Korean as a common language

At my Korean language hagwon, there's only two people in my class; me and a college student from Japan. In class we only speak Korean, because... well.. it's Korean class. But, as I realized quickly, if I wanted to talk to him outside of class, I was going to have to speak Korean too, since his English comprehension skills were extremely low. As it turns out, this friendship has turned into a great way of learning Korean for the both of us. I'm accustomed to only speaking Korean until my grammar or vocabulary skills run out on me, or my head starts to hurt, then I switch back to English. But with my Japanese friend, I can't do that. Talking with him often, I think, has really helped my Korean fluency. We're both at the same level, grammar and vocabulary wise, so we rarely use words that the other doesn't understand. I'm sure every Korean around us must be trying so hard not to laugh when they hear us speaking because we probably sound like 2 year olds, but it's fun. Of course our conversations are only limited to our tiny vocabulary, so we'll never be able to have any in depth conversation about international affairs. I also noticed that when we enter into a shop together, speaking Korean, even in Itaewon, the shopkeepers will automatically speak Korean to us.. even to me. I'm sure they must assume he is Korean at first, but there's no mistaking me for a Korean. Let's hope my Korean keeps improving!

Fun night views of Seoul

We took these photos by Noksapyon station, looking over towards those big beautiful apartment buildings by Samgakji station.


Nothing exciting to blog about today. One month left 'til I'm done teaching the accursed pre-schoolers and can go back to my cushy afternoon schedule. I'm at home on a Friday night... how did I become so lame?? Maybe I'll go to the mart for a beer in a little while.... don't worry, not alone...

Cool random place to hang out...

There are tons of random cool places to hang out in Seoul and there's no way I could ever write about every place I've been to, but last Saturday night I found a tiny unsuspecting place in the middle of nowhere that deserved a shout-out.



As far as I can tell the name is just 막골리(makkoli). Makkoli is a traditional Korean rice wine of sorts. It sort of has a white milky, chalky flavor that most people tend to love or hate. This restaurant specializes in all sorts of traditional Korean drinks, including 4 kinds of makkoli. Though the restaruant specializes in traditional korean drinks, the ambiance is more of a fusion of many different cultures. It is completly decked out in bamboo, and it has a bar that reminds me of a japanese style establishment. Not only that, but they had hookas available to smoke, if that's your style.


As I said, it's sort of in a random part of town. It's located about 5 minutes walk from Sookmyung women's university station. Go out exit 1 (?) and turn around and go around the corner. From there, go down the first street on your right, it will be on your left, across the street from a Chinese Food restaurant (which is also decent). Didn't see an English menu, but the staff looked young, so they probably speak a little English.

A new bill

Today is the official release date of the 50,000 won bill. Until now, there has only been notes of 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 won (actually there is a 100,000 won note as well, but I don't count it because it looks like a check... but its not). On the average day, having nothing higher than 10,000 won notes is fine. But unfortunately, there is always that day that you need to carry around large sums of money. Carrying around 200 or 300,000 won means that I can't close my wallet. Say you pay your rent in cash... carrying around 2,000,000 won in 10,000 notes is more or less the same as carrying around a brick. So, I'd say this bill will be warmly welcomed. Not to mention its the first bill with a woman on it.

Ice Skating in June

Sunday I went ice skating for the first time since I was 12 or 13. Lotte World has an ice skating rink that is open year round. We didn't get there until almost 9:00, but we were able to skate until they closed at 10:30. The rink is nice, but the only downside is the fact that you have to wear gloves (something about a safety issue). I was dripping in sweat.

Me trying to be cool...

You can see the rest of Lotte World here in the background. Lotte World is an indoor (and outdoor) theme park.

We had to take a break during the nightly laser show at about 9:30.

Fireballs

Our skates.... they were pretty bad... but they did the job... even if our feet did hurt afterwards....

The best summer treat

Popingsu (팥빙수)! This delicious treat can be found in many restaurants in Seoul. This particular one was purchased in Paris Baguette (if you couldn't tell) for only 4,500 won. Actually, this wasn't popingsu, it was kwailpingsu (과일빙수).. which has fruit and no red beans. Actually It has shaved ice, ice cream and lots of amazing fruits. Definitely worth every won.

Two signs of summer...

First sign of summer arrived yesterday, with the start of the rainy season. We had an unrelenting rain all day and it's making me a bit depressed about the prospects of the rest of my summer.

The second sign was this:

Drunken ajossis passed out on the sidewalk. No, he's not homeless, and yes, that is a full bottle of beer next to him.

Yup, summer has officially begun.