A Busy Friday

Friday, March 27, 2009
I started the day to the sounds of an announcement saying everyone had to get out of the dorm. They were doing disinfection treatment and the side effects could include vomiting, dizziness, and/or... well... we won't share the last one. So I quickly showered and left with everyone else. We went and got food and then they had Korean 1. I decided to tag along for the class which turned out to be kind of nice. The teacher is nice and uses English (something that my Korean teacher isn't and doesn't). The class learns things, probably due to the use of a language they know. And Grace was in the class, though, I didn't talk with her other than saying, "see you later," at the end of class.

After the Korean class a few of us went walking around Suwon to find the fortress. In our quest to find the fortress, we found a church and went inside for a look. There we met a Canadian priest that showed us around the church. From the church, we could see the fortress wall. We walked to the fortress and messed around there for awhile. One of the members of this group, Alex, had a class to get back to so I went with him.

Once I got back to campus, I went back to the newly disinfected dorm and waited till it was time to meet up with the Friends Club. We, the Friends Club and the exchange students that chose to go, went to Lotte World. Think Disney Land meets Mall of America. It was fun but I had intended to meet up with Grace... that never happened. But I did get to hangout with Anh and Alex (the Alex from before was there too but this "Alex" is a different one... confusing... I know). Anh and I have been talking a lot (both from the U.S.A. and of Asian decent, etc.) and are pretty good friends. I forced myself to ride whatever my group wanted to ride. Oh, I should tell you that we had to stay in groups because there was only one ticket per group and you needed the ticket to do anything in the amusement park. So, I went on a bunch of rides I generally wouldn't have and found that they're not as bad as I once thought. Think: giant drop, roller coasters, and weird things that spin and see-saw (yes, I'm using "see-saw" as a verb). I still don't "like" them but they're not bad. At the end of the night we all went back to the dorm (about a forty-five minute bus ride).

Once I got back everyone that didn't go to Lotte World was out drinking and wanted those that did go to come out. I almost went but it was kinda late so I decided to do laundry (I know, that isn't a good thing to do when it's "kinda late"). But, while I was doing laundry I got to talk with Alex (the one mentioned at Lotte World as the "Alex" that wasn't the one from the fortress... there are three exchange students named Alex). So, we talked for awhile and I got my laundry done. Now, here I am. It's not officially late and I should go to bed.

My New Hair Cut

So, I got a haircut on Tuesday. It was really had to explain what I wanted to the people but they showed me some pictures and I picked one out. The end result looked nothing like the picture. It wasn't really "bad" but it wasn't what I wanted and it needed hair stuff to look the way it was supposed to. So, I figured it would only look that way once, since I don't have, and as a result, don't use hair products. I realized that it would look "different" after I showered and combed it back (like normal) but it was crazy. I looked like Wolverine from the x-men. So, today I tried just putting it down to keep from looking like a cartoon character. And here I am... Oh, and I went with Evan. Here's Evan with his new sunglasses and haircut.

My Friend from the Korean Village

I almost forgot to mention, I made a friend in the traditional Korean village. She saw me walking alone and came right up and sat next to me. She followed me around for awhile. Then we decided she should show me around the village. Eventually she took me back to her house where I met some of her family. They all seemed to like me.

The weekend trip (Sat 21 - Sun 22)

On Saturday we met at 9:00 and left for Gyeongju. I couldn't sit next to Grace but ended up behind her. We had lunch at Keum River Resting Area. Our first major stop was Bool Kook Sa Temple. Then we went to check in at Kolon Hotel. We had dinner and then went to the tomb valley of the Shilla Dynasty. There was an astronomical observatory, An Ap Ji - Royal Lake Garden, and the Kings' Tombs. Then we went back to the hotel for a party. After a little while Grace and I left the party and went for a walk. We talked for awhile and ended up discussing "us" and all the practicality issues and tried to weigh the pros and cons. Once she decided to go to bed I went back to the party and helped clean up and get the drunk people back to their rooms.

Sunday we had an early breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Things were a little weird between Grace and I but we ended up sitting next to each other on the bus, which was nice. We went to Bo Moon Lake and some people rented mini bikes and others went on "duck boats" (paddle boats that look like swans). Then we went to Yangdong village. A traditional Korean village that was still working. After the village we headed back to the university. The trip back took about five hours. Grace and I talked for a while and listened to each others music. Eventually we fell asleep holding hands. Once we got back to the university I walked Grace back to her apartment and then went back to my dorm.

Friday the 20th

On Friday I went into Seoul to meet Yong and his fiance "Julie". I put her name in quotes because it's the English version of her name and I don't remember the Korean version. I went with Evan since he knew the area of Seoul we were going to and is a good friend like that. We met for dinner at a pretty nice place that, we were told, is famous. After dinner we went to a park and played badminton. We played three games where the losers had to buy the winners orange juice. Evan and I ended up winning but we got the feeling that they let us win. Then we walked back to the subway and headed back. The subway and other public transportation systems stop running at midnight so we left around 23:30 to try and make it back. The subway was packed person to person and was a little weird. It stopped and kicked everyone off at one stop and everyone had to wait for the next train. Then we tried to get on a bus that would take us back to Suwon but we were two people too many for the bus. So we took a different bus and got back to Suwon but not the university. So we waited for a city bus to take us back to the university but they had stopped running so we took a taxi back. Oh, and we saw a police car go into the red light district with no real sense of protest.

Thur the 19th

On Thursday there was a meeting with the friends club. It was a drinking party. They taught us some drinking games and how to make some Korean (ish) drinks. I say "ish" because some of the drinks were like "so-mek" which was mixing soju and mekju (beer and a little harder alcohol). Or a soju bomb which is a shot of soju dropped into a glass of beer. So, they weren't completely foreign but it was fun. I spent a little time with Grace but after the meeting, when everyone went out to bars, Grace didn't go (sad panda time).

After a night of drinking I tried to help clean up the bar and to get the other people out of the bar (I'm helpful like that). So, after it seemed that everyone was accounted for, I went out on a food hunt with Shane and his buddy Hyun. We were trying to find some pizza but every place was closed so Hyun took us to a convenience store and Shane got a slice of microwave pizza that, I'm told, wasn't that good. Then, after a couple of random stops, we went for Korean BBQ. Once there some of the other people saw us and stopped in to join us.

After dinner we had to decide if we wanted to go to norebang (karaoke / singing) or back to the dorm. In the end we went back to the dorm.

Bad Weather

Some people have snow, others get rain, some with hail, and others with heat. In Suwon, Korea, the current weather is SAND!!! The weather report actually lists the current weather in Suwon to be "Sand". Apparently there is a problem of "yellow sand". This is sand and dust that blows in from China and causes a lot of people to have a cough and the air to be a bit cloudy (like a city with a lot of pollution). Many people walk around with what looks to be a medical mask on. Yes, I do have a cough and sore throat... pretty much everyone here does. So, what's the weather like by you?

White Day

Lets start with a culture lesson for those of you that do not know about this holiday. February 14Th is St. Valentine's Day. In most countries this is a day where loved ones exchange gifts that are generally in a symbolic heart shape (nerdy people may try to create something that resembles a more realistic heart shape... silly rabbit) and often involving chocolate and/or stuffed animals. In Korea and Japan, however, Valentine's Day is only when the girls give chocolates to the guys. In Japan they make a distinction between "honmei-choco", love chocolate, and "giri-choco", courtesy chocolate. I'm not sure if Korea has this distinction because they don't give chocolate to people out of courtesy.

Anyway, so the girls give chocolates to the guys on Feb. 14Th and on Mar. 14Th the guys give a gift to the girls. Again, in Japan they guy has to give a gift to everyone he got a gift from (and it has to be equivalent in relative value so often people give gifts to rich people to get something nicer in return - ex: a girl that makes $100 gives $10 to a guy. The guy makes $1,000 so he should give the girl $100) Again, in Korea they don't give gifts in this manor so this rule does not apply.

Bonus Culture (for over achievers) - In Korean, Black Day is on April 14Th and celebrates single-ness but often leads to singles meeting other singles and creating couples (if only for a short time).

"Why the history and culture lesson," you ask. Because I had a dinner date with Grace tonight and gave her chocolates. They weren't the special white day chocolates or in a big basket with a stuffed animal but I thought it would be a nice thing to do (especially if they celebrated white day in China... found out they don't).

We started by meeting at campus plaza. We decided to walk down the street looking for a place to eat. Anyone that has gone out to eat with me before can tell you that I'm not picky about the food, because of this, it's really hard to get me to choose a place to eat. So, we walked for awhile and talked. It was nice and she was (and still is) cute. After we had walked to the end of the street (a couple of blocks) we decided to go into the 3rd restaurant we saw on the next street. But, after about two blocks we realized that there were no restaurants on that street. So we turned around and did some more walking and talking. We eventually ended up at a nice place and got some Korean food.


It was really great. We talked and ate and smiled and laughed. She's really great and her English is good. It was the second time I had wished I took more Mandarin. I feel bad that she's doing all the work on the language side of things. Every now and then I'll throw in a Mandarin word or phrase that I remember and that fits in context. She seems to enjoy my attempts.

After dinner, we walked around for awhile. We talked more and explored a little bit of Suwon. It was a little cold with the wind and I could tell that she was getting cold (but wouldn't admit it :-P). So we walked back to her apartment [the campus didn't have enough room for all of the girls (since guys and girls can't be on the same floor in the exchange student dorm and can't be in the same building for the other dorms) so some of the girls were put up in apartments]. Upon arrival, we stood outside and talked for a little while longer and then hugged and parted ways. That's right, I'm too chicken to try for a kiss on the first date. But we both agreed that "we should do this again sometime soon." ^__^

Friday the 13Th

OK, so, in truth, this isn't just about Friday. This will be about Wed, Thur, and Friday. But, the "Friday the 13Th" title has a special ring to it for most westerners.

Here we go.
Wed - I went to Suwon Station with Evan. Suwon Station is kind of like a shopping mall crossed with a train station/subway station. Outside of the main station there are a lot of other stores and markets and even a red light district that shouldn't be there. (Note: We asked a guy where to get good food and he pointed us in this direction. The area is interesting to see because all the "store" fronts are windows with curtains and ladies sit in the windows just watching you. **More important note: we did NOT buy or sell anything) So, there's not a lot to report about this day but I thought the sign above the red light district was kind of interesting since it doesn't seem to be true.

Thur - There was a friends club meeting. It started off with everyone learning how to cook some Korean food and ended with everyone going out to drink. Other than the cooking of food it was a pretty standard meeting in Korea. And, yes, I sat next to Grace.

Fri - Finally, the day the Title eludes to. This was the day of the mass group meetings. I had a meeting in just about every group which meant I could go to some. Here's a comparison list:
Groups I'm in or considering joining:
Friends club
AGA (not 100% on what it stands for)
AITC - Travel Club
Paragliding Club
Rock Climbing Club
"Kendo" (but the Korean word for it) club
"GO" (but the Korean name for the game) club
and a couple others

Groups I made it to the meeting for:
Friends club (on Thur)
Paragliding Club
AITC
AGA

So, they can't say I didn't try. I'm sure you can all guess that we ended up going out drinking after the meetings. In fact, a bunch of people went to Seoul to go clubbing after going to the bars after the meetings. I didn't go (I know... I should've). But I think staying out till 02:00 is good enough. The guys that went into Seoul didn't get back till 08:00 or 09:00. So, I was at three different bars and one restaurant before deciding to come back to the dorms and sleep. I smelt like smoke and my eyes burned from having my contacts in for too long and from being in smoke filled bars for way too long. Oh, and I went back to Suwon Station with Evan and Charles for lunch.
I guess Friday the 13Th was a pretty tough day. But, like most, if not all, things... there was an up side. I made plans to go out to dinner with Grace ^__^

Full Moon

Well, it's a full moon tonight and kind of a weird thing happened. After class (21:00) I came back to the dorm and found that some of the guys went out to meet up with a Korean friend they made. That's not all the weird. But, the Korean guy and one of the foreign guys made a deal: "bring foreign girls and you'll get to meet Korean girls". So, I met up with one of the guys and went with. Being the good student that I am, I stopped by a bookstore and picked up a Korean to English/English to Korean dictionary. So, I show up at a bar with a dictionary. The bar looked a little weird though. Nobody was really talking and nobody was really drinking. The guys that made the deal were sitting next to a girl of the ethnicity indicated by the deal. That is what I found weird. These are major drinkers and socialites and everyone is tense. It must be the full moon. I only stayed for half of an hour and then I came back and did my Korean homework.

A Bank You Can Trust

So, I was going through my won today and thought it would be beneficial to get more before a time can that I would need it. I can go to an ATM and use my debit card but it would charge a fee and I'd have a limited amount I could withdraw per day. I don't plan on withdrawing a lot but probably a large enough sum that I wouldn't have to withdraw anymore for awhile. So, I was going to try and find the nearest Citibank. So I went walking around Suwon and found the Citibank. I also found this bank: (keep in mind that the "i" sounds like "E")

I don't think I'll be opening an account here.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Today, the exchange students had a chance to meet up with the buddy club and pick one of three Seoul trips to go on. There was shopping, culture, and modern Seoul. I'm guessing that you all know I picked the culture trip. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace (main throne housing pictured). It is a large place that has a lot of history and would be really pretty when it's warmer and the flowers and trees are in bloom. I have many pictures of this palace but that would be way too much to put up in a blog. I will, I guess, put up a handful or pictures.

This is the changing of the guards.

The throne

A hallway

A dining area

A little island

Lots of stairs

Myself and Grace. Not the best picture of her or me.

There was a place where we could dress up in traditional Korean clothes but it would've taken more time than we had. So, sadly, we didn't get to do it. After the palace we went out to eat and walked around Seoul (a small part of a large city).