Day 41

Today I woke up very early - at 5:50AM. I planned my time out so that I would wake up still feeling awake, so I didn’t feel dead. So, I woke up feeling ready. I washed up and put on my new clothing that I had bought the other day. I put on my orange shorts and grey striped shirt and headed out into the living room to see my family. I got my computer from the living room and brought it to my room and recharged it, along with my dying ipod, while I was waiting for everyone else to get ready. I also packed up shampoo, conditioner, hair oil, and swimming clothing just in case we went swimming later on.

By the time that I had done all of this, my family was already ready to leave, so we quickly headed out. Walking down the sidewalk to my aunt’s house, I discovered that I had forgotten my wallet and my headphones, so I started to worry that I had left something very important behind, but my mother reassured me that it wasn’t important. We took a taxi to span the short distance to my aunt’s house and the taxi driver was a bit peeved, but he pretended to be very humble, so I think it’s ok? Idk.

We got to my aunt's house and my mother told me and my brother to wait outside while she went up. My brother was staring at the advertisements playing from the convenience store across from my aunt's house building. I just remember an advertisement involving a woman constantly singing 'so shall we dance' followed by 'oh oh' and it just repeated too many times. We eventually went up to the room and ate a small breakfast before shortly leaving for our adventures in Seoul!

We parked in this parking space next to a statue that memorialized something. It was literally so so so so so hot and humid today so I felt like I was dying since the moment that I stepped out of the car.

After doing some sight seeing around a mountain, we headed back to the parking lot.

My brother was fooling around and dropped his sandal in the grate on the side of a mountain, so I picked it up. He then went down the mountain to get water for all of us. Other people on the mountain had the same idea as us and were also waiting. They soon got picked up by a small black car and we waited under the shade of the forest for our Aunt to arrive. With time, the silver van appeared over the hill and we got into the car and drove off into the city.

We stopped by a fancy restaurant and had an amazing buffet of food: delicious cold kimchi, tons of a tender beef with a unique, barbecue-esque flavor whose aroma made my mouth water as my aunt cooked it on the stove in front of us, soup, and other delicious side dishes. We also got bingsu and ice cream as desert. To prevent us from being warmed up and hot from the stove, a very active air conditioner blew air from underneath the table onto our lower halves. It was actually really refreshing, especially after walking in the heat. In fact, I took a tylenol to prevent myself from getting heat sickness because I was starting to obtain a headache. I don't sweat much, but I was dripping by the time that we got into the car and felt the nice air conditioning. We returned to the car and I felt so filled and relaxed that I fell asleep as we headed home.

To my surprise, we did not go home.

Actually, we went to a 짐찔방 resort and it. was. so. relaxing. Before, I was disappointed that we didn't get to go to the ocean and swim and I thought that it was such a waste that I brought all my clothing and stuff for preparation of swimming, but then I discovered that we were going to a jimjjilbang! Here, it didn't matter whether I had clothing for swimming or not. As me and my brother separated from my cousin, mother, and aunt, we put our shoes into our respective shoewear looker and then went to the men's locker room. Here, there were many naked men and we were soon to join them in their freedom.

I got to my underwear when I felt a bit scared. I tried to explain to my brother, but he kept running away ㅠㅠ. So, I just said 'screw it' and took my underwear and that was that. We first went into the warmest of the hot pools and then we went into the cold tub. Then, I suggested we go into the middle hot tub and we did so. It was really hot. We didn't go into the hottest one, however. Then, we went into a jacuzzi and got a water massage. Then, we went in to a warm/cold-ish tub and played games. After this, we washed off in the showers and put our spa clothing on and headed over to the 8th floor - the relaxation room.

We waited relaxed here and waited for our aunt, mother, and cousin to show up. They actually took quite a while - they were probably enjoying the spa. After a while, they did show up and we ate some eggs and drank a big tub of iced plum juice. Then, we relaxed for some more and headed out to get some food at 9:34PM.

We went into a traditionalish restaurant and ate some 회, 사낙지, and a bunch of side dishes. It was super interesting to eat the still-moving octopus dish, but I made sure to chew it up thoroughly before swallowing so as to prevent it from sticking onto my throat and choking me to death. The 회 was in thick slices and didn't have really any taste. I know about a saying about sushi - if it is truly good, you don't need any sauce. However, this 회 was not good unless you ate it with sauce. When we left the restaurant, I remember my mom saying that it was 비싸고 맛없어. However, I still feel very fortunate and blessed that they took me out to do what I wanted to experience, even if it apparently didn't taste good. Making memories with them is such a blessing!

When we walked through the streets and got to a path, but it was very dark already and the path would take 2 hours to walk through. With it already being way past midnight, I was very tired and, while I appreciated exploring, I wanted to close my eyes and get some rest before school started. We decided not to take the path and eventually walked back to the car. I slept the whole way back and we somehow ended up getting home at around 5:00AM.

I put down all of my stuff, waited for everyone to finish using the restroom, washed up, and went into the living room. I had to run off of the time that I slept off of in the car ride because there was just no time to sleep in my bed! I wrote this blog for an hour until I had to go to school while my mother slept on the sofa next to me. She woke up at around 7:00AM and made some toast for me to eat for breakfast and then went into her room to sleep more. I ate the bread while watching youtube videos and then eventually went to school.



-end (to be continued)

Day 40

Waking up today, I had one thought on my mind: the fact that I was going to go shopping with my mom in Seoul National Station and it was going to be the most fun-est thing ever. I woke up 9:50AM with 8 hours of sleep in the trunk and I quickly got ready, excited to go out with my mother and have some quality time with her. We ate a small breakfast of just toast with nutella (she ate strawberry jam instead) and we prepared to leave. We headed off for the station in a taxi and I initiated conversations about how I love Korea and places that I want to travel to in and out of Korea.

We eventually got to the station and went underground. We looked through one side and then got some drinks from Palik's coffee. I got an iced green tea latte and my mother got an iced americano. Also, we shared a salad bread thing. While eating, I told my mother that her cooking was better than what we were eating, because it was true. The salad bread that my mother made was super bomb and delicious. We then started going down the other side of the station and I bought a couple of shirts for my family. They are the ones that mix Hangul into English and they are super cool. We got a call from my Aunt saying that she was here and so we went back to the place where we got Palik's drinks and we waited for our aunt to show up.

After a few minutes, she showed up with her daughter and we all ate sushi together. It was so delicious and fun! I felt so happy to be able to spend time with all of them and I felt so blessed to feel like I was part of the family. When we finished eating, our mother left to pick up my sister from her music camp that she was at (thats why I hadn't seen her for the whole week) and so I went shopping with my Aunt and cousin.

I got some souvenirs and then got a pair of pants, shorts, and two shirts from a store. Usually, men's clothing is super expensive in Korea, like 20 dollars for shirts and 15 or 35 dollars for pants, but over here, pants and shorts were 10 dollars while shirts were only 5 dollars! After finding the right fit of pants and shorts by using the restroom as a changing room, we found the right pair for me and my Aunt actually paid for one pair! That was so kind! I constantly asked her which clothing she thought was better because I do not know Korean fashion. The pants look a little bit silly to American fashion, but they are so cool as in 시원해 and wont make my legs feel super sticky after a day of walking.

We to a bus and went to my Aunts house, which was this complex where the room itself was another complex with people playing music in rooms. My Aunt wanted to show me what the room looked like, so she opened a room that was dark, but there was someone sleeping on the floor, so we quickly shut it. Then, we went to look for a 냉선품 (cold fan?) and the first shopping center that we went to was closed for summer holiday and the second shopping center that we went to didn't have what we were looking for, so my Aunt dropped me off home. On the way to the shopping centers and to home, I talked to my Aunt the whole time and it was -amazing-! I am so blessed that I had the opportunity to bond with my Aunt and I'm proud of my self for pushing and taking that opportunity. When I got home, I dropped off my shopping bags in my room and saw my brother in the living room. He was back from his 학원 and was playing his soccer game and talked to me about the olympics in Rio. Korea won!

I went to my room to get some things when I noticed that I had left my ipod in my Aunt's car. I felt a bit distressed, but it was not a big deal. I went on my computer for a little bit and then felt hungry, so I made myself some toast. I offered some of the toast to my brother, but he didn't want to eat because he was playing. My sister returned home and she gave me my ipod (hooray!) and we sat in the living room, all on our devices. My sister was playing some videos from her camp and it was actually really cool: people were going hard playing stringed instruments and it was epic. My brother, on the other hand, was listening to American pop music and tried to raise the volume. After this, they both watched some live performances of Kpop and I recognized some songs, so I sang along. It felt so great to have this small bonding experience!

After about an hour or so, I decided that, since it was my last weekend in Korea, I had to go out and just spend money. I had been saving all of my money until this last weekend and tomorrow, my family is planning on going somewhere, so I won't have much time other than today and maybe wednesday to do shopping. I went out to Gangnam just as a way to say 'farewell' to the city that I loved, and I explored the back roads, where I vowed to explore. It was honestly super disappointing and ugly in the back roads, so I stayed on the main road. I didn't want to spend any money in Gangnam, so I went aaaallll the way to 명동 and actually missed my stop. I tried to use the alarm from the subway app to wake me up from deep thought, but it didn't alert me and I noticed that the robotic conductor lady was saying a stop that was past my destination, so I had to go back one stop. As I was waiting forever for the train to arrive going the other direction, the subway alarm went off. It felt like a bad joke, but I just ignored it. 

I eventually got to 명동 and went from feeling a bit alone to feeling super excited and ready to have a good time with myself. At home, my brother was probably watching the olympics and my sister was probably on her phone. I didn't know what my parents were doing, but I heard them talking in their room as I exited the house. I shopped for a long while and I could actually interact with the shop owners and know what they were saying and know how to respond, so I felt even more excited. I got souvenirs, things for people back in America, and a bunch of things for myself. I got ripped off for buying a hat, because I thought that the guy said it was 5$ when it was actually 15$, but I had already given him my money, so I couldn't do anything about it. However, everything else that I bought was relatively cheap, so I guess it kind of made up for that rip off.

Going back home, I got lost and ended up going to this huge chapel. It was really pretty, but it was closed, so a man prevented me from getting anywhere near it. I had trouble finding the subway station, but I eventually found it and ended up walking for ten years to go to a station that wasn't anywhere close to 명동.. I somehow ended up going all the way to 종로3가. Going home, I zoned out with my headphones off, taking in Korea and thinking about the time I have left and the money that I have left and how I'm sad to leave soon but also excited to spend a whole day with my family tomorrow, and how I actually really love Korea and will miss it when I leave. I rushed home to get there before curfew and I looked at the large apartment complex near my house and breathed in the smell of the hill/forest/mountain thing nearby my house. Thinking about these rituals, I felt the sadness that will come, but I let the moment sink in.

I then got home, took a shower, showed my brother everything that I bought, tried to show him how to download music, and I will now go to sleep!

Today was super fun and this last week will be jam packed with fun and great memories. I will say goodnight for now. Bye~!

<3

-end

Day 39

Where... do I start with today?

Today was a Friday, a quiz day yet again- the last quiz day in which we will have to memorize dialogs. I practiced my dialogs when I woke up and ate a wonderful breakfast with my mother and father. It was a sunny day, the sun shone brightly, but it wasn't as hot as it was yesterday. I left a little later than I usually do because I was practicing my dialogs and as I was leaving for school, I noticed that I had left my headphones on my desk in my room, so I had to return home and get them. It would not be a complete Friday if I had not been listening to fitting bgm. I walked to school feeling very cheerful. I thought about the time that I had left and let my experiences in my mind seep into my brain. I remember going out of the subway, up the stairs, out through the exit, turning and going through the tunnel, crossing the cross walk, and walking to the school. The same routine that I had been doing for the past five weeks. As always, I looked around my surroundings and appreciated the scenery with my head up when I had the time to do so.

In class, we took our tests and I had been paired up with Jodi for the speaking test. We were the first ones to go, fortunately, so we were able to choose which prompt we wanted to be quizzed on. We chose the first prompt because it was loads easier to remember than the second prompt. I got out four 100원 coins from my pocket and laid them on the table, the head and tails side switching, for good luck. Jodi messed up and said '한두교포' instead of 힌두교도' and I referred to her as 아주씨 instead of 라지브 씨, so we had a good laugh. I remember my teacher saying 나가 좋졌은 것 같아요!

Afterwards, I went to the convenience store to get some snack foods and I got a red bean green tea bread thing and coconut water. I went back into the school with some other NSLI-Yians who also went to the convenience store previously and then went into the waiting room with the other 나무반 people. It was really fun because we were speaking in Spanish and also spoke Korean in accents of different accents. I could only do Russian, but Tucker did Japanese and Jesse did French. It was so funny to hear it all, and it felt so great to once again realize that I'm surrounded by people who also love to learn and speak foreign tongues.

After class, I went to eat lunch with a group of NSLI-Y friends, but there were so many of us that I ended up on a separate table in the same restaurant with Ariel and Rhea and it was really fun talking about our experiences and our lives and general stuff. I didn't have much Korean money with me, so I didn't order anything, but Ariel was kind and gave me her left overs! It was actually super delicious. We ate at the Japanese restaurant with the really fun and nice workers.

Afterwards, we had our culture classes. In this class, we learned our 4th and 5th sections of our presentation. I was in the 5th section and held the board for Elliya to break, and then Elliya held the board for me to break. After learning these sections, we ran through the entire presentation three times. I think that we still need more practice, but we did get better with each repetition.

This time, Elliya stayed back in the class to practice her routine for 15 minutes. I went with Jesse to the subway station and we ended up meeting up with Kenwoo, Margo, and Kyle. We walked towards the university because Kyle wanted to buy some new glasses, so me and Jesse went to the bagel store and he got some food. Here, we discovered that Jesse left his phone in the 태권도 building, so it was given to Elliya so that it could be given to Jesse later on. Afterward eating bagels, we by chance met up with the other three NSLI-Yians and went to the bank and I got 30k원 out. We went back into the subways station and peaced out. Me and Jesse went to 여리나루역 and waited by the exits for a little bit for our other friends to arrive. We were super thirsty, so Jesse suggested we go downstairs to a convenience store, but when we got down there, the convenience store was on the other side, so we would have had to pay extra in order to get to the store, which was definitely not worth the price. I suggested we look outside for a convenience store because they are usually dotted everywhere nearby subway stations, so we went out.

Right outside of the exit was a convenience store. As we were going to the store, an ajuma basically attacked me with a flyer and I was about to not accept it until I saw that IU was on it, so I grabbed it after one second. Suddenly, a wild flock of ajumas shoved papers into my hand and I let them get away with it just this time. I got so many papers and it was ridiculous. We went into the convenience store and I got a watermelon milk drink. Jesse got some grape drinks, to which I warned him that grape would only make him more thirsty. Then, we returned to the subway station and waited for our friends for a little bit longer. After a while, the returned.

We went out through a different exit and walked out a bit to get to the park right outside of the 한강 and, yet again, I was attacked by so so sooo many ajumas. This time, I tried so hard to avoid them, but they followed me everywhere through all of my jukes and dances. One of my friends made the mistake of accepting the advertisement, and she was given so many pamphlets by the ajumas. We ordered pizza by the river and listened to some p horrid music that these three guys were singing. After a while, Elliya and Teresa arrived, so some people left to pick them up. Also, the pizza arrived, so some people left to pick that up. Me and Sphofiaphf were left to appreciate the beautiful scenery and some beautiful (some absolutely horrible) sounds. After a while, we all met up again and were about to eat, when we discovered that there were no cups for the Coke that we had, even though we had specifically asked the guy to include cups, so me and Elliya went out to buy some cups for the group. Walking back, we talked about the strange event that included a guy yelling out into the river and a woman looking stressed out and also saw the lake during the night. It was understandable as to why so many people come to the area.

We were all about to leave the area and go to a 노래방 because it was getting late when a lout gunshot rung through the park and a bright, red light filled up the sky. We were all about to dash when we processed the fact that a fireworks show was starting. This was totally unexpected and probably happened to signal King Jesse's standing up. We went back into the subway station and headed towards 홍대. On the way, we saw three other NSLI-Yians and me and Phosphorous noticed how late the time was getting. It was already 9:30ish and we were not even close to 홍대, plus our houses were about one hour away, so we decided to break off of the group and go to 광화문 as suggested by Maris.

We did just that and it. was. so. amazingly. beautiful! I will definitely have to go there once more. It was so spacious and I felt like a child again; the feeling was amazing. I got back home with some memories that I will remember for the rest of my life and went back home listening to my mood matching music on repeat. I enjoyed the moments as I rode home and, when I finally got wifi, sent the 1000009090 messages that I had tried to send through Kakao. I walked back home with a slight smile on my face and returned home to my family.

I felt so happy to return and started to talk about my adventures, but I had to take a shower, so I took a shower and then spoke with my mother. We all didn't eat dinner lol. I wrote this blog and now need to sleep.

Today was honestly one of the best, if not, The Best day in Korea. I felt so great today and looked forward to spending my last week in Korea with so many great memories to come~



-end

Day 38

im so tired

i woke up during the night because it was so hot and it was hard for me to sleep

재미있는 여행을 하고 싶으며 서울에서 방문해야 해요. 여름에 날씨가 아주 습하고 더우이나 비가 많이 오지만 재미있는 것이 많아요. 명동에서 쇼핑를 할 수 있어요. 그리거 빙수를 먹을 수 있어요. 노래를 하고 싶으면 노래방에 가야 해요. 아니면 피시방에서 게임을 할 수 있어요. 서울에 가면 많이 걸얼 거서 물을 많이 먹어야 해요. 황상 카페 안에 그 분위기 좋고 시원해요. 한번 가 보세요~

I went to school and got a peach tea and water before class started. In class, we made Tucker and Jesse rock the 사과머리 look.

After class, we had our supporter meetings. This time, we went out instead of having class. We went to 동대문 and tried to explore the museums, but for some reason, we couldn't do it. So, we went to a cafe and ate Bingsu and played some card games. Afterwards, we went to a nearby 시장 and got some fruit juice. I got pineapple juice. It was really fun, but so hot and I was starting to get a headache. Today I was kind of lost in my internal music and didn't really get socially involved with the group, but I still had an amazing fun time and really appreciated being able to go out. The buildings were so huge and the city was super spacious and welcoming, even though everything was closed for summer vacation.

I will definitely be going back there in the future. Going home, I had a slight headache and I couldn't really focus, so speaking in even English felt confusing to me, let alone in Korean. I ate a really delicious dinner prepared by my mom and then watched some Youtube videos for a bit. My mom recommended for me to take some tylenol, so I did that after some coaxing and I rested for some more. I started to feel a bit better, so I studied the dialogs that we were given to memorize for our last speaking test tomorrow.

Afterwards, I heard my brother listening to American music, so I searched for some of the top songs on the billboards so that I could show them to him. I then wrote this blog while my brother sits next to me watching baseball and reading comics.

i have videos but im not really feeling like putting all the effort into uploading and writing so much at this moment. I will do it later, though

-end

Day 37

I woke up today really tired again for some reason. I think that I woke up in the middle of a dream, but I don't remember what that dream was. I really didn't want to wake up, so I stayed in bed until 7:08AM. I forced myself out of bed and washed up. I ate breakfast with my mother and talked about my plans for the day. I went to school in a good mood, listening to IU and 홍단아. On the subway, I zoned out and studied my word sets from Quizlet. I was so into my studying that I actually ended up missing my stop and ended up in 서울역. So, I had to pretend that I knew what I was doing and made a beeline straight through the crowd to the other train cart that was right across my train cart.

With a purpose on my face, I went back one stop and walked up to the college. On the way there, I played this game of "walk in the shadows" because it was really hot and I was not living for that. I got to school about three minutes late at 7:53AM, but a lot of people were not in the classroom, so I was fine. I sat by the air conditioner and used my mini fan to blow the cool air my way. If I had had time, I would have bought a cheap peach tea from this restaurant right next to the Aunt Sallies along with a water to keep the tea from being way too sweet, but I had no time. Class started and Emma and Sofia (ok i spelt your name correctly this time) sang the Phineas and Ferb theme song, but with lyrics to reflect the NSLI-Y8 experience. We plan on singing the song as a class for the talent show. Also, there was a disagreement on the proper way to pronounce 'NSLI-Y.' Some people say 'nissly' while others say 'nessly.' I however, will not say the way that I pronounce it bc im not looking to get shanked lol.

During the break, I got a large $5 bottle worth of grapefruit juice and I got a 1.5$ banana sandwich thing. I don't like grapefruit, but it's healthy, so I decided to buy it. The banana sandwich had banana flavored cream filling and tasted like the fake flavor of bananas, so I didn't really like it. I expected an actual banana to be in between the bread slices, so I was sorely disappointed.

The second part of class went by really slowly for me, but I noticed my progress in being able to understand just about everything that I read and heard. Also, I was able to read Korean more quickly than I had been able to prior. Sometime last week, something just clicked in me and Korean became natural. I didn't really struggle to speak in Korean and more and I just understood things a lot better than I had used to. I do remember waking up one day feeling chill and thinking 'hmm, Korean feel natural to me now" and that from that day on, I clicked with Korean.

After class, me, Emma, and Sofia went to Itaewon to meet a Korean student that we had all met through the Hello Talk app. We met at exit two and went to a pancake restaurant to eat lunch. I got chocolate chip pancakes, Sophfia got potato pancakes (basically hash browns lmao) and Emma and 김혜정 got blueberry pancakes. Since there are army bases in Itaewon, it is the 'foreigner center' and there were so many foreigners. The pancake restaurant was branding 'Authentic American Taste' and played some American pop oldies. We had a conversation in Korean, but Emma and Sofia were leaving me to do most of the talking! I came up with random, general questions to avoid it being awkward, but we had only just met, so it was awkward just as is.

After eating, we went to get ice cream and this guy put on a show about it, but he didn't really put on a show for me bc i'm not a cute lady lol. The business was a Turkish ice cream business where Turkish people sell ice cream and speak Korean very well. Back in Anguk, we saw the same Turkish ice cream business and actually watched the guy charm his audience with his ice cream making skill. He scoops ice cream from a long metal rod and fools his audience whenever they go to grab the ice cream. It was three dollars and not worth the price lmao.

We then tried to go into the Line store nearby, but we had the ice cream, so we couldn't go in until we finished the bad quality ice cream. After finishing the ice cream, we went inside the overpriced store and took a picture with one of the mascots. We then headed to visit a military base. We tried to go in, but someone (no shade or anything) didn't bring their ID, so we couldn't go :/ (jk sofia we wouldn't have been able to go in anyway lol).

Afterwards, we went in to a Starbucks to refresh ourselves, but there was no room and it was too expensive, so we ended up going next door to the McDonalds and got some drinks. I tried to get a caramel iced coffee because I didn't really want to drink soda, but they only had iced macchiatos. We talked about school life and the American people in Korea and about visiting places and languages and 혜정 quizzed us on our Korean vocabulary. It was pretty fun. The yellowish-green color of the tiled wall foreshadowed the sickness to be felt by Sphofia as she escaped to the restroom.

After a while, we had to part. First, we parted with 혜정 and then we parted with Sofia. Me and Emma went around Seoul express terminal and tried to look around the underground shopping center for a sign shop, but after walking around the whole shopping center about 3 times, we saw that the store was closed for some reason. We then went to Gongcha and talked about our Korean experiences and our thoughts about Korea and NSLI-Y. After a bit, we parted and I got home to a big dinner prepared by my mother.

As per usual, I took a shower and, because I had McDonalds, I used the toilet, and then I ate dinner. This times, my mom had these strange lentil looking brown vegetables. They tasted like seaweed and mushrooms, but better. Also, I ate some pork, egg, sausage, kimchi, zucchini, and this 갈비 soup that tasted like hamburgers. I had a great conversation with my mother and talked about how I grew in the Korean language and how I will miss Korean food and the language when I come back home.

Reflecting back on my experiences and how I've grown throughout the program, I feel happy and satisfied. However, there is still so much time (well, so little) left and so there is so much time to have even more fun, grow even more, and make even more memories. I feel comfortable speaking in the Korean language now and I find myself living in the moment while I walk to school, listening to cheerful music while I pass by Korean faces. I find myself living in the moment while transferring lines in Sadang station, watching how people run and how their hair bounces as they speed through the station to get to the other train, while I hear the fake 애교 voice of the lady selling bread. I find myself living in the moment while I am in Korean class, forming sentences as best as I can while being surrounded by people who love the language as much and even more than I do, people have seen me grow from nothing and who I've gotten to know throughout the program. I find myself while I am standing on an escalator or in the subway train, at first struggling to not fall over while the train moves, and then getting used to the feeling of the train. Also, I find myself enjoying the moments as I walk back home and I take my earbud out to hear the forest, the cicadas screaming the sound of the vegetation rustling slightly, with me breathing in deeply to smell the musk of nature and see the beauty of it as well.

Anyway, I'm going to end this here. I have a slight headache and my body is a bit sore, but I really am having a good time and I'm so thankful to be on this amazing journey. I really am fortunate to have this opportunity and I honestly love Korea with all of it's differences. I hope to come back some day, but for now, I am enjoying every second of being here. All the ups and downs, the horrible and embarassing experiences that turn into funny and interesting stories and the moments that make me smile when I think about them- I am enjoying every drop and still am enjoying everything.

Goodnight everyone!



-end

Day 36

I woke up not wanting to get up. I was super tired and did not want to get out of bed, but I did so anyway on time. I washed up and ate breakfast that my mother prepared for me. I felt tired, but it was worth the fun that I had the night before, watching some Youtube videos and music videos with my brother. I showed him that one niga higa video- 똥사야돼. It was a lot of fun, but he eventually caved into his tiredness and went to sleep before I did.

I went to school and the journey was uneventful. I arrived and nobody was in the lobby- I ended up arriving 10 minutes earlier than I usually do. I got a water and milk tea from the vending machine and cooled down in front of the air conditioner while watching some sky videos. I was a little sweaty from walking up to the school, so it was nice to have some cool air hit my back.

In class, we sang the Phineas and Ferb theme song before beginning and had lots of fun. During break, I got a peach tea for 1.5천원 and talked with Sofia, Anna, and Jesse about speaking in English quickly. On the elevator, I pressed the button to go to the bottom most floor instead of floor 2 on purpose.

After class, I ate at a place that sold glass noodles, chicken, and two kinds of 떡. It was pretty good, but a little spicy. Afterwards, I had my supporter meeting at Cafe Arena again. We sat near the furthest wall and I got a mocha frappe (really good!) and we got raspberry cake. It was pretty good. Today's lesson was about 고향. I felt a lot more confident this time around and could describe my hometown with relative ease.

Later, I went to 동대문 with Ariel, Sarah, and Elliya. We walked around, waiting for Ariel's friend and then decided to wait in Ariel's house for a little bit. Her friend was taking a while to come, so we decided to eat dinner at a chicken place and then go home. However, it started to rain really hard, so we ended up being wet while ordering our chicken.

The guy friend said he wasn't going to come, so we just ate. I didn't eat anything because I was just going to wait until I got home so that I could eat dinner made by my mom. The ride back home was silent because my ipod's battery died, so I couldn't listen to any music. Also, the train cart got very cold and the walk back home was difficult because it was super humid from the rain. However, I got home after what felt like an eternity and I saw my mom and took a shower.

I ate dinner with my brother and mother and then did my Korean homework. That basically sums up today. It was a long day, but it wasn't eventful. However, I still cherish all the experiences that I had ^~^

I will end this here. Goodnight~!

-end

Day 35

Today I woke up on time, but I didn't want to, so I stayed in bed until 7:10AM. I washed up and said good morning to my mother. I sat on the couch listening to Morejo while my mother prepared breakfast. I was still pretty tired, but all was well. I was so grateful to eat food that my mother had prepared once again and I ate so much of the food that I was given, almost clearing out the serving plate. I got ready for school and headed out.

It was such a hot day today, I rushed to the subway station and was glad to be out of the heat. Today, the subway station felt a bit more empty than it should have felt- I guess that most people are out on vacation during this time. I got to school struggling due to the heat. It was not humid at all, just really hot. As I was placing my things down next to the air conditioner in the lobby, Emma asked me if I wanted to go with her to the nearby 7/11 before school started. I agreed and we went there. I didn't get anything, but I wanted to go on the journey.

In class, I used my new colored pens to write down vocabulary. My plan is to use different colors for different days so that I can see what I learned for each day and find the words that I learned for certain days. These pens are strange. There is no tip, but a slit at the end through which ink exits, sort of like a calligraphy pen. However, my writing was super small and neat and in pretty colors, so I appreciated them.

In class, I felt my improvement. Although I had not been studying the Korean words that I was learning in class, I was still practicing and improving my Korean by speaking through Kakao and through the Hello talk app. I could see my progress and I could actually use what I had learned. In class, I did not feel the normal struggle to put words together and think about grammar because I had practiced it many times before when I had conversations with Koreans in Korean. Also, my listening skill seemed to improve as I understood 95% of the things said in the dialogs that we were given to listen to. Usually, I don't even understand 50% even after 3 repetitions, but this time, I just about understood everything right from the first playthrough.

After class ended, we had our weekly meeting - one of the two left in this year's NSLI-Y program. We spoke about how we changed in Korea and how that affected us. I don't feel as if I've changed all too much other than my mastery of the Korean language, but I am sure that my changes will become apparent when I return to the states. I know that I automatically think in Korean when I try to speak in other languages like Spanish or Russian because of how naturally it is coming to me, and that I naturally place my left arm somewhere on my right arm if I am giving or receiving something from another person. I had already done the bowing from even before I knew it was a cultural thing.

Something about Korean culture that had changed me from before I was even in this program is the culture of sharing. I saw the beauty of sharing everything and began to practice it on my own in America and found myself feeling a lot of satisfaction in taking care of others and thinking of them other than just myself.

After our meeting, I went with Tucker, Emma, and Sofia (i hope i spelt your name correctly this time xP) to eat lunch. As we were looking for a place to eat, our original location was closed for renovations. We looked for other restaurants, but so many of them were closed as well for vacation or renovations or some other reason. We ended up eating in a Kimbap restaurant. I got some 소고기 김밥 while everyone else got donkatsu. We talked about school and writing in Korean and even compared out Korean handwriting styles.

After this, we went to 설빙 and got two Bingsus: a coffee Bingsu and a Melon-cheesecake bingsu. These bingsus were so amazingly delicious and reminded me of what I will miss so dearly when I leave Korea. We then left to drop Tucker at the Gongcha nearby exit 8 and saw our RDs along the way. We surprised them and talked to them until it was time to part yet again. Tucker and Ariel went to study Korean in the school's library while me, Emma, and Sofia went to 안국.

There, we walked around, bought poop pancakes, and looked through all the street stores. It was kind of expensive there because it was a famous place and there were many foreignors, so stores could get away with raising the price. I didn't buy anything. We also met Nicole, Ava, and their Korean friend while we were there. Walking around, we met a very nice guy who made us dragon beard candy samples (it was soooooo so delicious) and a Turkish guy doing a performance of making ice cream. We walked around some more and stopped at radio m cafe to study and rest.

I got a tiramisu frap, Emma got an iced vanilla latte thing, and Sofia got a green drink. However, we sat in a corner that Emma did not want to sit at and Sophia ended up spilling some of Emma's drink all over the leather cushioned table. I also spilt some of my drink as well, but it was just a bit of flavored ice and the spillage stayed within the tray that we were given.

We talked about our experiences in Korea and about our experience through the Hello Talk app. Also, we discussed the question "If you could be fluent in any language other than English or Korean, which one would it be?" We also 'judged' people outside and had lots of fun talking about our experiences in Korea.

I believe that I headed home during rush hour because the subway station was so crowded and claustrophobic, but I felt some comfort in being close to others in the collectivist society. I got home quickly and saw my parents head out while I headed in. I was greeted by my brother and took a shower. Then, I wrote my reflection over the program and wrote this blog. Now, I will get my recording for my supporter homework and get that in as soon as I can.



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