대~한민국! 화이팅!*

* = Go Korea!  (dae-han-min-guk!  hwaiting!)

Of course it's from a song.  It wouldn't be Korea if every relevant pop group (almost) didn't make and record a music video supporting the (South) Korean soccer team in its bid for FIFA World Cup domination.  And indeed, a very scrawny-looking, but technically-skilled Korean team bested 2004 Euro Cup champion Greece in their first match in South Africa.  I watched the game with most of the Han family, and while it was a lot of fun just to be able to watch the game, I was a bit regretful that I didn't go anywhere major to experience the drama and hysteria that is a country completely invested in this tournament.  America certainly doesn't give a shit (although HAHA at England's suckery in their first match against us), so it's an interesting and unique experience to be in a place where news feeds replaying Park Ji-Sung's goal laughably dwarf the number of those reporting on South Korea's latest failure to launch a rocket into space, or Kim Jong-Il and North Korea (oh hey, remember that guy?).  There's another game on Thursday, and while I fear that Korea won't fare as well against a very talented Argentinean team as they did against Greece, I'd still like to go somewhere borderline violent to watch.  But I need a Red Devils shirt first!*

As a pointless aside, I watched the news with 아버님 a day or two after the game and there was literally a 30 minute segment devoted to COVERAGE of the soccer game, not even the game itself.  This included, but was not limited to, shots of various people going insane everytime Korea scored, countless replays of both goals and some saves, and about 10 minutes of footage taken in Greece of people in restaurants looking bored/pissed.  Nope, not kidding.

So!  Week 2.

I will report first on that which no one cares about (or do you?): school.
It is with great pleasure that I report to you that I am not a total failure at level 4!  This is a nice change from this time last year, when I was essentially ready to commit hari kari over my ineptitude at level 3.

I missed the first couple of days of level 4 due to a combination of not being in Korea and the intrusion of powers beyond my control, but it appears to be structured somewhat differently than is level 3.  While level 3 had one hour of writing followed by two hours of speaking followed by one hour of reading/listening, level 4 merges listening into the speaking segment so as to give extra emphasis to speaking.  I think the final schedule winds up looking like writing --> speaking --> speaking/listening --> speaking/reading.  Or something.  I actually prefer this, because listening and reading are markedly easier to handle when they are combined with an interactive activity like...um...talking.

My teachers are, for the most part, a very large win; my speaking teacher, Jang SooJin Sunsaengnim, has forced me to reconsider how I define "ball of absolute adorableness," because she may or may not be the cutest thing I have ever met.  My reading teacher, whom I reported last week spoke at the speed of a mouse's heartbeat (look it up, fools), looks kind of like a Pixar character and shouts everything, but is super nice and cute nonetheless.  After one week of her shouting, I've pretty much adjusted to her style of speaking and I have far fewer comprehension problems now.

It is, however, with disappointment that I say that my writing class is a very big fail on all accounts.  Considering that writing was basically my fave (or the only thing I was good at) last year, this is quite upsetting.  I think that level 4 writing is poorly designed; there doesn't seem to be any continuity between what we do or what we cover in our other classes, or maybe it's just that my teacher is boring, old, chronically late to class, or just kind of shitty on the whole.  Such a departure from my beloved Choi HyunJi Sunsaengnim of last year (who I am going to meet again soon - yay!).  It's extra shitty because writing is the first class of the day and begins at 9am every morning.  It's a horrible way to warm up to your school day; you're exhausted, you've just climbed up 10 flights of stairs to get to your classroom because the elevator was full (again), your teacher blows, the exercises seem pointless and frustrating, and you just want to go home.  Fortunately, this all melts away as the day progresses, but MAN it is a really terrible way to begin one's day.

In non-school related news: Korea is hot and muggy and I could kill someone.  It makes me pine for the fall, but not really, because in the fall everyone is going to leave me and I'm going to be alone with no friends and no life.  Wait for it.

Anyway.  I'm still living with the Hans, although I finally managed to put down the deposit on my apartment and paid my first month's rent today (!).  Living here is still basically awesome; the food is fab, everyone is super kind, and I love Jung Min Unni an absurd amount.  Even if we spend the whole day out, it's really comforting to come home at night to one of your best friends.  I'm glad I'm gonna be living in an apartment rather than a goshitel/hasukjib because four years of shared bathrooms was enough, but I am sad that I won't have a roommate or housemate to share things with or to come home to.  Even after I move out of the Hans, I plan to come here at least a couple of times a week, because I love this feeling of family even though I'm so far from what is technically called "home" and the people who are technically called "family."

At the same time, however, living with a family that is not your own has its restrictions and limitations; understandably, they haven't given me the code to the apartment, so it's quite difficult (read: impossible) for me to come and go as I please.  This isn't really a problem during the day, but it does imply that it might be poor form to go out on a Friday night, get sauced, and come home drunk at 3am with the expectation that someone will be awake to let me in.  Not that I'm planning to do this or anything, but you get the general idea.  As someone who hasn't lived at home since 2006, the check on my independence is a bit irritating; nevertheless, I think the pros of this living environment far outweigh the cons of limited freedom for a couple of weeks.  I have the rest of the year to be an independent woman; I can accept a little limit right now.

Oh, but the commute is still annoying.  I think I said it wasn't that bad last week, but when you're on the subway at 8am and you realize that if you were living elsewhere, you would probably still be asleep, it's a blow.  Especially because school is early enough as it is and my schedule is not radically different from my Yale schedule (staying up late studying, hanging out with Unni & fam, meeting friends, etc).  Perhaps the crappiest thing about my commute is that I have to transfer like, smack dab in the middle of the route; additionally, the line on which I spend the most time is one of the deadest lines in Seoul.  It's not terribly crowded, but it's just crowded enough so that there are never any seats, and because the line passes through the middle of nowhere, NOBODY ever gets off.  I could literally count on one hand the number of people who get off between Beotigogae and Samgakji.  I stand.

Another aside: WHAT THE HELL is up with the Korean girl/boy who is dead asleep on the subway with her/his headphones on?  First of all, if you are asleep, you might not hear your stop; second of all, if you are also listening to music while asleep, you are DEFINITELY not hearing your stop.  Am I out of the loop on some mysterious secret to not riding the subway to the damn end of the line while also managing to get some rest?

Moving on.

Fun things I have noticed about living with a Korean family:
1) I have been here for almost two weeks and still have no idea where this family throws out their garbage.
2) The Hans apparently believe in fan death.  That, or they subscribe to the idea that leaving the air conditioner on at night is bad for one's health.  I sweat.
3) I remember hearing last year that Koreans believe it is poor for digestion to drink beverages while eating meals.  Here is another thing that the Hans apparently subscribe to; during dinner, we get nothing to drink, but just as everyone is finishing up, 어머님 will pour everyone like, half a small glass of orange juice or water.  I thirst.
4) Gender roles are, in some capacity, still fairly strictly enforced in some houses; while this is obviously not indicative of Korean society as a whole, it's interesting to observe - particularly when you consider that Unni's parents definitely do not ascribe their beliefs (whether admitted or simply acted upon out of habit) about gender onto their two daughters.
5) This family (again, perhaps not indicative of all) is health-obsessed.  There is no crap in this house.  Dessert is always fruit (although that definitely can't be terribly common, since fruit is wildly expensive here), and the food is always overwhelmingly nutritious, even in large quantities.  I'm amazed I haven't gained any weight, but then again, I'm not really eating crap.

In related-to-nothing-else-at-all news, I have finally picked myself up and started meeting all those friends and people from last year/Yale who I haven't yet seen.  Last Friday, Unni and I went to our friend Suon Unni's wedding; Unni and a bunch of other girls from the Yale School of Music were playing in a cello/piano ensemble during the ceremony.  It was my first time at a Korean wedding, and it was kind of ridiculously short and informal (although the ceremony itself was beautiful and I cried, because I'm a horrid sap), but it was SO NICE to see some of my beloved unnies again - Jeong-ah Unni and Yoonhee Unni were both there :)  I'm trying to meet up with both of them again soon.

Last week, I also saw my dear friend Michelle Cho, who will be here for a year (!) and will totes be my friend when everyone else ditches me for America.  We went to my favorite ddeokbokki restaurant, which Michelle herself introduced me to last year, and then hit up the area around Ewha Womans University for shopping and patbingsu.  I bought shoes.  You should see them; they're uber cute.  And Unni liked them so much that she asked me to get her a pair, so now we have matching shoes and should I be horrified about that?  UM NO because it's adorable.

Today and yesterday were also chock-full-o-people that I really should have met sooner; yesterday, fellow Light Fellow (redundant) Elizabeth Kim and I teamed up for Operation Find-That-Hair-Salon-That-Dana-Went-To-Last-Year-And-Really-Liked.  It was a success, and both of us got haircuts and I became a...um...member(?) of the JaThree Salon, which entitles me to...something.  I think it's 10% off haircuts and a couple of coupons.  Since I'll be here for a year, I couldn't see how it would hurt.  Also, the unnie who cut my hair was like, the cutest thing ever.  I'll definitely be going back.

Aaaand today, I met the one and only Hayeon Lee, whose picture I posted either in the last entry or the entry before that.  We went to a cafe near her house for desserts and chatted for a few hours, and it was beyond wonderful to see her again.  Also, because it got late and we were hungry and waiting for Hayeon's next engagement to show up, we went to Kimbap Heaven, where Hayeon surprised me (and herself) but eating food from a crappy chain restaurant!  Albeit with kind of a distrustful expression.

I think I've rambled on for enough time here, and I realize that the problem is trying to cram too much into one update; this ought to be rectified when I move into my apartment and thus have more steady access to the internet and perhaps provide shorter, more regular updates.  Until then, enjoy these very few pictures that are woefully inadequate in terms of providing images of my first two weeks and sorry for the verbosity.

homemade lunch !  this is bulgogi, dwenjang jjigae made from homemade dwenjang, and the usual banchan (Unni partially pictured in background)

feast @ Kimbap Heaven with Hay Hay

Pictures of subways, Korean things, and my apartment forthcoming.

* The nickname for Korean soccer fans is Red Devils, and I don't know why this is.  That used to be a slang term for communists, a.k.a NORTH KOREANS.  Additionally, one of the slogans is like, "Korea United!" or some ridiculous crap like that.  Did they forget that the North Korean team is also in this tournament?  Did they...forget that they're not united?  I just don't understand.