Day 34

Today I woke up at 10:0AM. I stayed in bed until 10:43AM because I enjoyed the embrace of sleep. Then, I got out of bed and washed up. My aunt came over and made breakfast. I ate breakfast with my sister. It was so delicious! Then, I got prepared to leave and sat in the living room, watching youtube videos and holding conversations in Korean with some people from the Hellotalk app.

The piano teacher came over and gave me some bread from Manoffin. It was surprisingly hot, but that made it really tasty. It was so nice of her to give me food! I appreciate her kindness and plan on getting some kind of present for her before I leave to repay her. I then got my stuff ready and left for Gangnam.

It was a nice, slightly hot day. The wind was blowing every now and then, allowing my body to ignore the heat. The subway station was basically empty as well, so I had peace and quiet. I waited for the subway train to arrive with my bear earbuds on, patiently enjoying the time I was given to relax. Then, I got onto the train and arrived at Gangnam in no time.

Over there, I followed the same routine that I had done last week: walk straight, take a left here, take a right there, see the kimbap store, take a left and exit. Then, I walked straight until I saw a Caffe Pascucci, and I went inside. This cafe was on the corner of the street, bordering a crosswalk, so there were large windows allowing light to come in from two sides. I got a mocha granata and sat down, listening to story time videos while doing my Korean homework. The restaurant started out with only one or two groups of people sitting down, but by the end of two hours, there were at least nine other groups of people sitting down, including a person who seemed to be getting an interview.

During this time, I didn't have many conversations with people through the Hellotalk app nor from Kakao talk, so I focused on doing my homework and did all the easy parts. Then, I felt like I was staying in that cafe for too long, so I walked over to Yangsan station and went to the cafe that was right outside of an exit. This was also a Caffe Pascucci. As you can probably tell, I really like this cafe. I got a green tea granata and sat by the window in the corner of the store, charging my laptop and ipod. There, I had a few conversations in Korean to keep up with and I finished the long part of my homework, which were the parts where you read a story and answer questions, and other parts where you have to write a short response to a prompt.

After two hours in this cafe, it was already 7:30. I walked around for a while, exploring the limits of yangsan. I went into a daiko store and bought some cute colored pens and three micro fiber cloths to carry around with me because my face is waaay too greasy here to not carry around those cloths. At around 8:00, I returned to the station and went into another Caffe Pascucci. Here, I bought a grapefruit ade.

I sat in the corner, having a dedicated conversation in Korean. Also, I typed up emails to my future professors talking about how I am in Korea and how i'm very excited to attend their classes. After about thirty minutes, I returned home. On the way back, I noticed that the Caffe Pascucci near my house was already closed, but it was only 8:50PM, when the other day, I saw it open until 11:00PM. Surprised, I kept on my path home.

When I got home, I saw that my brother returned from camping! He told me that my mom also returned and I was greeted by her smiling face! I really missed my mom and I gave her the present that I had bought for her. As I was turning on the heat for the water, I also saw my dad sitting down on the dinner table. It was so wonderful to see all of their smiling faces again! I took a shower and ate dinner with my mom, having a conversation in Korean about how things were, my plans for the near future, and talking about her trip to Europe.

I think maybe my brother wanted to have a homestay sister? so maybe I as a disappointment to him, but oh well. I'm not such an interesting person so that makes things even worse, I think. Oh well.

My mother got me some chocolates and a shirt from Austria and we talked about how the road was closed due to Putin living in his second house. On the cookies that my mother brought for me, there was Russian and I read it out loud. It was basically English but transliterated into Russian, so we all understood what it meant.

Then, I wrote in this blog. I'm now done. Tomorrow, I start a new week, one of the two weeks that remain in the program. Talking to my mother, I notice how much I have grown through the program and it excites me to know that I still have time to push even harder than before, this time, no powerpoint that I have to work on, and I also have the wonderful resource of the Hello Talk app to help me further push myself in the language. It has gotten to the point where I naturally think in Korean when I try to speak in other languages other than English. However, the one thing that I don't know how to translate but still want to use is the phrase '¡Que lastima!'

For now, I will say goodnight. See you all later~!

Day 34

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