One More Week

I just finished the last week before finals. I'm on the verge of being able to get the scholarship again. It's within grasp, but only if a stretch my every bone in my body as if I were on the rack. I studied a lot yesterday and today. I would like to think I'm ready, but I know that's a joke. If it's one thing that Korean grammar has taught me, it's that you can study, study, listen to examples, make your own examples, but there's always gonna be that ONE exception that you overlooked. And that's what they test over. Vocab is just vocab. Some vocabulary words I understand, but can't quite make sentences with. Even if I have the English translation, sometimes what's a object in English becomes a subject in Korean. You just have to memorize/think like a Korean to be able to make sentences correctly. I'm always the most nervous about the speaking test, least nervous about the writing test, and do the worst on the listening test. In order to pull my grade up to where it needs to be for a scholarship, I need to get a 93 on speaking, 94 on reading, over an 80 on listening (notice that I've just given up pulling that one up to an A) and just not bomb writing.

I just got back from playing soccer with the Koreans I play with on Sundays now. One of them became an elder in the church, and so they all had dinner afterwards. (It's a very Korean thing where if someone gets promoted etc, they take everyone out for dinner.) So, they invited me to come with them. It was super great listening/speaking practice. At first, they were all going at normal speed (which to me seems like mach 12), but then they realized that my comprehension was suffering, so when they talked to me, they slowed it down a bit. Thankfully, they didn't do the yelling thing that so many Americans seem to be fond of when talking to foreigners. "Hey, where are you going? ... I SAID, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" I have since found out that people generally don't understand because you either slurred your words together or used an expression that isn't in there language. For example, tonight one of the men asked me (literally translated) "Meals how?" meaning what do I normally eat at home. It took me a few seconds to process that, but I eventually understood... I think. Either that or I stumbled on a great answer by mistake. Both are possible.

Other than that, not much is new. I'm getting super excited for the end of the semester. I'm ready for a short break from school. The semester officially ends September 3rd, but after exams, there's really not much we do. I definitely plan on continuing to studying during the vacation, but it will be nice to scale it back a little and not learn a thousand new words a day. I can't wait for the day when I listen to a conversation and understand every word. Maybe one of these days...

The Best Burgers in Seoul

 So, this week was pretty interesting actually. Thursday was Korea's independence day/end of WW2, so we had that day off of class. My teacher from last semester has been on me and my classmates for a while to get us to go to this one restaurant that serves burgers. Honestly, burgers here aren't that great. I don't know how you manage to mess up something as simple as grilling a piece of beef and putting it on a bun, but they seem do accomplish this on a daily basis. However, this burger place was quite different. I knew this immediately as I walked in and noticed they served Barq's Rootbeer. This place knows what's going on.

Definitely the best burgers I've had in Korea. They are even good by American standards. It's the rootbeer rule. Works every time. I also got to meet my teacher's little kid. She really wanted him to speak English to me. (Korean mothers are CRAZY when it comes to their children's education. I think it's magnified about 2 times that normal CRAZY to turn into CCRRAAZZYY when it comes to English education.) But much to her disappointment, the only 2 words he said were, "hello" and "teacher." I asked him in Korean how old he was, holding up 3 fingers. He didn't respond verbally, but reached over, grabbed my hand, and pulled up my remaining two. Satisfied with the result, he then noticed how big my hands were. This held him captivated the rest of the time. I got a picture of me and him as we were waiting to be seated.

*Korean age is calculated differently than in America. When a Korean is born, they are considered 1, and at the new year, they turn 2. So if you are born on December 31st, it is possible to be 2 years old at the age of 2 days.

Also, not sure if Dad knows that he has a plot here in Korea. We found this in the French area near the French embassy in Seoul.












I went hiking with my "cousin" here on Wednesday on a mountain right behind my school. It was a great day to do it too despite the heat. Normally, especially in the summer, you can't see the sky due to the cloud coverage/rain, but we caught it on a great day. I tried taking a panorama shot on my camera, and it turned out pretty well. You're looking at about 1/3 of Seoul. It's really hard to describe how incredibly sprawling this city is, and it gets significantly bigger every year.

A First Time for Everything

So, I got fed up with just sitting in my house doing nothing, so I decided to go out for a run today. After running for about a mile to a mile and a half, I was approached by 2 Korean men. They invited me to play soccer with them and their soccer team, to which I instantly accepted. Were I in any other country, I wouldn't have gotten into their car to drive there, but Korea is just that safe. The thought did cross my mind though... "I would never do this in America." And I would be lying if I said I wasn't coming up with a plan just in case. 

Luckily, they really did just want to play soccer. They had me introduce myself to the group in Korean, which was met by "ooooooo"s and "aaaaaaaah"s after every sentence. (You'd think they'd never seen a foreigner speaking Korean before.) All I said was, "Hi, my name's Joe. I'm from Chicago. I'm 23. Last year I taught English here in Korea, but this year I'm currently learning Korean at Yonsei University. They thought I was fluent, which they quickly discovered was incorrect. 

I had a first though. After about 15 minutes of playing, I suddenly had the urge to throw up. I've never exercised to the point of throwing up though... It totally took me off guard. And the fact that I had to communicate everything in Korean made it even a bit more comical. Were I not spewing acidic liquid out of my mouth into the storm drain, I would've been laughing. I think it was just a combination of being incredibly out of shape; my diet consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, and ramen; and being a bit dehydrated. All I could say to the "leader" of our team was:

"Uhhhhh. Hey, I need to rest now."

"Oh really? Why?"

"Umm.... I throw up"  [insert gag] (I'm allowed some bad grammar under the circumstances.)

[Turning to the ref] "Hey, he suddenly got the urge to throw up. Stop the game a sec."

[Everybody stares and laughs at me]

OK, maybe that last one didn't happen. They were really kind about it though. They gave me my out. The Korean guys that picked me up told everyone else that I had already been running for quite a while before I came to play. It was also pretty hot outside today; 32 Celsius which is probably in the upper 80s to lower 90s. A little embarrassing, but I made a few Korean friends from it, plus they want me to come back every week, so I chalk it up as a win. I even taught them the English word "throw up." I've just gotta remember to start running everyday now. I still can't believe that happened... They thought I was a heavy drinker, which I quickly tried to disspell. If I were them, I probably wouldn't believe me though.

I ended up going back on the field, which probably wasn't the smartest idea, but hey, I'm still young, right? I played for another hour or so until I realized that I really was dehydrated on account of starting to see dots. So after the game, they wanted to play another, but I stylishly excused myself, went back home, and will never get out of my bed again.

In other news, nothing is new. Drinking water slowly; trying to recover. Class is class. Work is work. Study is study. Sleep is zzzzzzzzzzzz