12월, 1월 (January & February)

As I mentioned last post, level 5 was a haze of homework and quiz/exam studying. We did get a day off for Christmas and (Solar) New Year, and several days off for Lunar New Year, thankfully. In addition to class stuff, I also took mid-level TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) for scholarships/admittance to grad schools here.

I'll start off by saying Korea is darn cold in winter. Based on temps, it's comparable to the weather in PA, but I guess I wasn't out in it very much (walking from house to car, car to wherever), because it feels so much colder here. Then again, Koreans call the cold winds in winter "knife winds," which is true. It feels like I'm not even wearing a jacket, though I've got layers and layers on. This year, I splurged on "heattech" (thermal) shirts. They're sold at Uniqlo for $20 (I bought them for $15 on sale) and may actually be Japanese in origin, but they're really thin, come in every color imaginable, and are really warm. Once I started wearing these, life became much better. They also have thermal tank top version (as you can see on the left below), but that seems counter intuitive...


Pick the color you want your frozen corpse to be found in....


One day during class, it snowed suddenly, and the snowflakes were huge and pretty.



Snow!



Buses are also abnormally packed on snow days cos no one wants to walk...


Our "field trip" for level 5 was to make bibimbap (rice and mixed veggies). In level 2, we made bulgogi (marinated beef) and japchae (noodles), which I think was more exciting... but, I was just glad for the day off of lessons. And in level 6, we supposedly head to the DMZ (border with N. Korea), which will hopefully be uneventful...




On Sunday, 1/19, H and I went to Gachon University in Gyeonggi-do, just outside Seoul, to take the 33rd edition of the TOPIK test.



There are 3 different versions of TOPIK given on the same day - beginner (levels 1 & 2), intermediate (levels 3 & 4) and advanced (levels 5 & 6). Beginner and Advanced are given in the morning, and Intermediate in the afternoon, so, in theory, you could take Intermediate and another test the same day. If I would have been smart, I'd've done this, but I didn't think about it til after registration had closed. :( Anyway, there are 4 sections on the test - grammar & vocab, reading, writing and listening (no speaking). If you get a combined average >70% with no section less than 50%, you get the higher level for the test (2, 4, 6). If you get <70% but higher than 50% average with nothing <40%, you get the lower level (1, 3, 5). If you don't manage this, you get nothing. Without studying much additional time (besides regular class study, and learning the TOPIK format):


Columns say grammar & vocab, writing, listening, reading, average, level received.

I managed an 88 average, with my lowest being 77 in reading, so I received level 4. Most grad schools only require level 3 for admission, but level 4 is nice to have for scholarships. I really wish I would've taken Advanced in the morning, and maybe received level 5 (my SNU level). Alas... I'll try that in April. Anyway, I'm a little disappointed in my writing score. I didn't miss any points in the multiple choice section, and only a few points in the short answer. My main loss came in the essay because I ran out of time. The topic was to write about who you respect, and to list two reasons. But they stipulated it couldn't be family, so I had a hard time coming up with someone to write about... I was about 25% too short and lost 5~10 points for that. Oops. Ah well, it worked out regardless.

On 1/24, H, J and I went to Kim Jae Joong's backpack product launch (called Moldir) at a Gangnam hotel (Hotel Sunshine). We saw him a few times, as well as Jang Geun-seok (just as creepy IRL as I imagined him to be), and a few other famous faces I recognized but didn't know the names... and J's favorite rapper Dok2 (said "do-kki") performed a couple songs on the stage. It was...interesting. Because we were foreigners, we also got free upgrades to the VIP section, but that turned out to not mean very much. :( Jae Joong and friends were in the VVIP section. Darn you Korea... adding more V's.



Advert poster in the hotel, the lasers on the dance floor that fascinated us
more than they should have, and Dok2 performing just feet from our faces.

And, of course, food. :)



Jjulmyeon (I was curious what this was for a long time... it's similar to
brothless naengmyeon crossed with bibimbap), a watermelon ice bar, and
Christmas cookies (sugar & reg/white choc macadamia) that 4 of us split 4 ways.





TOP: Odeng (fish cake) soup made at home with radish and scallions added,
grilled fish from the restaurant next to our house (Korean restaurants serve
you the whole fish and you pick around the bones). And look at the side dishes!
MID: I'm not sure what this is actually called but it's ddeok and ramyun and
udon (thick Japanese noodles) mixed together in a spicy sauce, oxbone soup
BTM: "water jelly" (actually pretty descriptive... is it water? is it jelly? it's both).

On Lunar New Years itself (1/31), I went around with an American friend and his photographer friends. I'm not a photographer by any means, but I'm still giving the photos their own post. Off to write that now. :)