Home for the Holidays: A Quick Update

I made my way back to the USA for my winter break. I got to catch up with a lot of family, many of which I had not seen for months perhaps even years for some. Anyway, with holiday travel comes...hotels! I stayed in what was basically a brand new Residence Inn. I am losing my gold status with Marriott this year (it will be dearly missed) but will still have a few more hotel room tours going up during the first half of 2015. Below is the video shot in my room at the Residence Inn:

I also got to enjoy my first flight on Asiana airlines. Asiana is the other major carrier out of South Korea and I must say I enjoyed it just as much as Korean Air. Plus, Asiana is a Star Alliance member which is better for me in relation to frequent flyer miles. I think I gave the flight attendants a challenge since I kept switching between English and Korean. They also, therefore, would sometimes say things to me in Korean and then later use English. I understand and can speak both (I'm still learning Korean but know enough for a flight at least) so it wasn't really an issue.

During one of the meal services they ran of the chicken and only had the Korean style octopus entree left. Initially I had asked in English for the chicken, then when the flight attendant came back she explained, in Korean, that the chicken had run but she was going to confirm. I told her, in English, that the octopus dish was just fine. I rather enjoyed having a bilingual experience in the plane ^.^

This is a brief update due to my upcoming midterm exams and just holiday season business but I do want to have a more substantial post up by the end of the month.

In the spring I'll be traveling on two more airlines I've never experienced so I hope to write about those in addition to the hotels :)

Until next time~

My Korean Life #20: 4급 and such

[4급]
I've now been in 4급 for two weeks. This is when the format of class changes from the format that is presented in levels 1-3.

Writing class is basically a mini-review session of the previous days listening/speaking/reading material with a writing task added in. Many times we write about the material we studied or write about some related topic. For example we learned about Korean money in reading class and for writing we wrote about our home country's money. What used to be just speaking is now listening+speaking for 2 hours. Normally the first day of a new chapter we listen to a dialogue or audio track and also study the new grammar that was introduced. The second day of a chapter we have another listening exercise plus some dialogue or vocab/grammar practice.

The reading class is basically the same levels 1-3 but really since they expect you to preview all the material before class the value added is hard to measure. I often don't get to preview a lot since we also receive a ton of homework so I'm reading the passage for the first time in class and also getting exposed to the vocabulary for the first or second time. Our teacher also speaks at what is probably considered 'normal' pace which for my brain is blazing fast. Class always seems to be rushed to complete all the listed tasks for the day. This is in contrast to my listening/speaking block of time where the teacher seems to take more time to explain things even if we don't plow through the chapters assigned tasks as quickly.

My writing teacher was one of the original teachers who helped compile material for the 1st publication of the level 4 book which is currently being revised. The book we actually use for class is one that is self-produced and currently not fully published. It's all in black and white and lacks the color and photos that the level 1-3 books had.

My thoughts on level 4 now is that even if I had done level 3 all over again (which I almost had to do) I'm not sure that would have better prepared me for level 4. The format for level 4 is different, the grammar and vocabulary is basically all new (many similar grammar patterns to what we've already studied as well to further crowd and congest the mind), and I thought I had a lot of homework in level 3 but compared to now it doesn't seem like it was that bad.

[...and such]
The weather now is consistently cold, snowing every now and then. Regardless of how cold it has been, there are still plenty of folks out on the weekends at all the hotspots around town. I want to try to go skiing here in Korea although I'm not sure of the best way to go about doing so. I believe there are a number of buses or packages one can buy to get to a ski resort but I just haven't done the research yet.

I'm also planning a number of trips for next spring since I know I'll still be residing in Asia. I hope to make some more blog posts/videos about all of that come next year. I haven't really traveled all that much since moving to Korea which is in stark contrast to what my life was right before I moved here where I was traveling pretty much every month and sometimes multiple times a month.

We also have a class field trip this coming Friday so if I get any good pictures or blog worthy information I'll be sure to upload!

Until next time...

~

My Korean Life #19: 6.5 months

The 6 month mark has come and gone and now I'm about 6.5 months into my new-ish life here in Korea. I would say at this point the 'honeymoon' phase of moving to a new location is over. As for myself I've successfully completed two terms of language school and started the winter term this week.

It has not been without its challenges and during every exam time I became quite stressed and even somewhat irritable and frustrated. Considering there are only two test periods per term (a midterm exam and a final exam) there is very little room for error. Class participation (homework, in class participation, etc.) counts for no more than 10% of our grade so the only real assessment we have is the exam. There is little time left for much else besides preview for the next day's lesson, review the current day's lesson, complete homework, and study vocabulary. I find myself studying hours outside of class hours especially for review/preview/vocabulary and even with this it is not enough. You must also find time to practice speaking and listening which...can be a little harder.

In other news, since moving to Korea I've gotten more frequent comments on how I've slimmed down and generally "look better now". To me this implies I wasn't at my best looking right before I moved to Korea. I admit my eating habits were pretty bad and I actually was fairly sedentary throughout the day. Got up from bed, sat in a car to get to work, sat at a desk for 9+ hours, sat in a car to get back home, sat in a chair to watch TV/play video games/etc. Between the sitting was eating and barely any calories were burnt in any given day.

In contrast, I now walk much more than I ever used to and my diet has completely changed. In the USA I got very lazy with how I acquired food and since I never had to worry about more than myself I would eat unhealthy/fast food meals quite often. I don't think it's a bad thing to eat out at restaurants frequently - what can be bad is what you choose when you do. I actually eat out a lot here in Korea because 1) it's cheap 2) I live alone and cooking for one is not so fun 3) the options are relatively healthy and at a cheaper price point.

In the USA my day might have started with a granola bar but would slowly spiral out of control. Lunch might have been Chinese takeout, fast food burgers/tacos/burritos, hot sandwiches (think Philly Cheesesteak style), or a number of other not healthy items. Dinner was often bought on the way home or shortly after getting home...this was pizza, pasta, more fast food, etc. If I had continued on this eating path with no exercise I'm guessing I would have gained even more weight and looked even more round than I did before my move.

You may also be wondering just how good my Korean is now...for me it's hard to judge. Most of my Korean friends say I've improved a lot. Those who rarely heard me speak or write Korean before think I'm decent. My personal assessment is that I have a long way to go. I still struggle to understand native Koreans. My speaking is still probably my weakest skill but my writing and reading comprehension aren't half-bad. Many people have told me I just need to find every possible way to practice and take advantage of every opportunity to speak/listen to Korean. I still find it challenging though and most likely will for a long time. I can't really equate learning this language to anything else...it's just difficult.

Travel! I actually haven't done as much of it as I would have liked but I did go to Jeonju which was a nice break from Seoul. I took the train to and from Jeonju and it was quite a smooth ride except the train coming back to Seoul was an older one without as nice amenities but still enjoyable. I am currently trying to plan some trips around Asia for early 2015 but with school and other things already starting to pile up these plans may/may not come to fruition.

Missing the USA? Hard to say, there are things I do miss about the USA. There are many friends and family I don't get to see as often...there are some foods I miss and I kind of miss being able to drive a car. I miss having a steady income ^.^ but I hopefully will remedy that by next year...either with part time work or something.

Anyway, I'll most likely write about level 4 within the next few weeks. Wish me luck!

~

My Korean Life #18: Costco!

Before I moved to Korea I found out any Costco membership is valid worldwide, regardless of where you made the membership card. This was great news since I have been a Costco member for quite a while and was happy to find out I could continue to reap its benefits in Korea. For those that do not know, Costco is a wholesale membership club similar to Sam's Club and BJ's Club Warehouse. Most of what Costco sells is bulk goods in order to give discounts to members. In the USA membership costs around USD 50 per year...I will most likely have to renew here in Korea so I'll let you know the rates at that time.

Costco stores take up a lot of land so you may be thinking that Seoul would not be the optimal place to build such a store. However, instead of spreading the store out horizontally like in the USA, here in Seoul the store location I went to was multiple floors (food, other goods, parking). The street level floor was home to the electronics, clothing, and most non-food items. The first basement level was the cafeteria and all food items (bakery, meat, seafood, etc). Beneath the first basement were more basement levels for parking.

I hear that Costco often enforces that a member can only bring up to 3 guests with them but it didn't seem that this was heavily enforced the day I went. I went on a Monday and it was still very busy and I hear on weekend days you can barely move your cart through the aisles. Like USA Costcos, there are quite a few free sample stations located around the store. But unlike the USA, people were queuing just to get a sample...like 8-10 people deep queue.

Speaking of food, my friends and I ate at the cafeteria. They had the hot dog combo and pizza and some other items (ice cream, what looked like calzones or something) but I'm sure depending on where your Costco is the item selection varies. I don't think they would have Bulgogi pizza in the USA but here at the Korean one they do :D The tables were so close to each other you had to step on the bench seats to slide into place...this probably violated fire code but...welcome to Korea! The cafeteria, like the store itself was packed with what looked like a shopping cart graveyard right in front of the eating area. We luckily were able to retrieve our cart after eating.

As far as the store itself goes, the item choices were actually fairly similar to the USA. There were plenty of Kirkland branded items and decent deals on meat and seafood (slightly more varied than USA stores due to Korean tastes). They even had bulk boxes of Soju and Korean brands of beer. A couple of items that I was surprised to see were Reece's peanut butter cups, Salsa, and bagels! I didn't actually walk around the street level floor much but I plan to do that soon.

As for checking out. The only forms of payment offered at Korean Costco are the Samsung Costco credit card or cold hard CASH. No debit cards like in the USA. I even asked just to be sure and was met with a prompt "안 돼요" (Not possible). Basically saw a bunch of people paying in large amounts of cash but a few had the branded credit card.

I only bought one item that day and it was quite heavy but I did manage to get it back to my apartment from the subway. I will be going again soon so I'll update this post if I find out anything else!

~

My Korean Life #17: Over 5 months living here and the midterms are over!

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...

~

My Korean Life #16: Welcome to Autumn - reflections on learning Korean thus far

*DISCLAIMER*

The below are my personal opinions/views and have no intention of communicating qualities, good or bad, about the program I am currently enrolled in

*END DISCLAIMER*

Finally we have entered autumn. It is probably my most favorite season here in Korea. The weather is comfortable and not humid, the leaves begin to change, etc. Anyway, I thought I would take this moment to reflect on my experience learning Korean so far. It's almost been 4.5 months since I moved here and about 4 months since I've been learning Korean.

• The expectations are high. This is somewhat expected as the program is marketed as intensive/immersive however, if you are struggling, it can be a challenge to find people able to explain concepts in your native language especially if you do not speak English, Japanese, or Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese/other widely spoken dialects).
• There is little focus on explaining things like passive versus active voice, what a perfect tense is, and so on - I think this is because it really doesn't make sense to do in an immersive environment where, among the students, there could be 5+ native languages. Instead, there is a focus on what I will call sentence constructs. Simply, how to make certain sentences using, for example, because or expressing hopes/wishes.
• You are given a moderate amount of time to practice concepts in class but it seems like the pace is faster than level 2. I'm guessing they expect you to practice a lot outside of class but some sentence constructs require you to disagree with someone or quote someone's speech. I'll say I'm not that creative and repeatedly use similar sentences with new grammar. 
• I'm also getting quite bored talking about the same things (school, home, my home country, self-introduction). Luckily in level 3 we start talking about more real world applications (finding a place to live, describing personality and appearance more in depth, meeting co-workers/students/etc, interactions in the workplace).
• More focus is being put on our pronunciation and intonation. During our review days our teacher has us memorize dialogues and gives us pointers on our pronunciation and intonation. The memorization is not the hard part but sounding like a native Korean is...

That's all I've got for now. Stay tuned for more. Until next time.

~

My Korean Life #15: The start of my second term at 서강대...3급!

From the other Korean language learners I've talked to, they say that level 3 is challenging. The difficulty jump is supposedly large from level 2 to 3. So far it's been manageable but I find myself dedicating more time to reviewing and previewing compared to last term. We've actually just completed the first full week of class (the past two weeks have only included a few days of actual class). I'll give my initial impressions of level 3 so far...

쓰기 (Writing)

• The expectations just keep escalating - sentences are supposed to be long and prioritize all the grammar we learn in level 3. The more I study Korean, the more it seems like making REALLY long sentences equates to an advanced level of comprehension. Korean sentences can be very long due to the many ways there are to connect sentences together.
• There is only one writing book that we get this level (level 2 had two separate ones). Most of the exercises have us write quite a bit compared to level 2.
• We have two essays we have to write in level 3. This is the first time that we have a requirement to write a more formal composition.

말하기 (Speaking)

• Speaking class is fairly similar to level 2. We go over the days grammar lesson and then follow it with examples, the chapter dialogues, and various other activities. Just like level 2, we do a lot of "get-up-and-talk-with-people-at-other-tables" activities. 
• There seems to be more vocabulary...just judging by these first 3 chapters in the level 3A book.
• Our teacher said they are emphasizing intonation, fluency, and pronunciation more this level. When I say fluency, I simply mean speaking smoothly (no pauses, hesitations, etc) - not necessarily being highly proficient.  
• Today we got to socialize with other classes of level 3 students which was fun.

읽기/듣기 (Listening/Reading)

• This class is also fairly similar to level 2. The listening has gotten more difficult (the pace is more at what people might consider 'normal' speed). The reading seems to be manageable so far but I'm expecting it to get harder as the term goes on. I've been doing a preview of the listening the night before due to the new vocabulary and pace at which we have to listen. Since the book comes with a CD of all the dialogues, listening, and reading - one could preview pretty much everything before class. This CD is also helpful with speaking intonation, pronunciation, and proper speaking speed. 

Other notes

• I'm the only male out of 13 total students in my class. 청일점이에요.
• Some of the students in my class are really good at Korean. Some are bilingual or trilingual. 
• I feel I know a decent amount of Korean but still have trouble forming ideas and speaking. This may be due to lack of practice or a combination of lack of practice and having English as my first language. 
• I have met some students that have skipped whole levels (one that skipped level 2 and one that skipped level 3). I find this amazing. Korean in my opinion is hard enough, let alone trying to study in order to skip levels.