Well, Yonsei's Intensive Korean Language level 2 is over, and it's on to level 3! Level 3 is different in several regards from the first two levels. First, in the first two levels, you switch instructors after midterms, in level 3 it's the same instructor all the way through. Next starting in level 3 you get to choose an elective. In level 3 there are four: reading, writing, speaking, listening. Beginning in level 4 you can choose to learn subjects like korean culture, food, and even hanja, Korea's ancient language and alphabet (this is the foundation of Chinese, Japanese and Korean).

A lot has been going on since I last put thoughts to keyboard, here are some in no particular order:

1) I was inspired by a blog about eating dark chocolate
I'm a fan of chocolate, dark chocolate to be specific. And to be more specific, the 72% variety. So when my good friend blogged about the nuances of enjoying a piece of dark chocolate, I must say I was inspired.

2) Sent in my letter of acceptance to Duke Law School

3) Applied for a tourist visa to China
Do you know that a tourist visa costs over $130 for an American to get a visa!?!?!? Highway robbery I tell you! Anyways, I also secured the hotel for my trip, the Westin Beijing Financial Center. Looks pretty cool, it should be fun, except neither my friend or I can speak any Chinese, but I suppose if we did it wouldn't be as adventurous right?

4) Finished reading "Blue Like Jazz," "Rules for Revolutionaries," and "I Isaac Take Thee Rebeka"
So I tried reading Blue Like Jazz once before and couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. I'm not quite sure the reason, but I really disliked the book. I mean, really, really disliked it! Anyways, so I thought I'd give it another shot and I must say that in the couple of days it took me to read it, I fell in love with Donald Miller... Well not with him, but with his writing style and the book. If you've ever wondered what becoming a Christian is like from a non-christian's point of view is, or if you've never considered yourself a Christian, or if you sometimes find yourself wondering if after death comes an eternity filled with pools of vanilla wafer pudding... (don't know why I threw that last one in there?) This book is for you.

5) Visited family

6) MC'd a Music Competition at the Korean Language Institute
Not so bad?

Just sitting here in 수원 with some time to kill before meeting up with a friend for lunch so I decided to put some thoughts to words. Several things have happened since I got back this week, including jet lag. What the hell is up with jet lag?! I thought I might have finally beaten it last night, but nope, 4:00AM this morning I was bright eyed and bushy tailed. My intensive Korean class is becoming just that: intensive. From what my teacher tells me, upon graduating level 2 of Yonsei's KLI program students will know about 50% of what the "average" Korean knows with regards to the language and grammer. Now while that might sound very impressive at first, let's remember that the majority of Americans have somewhere around a 5th grade reading level.. (a little less impressive huh?). I'm also taking three online classes through ASU so I can ensure my timely gradution prior to entering law school. (probably a good thing)

I got to see several of my relatives last night, including grandparents, cousins, and uncles/aunts. Also found out that my cousin Benny and his wife Jinny (whom I mentioned previously here) are expecting a baby in about 7 months... wow, that was quick.

On the law school front, still waiting...

Other than that, perhaps a couple of intersting things to talk about after next weekend, but until then, I'll just be studying korean, intercultural communication, technical writing, geology, and reading one of the many books I brought.

Oh yea.. and of course I can't finish the blog without a picture of the all new macbook air... (now that's sexy!) I'm willing to bet the good doctor gets one soon ;)

Hmmm. rockstar's not surprised, "I knew it would happen, it was just a matter of time..." or so he said. And no, I'm not talking about that which he presumes I'm talking about, what I'm really talking about is the "finals" atmosphere that seems to envelope everyone and every thing around here. I mean finals week in the US is one thing, but here they've taken it to another level. You have to show up before 9:00am if you plan on getting one of 2000 electronically reservable study desks at the library on the weekend! My cousin spends hours a day at the library while my housemates do the same. Me? Finals start next Tuesday and yes, tonight, a Friday night, I could be found at Starbucks...studying. And while it's not the school library, I consider it just as bad. What's even CRAZIER is that I'm up past 10PM!!! (I wonder just how Korean I'll become? )

Now this is marketing!
Have you ever looked at a magazine ad or watched a commercial and thought, "man, now that's come clever marketing?"  I know that in the US, we pride ourselves on our innovative marketing skills.  Take Hersheys for example: Of course we're all familiar with the "Hershey's Kiss."  How brilliant was that?  Name a chocolate after something that boys and girls have pursued since the beginning of time and you've got a hit.  But they didn't stop there!  What goes better with kisses than hugs?!  And while I thought that the height of candy marketing genius, last week I found out that US companies might learn a thing or two from Lotte (롯데).  Lotte makes this cracker called Pepero (빼빼로).  They're basically thin cookie sticks covered in chocolate.  Well guess what November 11th is?  National.. YES NATIONAL Pepero day.  Why might you ask?  Because November 11th is 11-11 and that looks like 4 Peperos!  GENIUS!  Can you imagine if there was a National Kiss Day? or National NutterButter day?!  Where the entire point of the day is to buy people _____ (fill in the blank).  



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/health/07fat.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1194438040-WQ8KzBIizxq%20luYBavokrw&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

How can I be expected to in class and concentrate on learning Korean
while I'm being taunted by the calls of autumn outside the window? As
far back as I can remember I've never seen a fall like this. I snows
in Seoul, I've never woken up snow covered ground, it's an experience
i can't wait for.

Lunchtime: lunches at KLI are always hectic. If you arrive to the
cafeteria even a minute late it could mean a 20 min delay in getting
your food. Fortunatly I got here 5 mind early today so I'll be
finished before these poor kids even get a peek at their lunches...

Thought I would post a semi-brief general update about some goings on. I spent part of the weekend back in Suwon (about an hour and half by subway from my house) I met my uncle (my mom's mom's late-brother's son) and his youngest son and fiance. It was a great meeting, we met up for dinner at a So-Kalbi restaurant (marinated beef short-ribs). The beef from Suwon is legendary and holds the title as some of the best beef in Korea. Afterwards my cousin and his fiance took me to a local bar that he enjoys and we chatted over drinks for a couple of hours. My cousin works for SK Telecom as a Sales Manager and bride-to-be works at a local high school teaching english grammar.

An interesting topic of conversation was the university my cousin graduated from: Korea University. If you will recall my last post, Korea and Yonsei are huge national rivals. I could see that he held on to the rivalry when I mentioned that I had attended the Yon-Ko games recently. He paused and then corrected me, "You mean the Ko-Yon games!" ;)

Regarding my intensive Korean class... it's going well, It is definitely going to be some work. 20 hours a week (four hours a day) is longer than it sounds! I sent an email to ASU requesting to have the credit transfer re-evaluated from 6 credits for the class to 12 credits. My current exchange structure stipulates that I take at least 12 credit hours from Yonsei. Unfortunately, if I really want to excel in this course and attempt to skip level 2, I think it'd be best for me to be able to focus solely on the course. I'll keep you posted.


On the law school front I've just updated my lawschoolnumbers.com account with the recent emails from Columbia, Yale and Harvard. Columbia sent me an email stating that I had forgotten to attache a resume, I have forwarded it to them in .pdf form via email. Yale has my completed application and advised me not to contact them, but that they would contact me when they have reached a decision. I just received an email from Harvard stating that they had my preliminary information from lsac, and would let me know when my application package was complete.

Well that's about it for now... until next time

Just wanted to take a quick moment to update you all on my brief encounter with the Korean medical system, specifically Severance Hospital. First, I'll note that Yonsei's Severance Hospital was recently internationally accredited as a medical school and training center, Severance has also been responsible for assisting the White House Physician during several recent US Presidential visits, I know this because there were certificates of appreciation on the walls!. (just an FYI).

So on to my experience. For one reason or another, I found myself needing the services of the hospital for an x-ray of my hand. (I won't go into the boring details surrounding the incident that caused the need for the x-ray). So I head into the International Clinic at about 1:30PM and fill out the preliminary paper work and notified the staff that I DID NOT have any Korean insurance. They told me that walk in hours began at 2:00PM and I could wait or grab something to eat, I chose the latter. I came back in about thirty minuets later and was promptly taken to have my blood pressure and temperature read. Moments later I was in an examination room meeting with an intern who said the lead Dr. would be in shortly. Within minutes the head Dr. came in and after pressing on my hand thought I might have a "boxer's fracture" and sent me to radiology. The clinic provided me with a translator and guide to help me on my journey.

We walked over to the pay station where I grabbed a number. About 2 mins later I was asked to pay $121 for my visit, consultation and x-ray charge. Good deal. From there we walked over to radiology where I took another number. My guide told me to wait until I say my number above the x-ray room (mine was #29) and then just go in. About 2 mins later my number popped up so I walked in. I was greeted by 2 x-ray techs who looked the my receipt and took two x-rays. They told me I was done and to report back downstairs to the clinic. When I got back down stairs I was guided back into my examination room. The intern walked in seconds later and typed my information on the computer. My x-rays pulled up along with a comment stating that there were no abnormalities. She said she thought my hand was fine and that I likely bruised my knuckle. I waited for about 15 mins until the head Dr. came in. He agreed with the intern's assessment and prescribed anti-inflammatory. I was taken back out to the front desk where I paid $27 for my prescription and then walked over to the Outpatient Pharmacy where I was told to watch a monitor for my name. 6 minutes later my name popped up, I walked over, handed my receipt and took my pills.

Perhaps the US could learn a thing or two from the Korean health care system?

In total my visit lasted about an hour (including my lunch) and my total bill was $147 INCLUDING the XRAY, without any insurance coverage. Not a bad deal.

*I don't have time to post the play by play pictures.. but I'll try to have them up in the next day or two...*

So I've decided to accommodate blogs by request from those interested in reading my thoughts on particular subjects. While BBR's are in their beta phase, I do not plan to charge for them, however, I cannot say with certainty if and when that will change. The first BBR is a courtesy to fellow NSEP'er Alisa. Alisa will be joining me at Yonsei for the Spring term 08 and of course, I offered her my full experiential assistance. I chatted with her the other day and referred to to this blog for info on Korea and my goings on thus far. Her response? Something along the lines of it not being what she was looking for. Hmmm... Fine. Here you go.

First things first. What I miss:
I can't say that I miss many American products, for the most part they're readily available at the local store. I didn't realize until today however, that I missed american chewing gum so much. Most Korean versions of american products are just that, Korean Versions. With chewing gum it is similar. Korean chewing gum is quite fruity, almost like juicy fruit. And while that's good if you're looking for a little snack, if you're looking to freshen the breathe between brushes, not so much. There's a Costco in Seoul, but you need a membership and it's a hike from the subway exit. (Just try to imagine carrying any useful amount of groceries 3 or 4 blocks each way...) Today I found a little convenience store that looks like a Costco reseller. My first thought was that most of the items were over priced, however, when I consider that the store owner is probably going to Costco himself and then selling the items individually instead of in bulk, well, he need to make a buck too. Today I picked up some essentials including Listerine, Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts, walnuts, korean sausages (yea buddy!), and some sweet grain snacks. (Had to stock up for mucho studying starting next week)

School:
I'm enrolled in three classes at Yonsei, all of which are offered directly through Yonsei University and not through Underwood College (the foreign exchange school on campus). Two "traditional" classes I'm taking, Int'l Political Econ and East Asn Int'l Relations are taught in English by Yonsei professors, but are predominately filled with Korean natives. The first challenge to these classes are the broken nature of the professors' english (although they both earned their phds in the US) and secondly the references to issues that can mainly be understood from within the framework of having grown up in Korea. At the same time the teaching style in Korea seems to be much different than in the US, based on my assessment of these two classes. The professors are very much accepting of the fact that there is simply no absolute truth in the social sciences. They stress the importance of recognizing that there are differing perspectives. While I agree that acknowledgement of such differences is important, in my experience, professors in the US seem much more willing to take stances on issues and challenging students to formulate solid, defendable stances as well. This is in contrast to the often heard, "that's an interesting perspective, who else has another interesting perspective?" in my Korean classes. My third class, which begins Monday is an intensive Korean class (intensive = 4hr a day 5 days a week) taught through Yonsei's Korean Language Institute. In an 18 month, 6 semester program one is expected to become academically fluent in the Korean language. I will be enrolled for 3 semesters. There are over 1500 students currently enrolled in the intensive language program spread throughout the 6 levels of proficiency. I'm looking forward to it!

Home: See previous blogs

Nightlife: See previous blogs

I think this covers most of it.. but if there's anything else I left out.. let me know and I'll amend the blog.

Well, day two of Chusok and it was an early start. My uncle came in and woke me up at 6:30 this morning so that we could go for a hike. He took me all around the Singori, up through the mountains and to all the different growing fields. He mentioned to me that he hadn’t walked this particular trail in almost twenty years. We hiked for about an hour or so before coming back home to eat breakfast. My uncle and his brother wanted to take me and family to a famous mountain called Ma-ee San. (translated: Horse’s Ears). The fascinating thing about this particular pair of mountain is that they’re actually just two extremely large rocks. Each “ear”
or mountain (one’s a boy and the other’s a girl, of course) is simply a large stone. We went up to the mountain, which my aunt tells me is the mystic capital of Korea (I figure it’s probably like Sedona, AZ). There’s a house / temple dedicated to this supposed flying man who nobody knows whether or not ever died. (hmmm, I’ll side with the fact that he doesn’t fly and is long dead). A interteresting thing though, is an oak tree that resides next to his shrine, the icecicle that form on the tree during the winter actually form upward?! (hmmmm).
After about a two hour hike to the vertical base, we found out that the rock climbing trail was under renovation until 2013, we’ll try back in a few years. On the way down we stopped by one of several restaurants and had pork ribs and some traditional Korean dishes, specifically, rice and side dishes served in a very hot stone bowl. Note, the port ribs are that of piglets, I don’t know the significance, but I’m told it tastes better? I also experienced “makorie?” it’s a type of korean liquor that has fine grains of rice still in it. Tastes like bland soju to me, but my aunt says it’s good for you.




On that note, it seems that everything that tastes foul in Korea, is “good for you.” While we were walking up, this lady offered us a free sample of some drink. I can best describe it as tasting like fermented bean juice. (It tastes just like it sounds). Of course I had to finish it because “it’s good for me.” Ginseng flavored candy? Yup, it’s good for you too! Hmmmm... Well we made it home okay, I met my uncle’s oldest sister, her husband, and her son and daughter. My uncle tells me that his sister’s daughter (my cousin) studies close to Yonsei and that she’s learning German and is also interested in learning English. He asked if I would be interested in meeting up with her every other week or so to chat with her so I can teach her English and she can teach me Korean? Sounds like a deal... Well until next time!

So I was recently told that I haven't put much up here about Korea and that some of you are feeling neglected.  My fault, I suppose I was thinking I needed to make the blogs meaningful and impactful.. but hey, like I wrote in my title, what's the alternative to my blog? crappy reality tv.  Nuff said.  So big cultural experience this week was going to Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch the U-17 World Cup Final, Spain v. Nigeria.  (For those of you unfamiliar with FIFA terminology U-17 is the under 18 division, it is likely that most of these young players will be in future World Cups).  It was quite an experience, the stadium is massive and seat almost 70,000 people.  When we got there the riot police made their presence very known.  Just a guesstimate, but I'd say somewhere around 1000 or so? All with their shields and helmets out.  There was some crazy food too!  Fried worms?! You'd better believe it!  and Joe was right, these people have 오징어 (oh-jing-uh, dried squid) at every event! Needless to say didn't try any grubs that night, but hey, who's to say I won't in the future?  Overall it was a good game, Nigeria won 3-0 in overtime shootout.  

What a day.  It starts with waking up, then not being able to register for a class I wanted.  I get to school to the infamous 4th floor of the New Millennium Hall building and I'm told I can't register for this particular class because I'm a direct exchange student.  And although I have all the rights and privileges of a full Yonsei student... enrolling in this particular class is not one of them.  Fine, I'm okay with that... problem is I'm only left with a handful of classes to choose from.  Generally not that big of a deal, except my intensive Korean class conflicts with all but three.  Hmmm so I close my eyes and pick one.  It's a good day though, I mean it's low 70's out, I'm wearing a t-shirt and shorts and I'm still sweating?  Rewind to this morning:  good thing, I spoke with Laney this morning, he's studying in Hong Kong this semester, we started our preliminary plans for Japan the first weekend in November.  He's also got the hookup on a ton of just cool gadgets, that's good.  He's gonna hook me up.  Fast forward back to school..  So it's 2:00PM and I'm standing around without a class to go to.  That's okay, lunch time!  So I decided to get some more korean food for cheap.  And while I'm eating this mosquito starts buzzing around me... bastard.  So I swat at it a few times... It just won't leave me alone!  Of course, as if buzzing around my head wasn't enough, it start flying over my food.. taunting me.  Then it came to me... it was like a lighting bolt through my brain!  I looked down in my hand and of course I was holding chopsticks.  "Time to get all Mr. Miyagi style on this bad boy," I think to myself.  Of course I didn't think I'd actually catch the thing... but of course I do... So now I'm starring at my chopsticks that have a dead mosquito on them.  I glance back down at my bowl, which is still full of cheap food.  Then I noticed that the tray / utensil station was pretty far away and I really didn't want to walk all the way over for new chopsticks.  

Where do I start? Well after posting the last six or so blogs in a span of 20 hours or so, it feels like I’m behind the curve. So quite a bit has happened since Monday when I arrived. I’ve met quite a few new friends through the i-House (Yonsei’s International Dorm) and feel like I’ve completed half first mission: meet enough foreign friends that I have a support system, the other half being to not have so many foreign friends or not hang out with them so much that I use them as a crutch or excuse not to fully immerse myself in Korea. The second part of this goal came swiftly and with what I can only describe as divine intervention! :D To make a crazy long story short, this afternoon I moved into a boarding house in the middle of shin-chon. It ca be best described as "in the action" I'm on the fourth floor and have my own room. (see pics below)

 Seeing as I tend to be an early riser anyways, I feel like I'm going to have plenty of time read and do my usual "thinking" in the mornings.

Something I haven't seen yet: joggers?