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| 20071215_G |
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| 20071218_D |
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| 20071218_w |
2007-12-19
2007-12-11
still alive!
I had no internet for like two weeks.. actually I didn't have Internet for like 4-6 months, but until two weeks again I could just log into an unprotected WIFI so I didn't care..
Then the exam came so I didn't care and finally today I called my landlord and explained my problem. She sent a technician and it was fixed after two hours. Should've called her earlier but I was always afraid I wouldn't understand her answers.. Which in fact happened of course! But this time I was clever enough to talk most of the time and not let her talk too much, so it was much better!
The exam showed pretty much the same results, so I'll have BBB for speaking, speaking and reading and C for listening. That's really ok.
Today I went to a Jjimjilbang with my two Japanese classmates. It was such a good relaxation, I'm really happy. I'll miss them for sure, they'll both leave Korea even before me :(
What else? I went to a traditional music concert on Saturday. When I told this to my language partner, she said "oh it's so boring"... When I told this to my teacher she said "oh, Korean people usually think it's boring".. So actually I'm a little bit like wondering if that's why they make foreign people watch it? Anyway, for most of the music they were right.. (which is due to my music taste however) but there's one Korean traditional music called Pansori, which I really really like. Praktically it's just a special way of singing (telling a story) accompagnied by a drum. Sound's boring but due to the special singing style it's pretty cool. Especially you're in the audience and are very close it's very nice.
Ah.. and my friend Alex and his friend Sebi came to visit me for a weekend.. the first day we did the traditional sightseeing and the next day we went hiking and to the Jjimjimbang.. (obviously I like those placed just way to much).
Then the exam came so I didn't care and finally today I called my landlord and explained my problem. She sent a technician and it was fixed after two hours. Should've called her earlier but I was always afraid I wouldn't understand her answers.. Which in fact happened of course! But this time I was clever enough to talk most of the time and not let her talk too much, so it was much better!
The exam showed pretty much the same results, so I'll have BBB for speaking, speaking and reading and C for listening. That's really ok.
Today I went to a Jjimjilbang with my two Japanese classmates. It was such a good relaxation, I'm really happy. I'll miss them for sure, they'll both leave Korea even before me :(
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| 20071208-T |
What else? I went to a traditional music concert on Saturday. When I told this to my language partner, she said "oh it's so boring"... When I told this to my teacher she said "oh, Korean people usually think it's boring".. So actually I'm a little bit like wondering if that's why they make foreign people watch it? Anyway, for most of the music they were right.. (which is due to my music taste however) but there's one Korean traditional music called Pansori, which I really really like. Praktically it's just a special way of singing (telling a story) accompagnied by a drum. Sound's boring but due to the special singing style it's pretty cool. Especially you're in the audience and are very close it's very nice.
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| 20071123-2 |
Ah.. and my friend Alex and his friend Sebi came to visit me for a weekend.. the first day we did the traditional sightseeing and the next day we went hiking and to the Jjimjimbang.. (obviously I like those placed just way to much).
2007-11-19
new pics
sorry not much time for writing... today I drove a car for the first time in Korea on the Korean highway (mostly traffic jam) just when we had changed the driver back to Hyounsoo, another car almost hit us. Happy it wasn't me driving at that point! We were on the way back from Danyang, a city located right between two national parks. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to see everything but we saw a lot of beautiful places :) Now it's past midnight and I'm thinking about whether to do homework for tomorrow or not...
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| 20071117-D |
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| 20071113-Y |
2007-11-11
Pictures
Exam preparation in the library and in the classroom (my classmates making themselves mad just before the roleplay exam! I thought it was a better idea to take pictures)
Sightseeing at Jongmyo Shrine and Changgyeong Palace.. the color of the trees is just amazing!
On the way back we tried to take a bus (if you can take a bus in Seoul it pretty much means you're really getting accustomed to the life here, cause it's much more difficult than the subway) and just found a right one very quickly. Tried to ask the driver if he was going our direction which he was so we got in. But then he tried to ask us something else which we couldn't understand, so the whole bus was listening to his questions which we didn't understand. Somewhat embarrassing. Well.. the next busstop he threw everyone out cause there was a huge demonstration and he couldn't go his route. First we thought about taking a subway but then we decided to take a look at the demonstation where we shot some more pictures. There was a lot of well equipped riot police so I wanted to get away quite quickly (definitely don't wanna be in the middle of a fight if some stupid protesters start one) but Lera was just too curious and shot a lot of photos which the police didn't seem to like too much. Anyway, I HAD to take some, too. Besides gathering stones at various places, some protesters uttered their "love" for the police by trying to decorate the police bus by adding some Korean. However maybe they should have chosen some nicer words than those :D
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| 20071030_E |
Sightseeing at Jongmyo Shrine and Changgyeong Palace.. the color of the trees is just amazing!
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| 20071111_J |
On the way back we tried to take a bus (if you can take a bus in Seoul it pretty much means you're really getting accustomed to the life here, cause it's much more difficult than the subway) and just found a right one very quickly. Tried to ask the driver if he was going our direction which he was so we got in. But then he tried to ask us something else which we couldn't understand, so the whole bus was listening to his questions which we didn't understand. Somewhat embarrassing. Well.. the next busstop he threw everyone out cause there was a huge demonstration and he couldn't go his route. First we thought about taking a subway but then we decided to take a look at the demonstation where we shot some more pictures. There was a lot of well equipped riot police so I wanted to get away quite quickly (definitely don't wanna be in the middle of a fight if some stupid protesters start one) but Lera was just too curious and shot a lot of photos which the police didn't seem to like too much. Anyway, I HAD to take some, too. Besides gathering stones at various places, some protesters uttered their "love" for the police by trying to decorate the police bus by adding some Korean. However maybe they should have chosen some nicer words than those :D
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| 20071111_D |
Jimjjilbang
I'm too lazy to write a text on Jimjjilbang myself, so there's just a link to Sebastian's description. There's nothing to add to that one actually.
서울? Ich hab noch kons gesehn: Jimjilbang
서울? Ich hab noch kons gesehn: Jimjilbang
2007-11-08
Sign of Life
.... however just a short one. Today we got the results of the midterm-exams:
listening - 67%
reading - 84%
speaking - 83%
writing - 87%
(60-70: D; 70-80: C; 80-90: B, 90-100: A; rest: fail)
After all quite fine, if compared to the horror I had in the first class, hehe. Now I gotta work hard to get at leat writing to A in the final exam :D
listening - 67%
reading - 84%
speaking - 83%
writing - 87%
(60-70: D; 70-80: C; 80-90: B, 90-100: A; rest: fail)
After all quite fine, if compared to the horror I had in the first class, hehe. Now I gotta work hard to get at leat writing to A in the final exam :D
2007-10-23
last two weeks
So, obviously I have been a little lazy writing here, which was most likely due to the unexpected high workload at the Korean course which makes me study in the library quite long every day...
The weekend after the Korean writing contest, first I spent an amazing evening in Shillim in the good old Dick Tracy bar, just like in old days. On Saturday, I went to the Korean War Memorial. Unfortunately, we went a little late and realized just two hours certainly wouldn't be enough for a complex of that size. On Sunday I think I just tried to study but like always rather watched movies and played some games until the evening.
Last weekend, I met with Gaeul, a German literature student to practice my Korean and her German. We first went to a cafe and indeed spoke a lot of these two languages, but when we went to a supposedly German-style "Bräuhaus" for some beer (it was indeed not bad, however quite expensive) and to another bar later on, we somehow switched to English for the harder topics.
On Saturday, I went up Namsan Tower with Martin and Sebastian from my University. So there's more pictures of Seoul from a high perspective now. Later, we met Urte, another German student, for going shopping in Myeongdong. Like always, not too much time, and so we left again after maybe two hours. I met up with my former buddy KD and his friend Seonu for talking and drinking some beer. Later on, I took one of the last subways to Hongdae to meet the other SNU exchange students..
Sunday I wanted to pay my rent. So I wrote a text message to my landlady, and she called me back... Unfortunately I was not able to understand a word, so I called Joseph for help. I was able to pay meeting the landlady by chance on my way out, but still later on met with Joseph to say thanks and to eat some Galbi. Later on, Gaeul joined us and we had some beer in a bar... once we found it, cause the first place we went to required us to order Sidedishes as well. That's actually not really what you need if you just ate a lot, so we left that one again in search for a better place :)
Well well... and then today I felt like taking some pictures on my way to school, so here they are:
And I'll be back to studying now
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| 20071013_W |
The weekend after the Korean writing contest, first I spent an amazing evening in Shillim in the good old Dick Tracy bar, just like in old days. On Saturday, I went to the Korean War Memorial. Unfortunately, we went a little late and realized just two hours certainly wouldn't be enough for a complex of that size. On Sunday I think I just tried to study but like always rather watched movies and played some games until the evening.
Last weekend, I met with Gaeul, a German literature student to practice my Korean and her German. We first went to a cafe and indeed spoke a lot of these two languages, but when we went to a supposedly German-style "Bräuhaus" for some beer (it was indeed not bad, however quite expensive) and to another bar later on, we somehow switched to English for the harder topics.
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| 20071020_N |
On Saturday, I went up Namsan Tower with Martin and Sebastian from my University. So there's more pictures of Seoul from a high perspective now. Later, we met Urte, another German student, for going shopping in Myeongdong. Like always, not too much time, and so we left again after maybe two hours. I met up with my former buddy KD and his friend Seonu for talking and drinking some beer. Later on, I took one of the last subways to Hongdae to meet the other SNU exchange students..
Sunday I wanted to pay my rent. So I wrote a text message to my landlady, and she called me back... Unfortunately I was not able to understand a word, so I called Joseph for help. I was able to pay meeting the landlady by chance on my way out, but still later on met with Joseph to say thanks and to eat some Galbi. Later on, Gaeul joined us and we had some beer in a bar... once we found it, cause the first place we went to required us to order Sidedishes as well. That's actually not really what you need if you just ate a lot, so we left that one again in search for a better place :)
Well well... and then today I felt like taking some pictures on my way to school, so here they are:
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| 20071023_w |
And I'll be back to studying now
2007-10-09
Korean Writing Contest
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| 20071008_K |
Yesterday there was a contest at Yonsei University for Foreigners to write an essay or some poetry in Korean. The first prize was a certificate, a medal and about 700$ and there were more than 1000 participants from a lot of universities in Seoul.
The contest took place on Yonsei Campus, in the amphitheater. Even though a little cold, the weather was quite nice, I even got a little sunburned in my face. I had picked to write an essay when applying, which turned out to be the worse choice, as the essay topic was "travel" and I really didn't know anything interesting to write about - whereas the poetry topic was "star", which I came up with some nice ideas. However, my Korean skills wouldn't have been sufficient for winning anyway, so after all it didn't matter. We were given two hours for writing (from 10 to 12am), then everyone could get some milk and some muffins as a lunch snack. While the teachers were reading the texts, there were shows of traditional Korean music and a quiz so a lot of students could win a little something. Then, winners were announced.
After the contest, I went to the main library for studying. Compared to the small libraries in Kaiserslautern, it was quite a change! First, you can only enter with your student ID card which has a bar code on the backside. Then, there's computer terminals where you have to reserve a seat in the study rooms, using your ID again. The ticket you get is valid for four hours and has to be renewed afterwards. If you leave earlier, you are to log out again so the seat will be shown vacant again. That's a nicely organized way for sure. I should shoot some pics of the study room and everything next time I go there, I guess :-)
2007-10-07
Sightseeing activities
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| 20071003_G |
So, finally some time to comment on the photos I already uploaded before.
On Wednesday, there was a national holiday, so I had some time to recover from the first two days of the course and meet some friends from old days again. Some pictures - especially of Seoul by night that were shot before the meeting - can be found here.
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| 20071007_G |
Today I went hiking in the Gwanak Mountains with Sebastian and Urte, two German exchange students to Seoul National University. We met in Shillim-9-Dong, and had lunch in the place I've always been to after language class two years ago. Then we started walking to the mountains. Actually we didn't really find the one we were looking for and therefore only climbed an intermediate one... which turned out to be completely right later on (just when we were back in Shillim, it started raining). Going all the way up was actually quite exhausting, and I realized I should definitely have been working out more back in Germany. On the way up, we always passed (while going) and were passed by (while resting) a Korean family with two like 13year old girls (forgive me if I'm wrong, I can never guess ages). After walking and actually sometimes also climbing more and more up, we met them again while having a rest at a place with a very nice scenery and a bit of a view over Seoul. They were so nice to offer us some drinks, and so we gave some of our cookies in return, and finally took some pictures together :-)
Then we kept on going up and rested again at another place to drink a bottle of Soju together. Actually I had hope to figure out how to drink in public already but of course we were doing wrong again. We had brought a bottle of Soju and some "glasses" so we could just sit down somewhere to have a drink on the rocks (haha!)... so we thought and did. We also offered some of the Soju to the Koreans sitting next to us and that way we learnt that it's not good to drink only Soju. You should obviously also have some food to accompagny the meal (this is a habit I will never adopt to, I guess: in a lot of bars it's actually mandatory to offer addional food called "anju" when you just wanna drink some beer, as Koreans use to like snacks while drinking - I personally think it's pretty stupid to eat snack with a lot of fat or oil while drinking, but luckily usually there's fruits as well). So we were offered some anju, which we gladly accepted.. or rather me, the other two didn't like the squid parts too much. However, we had some Soju on a mountain, and even together with one of the Koreans :D And we learnt that for the next time we should buy some dried squid or some other Korean style Anju. Not to actually eat it, but to take it out while drinking Soju as some kind of alibi maybe :)
Pictures of our trip can be found here.
Language course
So, there's gonna be two new posts today, at least I hope I'll finish the second one, too. The language course is kinda tough, actually much harder than I had expected. The first lesson was hell, I didn't even understand the text we were reading. So I actually started looking up all the vocabulary which took me about 4 hours (due to crappy internet connection). So next day I could at least understand what we were talking about. Later, it got better however, I could understand the next two texts, the third one even without having prepared.
Some general info about the course: it's divided into four lessons of each 50 minutes. For the first two of them, the break is at the end and then in the beginning, resulting in a 20 minute break in the middle. The first two lessons are with a male teacher, working with the textbook (or, more accurate: with a copy of it as the current version for lvl 2 is not finished yet). Then there's two different female teachers, and I could't really figure out who's turn it is when cause it was different every day until now. What we are supposed to learn with them is reading and speaking/ listening. Actually reading is very good (there's a whole book just with texts to read) and necessary (my reading skills are so terrible!). Listening is sometimes quite bad cause there's still so many words that I can't understand but actually it's getting better and better every day :-)
Ah, and then there's just some pictures of Yonsei Campus to be found here.
Some general info about the course: it's divided into four lessons of each 50 minutes. For the first two of them, the break is at the end and then in the beginning, resulting in a 20 minute break in the middle. The first two lessons are with a male teacher, working with the textbook (or, more accurate: with a copy of it as the current version for lvl 2 is not finished yet). Then there's two different female teachers, and I could't really figure out who's turn it is when cause it was different every day until now. What we are supposed to learn with them is reading and speaking/ listening. Actually reading is very good (there's a whole book just with texts to read) and necessary (my reading skills are so terrible!). Listening is sometimes quite bad cause there's still so many words that I can't understand but actually it's getting better and better every day :-)
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| 20071001_Y |
Ah, and then there's just some pictures of Yonsei Campus to be found here.
2007-09-30
Photos
Today I was at a K-League soccer match Seoul vs Busan with a lot of exchange students from Seoul National University. Seoul won 4:0 which was very nice. Think I never saw that many goals in a stadium before. And there was some fireworks right after every goal. I want that job! Watching soccer games, pressing a button on a goal and getting paid for it. Sounds nice :-) There's more pictures linked on the pic above.
And I also uploaded some pictures of my last sightseeing trip ...
Tomorrow my Korean class will start. Really wondering what it'll be like, hope I can fit in well :) Should go to bed now in order not to fall asleep in the classroom maybe :-)
2007-09-28
Getting started
Soso, now it's getting time to really start this blog.
Good news first: I made it to level 2 of the Korean class just as I wished. It'll start on Monday, and from the course list it looks like there's only gonna be Chinese and Japanese people in my course... and an Arabian guy who's name was to long for the list :) So I'll definitely have to study hard in order to keep pace with them I guess.
Today I finally found a Global ATM right here in Sinchon, maybe like 5 minutes from my place. Unfortunately, I found it too late, the bank was already closed and so it accepted only domestic cards now. Have to go there again during opening hours obviously, like Monday. Hope to survive the weekend with what I have left.
So what did I do during the last week? Not too much actually, I spent a lot of time at home, watching movies and playing computer games. Needed some relaxation from the stress in Germany before I left to Korea for sure. Also met Seongeun, a girl I know from my last stay, and spent the afternoon with her. And for Chuseok I was invited to my friend Gun's place to have some delicious Korean food his mother made. Later that day, we went sightseeing. First we went up the 63-Building, then met with his girlfriend and went to Gyeongbokgung Palace where we hoped to get free entry. Would've worked if we hadn't been so late they were just about to close. So then we went to Insadong to have some food and then had a walk around Cheongyecheon. So I saw pretty much all the same places again that I kept in so good memories from being there for New Year's 2005.
And yesterday I met with Sebastian from my university in Germany, who is on Exchange to Seoul National right now. Went to Sinlim9Dong again and we spent some time in a Shisha-bar. While smoking, I pretty much forgot about time and so ended up there with no buses going any more. So I went to the subway station by taxi (thanks to a nice Korean guy who asked me to join his ride - that's sort of what I liked so much about Korea last time, I recalled) but didn't quite make it to catch one that was going all the way home. So it was time for another taxi from Sindorim Station then, which due to the late hours was a little more expensive unfortunately. But I got home, and that's what counts.
Plans for today are to continue studying Korean, and to join the other Exchange guys going to the clubs today... And to meet Brandon, our party guy from last time, again. Looking forward to seeing him again :)
Good news first: I made it to level 2 of the Korean class just as I wished. It'll start on Monday, and from the course list it looks like there's only gonna be Chinese and Japanese people in my course... and an Arabian guy who's name was to long for the list :) So I'll definitely have to study hard in order to keep pace with them I guess.
Today I finally found a Global ATM right here in Sinchon, maybe like 5 minutes from my place. Unfortunately, I found it too late, the bank was already closed and so it accepted only domestic cards now. Have to go there again during opening hours obviously, like Monday. Hope to survive the weekend with what I have left.
So what did I do during the last week? Not too much actually, I spent a lot of time at home, watching movies and playing computer games. Needed some relaxation from the stress in Germany before I left to Korea for sure. Also met Seongeun, a girl I know from my last stay, and spent the afternoon with her. And for Chuseok I was invited to my friend Gun's place to have some delicious Korean food his mother made. Later that day, we went sightseeing. First we went up the 63-Building, then met with his girlfriend and went to Gyeongbokgung Palace where we hoped to get free entry. Would've worked if we hadn't been so late they were just about to close. So then we went to Insadong to have some food and then had a walk around Cheongyecheon. So I saw pretty much all the same places again that I kept in so good memories from being there for New Year's 2005.
And yesterday I met with Sebastian from my university in Germany, who is on Exchange to Seoul National right now. Went to Sinlim9Dong again and we spent some time in a Shisha-bar. While smoking, I pretty much forgot about time and so ended up there with no buses going any more. So I went to the subway station by taxi (thanks to a nice Korean guy who asked me to join his ride - that's sort of what I liked so much about Korea last time, I recalled) but didn't quite make it to catch one that was going all the way home. So it was time for another taxi from Sindorim Station then, which due to the late hours was a little more expensive unfortunately. But I got home, and that's what counts.
Plans for today are to continue studying Korean, and to join the other Exchange guys going to the clubs today... And to meet Brandon, our party guy from last time, again. Looking forward to seeing him again :)
2007-09-24
Blog starting
So this is where I'll start posting some news from Seoul.
For a first, brief update: the flight was well, no problems in immigration or buying bus tickets or something. Met my friend Gun and was allowed to spend the first two nights at his place and eat some of the delicious food his mother made. Found quite a large apartment, however kinda dirty so I'm busy cleaning it. Until now, I just spend my time cleaning, and relaxing (watching TV or movies), but tomorrow I definitely have to start studying some more Korean! For now, I'm going to bed, it's too late anyway.
For a first, brief update: the flight was well, no problems in immigration or buying bus tickets or something. Met my friend Gun and was allowed to spend the first two nights at his place and eat some of the delicious food his mother made. Found quite a large apartment, however kinda dirty so I'm busy cleaning it. Until now, I just spend my time cleaning, and relaxing (watching TV or movies), but tomorrow I definitely have to start studying some more Korean! For now, I'm going to bed, it's too late anyway.
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