방학 (School vacation)

I asked a guy stocking shelves at Homeplus (like Walmart) for some of the boxes he had
piled up. He said to take as many as I needed, so I did.

I moved into a new apartment last Thursday, 2/14. They have actual moving companies here in Korea. It's actually kind of funny...to me... but "move houses" in Korean is 이사 ("i-sa"). Coincidentally, the same pronunciation as the Chinese-based numbers 2 (이) and 4 (사). So most of the moving places' phone numbers end in 2424. :) Anyway, I couldn't find one that spoke English, so I decided to try packing my stuff into an International taxi. You can call ahead to reserve them, but there were none available at the time I wanted to go. So I decided to grab my biggest bag of stuff and take it down to the main road (about 3 blocks) and hail one myself, figuring I could at least get started. I took it to my new place -- a 3rd floor walkup!, then the girls, both fluent in Korean, were nice enough to come help me bring my other bags. In all, my stuff filled the taxi. :( Anyway, I was very tired from the move, so it's not much of a surprise that I came down with a norovirus on Saturday. Two of the three girls (my two roommates plus the girl whose room I took) had apparently had it earlier in the week... It started about 7am, with trips to the bathroom every 20-30 minutes, until about noon, when they finally convinced me to go to the clinic down the road. We waited til just after I vomited, then we hurried to the doctor's office, and made it just in time for me to have to run to the bathroom again. The doctor gave me a prescription for an antiemetic and an antidiarrhoeal. I had to alternate the meds every 2 hours (so each medicine was taken every 4 hours) for 36 hours, which made for a long night. I mentioned before how many things in Korea (snacks, etc) are individually packaged, even inside a larger package. Medicines are no exception. When you go to the pharmacy, you walk out with a huge perforated string of pill packs.


For your carrying and dosing convenience.

I'll take some pictures of my new place once it's cleaned up a bit more. I haven't really unpacked because I got an infection from the norovirus. I waited a few days to go to the doctor, hoping it would clear up on its own, but it didn't. The doctor gave me 5 days' worth of antibiotics, and it still didn't go away. So this morning, she sucked the pus out with a big syringe and gave me 3 more days of antibiotics. It feels a lot better, so hopefully that does the trick. Right now, though, I'm pretty glad I bought into the Korean health insurance. It's paid for itself this month already, though hopefully I'm not this sick again, because it's been a miserable school vacation. Though, if this had happened during classes, it would've been worse (making myself get out of bed and sit in class for 4 hours every day). On the way back from the doctors' office this morning, I took some pictures at the big intersection by the subway. It's been the first nice day in a while, temperature-wise.



I live 5 minutes further in the direction of the top left picture.

Obligatory food pictures:


뻥튀기 ("bbeong-twi-gi"), or puffed rice disks. They taste sort of like Rice Krispies
(which is also puffed rice, but a slightly different consistency). You get ~50 disks for ~$3.


Another thing that isn't really in the US: plastic examples of the food on the menu. This is
especially popular outside Japanese restaurants, but I've seen Italian restaurants do it too...
as well as the student cafeteria at SNU, and this hotdog place at Gangnam Station.

It's supposed to be nearly 50 degrees this week, so I'm hoping we can go out and do something. Han River Park is calling me....

edit: The place we went to tonight had some samples outside...


Mmmm, plastic.

학기의 끝 (Semester's end)

My transcripts (98% average), certificate of completion, certificate of
excellence (grade >90%), certificate of perfect attendance (100%).

One semester down, 3-5 more to go! To become a full-time student in Korea, you need level 4 proficiency on the Korean language standardized test (TOPIK), or, if you're only applying to SNU, you need to finish level 5 of their Korean courses. My hope is to do the latter, but SNU is extremely hard to get into, so I'm probably going to take the TOPIK. Still, they only offer TOPIK exams in April and September, so hopefully I can take the Intermediate test this fall. It is going to require a lot of solo prep work. I knew enough vocab coming in that the teacher usually glanced expectantly at me when she asked for the definition of a word, and still, just now, looking back at the Word document I updated with all the vocab I didn't know... it's 16 pages! Some lines are spent on the dates or important phrases, but still.... 16 pages is a lot more than I was expecting to not know, heh. Anyway, like any test, I just need to learn the format and go from there. In a previous post I mentioned I bought a few books with test grammar and sample tests with, most importantly, answer explanations (you can see all the old tests with answers but no explanations on the TOPIK website). That will be my starting point, hopefully beginning this week. I've already taken some sample Beginner level tests, and I definitely know enough to get Level 2 TOPIK, but Levels 3 and 4 are a whole different...level. :) So I plan to start by reviewing the Beginner level books then moving on to Intermediate level books by late spring, leaving me 3-4 months for Intermediate prep.

Sadly, due to visa issues, the Japan trip has been canceled. :( The US has tourist visa waivers with many countries, so Americans can travel most places in the world without needing to apply for a visa at the destination country's consulate (China is the only notable exception I know of). So without doing anything I am able to go to Japan as a tourist for up to 30 days. My traveling companion, however, is Brazilian and Brazilians need a visa from the Japanese consulate. We went to the one in Seoul last week, and they told her she was unable to apply for a Japanese tourist visa as a person on a tourist visa in Korea (permanent residents like myself can apply, though). She had asked at the Japanese consulate in Brazil if this situation would be a problem and they said no, but it was. :( It sucks, because you need a return plane ticket to get a visa, but then, if you can't get a visa, you've bought a possibly nonrefundable ticket for nothing. Luckily, with a great deal of patience, most of the trip was refunded by Travelocity. However, it was enough of a pain that I hope to never use them again, heh. Their main hours are 8am-5pm CST, which is 11pm-8am KST... so I called the 24-hour line the first time during off hours, and was promptly put on hold for 3 hours. I eventually hung up. After some Googling, this seems to be a common tactic.^^ I then called back during regular hours, and the lady said the hotel would be fully refunded in 2-3 days, but the flights would require a $90 cancellation fee per person, and the remainder would be refunded in 6-8 weeks! I wanted to talk it over with Iza, and by that point, she was sleeping, so I called back the next day. The lady I finally ended up cancelling with only charged a $46 cancellation fee per person, and she said the same thing -- 6-8 week wait time... but 2 days later, all my money (minus the $92 fee) was credited to my credit card. I'm glad I didn't have to pay off the trip and hope for a refund in 1-2 billing cycles, heh. But Iza still has to leave Korea by Feb 24th. We're kind of debating Macau (a place neither of us need a visa for), but the nonstop flights are expensive, and transiting through China is messy. Usually you need a tourist visa to even have a layover in a foreign country, but supposedly China waived the visa requirements for layovers in Beijing and Shanghai for 24-48 hours (depending on nationality), as long as you don't leave the airport. Still, I can't find an official source (say, the Chinese embassy website, which is entirely in Chinese), so I'm not sure I want to risk it, heh. So our next step is to go to the Immigration office and ask for an extension for her without leaving the country. It worked for my Portuguese friends. Hopefully with some tears and/or desperate pleas, they'll give it to her, then we can just go somewhere in Korea for a few days. I'd like to see Busan in southern South Korea, or Jeju, the volcanic island off the southern coast.


Jeju's currently in the 50s. Seoul yesterday was -11, and snow has been on the ground for a week.

There's a TON of English in Korea, and a lot of it is nonsensical. For example, I bought a microwavable hot pack that says if I use it I'll have a "happy and lone life." The happy part is cool, but I'm not sure I want a "lone" life, really... But sometimes the English make sense, but it's still strange and amusing.


If you couldn't tell by my face, Pepsi time is fun time!

Still, I appreciate the effort to translate things, so I can only complain (or laugh) so much, heh.

Finally, I've been looking for an umbrella for a while now. I bought one when I was here in September 2011, but the one spoke broke (heh) and whenever it was windy, the umbrella would turn inside out. There's a Japanese chain store here called Daiso that's kind of like a dollar store, I guess. Most things are a 1000 won (90 cents), but they have bigger items at multiples of 1000 won. They had small umbrellas for 3000 won and bigger ones for 5000. I bought a 5000 won one that is spring loaded, so you only have to push it a little bit, then it pops open the rest of the way. I wonder how long that mechanism will continue to work? :)


Left: My new umbrella. Right: Hidden behind the makeup bag section was a door with Lee Minho's face.
He's a model for the next shop over, so I guess they just put him on all the doors on that side of the 8th floor.

Today is the Lunar New Year. Because it's based on the lunar cycle, its date varies every year (last year was Jan 23). For this holiday and Chuseok (another Lunar holiday, similar to Thanksgiving, that's usually in September or October), Koreans leave Seoul to go back to their ancestral hometowns. We came during Chuseok in 2011, and the city was empty. Lots of stores were closed. It's supposed to be the same thing for the Lunar New Year. I hope a nearby restaurant is open, or at least the mart so I can buy and make ramen here. Off to find out.

End of the semester

Hard to believe I've been here over two months already! My final exam is Wednesday (Speaking) and Thursday (Reading, Writing, Listening). After that, there are three weeks until the next semester starts on March 3. During that time (Feb 13 and 14), I'm moving to a new place.. equally as close to school, just on the other side of the main gate, closer to the subway station. I think this will be a good thing when it finally gets warm here -- I won't have to spend 20-25 minutes walking and riding a bus to the subway -- it will just be a quick 5 minute walk away. And from there, well, everywhere else in the city is accessible. I'm looking forward to finally getting out and seeing things. When I was here in September 2011, Han River Park was my favorite spot. This time, I went there in late November, but it was really too cold to stay there for more than an hour (and that was on a warm day!). It was 50 degrees last Thursday, but other than that, it's been 30 or below for the last month. I hear it's really hot and humid here in July and August. Maybe I'll be looking forward to the cold again then, like I'm looking forward to the heat now. :)

Aside from that, Iza and I decided to go to Japan during break. She entered Korea on a (waived) tourist visa, and, as a Brazilian, she's only allowed to stay 90 days before she has to leave the country (though you can immediately come back)**. It turns out we actually came to Korea on the same flight but didn't know it (we were both on the same final leg from Detroit to Seoul on November 26th), so her 90 days are up Feb 24th. So we're flying out of Seoul and going to Japan Feb. 15 and returning Feb. 20, so she'll have until ~May 20th to leave again, but I think her flight back to Brazil is in March. :( Anyway, we were debating between going to Tokyo, Osaka, or both... and finally decided just go to to Osaka and the surrounding area (Kyoto and Kobe). I think Tokyo would be interesting, but it's a big city, and I'm looking forward to getting away from the city for a few days. We thought about taking the train between Tokyo and Osaka.. it's only 6 hours, but costs about $280 (which is nearly as much a RT flight to Osaka and more than a RT flight to Tokyo)... no thanks. Iza studied Japanese a while ago, and I don't know any at all, so it's going to be interesting. ^^ After Korean class ends this week, I plan to at least learn the alphabets and some basic phrases. Ideally I'd like to buy a travel book (like the nice Lonely Planet one I have for Korea), but the English section at the two book stores I've seen in Korea are super small. I've seen guidebooks for Korea in English there, but I doubt they have any on Japan in English. Still, I'll look after class ends, and depending on price, buy a book in Korean (as I've gotten good at translating what I don't know, heh).



Left: Seoul on the left (west) and Osaka (right). It's about a 2 hour direct flight between them. Seoul's airport is actually
in Incheon (an hour west of Seoul, a little to the left on the map). Right: We're staying 3 minutes (walking) from the
Shin-Osaka subway station (upper middle on the map) and Osaka's airport is 50 minutes away by subway.

Finally, Iza's birthday was the 30th. Iza, Ines, Joana, Hera and I (plus 4 of Iza's friends) went to a Japanese restaurant called Inakaya in Hongdae. It was tasty but a little expensive, especially considering we ordered mostly Korean food, hah. But we got our own private room (with sliding door). And there's something to be said about eating in your socks (most fancy or traditional restaurants make you remove your shoes when you enter). :)


Another delicious cake (Strawberry Tiramisu) from Paris Baguette!

** When you leave Korea and immediately return (just to get a refreshed stamp in your passport) or leave to go to the nearest Korean consulate outside Korea (to get a new visa), this is called a "visa run" -- it's quite common in Korea, for foreigners that need to change their status and get unlucky at the immigration office (supposedly you have to leave Korea to change from "tourist" to "student," but I've read it's possible to get it done with some luck and a friendly attendant at the immi office), or for people who just continually stay on tourist visas. There's actually a ferry from Busan (southern South Korea, about 3-4 hours from Seoul) to Fukuoka, Japan that costs about $180 RT (plus the $100 RT from Seoul to Busan) that is a popular way to get it done. There's an embassy in Fukuoka, or, if you're not changing status, you can just hop on the next ferry back to get the new stamp in your passport allowing you to stay another 90 days (180 days for Canadians). Luckily, I entered Korea on a D-4 language student visa initially, which means I don't have to change status (because I was never a "tourist") or get a new visa for 18 months (the maximum duration of the D-4 visa before you have to reapply). And with my D-4 (which proves I'm staying in Korea longer than the 90 day tourist visa), I was able to get my Alien Registration Card, which enabled me to get a bank account/debit card, health insurance, cellphone plan, etc. You can get lesser/limited versions of these things (except insurance) without an ARC, but it's nice to just have everything in place.