More trips to Seoul...

I've officially applied for graduation!! And I managed to get it by the early deadline which means they'll have me squared away by the time school starts. That's good. I won't have to go through all that bureaucracy over the fall. January 2010 here I come!!!! Korean music is so damn catchy. Every time I go into a convenience store, I hear the same two or three songs over and over til I know at least the choruses by heart... When I first came, it was Again & Again by 2PM, Sorry Sorry by Super Junior, and Insomnia by 휘성 (Wheesung). Now wherever I go, I hear Hot Issue by 4 Minute or I Don't Care by 2NE1. These songs are quite simple to sing, and I've already got quite a bit down. I think I'll try them out next time I go to karaoke. Songs are a great way to learn a language. It's kind of weird the songs I've been singing for a while now having no idea what they meant, and now I'm learning the grammar points that come up in some songs I love. It's like a bit of a revelation.

Tuesday I had a meeting with my teacher to discuss the speaking portion of my midterm. He said that I'm one of the better speakers and listeners in the group, and gave me some pointers to fix up my problems. Overall, I think the meeting went quite well. I was really surprised because I thought I was one of the worst in the class since I didn't feel I improved much. But if he says, I'm doing good, who am I to argue?

Monday was Joyce's birthday, so Tuesday we went to Outback Steakhouse. I met some of Joyce's church friends and we had a good dinner. Then me and Joyce went shopping for a bit at the shopping arcade under Lotte Department store.

Thursday after class we were made to go to Samsung D'light in 강남 (Kangnam). It's like a showcase for Samsung's products and was really quite pointless. I mean, it had some really cool electronics but nothing worth a separate trip to Seoul for. Some people were really pissed off because they had exams today and were hoping to study for them. They didn't like that the trip cut into their study time. I didn't really mind that cause I met up with two Temple IELP friends afterwards in 사당 (Sadang).

All these trips to Seoul are really wearing me down because even if I don't leave my friends too late, I seem to end up getting back to school around 11 or 12.

Today class ended on a really fun note. We got to play this game called 윷놀이 (Yoonnori). The teams were divided up into East Coasters vs. West Coasters. It got pretty heated. But we had so much fun! West Coast won a round, and then we won a round. We intend to have a rematch soon!

(photo from KoreanFolk.co.kr)

Also, I went to the bank and picked me up a 50,000 won piece today! It's brand new, and so pretty, I just had to have one. Until now, the highest bill in circulation in South Korea has been the 10,000 won note. These days, 10000W is only about $7, which makes traveling really hard... This note is gonna be so useful! Now if only they could fill in a few more in between. Maybe a 20,000 or 25,000 would be nice. This is also the first woman to be on Korean money. She's an artist and calligraphist and mother of a famous scholar, but that's about it. Quite a bit of controversy has been stirring up over her saying this choice upholds sexist ideals of what represents a good woman in a Confucian society.

(photo from ROKDrop)

Tomorrow we leave for our long anticipated week-long program trip! I can't wait. Will update when I can.