming life changes that would be happening in the summer. Those seem so recent...
You may be asking how I've been keeping up with people I know back in the USA. I'll admit I've been better with some than others. Then again, there are those that I haven't heard anything from since moving here. On the other hand, I have met some really interesting and amazing people since moving to Korea. People I would have not otherwise had a chance to meet living in the suburbs of America.
Until next time...
~
