Amsikle - Saturday, November 17, 2007 9:53:05 PM

Damn, I really have been slacking on updating guys…eep! There have been so many things that I’ve wanted to comment on, address, and just shoot the shit about but I’ve definitely punked out because lately I’ve found myself gone from 9am-1am every night.

It’s reaching the tail end of my endeavor so to speak…there is just a couple weeks left, and statements such as “shit, we have a month left :sighs heard amongst the group:” are happening more frequently. We are all secretly freaking out that we will only see each other together like this for the next 4 weeks, and while it’s made all my friends want to hang out so much more, it’s also made the “breaking up” that much more intense. :sigh: I am definitely grateful for the experience here in Korea not just because experiencing Korea and the culture was interesting, but it was so nice for my personal growth as a person.

For my own reiteration, I love every one of my friends here. The positive feelings oozing from everyone about each other has made things so precious, and we are all in these otherworldly moods. The surreal atmosphere of I-House/Yonsei/Seoul/Korea is something that was definitely needed, and I appreciate everyone that made it possible for me to get here namely my family support.

Currently, my friends a.k.a Ryo, Jelly (Angelica), Hanners (Hannah), Pat, Katarina, Silvia, Angie, Alex, and Anna just got back from another amazing sleep over at Anna’s apartment. We cooked brugogi (seasoned meet) with pap (rice), gohksoo (birthday soup), and raboki (rice cake (dok) and ramen cooked in Korean spices). IT WAS AMAZING. God love Anna for letting us bunk in her place, cook food, and trade music. She’s been such an amazing little hostess and pseudo Korean mom…I love that girl. Afterwards, we all decided to get some food and chill out at a café just doing work, reading, writing, studying Korean, yah know…stuff.

We’ve all been hanging out a lot more the past couple weeks as expected, and it has been sooo nice. Then, on top of that Shannon comes in tomorrow at 5pm, and I get to spend one of the most amazing weeks with her here. She’s embarking on her trip in the next couple hours and I hope the long trek out will be worth it. I feel like it’s going to be crammed with so much stuff that the amount of images, and culture is just going to put her in overload status, and it will take her another week of absolute nothing to digest that she was just in Asia. ^_^

I really want her to experience some of the things that I’ve witnessed while being here, because I feel as though so much of what I’ve experienced cannot be comprehended through my blog or pictures. Many times, I offend people on the blog when really I don’t mean to, and things come out much harsher than I intend, and the realization that I might be offending those Korean-Americans who are reading this makes me a little weary. I definitely haven’t held back, but I feel as though my inadequacies to explain and articulate situations/descriptions have lead things to be misinterpreted and ambiguous. So in that regard, I’m really happy that Shannon will at least get to see a piece of what I’ve been talking about and I can show her through actions not necessarily words. She also knows me better than most so even if I come out ridiculous, she knows where I’m at least coming from.  Man I’m so happy she’s coming. I’ve been talking about her non stop to all my friends and its seemed like this fictional thing that will happen in like a few weeks, but in reality, she just woke up, and is getting dressed, and s about to pop on the plane, only to arrive here TOMORROW!

So a couple things on the itinerary:

-FOOD FOR SURE. God so much food will be involved. I think I’m just going to fatten her up while she’s here puhahahaha.

-Insadong: the traditional, touristy Korean area that has all the souvenirs. Oddly enough I really like this place because the food is amazing in this area, as well as the galleries that are dispersed intermittently are amazing.

-Hongdai: I gotta hit up the artsy area for her

-Samsung Museum: also known as the Leeum Arts center.

-A play/dance performance/theatre/choir concert/music concert

-BUNGEE JUMPING: that’s right, and it’s only $20 bucks!

-Monet exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum

-Temples galore

-we may got the shigol (country side) if time permits

-Lotte world/Everland: the theme parks in Seoul

-COEX aquarium

-Biking the Han River at night as well as eating the best Korean BBQ/samgipsal

-Prison in Seoul were Koreans were kept during the Japanese annexation

-DMZ zone

-Cafes and/or bars

-Walking

-Patbinsu

-Doctor Fish

-Shopping in Dongdaemun (awesome shopping area) with Yoojung

-TONS OF SHOPPING

…other random stuff…

I’m going to wear this little girl out! YAY!!! I can’t wait!

So that’s my tentative plan I guess. When she comes in I plan on dragging her on little expeditions if she can stand it, and then the fun will never end!

So enough about my little travel plans with Shannon, more about Korea. So for those of you who don’t know Peppero day was 11/11. Peppero is the Korean version of chocolate covered sticks…many of you have probably seen the Japanese versions floating around, but anyways, they are amazing, and there is a whole day dedicated to them. So in Korea, there are all sorts of days for couples…really more than you would think. Peppero day is one of those days where you give baskets of Peppero to your significant other, or girl/guy you’re crushing on and you spend the day exchanging yummy chocolates. It’s actually pretty cute, and of course we all got into the festivities. Anna bought me tons of Peppero, and even designed little flowers from other Peppero boxes; it was so creative and cute. We also threw a Peppero party where we all exchanged Peppero and gorged on the chocolate feast. It was cute.

We also found out about these important dates:

11/11 is Peppero day

2/14 is Valentines Day where the GIRL gives the guy a Valentine

3/1 is White day where the guy who received chocolate from the girl on V-day, and likes her, he will return the favor and give gifts to her.

4/14 is Black day, where everyone who is single goes out and eat jajangmyeon (super good Korean dish that’s black bean noodles…you can see this eaten in the first scene of the coffee prince.)

There are other interesting couple dates that people remember like your 100, 200, and 300 day anniversary. They aren’t necessarily something everyone does, but I hear high school students get really into it. In Korea, programmed in cell phones are alarms for each one of these anniversaries to help remind the guy of the date, haha. (A part of me secretly wishes I was living in Asia for during my high school years).

Some other interesting things I found out worth mentioning are:

-when older, married women reach around a certain age, they perm their hair and cut it short. It’s known as the Ajuma hair style (it’s pretty much expected every woman at a certain age does this)

-I was teaching English one night, and the mom’s of one of the kids got her hair cut/permed, and told me it’s the Ajuma hair style. She said she was getting about that age where she should do her hair like that so people would know she’s “taken”. I’ll try and take a picture of a typical Ajuma hair style so you know what I’m talking about.

-was in class the other day, and the discussion of interpersonal relationships among Korean high schoolers/college students came up. I found out that it’s not uncommon for someone who is only one year older than you to never be a close friend of yours.

-Even in College, the relationships that students most often forge are ones to make “connections” not lasting friendships. This is usually the case, but different of course among some individuals.

-There are things in Korea called “meetings” where a couple guys and girls get together to find someone to date. This is pretty popular here, and even a couple girls from the I-house went. They said it was weird, but a lot of fun. You basically sit in a circle with a “moderator” who moderates the discussion and keeps things interesting, while each person asks general questions and tells things about themselves. They also play drinking games throughout the night because things are really awkward in the beginning. In any case, by the end of the night you select your “date” and from then you date, or leave it at that. “Meetings” are basically for fun, and to just date, not something too serious. Lots of single college students do this. I’m sure you could Wiki it and something about it will pop up if you wanted to know more about it. I could also find the literal Korean spelling in case you can’t search for it under the English name.

Well that’s about all I have time to write about right now. I’m about to go meet up with kids at Saum (cute bar) and hang out with Hannah’s friend that just came in town as well as other Chingoos. Have a good night guys!