Kindergarten was fun today. We worked in small groups teaching the kids "spring" animals. After repeating the names a few times, the students were able to color pictures. Conversation class went smoothly. Movie class was...NOT a war movie! It was called "My Sassy Girl" (not an acurate/perfect translation however). It was a romantic comedy no less! What a drastic change! Part way through the movie, my 'group' (our program has split us up into two groups for days/times of Kindergarten and ET) had to go and meet the Director's class. We had to introduce ourselves and sing our two Korean songs. After we sang, some of the students asked us questions and the Director had some of us read part of a poem aloud so they could hear different English speakers. (Yes, I was one of the chosen ones.) We returned for the rest of the movie.
After dinner, some friend and I just hung out in a discussion room trying to decide what to do. Finally, Jenny, Tim and I went to HomePlus for some groceries. I ended up buying some dried fruit and almonds...soooo yummy! :) Later, I studied with some friends for a bit.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tough Tuesday
Today's classes were a little rough to get through! We had our 'difficult' conversation class this morning. It was even worse than normal. Instead of breaking down a new, difficult and long sentence by words, our teacher just says it really fast, asks us to repeat it, says "it's so easy" and then moves on to the next sentence. When you listen to us repeat her, it is actually kind of funny because you can tell that most of us are just mumbling and trying to make sounds, but not actually speaking the Korean words. Taekwondo class was alright. We actually didn't seem to do too much today. Class went a little long because our professor wanted to 1) talk about the rules of fighting in Taekwondo and 2) demonstrate defense tactics when being attacked. My favorite part of his demonstration was him "running away" after "hitting" the attacker. It was comical.
Our Language class was also a little rugged to get through. We only practiced two sentences, just focusing on "what is the date" and "which day is it", but expanded on speaking it present, past and future tense. It took an hour to go over that. The last part of class was spent working on counters (when you count different things you have to use different words to show what you are counting, based on what you are counting. For example when you count people it is "myeong", things are "gae", and hours are labled "shi".) and big numbers.
Best part of my day...package from my mom arrived late this afternoon!! It got here really fast! She mailed it Thursday (Friday in Korea) and today is Tuesday! I finally have my cleats, vitamins, calcium, AND a surprise bag of pretzel M&M's! I was so happy to see them! I am almost finished with my current bag. My mom also sent a box of chocolates for Jenny. Jenny was so surprised and happy!
ET was cut short because a lot of students in our group had tests and projects to work on. So, I went to go see Ji play with his major soccer team; they were in the semifinals. His team won 2-0! It wasn't as cold as it was for the last game! After soccer, we had a small, short study session.
Our Language class was also a little rugged to get through. We only practiced two sentences, just focusing on "what is the date" and "which day is it", but expanded on speaking it present, past and future tense. It took an hour to go over that. The last part of class was spent working on counters (when you count different things you have to use different words to show what you are counting, based on what you are counting. For example when you count people it is "myeong", things are "gae", and hours are labled "shi".) and big numbers.
Best part of my day...package from my mom arrived late this afternoon!! It got here really fast! She mailed it Thursday (Friday in Korea) and today is Tuesday! I finally have my cleats, vitamins, calcium, AND a surprise bag of pretzel M&M's! I was so happy to see them! I am almost finished with my current bag. My mom also sent a box of chocolates for Jenny. Jenny was so surprised and happy!
ET was cut short because a lot of students in our group had tests and projects to work on. So, I went to go see Ji play with his major soccer team; they were in the semifinals. His team won 2-0! It wasn't as cold as it was for the last game! After soccer, we had a small, short study session.
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| So happy to have my cleats! THANKS MOM!! |
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| M&M Pretzels!! DOUBLE THANKS MOM!!! |
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| Jenny so surprised to get a gift too! THANKS AMY'S MOM!!! |
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| Shirt Quadruplets! ET members L to R: Sung Min, Pyeong Uk, me and Han Su |
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| Ji's soccer game! Ji is the blur in the middle of the picture! |
Monday, April 4, 2011
Lazy Monday
It was sunny but a little chilly today. As long as I was in the sun, I was warm enough. I went outside and did a little bit of studying. I was joined by Jeong Kwan and then his friend Jinil. Emily also joined when she was done with Kindergarten and Inseok also stopped to study and hang out. They quizzed us on words and corrected our pronunciation. I tried to come up with sentences and they helped correct me. We made a deal to meet up for our "study group" every Monday afternoon now! :)
Cooking class was pretty nice. I unfortunately forgot my 가방 (kabang=bag) in my room so I did not have my camera. We made 궁중 떡볶이, except with soy sauce. I've actually never seen or heard of it before, and we had one out of three of our Korean friends who had never eaten or heard of it before. Anyway, this dish consisted of rice cake, pork, green onion, garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce. It was pretty tasty. When we got back to campus, Emily and I handed our dishes over to Magnus. (More on that later...)
Emily and I went for a run 2 1/2 times around campus. After our run we all went to dinner. Joakim, Magnus and Ji are now the judges for Emily and my cooking. The past few weeks we've been bringing our extra food back for them to try. The first week only I brought something back. Last week only Magnus had both dishes (but he voted for Emily's) Today I received two votes and Emily received one. The score currently stands at 1 v 0.5. We gave Emily a half a point because even though only one person tried both, she still got that win. Stay tuned for next week's match up!
I studied with a bunch of Emily and a few Korean friends in the lounge. I also worked with my ET leader to plan tomorrow's class. I also corrected one of my ET member's speech for one of his speaking classes.
Cooking class was pretty nice. I unfortunately forgot my 가방 (kabang=bag) in my room so I did not have my camera. We made 궁중 떡볶이, except with soy sauce. I've actually never seen or heard of it before, and we had one out of three of our Korean friends who had never eaten or heard of it before. Anyway, this dish consisted of rice cake, pork, green onion, garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce. It was pretty tasty. When we got back to campus, Emily and I handed our dishes over to Magnus. (More on that later...)
Emily and I went for a run 2 1/2 times around campus. After our run we all went to dinner. Joakim, Magnus and Ji are now the judges for Emily and my cooking. The past few weeks we've been bringing our extra food back for them to try. The first week only I brought something back. Last week only Magnus had both dishes (but he voted for Emily's) Today I received two votes and Emily received one. The score currently stands at 1 v 0.5. We gave Emily a half a point because even though only one person tried both, she still got that win. Stay tuned for next week's match up!
I studied with a bunch of Emily and a few Korean friends in the lounge. I also worked with my ET leader to plan tomorrow's class. I also corrected one of my ET member's speech for one of his speaking classes.
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| View outside from the 4th floor |
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| Cherry Blossom tree |
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| In front of ET |
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| Emily and me outside |
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| So pretty! |
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| Emily, Maren and me in front of ET |
Sunday, April 3, 2011
What a weekend!
Saturday:
A group of 8 of us left for Pusan. We met up with my Korean American adoptee friend Oh Mee and her native Korean friend Ah Young. We went to the hostel to check in and drop our things off. Then a quick lunch at a kimbap restaurant. That kind of restaurant is nice because it has such a variety of food options. After lunch, it was on to 찜질방 (Jjimjilbang) which is a Korean spa/sauna/bathhouse. The one we went to was called Spa Land and was located in Shinsegae Department Store (which is the world's largest department store). They 'bathing' rooms are separated by gender; the girl's side was the best because we had an outdoor pool! After the pools, we went into all of the different saunas; the rooms were SO hot! They were around 50-60+ degrees...CELSIUS! When we were all done with jjimjilbang, we took some time to look around the department store. We had dak galbi for dinner (spicy chicken and vegetables) and then went to a bar/restaurant. After that, we went to Club Foxy. At the end of the night, Emily and I went back to the hostel. We ended up in a double room and Oh Mee and Ah Young had their own double.
Sunday:
Emily and I went to church in Pusan. It was a church she had heard of from some friends. After church, we met up with Oh Mee and Ah Young for a quick bite to eat and then said our goodbyes. When we returned to campus, I just relaxed. I'll be doing a little bit of studying with my friends and calling it an early night tonight!
A group of 8 of us left for Pusan. We met up with my Korean American adoptee friend Oh Mee and her native Korean friend Ah Young. We went to the hostel to check in and drop our things off. Then a quick lunch at a kimbap restaurant. That kind of restaurant is nice because it has such a variety of food options. After lunch, it was on to 찜질방 (Jjimjilbang) which is a Korean spa/sauna/bathhouse. The one we went to was called Spa Land and was located in Shinsegae Department Store (which is the world's largest department store). They 'bathing' rooms are separated by gender; the girl's side was the best because we had an outdoor pool! After the pools, we went into all of the different saunas; the rooms were SO hot! They were around 50-60+ degrees...CELSIUS! When we were all done with jjimjilbang, we took some time to look around the department store. We had dak galbi for dinner (spicy chicken and vegetables) and then went to a bar/restaurant. After that, we went to Club Foxy. At the end of the night, Emily and I went back to the hostel. We ended up in a double room and Oh Mee and Ah Young had their own double.
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| Just arrived to Shinsegae Department Store! L to R: Maren, Emily, me, Ben, Joakim, Magnus, Tim, Oh Mee, and Ah Young Standing: Ki |
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| Waiting to begin Jjimjilbang experience! |
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| Picture of all the different sauna rooms (the pictures looked much cooler than what they actually were like) |
Sunday:
Emily and I went to church in Pusan. It was a church she had heard of from some friends. After church, we met up with Oh Mee and Ah Young for a quick bite to eat and then said our goodbyes. When we returned to campus, I just relaxed. I'll be doing a little bit of studying with my friends and calling it an early night tonight!
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| Saying goodbye at the subway! |
Friday, April 1, 2011
Celebrations Continued
Thursday:
After our class, we planted trees for Korea Arbor Day. The actual holiday is celebrated on April 5th, but we celebrated it today because the founder of Inje University was visiting campus. For dinner, we met as a group to go out for chicken. We went to a restaurant that had a big TV so we could watch ourselves on the KBS program "Saeng Saeng Today". It was fun to see ourselves on Korean TV! :) After dinner, our group split up and it was hard keeping the party a surprise for Emily. Maren and I went to pick up the cakes and other supplies for the party and then set up. At 8:30 all the guests of honor were supposed to arrive together to be surprised in the lounge. It didn't quite work out, but it was still a lot of fun and everyone had a good time. After cake, we went out for some birthday beverages.
Today:
I skyped with my Mom so I could wish her a Happy Birthday! I had music class and then later half of the class was picked to go meet the music teacher's students in the afternoon. I was in that half. When we arrived in the classroom, they were had chicken and pizza for us. We talked a little with them and introduced ourselves. When the music professor arrived, he had us sing the two songs we've been practicing to the class. Our writing class went alright. This evening I just hung out with Emily and Jenny. I'm calling it an early night tonight for sure! We are heading into Pusan tomorrow and I will get to see my friend Oh-Mee. I met her in 2009 during the GOA'L program. I am excited to spend some time with her!
After our class, we planted trees for Korea Arbor Day. The actual holiday is celebrated on April 5th, but we celebrated it today because the founder of Inje University was visiting campus. For dinner, we met as a group to go out for chicken. We went to a restaurant that had a big TV so we could watch ourselves on the KBS program "Saeng Saeng Today". It was fun to see ourselves on Korean TV! :) After dinner, our group split up and it was hard keeping the party a surprise for Emily. Maren and I went to pick up the cakes and other supplies for the party and then set up. At 8:30 all the guests of honor were supposed to arrive together to be surprised in the lounge. It didn't quite work out, but it was still a lot of fun and everyone had a good time. After cake, we went out for some birthday beverages.
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| Emily, Ki, and me with our tree! It was HARD work planting it! |
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| "Hi, I'm Emily" "Hi, I'm Amy" "We're from Michigan!" Emily and me on KBS!! |
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| White chocolate, chocolate cream cheese, and green tea cakes for the surprise birthday party! |
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| Magnus, Emily, and Milan: Birthday Friends! |
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| L to R: Maren, me, Emily, Jenny (my roommate), and NaRae (Maren's roomate) |
Today:
I skyped with my Mom so I could wish her a Happy Birthday! I had music class and then later half of the class was picked to go meet the music teacher's students in the afternoon. I was in that half. When we arrived in the classroom, they were had chicken and pizza for us. We talked a little with them and introduced ourselves. When the music professor arrived, he had us sing the two songs we've been practicing to the class. Our writing class went alright. This evening I just hung out with Emily and Jenny. I'm calling it an early night tonight for sure! We are heading into Pusan tomorrow and I will get to see my friend Oh-Mee. I met her in 2009 during the GOA'L program. I am excited to spend some time with her!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Busy Day
Kindergarten was a lot of fun! The teacher's assistant asked me to go through the alphabet and the sounds the letters make with the class. After we went through the letters, we decorated cut outs of the letters. Then on to Conversation class. We had a quiz in there-I got 56/60 right! :)
Our movie class had another intense movie. I just have to get used to the fact that they all will be. I'm not usually a fan of war movies, so it's a bit of an adjustment. This movie was called "Silmido" and was loosely based off of true events during the 70's. The North Koreans attempted to assassinate the South Korean president. Afterward, the South Koreans wanted to retaliate and trained 30 criminals on death row to go on a suicide mission to assassinate Kim Il-Sung. At the last minute, their mission was called off and the higher authorities wanted all of that special tasks team "eliminated"; the higher authorities gave the operations leaders an ultimatum: eliminate the team or be killed along with them. After 3 years of training and working together, it was hard for the leaders and soldiers to kill their trainees, but worried about their own lives, decided it was the best option. They had a big battle with the trained criminals winning. They escaped the island they were living on and went to Seoul on a bus. Finally, they were tracked down and fired upon and they ended up blowing up the bus with them on it. It is said that an investigation was carried out, but the report was filed away unread. It was also kind of a sad and bloody movie, but interesting all the same. Oh! How could I forget? Milan and Megan went to Home Plus before class and Milan insisted on them buying 2 cakes (it's his birthday). So they came to class with cakes and beverages (remember we are having a surprise party tomorrow too). AND our professor ALSO bought 2 cakes! However, he saved his and we will actually be using them for tomorrow's party as well. :) As it happened, Magnus and Joakim walked by the lounge, so since it was Magnus' birthday today also, they had a little celebration with us too.
We went out to dinner to the Kimbap place I went to on Sunday. I ordered the ddeok mandu guk, but it never came! Emily and I were also splitting a kimbap, so I ate most of that. We were joined by a reporter for the Korean Quarterly, a newspaper based in MN and the reporter's friend who is also a Korean adoptee. The reporter has 3 children; 2 are adopted from Korea, but the one who is biological to them will be coming to Inje in the fall. When we returned from dinner, we ran into Magnus and Joakim. They were going out to eat so Tim, Ji and I joined them. (Tim's dinner order was also messed up and he didn't get much dinner either.) We went to a BBQ place and had samgypsal.
Extra: this evening Emily stopped by my room to help me organize the weekend a little bit. After she left she suddenly called me and said her roommate was having a birthday party for her in the lounge! Jenny and I went downstairs and we had a Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake with a bunch of other people! This is the second night in a row we've had midnight cake eating parties. Thank goodness no one has a birthday on the 1st! Ha, ha.
Our movie class had another intense movie. I just have to get used to the fact that they all will be. I'm not usually a fan of war movies, so it's a bit of an adjustment. This movie was called "Silmido" and was loosely based off of true events during the 70's. The North Koreans attempted to assassinate the South Korean president. Afterward, the South Koreans wanted to retaliate and trained 30 criminals on death row to go on a suicide mission to assassinate Kim Il-Sung. At the last minute, their mission was called off and the higher authorities wanted all of that special tasks team "eliminated"; the higher authorities gave the operations leaders an ultimatum: eliminate the team or be killed along with them. After 3 years of training and working together, it was hard for the leaders and soldiers to kill their trainees, but worried about their own lives, decided it was the best option. They had a big battle with the trained criminals winning. They escaped the island they were living on and went to Seoul on a bus. Finally, they were tracked down and fired upon and they ended up blowing up the bus with them on it. It is said that an investigation was carried out, but the report was filed away unread. It was also kind of a sad and bloody movie, but interesting all the same. Oh! How could I forget? Milan and Megan went to Home Plus before class and Milan insisted on them buying 2 cakes (it's his birthday). So they came to class with cakes and beverages (remember we are having a surprise party tomorrow too). AND our professor ALSO bought 2 cakes! However, he saved his and we will actually be using them for tomorrow's party as well. :) As it happened, Magnus and Joakim walked by the lounge, so since it was Magnus' birthday today also, they had a little celebration with us too.
We went out to dinner to the Kimbap place I went to on Sunday. I ordered the ddeok mandu guk, but it never came! Emily and I were also splitting a kimbap, so I ate most of that. We were joined by a reporter for the Korean Quarterly, a newspaper based in MN and the reporter's friend who is also a Korean adoptee. The reporter has 3 children; 2 are adopted from Korea, but the one who is biological to them will be coming to Inje in the fall. When we returned from dinner, we ran into Magnus and Joakim. They were going out to eat so Tim, Ji and I joined them. (Tim's dinner order was also messed up and he didn't get much dinner either.) We went to a BBQ place and had samgypsal.
Extra: this evening Emily stopped by my room to help me organize the weekend a little bit. After she left she suddenly called me and said her roommate was having a birthday party for her in the lounge! Jenny and I went downstairs and we had a Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake with a bunch of other people! This is the second night in a row we've had midnight cake eating parties. Thank goodness no one has a birthday on the 1st! Ha, ha.
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| Birthday cakes from Milan and Megan during Movie Class |
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| Birthday Friends Emily and Milan! |
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| Emily's surprise ice cream cake from her roommate |
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| Friends enjoying birthday cake at midnight |
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Long Day
I am busy, busy, busy! A lot of big events are happening this week and I am organizing them!!
We had our 'challenging' conversation class this morning. After class, Taekwondo. It went a little bit long today. We had the original instructor. He did a good job breaking down moves and everything for us today. It must have been just because the TV guy was filming the first class that he wanted to show off and make us do challenging/exciting moves. Our language class was also a little difficult today. We had a sort of dictation quiz, except our professor said the words all in English and we had to come up with the Korean. We were quizzed on 55 random words-there were only two I couldn't remember and two that I misspelled! I studied with Emily a little and then I met up with Maren,NaRae (her roommate) and Jenny so we could plan for the birthday parties. We ordered three cakes and also bought Emily a birthday gift.
I had my ET group tonight. I taught the whole lesson-it was a little scary teaching to a group of students my age!! We talked about parts of speech and everyone gave examples. We also did a few madlibs. I think they kind of liked that, but some of them don't really know enough English to understand the stories when they are all jumbled up. The request last week was to work on past/present/future verbs, but we didn't get to that this week. I think parts of speech was enough for most of them! After class, I hung out with a few of them in the lounge so they could practice speaking. I also did some more studying with Emily and Maren. What a long day! I guess it doesn't sound so bad on paper...but it was draining. Tomorrow is another busy, busy day!
We had our 'challenging' conversation class this morning. After class, Taekwondo. It went a little bit long today. We had the original instructor. He did a good job breaking down moves and everything for us today. It must have been just because the TV guy was filming the first class that he wanted to show off and make us do challenging/exciting moves. Our language class was also a little difficult today. We had a sort of dictation quiz, except our professor said the words all in English and we had to come up with the Korean. We were quizzed on 55 random words-there were only two I couldn't remember and two that I misspelled! I studied with Emily a little and then I met up with Maren,NaRae (her roommate) and Jenny so we could plan for the birthday parties. We ordered three cakes and also bought Emily a birthday gift.
I had my ET group tonight. I taught the whole lesson-it was a little scary teaching to a group of students my age!! We talked about parts of speech and everyone gave examples. We also did a few madlibs. I think they kind of liked that, but some of them don't really know enough English to understand the stories when they are all jumbled up. The request last week was to work on past/present/future verbs, but we didn't get to that this week. I think parts of speech was enough for most of them! After class, I hung out with a few of them in the lounge so they could practice speaking. I also did some more studying with Emily and Maren. What a long day! I guess it doesn't sound so bad on paper...but it was draining. Tomorrow is another busy, busy day!
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| Courtesy of a very attentive student during my parts of speech lesson. |
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