I didn't forget about you...

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated the blog. Time flies! Lots of things to write about, which is possibly why I've been putting it off -- this is going to be a long post to write. :P

I had my level 1 Korean midterm last week. Monday (1/7) was the Speaking test, and Tuesday (1/8) was the Reading/Writing/Listening test. The test covered 8 chapters with 4 new grammars (sentence structures) per chapter... of which I knew all but 1 or 2 of beforehand.

Still, I've gained a bit more confidence in speaking, mostly because it seems like Koreans have 0 expectations when it comes to foreigners speaking Korean (though they're ready to switch to super-fast Korean the moment you eek out a word in their language). I'm still far, far better at reading and writing Korean than I am at speaking and listening (though I'm alright at listening to tapes, with a specified/obvious topic/grammar usage... it's entirely different when it's "real life" and the topic could be any number of things). Ah well, this is only 1/12 (or 1/14) of my Korean lessons here. And, ideally, as I know more Korean, I can participate in the "conversation exchanges" (Koreans looking for someone to speak English with) posted all over the bulletin boards outside the Language Institute.

Anyway, I spent a few hours studying on Sunday night... We were given a list of topics the speaking test would cover, but not the exact details (plus the conversation would vary based on what was said). For example, the teacher said there would be a "role play" with her dealing with one of 3 randomly-chosen scenarios, so I prepared a few points to talk about for each. I didn't study at all for the Reading/Writing/Listening test, because we've been doing those all semester, and I was fairly confident in all those skills from the beginning. Speaking is by far my weakest point, though I guess listening is a close second. It's so strange how different each of these skills are for me. I mean... ok... Reading: I know a lot of words, and I know a lot of grammars, and even if you don't understand the exact nuance of what's being said, you can get a general idea and continue on. Plus, you can reread if you miss something. :) Writing: Usually, this is not in "real time," so there's time to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it, and to go back and fix mistakes. Listening: As I mentioned before, if it's constrained (say, to the things we've learned in class), I don't usually have a problem with listening. If it can be about any ol' thing, I usually end up looking like a deer in headlights. It's not so much that I don't know (which may be the case, but isn't always), but that I'm afraid I won't know, so I panic, which makes me lose focus, which makes me not listen well, then I end up more confused than I would've been if I had just TAKEN A BREATH from the start, heh. Anyway.... Speaking: The hardest for me. In the US, I studied Korean on and off for 2 years (not 4 hours a day, 5 days a week like here in Korea), and this was the one facet I couldn't really practice, so it's really lagging. Plus I'm generally a quiet person... But I think this is most difficult because you have to come up with what to say on the spot. There's no take-backs, and if you screw it up or spend forever trying to spit it out... well, you look like an idiot. ^^

After all of that.... *drumroll*:


Translation (left->right columns): Student number, name, Writing, Speaking, Listening,
Reading, Total (100 pts). As expected, Speaking was my lowest grade: 29/30. ^^

Hopefully I can do as well on the final in 3 weeks (2/6 and 2/7). :)

I also started free tutoring provided by the school on Tuesday (1/15). It's only for 4 hours, but it's free, so I'll take it. Tutors in Korea charge $60+ an hour. My tutor is a nice girl named Eun-jin. She's in the Korean teaching program at SNU (so, this is sort of a student teaching experience for her), and she's a few years younger than me. She only knows Korean and Chinese... so spending 1.5 hours with her (1 hour tutoring, 30 minutes "off the clock" eating lunch together) and understanding most things (especially understanding enough to get her jokes) was a good feeling. :) I met her briefly today and she gave me a prompt to write about tonight so we can go over it when we meet again for Hour 2 tomorrow at 11am. I just finished it before starting this blog post. It's actually a question from a previous Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) test. I bought 3 books the other day to start studying for the Intermediate Level (I need level 4, which is 70%+ on the test) to attend grad school here. I can already get 85%+ on Beginner Level (so Level 2), but it can't hurt to review....


Heavy, heavy books.

In other news, class is done on 2/8. We have a party/certificate ceremony thing the day after the final final. I have a week to rest, then I'm moving to a new place down the road (more specifically, 4 bus stops away [2 past SNU] -- 5 minutes walking from the closest subway station). Rather than a single room with my own bathroom and hotplate, I'll be sharing an apartment with two really nice Korean girls. They're fluent in English (the one is actually from Australia), but hopefully I can get some Korean practice in. :) My room there is about as big as the one I have here, plus there's a veranda (covered deck) for extra storage... and a shared living room, bathroom (that's as big as the bedroom!), full kitchen, washer (still no dryer!). It's fully furnished, and about $100 less a month than what I'm paying here.

Some brief background info on renting apartments in Korea... Basically, there are two ways to go if you're paying monthly. You can put a large chunk of change (in the US, a "deposit"... here it's called "key money") down up front, and your monthly payments will be lower, or you can put little/no key money down and pay a higher rate per month. The idea is that the owner will invest your deposit and keep the dividends, then when you move out, you get your initial investment back. So, for example, at this room now, I paid 1500$ for 2.5 months. This includes a $100 deposit (of which $70 is returned after they deduct a $30 cleaning fee) and $560/mo rent (with "free" utilities up to $100). The new place is a $2,250 deposit (2,500,000 won), but only $380/mo, plus utilities ($40-60/mo). When I move out, the $2,250 will be returned to me. I may be could have negotiated a lower key money price in exchange for a higher monthly rent, but I have the cash, and it'll be returned to me, unlike the monthly rent, which is entirely the landlord's. Some nicer apartments have key money prices of $10,000+. I saw one on craigslist (which is used mainly by foreigners in Seoul) asking $27,000.... I'm not sure I'd trust someone with that much money... ^^ Anyway, I'm pretty excited... though I'm dreading moving my stuff. I came here with two full suitcases, but since I got here, I've bought a number of things, and I'm not quite sure how I'll get everything from here to there. Ah well, we'll figure it out.

Next up, my new cards!


Top: My bank book. Bottom: My ARC and Korean debit card.

In early December, I went to the Immigration Office and applied for an Alien Registration Card (ARC). On 1/4, I went back and picked it up. I was in and out in 2 minutes (there's a separate window for pickups). After that, I signed up for a Korean bank account at Woori (literally "Our") Bank, complete with debit card. It's interesting that in Korea, you're issued a bank book. It looks similar to a passport, I guess. It's good for deposits only, and is basically a printed listing of all your transactions. In dramas, I've seen characters hand over their bankbooks and their seal (used with ink or wax in Asian countries in lieu of a signature), essentially giving all the money in their account to someone else... I'm not sure if that works in real life, but it's pretty dramatic. :P Unfortunately, as I have no income in Korea, the only way to get money into my Korean account is via Global ATM withdrawal then Woori Bank deposit. :\ My apartment mentioned above will have to be paid this way. Transferring money between people is super easy.. you can do it for free at the ATM in <2 minutes with your bank card and the person's bank name and account number.


I finally figured out how to get 50,000 won (~$45) bills from the ATM! Go me.

Next up, my first kpop concert! Kim Jae-joong is having a concert outside Seoul (but connected via the subway) on 1/26 and 1/27. Iza and I got tickets for 1/27. Technically, Hera's friend got us tickets. We tried, and failed, to get them ourselves. The first sales night, we couldn't get the darn plugin to work. In Korea, they have a Paypal equivalent called Inipay, but it's a popup/plugin, and it only works in IE. There was a second night of ticket sales (for the leftovers/cancellations from the first night). We got Inipay working by that point, but neither Iza nor I knew enough Korean to figure out how to pay with my Korean debit card and foreign credit cards weren't an option. :( Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of Kim Jae-joong, but it should be an interesting experience. :)

Finally,... I joined the 21st century! I bought a (used) Galaxy S3 smartphone last Wednesday (1/9). My plan allows 200 minutes, 300 texts, 500mb 3G data, and unlimited wifi access for $40/mo. I can switch plans at any time, so next month I think I'm going to change to prepaid minutes and texts (that I don't use that often) with 500mb 3G data and unlimited wifi for $10/mo. Wifi hotspots are nearly everywhere in the city. In a week, I've used 60mb, and that's only because there's no wifi at my house so I have to use my 3G data here. I forgot to look at the new place, but here's hoping... then maybe I can cut down to the 300mb for $7/mo.



Top left: Phone w/ case I bought. Top right: My Nexus7 had a baby! Bottom: DMB TV that I'll talk about in a second.

One interesting thing with Korean versions of the S3 is that it comes with a built in antenna. In Seoul, there's this thing called Digital Multimedia Broadcasting... which is basically TV (and radio) sent over radio waves. So I can watch broadcast TV on my cellphone without using my data plan or anything. And, as you can see, it works well in my room. Sadly live TV doesn't come with subtitles, but it's still nice to watch sometimes. :)

And in case you're wondering, Koreans are crazy about cellphones and cellphone cases. It sort of makes sense, given the public transportation in the city. When on the subway, it's very rare to see someone that isn't watching a video (did I mention there's superfast wifi on the subway cars?) or typing on KakaoTalk (a South Korean instant messaging program that I've started using -- it's pretty sweet, free voice calls like Skype, and you can embed photos into the conversations) or talking on their cellphones. But, check out all these cellphone case options...



Top left: One of many, many similar stores at Gangnam Station. Top right: A closeup of the available cases
(for only 1 of several types of phones). Bottom: The cellphone case display in a bookstore, because you can't
really miss out on supporting the mobile market...

And finally, what post is complete without mentioning food... I know I mentioned Paris Baguette before... but... some food pictures for you:



Left: Cakes! So many cakes! Right: Macaroons! So many macaroons!
Bottom: For Christmas, Koreans eat cakes. So, Reese, Hera, Iza and I celebrated Christmas
Korean-style and bought a four-flavored Baskin Robbins ice cream cake for ~$25.

Ines's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm looking forward to buying her a PB cake to celebrate! I've still never tried a macaroon but they look tasty. So tasty that I wish there wasn't a PB in every neighborhood (sometimes more than one), tempting me to eat their tasty-looking wares...


I will, however, cave and eat some fresh-made banana-shaped banana bread that's 3/$1.

Whew, I knew this would be a long one. Thanks for sticking with me. :)