28 March 2008

Adorable Story

So one of the girls I tutor, Young-hyung, asked me, since I have 3 siblings, if my parents have a favorite. I said, that probably I am their favorite, but they would never actually say that out loud. ;-)

Anyway, she said since she only has one sister, she has always wondered if her parents like her or her sister more or less. Then she told me this little anecdote:

"One time, my father came to me, and he leaned down and whispered into my ear 'Here is 10,000 won, but don't tell your sister, this is only a special gift for you, because you are my favorite.' I kept the secret and I was so happy to know that I was his favorite. Then my sister, who is bad at keeping secrets came to me and said 'Dad gave me 10,000 won because I am his favorite.' I could not believe this! So we both were very angry and confronted him about this."

Anyway, I thought that was funny.

22 March 2008

Hello!

From the Joseon Dynasty Palace, Gyeongbokgung!

21 March 2008

One Whole Month

Today I have been in Seoul for exactly 1 month! I went out with my roommates, John and Joshua, and we ate tofu soup, fish, and pork. John explained that a typical Korean meal might have these types of food because the tofu is from the earth, the fish is from the sea, and the pork is from the land. Then they initiated me into their stolen toilet paper scheme. It isn't as devious as it sounds, but it was a good roommate bonding experience.

I went to Seoul Forest, which is a massive plot of land that they have developed into a public park. Sadly, things around here are still pretty dead from the winter, but some plants are beginning to have little green buds on them. Here is a plethora of pictures from the park...

-Point of Departure (this station is literally under one of my classrooms!)









-A mother rides a bike with her son on what I would call a highway









-Seoul Forest entrance (Seoul Sup)










-A big metal monster in the park










-Some deer









-A sign that I am almost certain I mistranslated to "Collision! Danger, 1000 future left right, make sure"









-Birds (on the Han River) that became increasingly angered at my presence



HAPPY MONTH-IVERSARY TO MYSELF!

19 March 2008

Culinary Mistake

Today in the cafeteria, I boldly placed a plate of what the placard called "intestines" on my lunch tray. They are serving it in a cafeteria, so I assumed it would be okay.

It tasted like a brat with slippery angel hair pasta inside. I imagined these to be the contents of the animals intestines, and I decided not to eat any more of it. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it was also served room temperature which is upsetting to my American tastes.

From what I can tell, this is what Koreans call "sundae" (talk about a false cognate!). But I don't think there will be any mistakes of the "intestines-instead-of-ice-cream" type, as it is pronounced "soon-day."

What I probably was eating was blood sausage filled with noodles. I will not likely be chancing these intestines any more, but I did eat the onions and cabbage it was cooked with.
Has anyone noticed that I am obsessed with food?

17 March 2008

For some friends...

Busy...

I've been busy with school. Lots of reading and learning about North Korea, Japan, and my favorite, the United States of America!

I'll probably have something interesting to post about soon (like pictures of me with my teachers), but until then, just enjoy this picture of me, with crazy eyes, probably talking about something disinteresting.

14 March 2008

Gimbap!

This is gimbap, which means seaweed (gim) and rice (bap). It is my dinner for tonight, and it is basically Korean sushi. Although it can have a variety of ingredients that Japanese sushi doesn't have (like beef), all the varieties sold in my neighborhood have spinach, carrots, and sweet slightly pickled squash, and some times kimchi.

This roll cost me $1 from a street stall, but if you want to get fancy and get it to go from a restaurant, it costs about $2.

Also... there is this guy who sells pancakes with brownsugar inside for $.50. He wasn't out there tonight, but anytime I see him, I get one.

I love this place!

10 March 2008

Korean is hard.

요셉 헨리 머비

This is what my name translates to in Korean. There is really no 'f' sound in Korean, so they change most of their f's to p's. Accordingly, in Korea I am "Yo-sep Haen-ri Maw-pi." But my teacher just calls me 요셉씨 (Yo-sep-shii), or Mr. Joseph.

I have to say that Korean is hard. But I keep doing my homework, and teacher says I am quite good. I will take a picture with her soon, and post it.

Today I had class from 8am-7pm, and I learned about Japan's foreign policy formation, how to say 'I will see you tomorrow' in the mother tongue, and why America screwed up the rest of the world with their sub-prime mortgage shenanigans. This is what I look like now:

07 March 2008

New Acquisitions!

Wonkuk is lending me his own cellphone, which has made life much easier, as far as meeting up with people and getting around. My phone number is 010-6875-7765, and you can get me much faster in cases of emergency. Korea University cell phone charms are all the rage.


Wonkuk helped me get a nice dressy coat for the cold weather. Sad that I may not get to use it much as it seems to be warming up... but hopefully we will get a few more days of snow so I can put it to good use. It is priced at $180 but I got it for half-price! It is from Ad Hoc Paris.

Lost in Translation

Here is an e-mail I received from my professor:

Dear students,

How are you doing these days?
I just want you to remind that read any economics text book on supply and demand.
It will help a lot to follow lecture.
I will give you more detailed references next week.

WR,

Jin-sang

This is the same professor that said "And now, I will tell you a joke... there are three retarded people in the hospital ward..." The joke went on, but none of it was funnier than hearing an Asian guy be politically incorrect.

I am tutoring two grad students in English conversation... that is to say somebody is finally PAYING me to talk at them, instead of me just rambling on for free! As many of you know, this is what I have always dreamed of. More on this later!

04 March 2008

Snowing again.

Korea is kind of like Florida, except that instead of raining for a few hours in the middle of the day, it snows for a few hours in the middle of the day. Today it was sunny in the morning, and its sunny now, but it was pouring snow in between. I managed to snag this beautiful shot of the Inchon Memorial Hall.

03 March 2008

Panorama, Yellow Dust, and First Day of School!






That is a panoramic view from my floor, as I got the panorama program to work again (click to see it larger). Today seems to be okay, but let me tell you about Yellow Dust (or Asian Dust). Apparently, since there are deserts in Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, and currently there are strong winds heading from west to east, Korea, Japan, and apparently sometimes even the eastern United States has something called Yellow Dust, which is a yellowy dusty kind of hue in the atmosphere. Until recently, it wasn't much of a problem. However, since the area that this dust is coming from has become industrialized, Wonkuk tells me there are heavy metals included in the Yellow Dust.

This is sort of bad, I know. Most of the older people around here wear the breathing masks (SARS masks). Maybe I will don a mask if it gets bad enough... I don't particularly care for heavy metals in my lungs. You can read more about Yellow Dust here.


Last week was orientation and today was the first day of class. So far, Wonkuk has helped me through orientation, helped me buy a coat (it's a nice one, but I will receive it in the mail in a day or two, as they didn't have my size... picture will follow), and now is lending me his old cell phone so that I can use it while I am here. He is a lot of fun, and all the girls like him.

First day was good, but it turns out that two of my classes were canceled until next week, and I ended up waiting around inconveniently for them to start. They are much more disorganized than UF.

Wonkuk sent me to his 'Korean Myspace' (www.cyworld.com) so I could download some pictures from orientation. So here you go:












And here is one with Christoph (Austria), me, and Wonkuk

01 March 2008

Out with Marshall

Today, my friend Marshall took me out to Myeong-dong and Namdaemun, both of which have many clothing shops, food stalls, knock-off bags, etc. You name it, they have it. Oh, and Marshall tells me that it also contains the only GAP in all of Korea! But since there were, at times, hundreds of people crowding the streets, I kept my camera in my bag. I did however manage to snap a few shots of lunch, which was delicious beef on the grill (with kimchi, garlic, onions... just like always). It tasted kind of sweet and was really excellent. Thanks for the impromptu tour, Marshall!

Raw Beef becomes...














cooked beef! Right before your very eyes!














RANDOM PHOTOS:
My favorite statue on campus.














Our campus auditorium.














Finally, the reason why North Korea is shaking in their boots: