Steph's Seoul

Like I said last week I was going out to see two friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. We went and ate the chicken soup, then sat and drank coffee and just talked. It was really nice seeing them and hopefully get to see more of them.

So after visiting the immigration office, waiting for 5 hours and failing to make my alien registration card the first time I was finally able to do it this time! Kim and I waited about 4 1/2 hours this time and at first they had some trouble with me because of Visa was messed up but in the end they fixed my visa so I now have it for one year and they made my card! We are still working on Kim's hopefully tomorrow everything will be worked out.

Tonight I get to see two friends that I met while I was in Japan 3 years ago! They are taking us to a restaurant for some kind of chicken soup. It should look something like this 

So the names will get more creative as we go...hopefully..

Anyways. Most of you probably already know that when going on a trip the planning starts wayyyyyy before you actually go. My planning for Korea went like this: i want to go, mom says no, i say yes, stress, money problems, miscommunication, issues, stress, money problems, excitement, more money issues, pack, leave.

BUTTT on the way here there were some issues. When Kim and I landed in Japan they didn't want to let Kim into the country because she had yet to make her visa (our school said it was fine) so we waited while they called Korea and they let us in! THENN in Korea they didn't want to let me in because when they made my visa they made a mistake. Instead of a 1 year visa, I had a 1 day visa... oops. I had to sit in the office while they fixed it and they were all laughing saying how funny it is. Then instead of giving it to me for 1 year they gave me a 6 month one, so I have to renew it. After that things went pretty smoothly.

Once here Kim and I went straight to our home. Our home is a 하숙집 (ha sook jip) which is a boarding house. A lady and her family owns a house and there are about 10 students who live here. She makes breakfast and dinner everyday for us (included in rent!!). We share our "apartment" with one other girl. Think of it as an apartment that you get into from the outside of the building. Once you open the door there is a mini kitchen and mini fridge. Then there are two rooms. Kim and I share one and the girl has the other one. We also share a bathroom. I've never actually met her. Every time I say hi (in Korean) she puts her head down and walks away :(

Now on to the good stuff: what I've done since I've gotten here!
The first couple days was unpacking, buying necessary items for the apartment(TP, Shampoo, etc) and meeting old friends. 이모  (owner of the house) pronounced "emo" took us to the market to buy stuff and it was hard. She speaks no English and kept asking us questions and pointing at things saying "you need to buy" but we had no idea what it was. We later figured out it was fabric softener and laundry detergent.  Kim and I met a lot of friends, ate delicious food and shopped a lot.

Story Time!!
 We went to a place called Dongdaemun and had a horrific run in with a sales clerk. Kim just pointed at this cute jacket so the sales clerk pulled her into the stall and made her try it on. They then made me try on something. They tried to get me to squat down and take my shirt off so I could see what it looked like without a shirt on underneath. Okay so let me explain, the shops at these "malls" are not like ours. They are about 6' wide and 3' deep. If you are at a department store they are like our malls but smaller, and more expensive. Any ways, I just tried it on over my shirt but didn't really like it. So they start putting the clothes in a bag, Kim and I look at each other like uhhhh???? We tell the lady "Sorry we don't like it, we arent going to buy it" and she goes ape shit. Starts yelling at us and grabbing us and wont let us leave. Kim and I literally ran while apologizing and avoided that part of the mall.

We started school last Wednesday and were placed into level 2. At first I was really nervous and didn't get what was going on but I'm doing okay now. The class is taught entirely in Korean, no English allowed. I have people in my class from Belgium, France, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. It's interesting trying to communicate with each other because none of us really share a common language, except Korean.


That's about the extent of what has happened so far..
The future post will be shorter, with pictures and kept up to date. This was a catch up post (which I did a horrible job on, sorry).

Until next time,
Stephanie

Hello there.
(Disclaimer: this will probably be the most boring post because I'm getting all the basics out. Sorry. Read anyways!!!!)
 For those of you that don't know who I am or what this blog is about, let me explain a little. My name is Stephanie, I am 24 years old (25 in Korean age, I'll explain later) and I come from Michigan, USA. I came to Korea on March 5, 2013 and will be living here for about 1 year. I will attend a language school where I will study Korean language everyday. I would like to become a translator and my ultimate goal is to be  someone who translates movies and TV shows.
I actually have already graduated college with my degree in Marketing and had a minor in East Asian Studies. I already studied abroad in Japan for a semester in 2010 and did a cultural exchange in Korea for a month back in 2011.
I became interested in Korean culture, history, language, music and everything else after I met my roommate freshman year in college. She was a Korean who was adopted by an American family and had an interest in Japanese music,culture and TV. After that I accidentally stumbled onto Korean music and TV because I couldn't tell the difference. I then decided to study abroad in Japan and my roommate and I went together. While I was there I made some friends from around the world, a lot of whom were Korean. They really helped to grow my interest in Korea. After that I decided to join the Korean club at school, go to Korea and take a language course. I made a lot of Korean friends and my interest in Korea grew bigger. I really didn't know what I wanted to do when I graduated so I decided to study Korean in Korea for a year! And here we are now!!!!! (My friend Kim is also here with me studying.)
Most of you probably don't know much about Korea, right? Here is a brief summary: There is a North and South Korea. I am in South, North is communist. It is not a third world country. South Korea is about the size of Kentucky or Indiana. The capital in Seoul (where I live). About 1/2 of Korea's population lives in Seoul. Its the second largest metropolitan area in the world. Korean is the only written language in the world that has records of how it was made. Not everyone is short the average height for Korean men is 5' 8 1/2" ( 173cm) for women its 5' 3 1/2" (161cm).   Hmmmm.... I'll insert more cultural tidbits in with my blogs.

I think that is all for now. I'll update again soon!

Stephanie