이제 부터 다시 시작해*

* = from now, let's begin again (ee-jay bu-teoh da-shi shi-jak-hae)

I started this post and then deleted everything, because I realized that this first "I'm in Korea!" post has to be compartmentalized.  I put it off for too long, and there was too much that I wanted to say, and it just got sloppy and boring.  Plus, I know that the very, very few people who read this blog may not care about anything everything, so we can do this like a choose-your-own-ending novel.

Table of Contents:
1) Arrival
2) Where I live now
3) Where I will live later
4) What I am doing
5) Sogang & classes

SHIIIJAK (this means, "let's start!")

1) How was your flight?
Long and tedious.  It was my first direct flight to Korea, and while I was grateful for not having to put up with the hassle of a layover, 14 hours is a damn long time to be on a plane.  I flew Korean Air, which every Korean and their mother professed to be a life-changing airline, but I don't think any airline can really successfully minimize the annoyance of a trip that long.  The fact that they serve bibimbap on the flight should really not be an incentive for anyone.  On the whole, I think Singapore Airlines was better in terms of in-flight comfort and entertainment.  I was a bit wierded out by the clone-like flight attendants that all spoke in the same eerily cheerful voice, too.

But the whole trip was worth it to see Jung Min Unni and her mom(! they drove all the way from Apgju to come get me!) smiling and waving at me from Gate F at Incheon International Airport.  To use the words of a favorite writer of fiction, "It's like seeing purple, and everyone else is blind."  I was so filled with so many emotions when I met them - nerves, profound relief, happiness, exhaustion - that I could barely say anything in greeting.  Any awkwardness evaporated almost instantly, though, and the three of us shared a really fun car ride back to the city.  Even though we'd only been apart for a week, I missed Unni terribly while I was at home.  It was amazing to see her again.

2) So you live where...?
As mentioned, I'm staying with Unni and her family in Apgujeong, the plastic surgery hub of Seoul (but don't let it fool you - this place is boss.  It's beautiful, clean, and convenient.  I can totally see why people want to live here).  It's a tad inconvenient, because I have to commute about an hour to school every morning, but I don't really mind, because living here > the suckery of a morning commute.  Unni's family is so generous and giving - I don't even have words to describe how kind they have been to me.  Her mom is the cutest thing ever - she's learning English, and she takes every possible opportunity to practice with me (ironic, in that I try my best to practice formal Korean with her).  She also has fed me to the point where I am convinced she is planning to sell my liver on the foie gras black market.  Not that I'm complaining - I'm totally cool with all the homemade Korean food.  But I feel so incredibly indebted to the point where I just don't think anything I could do would be enough to pay these people back for their overwhelming kindness.  They have gone out of their way to help me with absolutely everything, and they treat me like one of their own even though they've only known me for about 4 days.  I feel really lucky to have arrived to such a warm welcome.  I think that they really embody the Korean idea of 정,  jung, which is kind of an abstract concept that refers to the depth/strength of the bond between people.  정, as I'm told, has little to do with how long you've known a person, but everything to do with the quality of the bond between you.  I understood this concept when I first met Unni, because we haven't known each other for very long, but that means almost nothing when you consider our relationship, which is surprisingly deep and trusting for two people who've known each other for less than a year.  I am not surprised to find that her family is the same.  그 가족에 그 딸아야.

3) You can't live there forever, you know.
Watch me, fools!  Duh.  Which is why I found an apartment.  Well, apartment is a generous term - coffin might be more accurate.  It's an incredibly small studio that I found after stalking Craigslist for 2 months, and aside from the size, it's perfect - 3 minutes from the Sinchon Metro station and fully furnished with air conditioning, high speed internet, a bed, a desk, a chair, a stovetop, a microwave, a fridge, a closet, cabinets, a shoe rack, etc.  It also has - say it with me now - my own bathroom (gawd, I have waited years for this).  The price is very hard to argue with - it comes to a deposit of roughly $3000 (very cheap for Korea, trust me) and a monthly rent of $~530.  Keyless locks = good security, too.

I looked around at some other places - Unni's family really didn't want me to live in Sinchon, because they think the environment is bad for me.  Well, no one is saying the environment in Sinchon is good by any means, but it's really convenient.  They took me to a real estate agent in Yeonhui-dong, which is the next town over from Sinchon, and the places there were nice and spacious and cheap - but there is no metro in Yeonhui-dong.  I couldn't justify the extra commute by bus just to get to the subway (I'd also have to take the bus to school), and so the boxy Sinchon room won out.

All that being said, I will probably be living here at Unni's for the next two weeks.  In all of my carefully detailed research (sarcasm) regarding apartments in Korea, I never found out that I would need a foreigner's registration card in order to cut a contract.  I don't have a card yet, and it takes like, 10 days to make one - so I won't be able to move in anywhere until the 20th or so of this month.  I guess it means an extra two weeks of getting up super early to commute, and of sharing a room (and bed) with unni, and I worried a lot that I would become a burden (I did not plan on living with them for that long).  But I think it will be fine in the end...I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know and live with this family, especially since Unni will be going back to Yale in the fall.

4) Zomg you in Korea!  Whatchu doin'?
Stuff.  I live with a family, and so my independence is checked somewhat - but I've been slowly recovering from jetlag and hanging out with Unni and her sister, Yunji.  We do fun stuff.  Now that I'm out and about every day from 9am to 1pm, I'll probably get a bit more active.  This section forthcoming.

5) You're not there to shit around, you're there to go to school!
Ah, that's right. Well, I started school today (two days late, because I decided to stay at home for a bit longer at the expense of covering one lesson at Sogang), and it was somewhat of a disappointing day.

Let me begin by referencing the horror that was the Level 2/Level 3 debacle of last summer.  To summarize it for the unfamiliar, I was placed in Level 3 at Sogang despite having covered barely half of Level 2 in my one year of instruction at Yale.  I spent the better part of the summer playing catch up - in addition to learning all of the new Level 3 material, I had to teach myself all of the Level 2 grammar and vocabulary that I was missing.  For awhile, classes were miserable and so was I.  Determined to not repeat this, I decided I would not try to jump any levels this time around.  I emailed Sogang and told them I did not want to take the placement test for advancement, and confirmed that I would be happy solidifying everything I've learned already in Level 4 and then progressing from there.  I'm in this country for a year - I have absolutely nothing to gain by trying to race through Sogang.  Better to take it slow.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I tried to find my name on the Level 4 class lists and discovered that it wasn't there.  I inquired at the office, but before they could get back to me, some Yalies found me and informed that I was supposed to be in their class.  Their - wait for it - Level 5 class.

Shock!  Horror!  This was no good.  I immediately went back to the office and asked why the hell my request to be in Level 4 was not honored, only to be informed that my instructor from Yale had called to tell Sogang where to place everyone.

Fury.

I've long had problems with the Korean department at Yale, but this was the the final straw (okay, that's dramatic, because I am in all likelihood never going to have to deal with Yale's Korean department ever again).  But seriously, I've always thought that Lee Sunsaengnim overestimated the abilities of her students based superficially on how long they've been studying and what classes they've taken instead of their actual proficiency.  This is confirmation of how completely out of touch she is with Korean language education.  How this was taken seriously is beyond me - the heritage classes don't even use Sogang books, and there is no way she understands how difficult the levels at Sogang are (it's not like they match the ones at Yale).  Does she think it makes her look better to have all of her students placed above Level 2?  On the contrary, I think it makes us look like morons because we get to these classes and can't do much more than sit there and stew in our confusion and failure to understand.  Let Sogang do their job.  Their placement system is far from perfect, but it's far better than the estimation of a teacher who has almost negative understanding of how Sogang develops the proficiency of its students.  Someone needs to put a stop to that.

Rant over.

Level 4 seems like it will be fine.  I never made it to my writing class, but my speaking teacher is exceedingly sweet.  As though last year wishes desperately to repeat itself, my listening/reading teacher speaks approximately 4,915 words a minute and kind of makes my head spin.  It's...a challenge.

Of course, there's a lot of homework, and of course it's completely taken it out of me for the evening.  I need sleep, and I should probably take advantage of the full double bed while Unni is still out having coffee with her friend.

Jangmiiii out.