돌아올 거야, 돌아올 거야*

* = I will return, I will return (do-ra-ohl-geo-yah, do-ra-ohl-geo-yah)

I woke up this morning at 6:20AM with a pressing matter on my mind.

Does the grammar pattern -다면서요 (translated to mean "I heard that you...") follow the same rules as reported speech? Does that mean that I need to put a 은/는? Well, which one? Does that only apply to verbs...?

Being jetlagged and unable to sleep, I did the only thing which felt logical at the moment, which was pulling out all of the Sogang books I had in my room and poring over them until I had an answer (indeed, it does follow the same rules as reported speech, which means that you add an 은 if the verb stem ends in a vowel and a 는 if it ends in a consonant). Success. I then proceeded to drag my ass out of my room and log onto the family computer in the basement. My dad woke up within 15 minutes and was surprised to see me out of bed already; generally, when I'm at home, I don't bother waking up until at least 1 in the afternoon. He inquired, and I responded that I was jetlagged and had to get up to study some Korean. He shook his head at me and said, "Are you losing your mind?"

On the contrary, I don't know that I've ever felt this sane.

I've been home for about 2.5 days now, and in that span of time, I've consulted my Korean language books no less than 8 times to check up on a vocab word or grammar pattern that I worry I'll forget in the coming year (which is kind of not a legit fear, seeing as when I get to Yale, I'll be starting another Korean language class). I also had a dream about ddeokbokki and a phone conversation half in Korean with my aforementioned tutor, the very lovely Jaehee Unni (who very kindly insisted over and over that I've improved so much and she can't believe it and is so very proud of me - I love you, Jaehee Unni). I can't shake myself out of Seoul; I wake up missing the sights of Sinchon, the faces of my teachers and classmates, the smells of steaming dumplings outside of the Rotary restaurant. I hate driving everywhere. I miss the subway. I want my chopsticks back. What the hell, America? You suck (kidding. Sort of).

Anyway. I promised an update with some sort of evaluation of Sogang, and I intend to deliver that. So if you think this will be boring, feel free to skip; if you're a prospective or future Light Fellow, you might want to take a cursory glance or at least skim it. Or just find me and ask me in person. Seriously, I'm so prepared to spazz about how much I love Sogang and Korea that I will gladly squeal in your ear and spare you the trouble.

So you want to study at Sogang, do you? Well, here are some things you ought to know.

Sogang is a relatively small university tucked into some hills (like basically everything else in Korea) off of exit 6 of the Sinchon Rotary. This means that it isn't as close to the vibrant neighborhoods that surround Ewha Woman's University, Yonsei University, or Honggik University; suck it up, though, because I really believe that Sogang has the best language program in the country, and you can walk an extra 10 minutes for that.

Sogang's style of teaching basically mirrors the style of Korean taught at Yale by Angela Lee-Smith; actually, it would probably be more correct to say that Yale mirrors Sogang, since Lee Sunsaengnim is a former Sogang teacher employing Sogang methods. I outlined my schedule in one of my earlier posts, but a quick rehashing:
9:00 - 10:00 --> writing
10:00 - 12:00 --> speaking
12:00 - 1:00 --> reading/listening (they alternate, one day reading, the other listening)
So every chapter has a set list of vocabulary and 2-3 new grammar patterns. You learn them pretty much the way you do at Yale; the teacher explains them, you do sentence practice (building your own sentences), and then you learn dialogues in which the grammar patterns are applied. The vocabulary comes along with the sentence practice and dialogues, and a lot of it is taught to you by your reading/listening teacher. Sogang moves at an extraordinarily fast pace - 1 lesson is alloted only 2 days of class. 5 days are broken down into 2 lessons (2 days per lesson), then you have one day of review, then it's on to the next lessons. Makes for a busy and full courseload. Oh, and an obvious difference - all of it is 100% in Korean. All of it. This includes the explanations for all the grammar and vocab. It really can't be any other way, because not everyone in class speaks fluent English. Your teachers may or may not speak English; even if they do, they're unlikely to use it unless they really, really can't seem to get a meaning through to you. My writing teacher used to translate some things for me, but her accent was so thick that I sometimes couldn't understand her unless she wrote the word down in English (in many cases, Koreans read and write English much, much better than they speak it, or at least that is my experience). Fortunately, Sogang provides all students with a grammar/vocab book that outlines the meanings of the new patterns and words in English, so if you're really stuck in class, you can always consult that (and indeed, you really should study it beforehand; it became my Bible).

A word on your classmates: I mentioned that not all of them will speak English, and it is also worth mentioning that it's highly probable that none or very few of them will be students around your age. In my class, Becky and I were the two maknaes, or youngest, at 20 years old; the next youngest was about 24/25, and the average age of the rest is probably about 30 or a few years over that. Bob mentioned it in his blog, but most of the students at Sogang are adults who are learning Korean for business purposes or because they're in a relationship with a Korean person. Sure, there are SOME students (Princeton had a sizeable number at Sogang this summer as well), but the grand majority are adults. Oh, and most are from Japan. I picked up 1 Japanese phrase in the course of the entire summer; I can now say, "I don't speak Japanese." How fitting. But don't worry that you won't enjoy yourself or make friends simply because the demographic isn't what you're used to; I had so, so much fun with my class, both inside the KLEC building and out. We even went out together a couple of times for meals. You really do get close to them, to the point where leaving becomes terribly sad.

A word on your teachers: if you've had Angela Lee-Smith, you might think that your Korean teacher wants to know everything about you or be super-involved in your personal life. Actually, your Sogang teachers really don't care. And that's kind of expected; since a year at Sogang is broken down into 4 semesters, these teachers see kids come and go every 2 months, and so they're not all that invested in you personally. This is not to say, however, that they are not invested in making sure that you learn as much Korean as possible while you are under their tutelage, because my teachers were amazing. Of course, because it's a fairly sizeable program with a lot of teachers, there are obvious differences in the classroom manner and style of each sunsaengnim, and not everyone will like every teacher. My speaking teacher, Lee HyeJun, is actually really unpopular with a lot of students for being a hardass and kind of a bitch (sorry, but it's true); but if you pay attention to her, you'll learn a LOT, and at the end of the day, that is more important. Plus, I never found her class to be unenjoyable; not in the least. In fact, I kind of miss her.

As for my other 2 sunsaengnims, you kind of have opposite ends of the spectrum - my writing teacher, Choi Sunsaengnim, was barely older than me (she graduated college in 2007, meaning we would have shared a year at university - I have FRIENDS older than her), and quite gentle and soft-spoken; she spoke Korean at a relatively leisurely pace and used a lot of gestures to get meanings across (I think that even in the last week of classes, she was still making writing motions in the air whenever she was telling us to write something - kind of adorable, I miss her). Yang Sunsaengnim, on the other hand, was in her mid-30s (I think? I'm abysmal at telling the ages of people, especially Koreans) and was extremely exuberant, always speaking extremely rapidly and punctuating each sentence with a big smile or loud laugh. I would like to repeat that she spoke REALLY, REALLY QUICKLY. It terrified me in the beginning to the point of appearing like a deaf-mute in that class, but in the end, I think it educated me the most. After all, that's how real Koreans speak, and you want to learn how to speak Korean, right? Right? Right. But I'll be the first to admit that Choi Sunsaengnim's quiet and cheerful explanations, full of gesticulation and sometimes sprinkled with English, were nice as well (especially at 9 in the morning).

Grading at Sogang is heavily dependent upon the midterm and final exams. I think the official breakdown was 40% midterms, 50% finals, 10% participation and homework. Which is to say, there is not a lot of incentive to DO the homework, since it actually counts for almost nothing, but if you don't do it, you're going to screw yourself in the end. Do. The. Homework. If you've taken Korean at Yale, it's nothing you're not used to; the workbook follows the same format, as do the questions at the end of each listening/reading lesson. Yeah, it can be a pain and somewhat tedious, but do it. And if you really want to improve, it's a good idea to study, study, study that vocab and grammar. All the time. I'm serious. After midterms, I holed up in a cafe almost every night for a few hours to do my work and study the lesson's material (if you live in a goshitel, you might find that studying in your extremely cramped and tiny room is difficult, so try a cafe - I recommend Angel-in-Us, where the yogurt smoothies are AMAZING, and Cafe Pascucci - decent vanilla macchiatos). Once I started employing this routine, class was amazingly easier to follow and much less stressful.

The exams - well, they're hard. And a lot is riding on them. Passing is a 70% at Sogang, and you have to pass everything in order to graduate to the next level. And if you fail your speaking final, you're done for totally. It's a lot of pressure, but people have survived much worse. Study, pay attention to your sunsaengnims and the amazing things they have to offer you, and there's no reason why you shouldn't pass, and indeed, no reason why you shouldn't do very well. I probably had the roughest time of it, being that I took level 3 after not finishing level 2 at Yale (see the beginning posts for that whole epic saga, as I refuse to repeat it here); but in the end, I worked really hard and made use of my teachers, who are excellent resources, and pulled it together to finish with a solid B. I was amazed and quite proud, considering that I was barely passing at the midterm mark :) When I look back at the general progression of the summer, I am genuinely and truly thankful for the the challenge, and especially grateful that my sunsaengnims didn't let me drown in my own doubts or misgivings. I have to single out Choi Sunsaengnim and thank her for all of her help - she'll probably never read this blog, but if she ever does, thank you a thousand times over. I began to believe in my own ability to get better at this language because you believed in me first.

Hmm, I really wanted this evaluation to be organized and informative, but it appears to have degenerated into a sloppy and anecdotal mess, much like all the rest of my posts. Sorry?

Criticisms? A few; some people in the past have lamented Sogang's slow-ass administration; I never had much experience with them, but there does appear to be like, only one dude in the 7th floor office who deals with the entirety of the Korean language education program, and so getting things done can take a little while. The 7th floor office was always jam-packed after classes, so I imagine it must be frustrating. I had difficulties submitting my own application via the internet, but the nice thing about Sogang is that it's not as competitive as other programs, so applying is basically the same thing as enrolling, and they're more than willing to help you out with that. Another issue was with my placement interview test; they wound up calling me around 11:00PM on a date that was entirely different than the one I had originally asked for. Needless to say, I was really caught off guard and stumbled quite a bit. Organizational issues, then. Perhaps Sogang can work on that.

I really don't have complaints about the actual language instruction at Sogang. Some people in my class were really ready to bitch about Lee HyeJun Sunsaengnim (the aforementioned speaking teacher), but I had no problems with her, really, and besides, you're not going to like everyone and everyone is not going to like you, so you can chalk that up to luck of the draw. You might get a sunsaengnim you don't love, and that happens. Luckily, you have 3; even if you don't love one, you'll probably love the others, which is more or less how I felt (although I did like Lee HyeJun; don't get the wrong idea!). Anyway, teachers aside, the method if instruction is, in my opinion, quite effective, so no complaints there. I learned a lot of Korean = win.

I don't know if this is really a complaint, but I know that lot of other language programs have language pledges that stipulate that you are not to use English at all - not even outside of class (unless you're speaking to parents or non-target language speaking friends). The summer after my freshman year, I did a language program in Spain that had me sign a language pledge AND live in a Spanish homestay - perhaps not the most comfortable I've ever been, but astoundingly helpful for my linguistic abilities. Sogang, however, does not have a language pledge OR a homestay option - of course, you must speak only in Korean during class, but that basically means that outside of your class, how much Korean you use is entirely up to you. I won't lie - I used English basically all the time, even when speaking to other Fellows. As a beginner language student, it would have been really, really hard to use Korean all the time, but had we used Korean more, we might have gotten a bit more practice; then again, because we were beginners, whether or not practice among ourselves would have helped is debatable, seeing as we wouldn't really be able to correct each other. Practically speaking, Sogang simply can't really enforce a language pledge - because the student demographic is largely adults with lives and jobs that don't revolve around the 4 hours they spend at Sogang every morning, it's unrealistic to ask them to speak Korean all the time. That being said, in light of the lack of language pledge or homestay option, you can substitute by getting language partners, which I highly, highly recommend. You can practice for hours with these people, and because they are native Korean speakers, they really help you a lot. Finding a language partner isn't even all that difficult; Sogang has a language exchange message board website where people post ads that you can respond to. Also, any Korean friends you meet can become language partners. 2 of my partners, Hyemi and Yeorin, were friends first and language partners second, which is probably the best way to do it. The fact that these people become friends also encourages you to keep in touch beyond your stay in Korea - I've already sent off a bunch of emails in Korean, and I expect to send more. Many more. Actually, I just finished one like, 10 minutes ago. It's awesome.

I suppose, then, that that's it for my spiel on Sogang - there are probably 1000 things I'm forgetting, but whatever - just read the blog archives for more information/psuedo-useful commentary/Korean pop songs (whether or not those are helpul is debatable, but you already know my opinions on that). And if you're reading this and you've got questions about the Light Fellowship/Sogang/living in Seoul, feel free to contact me - it should be easy enough to get my personal information without me posting it on this public forum, so just check Yale Facebook for an email address!

In conclusion...oh, you know what? I'll just post another conclusion, to hell with it. I'm too attached to this blog and Korea to let it go just yet.

Love,
Jangmi

잘가요, 내 사랑*

in names: me, Jiwon Unni, Hyerim Unni, Jihye Unni, 장미, 지원 언니, 혜림 언니, 지혜 언니. in a word: love, 사랑.

* = goodbye, my love (jal-ga-yo, neh sarang)

I first felt tears beginning to gather in my eyes as I hugged my reading/listening teacher, Yang Sunsaengnim, goodbye on Friday afternoon. Shortly after that, it was goodbye to Jihyang Unni and Miyoung Unni in the 7th floor office. That night, it was farewell to some of my best-loved classmates, Konomi, Kanako, Hatim, and Casey. Yesterday afternoon, Hyemi Unni; yesterday evening, Jiwon Unni, Jihye Unni, and Hyerim Unni. After Jihye Unni left the noraebang where we were screaming out the latest K-pop hits (at my insistence, of course), I began to cry for real, and by the time Hyerim Unni deposited me in a cab bound for Mapo-gu Sinchon, I was practically incosolable. I wept for about 30 minutes after we got home, too. I don't know how large a role the SoJu we merrily consumed played in my emotional reverie, but I don't think it was all that large. The truth is that I'm just going to miss everyone - everything, really - about this place more than I can put into words.

It's so weird that this is my last day, and I've decided that I'd rather not try to cram stuff in. I don't want to rush through experiences that I feel I should have had, or try to hastily see places I've not yet been to. I have some things on my to-do list (evidently, we're going to McDonald's, of all places, for lunch because I've not yet had the (in)famous bulgogi burger), and I do plan to buy another 2 pairs of jeans from Uniqlo (fabulous cuts, good prices), but I feel like I'll just play a lot of today by ear. Aside from the practicalities of getting myself prepared for another 18-hour journey tomorrow, I just want to enjoy the feeling of living here one last time.

In a very strange way, it's almost as though I want to say goodbye to people I've never met or been formally introduced to. The girl at Etude House, who has no doubt seen me pretty much EVERY DAY this summer, since she has to work outside screaming into a headset in order to try to get customers in; the lady who works at the convenience store next to my goshitel where I bought banana milk and kimbap more times than I can count; the ajummas and agashi from my favorite restaurant, who fed me over 100 dumplings and countless plates of delicious, delicious ddeokbokki (actually, the people who work at ANY of the restaurants we frequented); the girl from Angel-in-Us Coffee, who must have wondered how many yogurt smoothies I could drink before getting a headache. There are more, but you probably don't care about the descriptions. It's just...like, I want to say, "Hey! You've been kind of a fixture in my day-to-day life. I'm leaving now, so I won't see you, but thanks for...being there."

I'm such a sap.

One thing, though, that has been common in all of my goodbyes, from the email sent to Choi Sunsaengnim after final exams to the tearful words I blubbered into Hyerim Unni's shoulder last night, is a half-promise, half-hope: "내년에 봐요!"

See you next year.

Let's make it happen.

[p.s. This is not the last blog entry. I'll for sure be posting when I get back to the States. As this blog serves not only as a personal means to document my travels for family in friends, but also as a guide for future students considering studying at Sogang in Korea, I'll probably be updating with some kind of overview of Sogang's KLEC program, plus my own take on it. I also have more pictures that I intend to upload soon, since my blog was never all that picture-heavy. And some concluding thoughts and what-not. I'm sure you're really looking forward to it. Snort.
p.p.s. I'll say more about it when I update again, but suffice it to say that my studying paid off well enough, and my grades from KLEC were considerably better than just passing :) I think my speaking teacher was surprised, but not surprised enough to pop out her baby. Thankful thought.
p.p.p.s. For good measure, SBS KJE Chocolate's SNSD stage. Best performance of this song I've seen so far, which actually doesn't say a lot, but these girls have been such a part of my Korean experience this summer. A very hearty thank you to Tiffany, Jessica, Taeyeon, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Yoona, Seohyun, Sooyoung, and Sunny - you've actually been good teachers and have taught me a lot of vocabulary, plus invested me in Korean pop culture in a way that I wouldn't have thought likely or possible. 소녀시대 화이팅! I can't believe I turned into a 소원 fangirl.]

For the last time in Korea (this time around):

Jangmi out.

끝!*

* = done! (ggeut!)

A teensy post with little purpose other than to report that final exams are OVER(!) and that this makes my weary body quite happy. Perhaps I'll actually start to recover now; I had to go to the hospital again on Wednesday. Sigh. I suppose that this is fate's way of kicking me in the arse for not bothering to buy insurance before coming here; I really should have read that Blue Cross website more carefully. Another word to the wise (there seem to be quite a few of those this week, I suppose as I make/realize more mistakes): buy yourself some damn insurance. You don't know how/when it will come in handy.

As for the tests themselves, there was not a great deal unexpected about them; I think I did better on my speaking written test than I did on the midterm, but we'll have to wait and see. As for the 20 minute oral interview test, that passed rather painlessly, but of course as soon as I walked out I started cursing myself for a thousand undetected mistakes. At least I spoke somewhat fluidly, which is not a rarity for me, but a difficulty. My goal was to make my interviewer laugh and mention SNSD at least once, which I did with success. I'm just relieved that it's over, and I anticipate my results tomorrow. Also, a special thank you to Jaehee Ju (if she ever reads this), my old tutor, whom I called last night to chat with and practice (even though she's in the States!). Jaehee Unni, thank you for the help, and I miss you more than I can say :)

After exams, I went to the Hyundai Department Store to buy bribery a gift for our speaking teacher, Lee HyeJun, who is having a baby next month. Our class all pitched in, and somehow I volunteered myself for the duty of the actual purchasing. Surprisingly (or maybe not?), I was able to successfully walk away with a cute pajama-looking outfit after talking with 2 different salespeople. And I don't mean like, just stammering out "okays" or "yeses," I actually like, talked to them. It's kind of an amazing feeling, and it gives me incredible motivation to do everything that I can to make this kind of thing happen again. Namely next year. What?

Tomorrow is Sogang's graduation ceremony, which we'll all be attending, and then I think we get to do some hardcore hanging out/last-day bonding with our friends and teachers before we all leave to our respective countries. I'm glad I'll be in better health for it (although it certainly wouldn't have killed me to be in better health for my exams, GAH). I think I've learned a really important lesson about the meaning of relationships here, which I expect to share at some point with my like, 3 readers (thanks, HAYEON LEE, who informed me that none of my friends read my blog - but how could you miss so many of my sparkling insights?!), but for now, I'll leave you hanging, as I've got to eat dinner + buy my writing teacher 10 bottles of nail polish. I'll explain later.

그래도 널 사랑해*

* = but still I love you (geur-eh-do nul sarang-hae).

Sorry, that's really lame and doesn't make any sense, but it happens to be what I'm listening to at this particular moment, and it didn't feel right to start a post without Korean lyrics.

As though it weren't bad enough to have a stomach flu that merits a trip to the hospital, my body has decided to completely crap out on me by catching a cold with less than 48 hours to go before my final exams. I started feeling a touch sniffly yesterday while studying in a cafe, so I booked it out of there instantly and started sucking down ColdEeze (thankfully I brought a decent supply of that with me, as I trust that stuff more than I trust St. Anthony to find all of my lost possessions). I woke up this morning feeling ache-y and stuffy, a terrific combination to ensure that I am totally unable to study, but I've felt a BIT better since then and am hoping that if I rest up this afternoon, I'll at least be able to get some work done tonight. My table at Cafe Pascucci must be feeling lonely; after all, I promised it that my ass would warm that seat until Thursday's speaking interview is history. Alas. I also had to cancel a language partner meeting with Yeorin Unni, which pissed me off beyond measure because I was really hoping to practice with her and have her read over my latest 쓰기 essays. Stupid cold.

I suppose, then, that my last week in Korea will be a bit on the low-key side; I mean, I expected that simply because of final exams, but hopefully I'll be better in time to enjoy my last full weekend here. I'd really like to go out with my class on Thurs/Fri and to spend some time with Jihye Unni & her friends from SPO before I leave. Oh, and of course with Bob & Sneha, since they're planning on being here for a year and won't return to Yale before I graduate...ㅠ.ㅠ...

In any case, I decided to take this opportunity of being unable to focus on anything for longer than 24 seconds to post a few pictures that I've shamelessly pilfered from my (Asian) classmates who are assuredly more camera-happy than I and much more faithful in their efforts to document basically everything in their lives. Thanks to the beauty of Facebook (and my incredible skills of persuasion, in that I managed to convince a bunch of 30-year-old Japanese girls to jump on the Facebook bandwagon, much to my total glee), there are many more pictures available to the viewing public (or the Facebook-having public, at any rate). But here are some that will at least put some faces to names! I love these people :)

말하기 선생님, 이혜전 선생님 (= speaking teacher, Lee HyeJun Sunsaengim). Taken during one of our last speaking classes :( Here we are learning/doing dialogue practice!

읽이/듣기 선생님, 양승희 선생님 (= reading/listening teacher, Yang SeungHee Sunsaengnim). LOVE THIS WOMAN. Perhaps one of the funniest people I've met since I got to Korea. By far my most enthusiastic teacher.

Sadly, I STILL have no pics of Choi HyunJi Sunsaengnim, my writing teacher, nor any of my writing class. Nobody seems to want to take any pictures during writing class, probably because it starts at 9AM and nobody is ever fully awake...I'm sure I'll manage to take some during our last class/graduation...

A good chunk of my speaking class! There is not a single person in this photo that I won't miss dearly.
Top Row (L-R): Akabame, Becky, Casey, Ada, Kanako
Middle Row (L-R): Yuki, Konomi, Seona
Bottom Row (L-R): Hatim, me, Yukiko
Please note that I am drinking banana milk, the greatest thing in Korea (slight exaggeration, since I'm pretty sure that would be Jihye Chung), and that basically everyone has thrown up the peace sign.

most of my speaking class at a Chinese restaurant! I unfortunately ate nothing this meal for fear of upsetting my stomach, but I had such a good time with these folks.
L-R: Yukiko, Yuki, me, Ada, Jere, Casey, Kanako, Seona, Konomi, Akabame, Miho

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought it was hilarious. All of our names are posted up in the back of our speaking classroom, and this is me pointing to my name (장미, Jangmi, Rose).

Many thanks to Yukiko & Kanako for the pictures, should they ever stumble upon this blog :)

니가 나타난뒤이 모든게 달라졌어*

* = after you appeared, everything changed (nee-ga na-ta-nan-dui-i mo-deun-geh dal-la-jyuss-uh)

prologue: today's dialogue practice, talking about the things that we will remember from our Korean class (imagine that this whole conversation took place in Korean, and you can tell because the translation is mad awkward).

Me: Hmmm...I will remember our listening/reading teacher, Yang Sunsaengnim, who always talked so quickly!
Yuki: Of course! I think she's a great example of like, the real, typical Korean woman.
Me: I know, right? When we started out, I could only understand about 20% of what she said when she spoke. Listening class made me so nervous, I hated it!
Yuki: I remember that. You always had such a worried expression on your face, and you kept mouthing to Becky throughout the class, "What is she saying? What does that mean??"
Me: You noticed that? Oh my God.
Yuki: You were like that for weeks.
Me: But I like this class so much better now that I can understand what she's saying. I think I understand about 90-95% of what goes on now! I'm really going to miss it!
Yuki: Me too!

How things have changed.

I went to a coffee shop today intent on doing homework/studying for about 4 hours; I made it through about 1.5 hours (and two assignments) before a Korean-American girl approached me and asked me if I wouldn't mind taking a picture of her and her Korean cousins. I obliged, and jokingly remarked that they should help me with my Korean homework in return for the favor. She replied that her cousin would be great at that, since he was like, actually Korean and not a visiting foreigner (like myself). I laughed, bid them farewell, and returned to my table. I made it through another 3 or 4 songs on my Korean Pop playlist (shut up) before the cousins got up and made to leave. The real Korean dude, though, stopped at my table and was like, "Hey! My cousins are leaving, do you want help with your homework?"

Who was I to refuse?

He helped me with a particularly difficult to grasp grammar pattern that I had been having trouble with all night, but of course conversation eventually strayed from homework, because it's boring and stupid and nobody cares (just kidding). We chatted in a mix of English and Korean before I showed him my final exam prep work and he was like, "Okay, let's talk about this stuff, then! You can practice." Much to my surprise, I was able to hold my own in a conversation, using (correctly!!) the new grammar patterns we've learned. I was kind of surprised. Maybe I am not as bad at speaking as I thought. This does not, however, change the fact that I will be spending this entire weekend under lock and key studying. Oh, except for the meal that I promised Jaehyun, my new coffeeshop language-practicing friend :)

It's currently about 1:00AM and because I spent the past like, 4 hours talking with Jaehyun, I didn't finish my writing homework and will have to stay up late to get it done. But I don't regret it, nor do I feel like I missed out big time on the studying front. Granted, I've got plenty of time before I have to face any of my tests (first one's writing, next Tuesday, and I've already been spending monstrous amounts of time and money reviewing vocab like a madwoman in various coffeeshops in Sinchon), and I DID practice a considerable amount of speaking with him; but regardless, I came to Korea for experiences like these. I'm happy to have them, even at the expense of an hour or two of sleep.

Some (lengthy) postscripts:

• A word to the wise if you plan on living in a goshitel for the summer: keep in mind that a lot of them do not go halfsies on rent. In other words, even though you are leaving on the 16th, Jangmi, you still have to pay the full rent for August. When I questioned this, my goshitel oppa looked at me like I was crazy and replied in English, "This goshitel. This not hotel." Gee, really? Because the lack of room service didn't totally tip me off to that within the first like, 8 minutes of being here. I am peeved that I had to pay ~$150 for a room I am not going to live in, but as I'm still decently within the bounds of my Light Fellowship budget, I am not going to throw a screaming fit about it. Especially since I asked around and it seems like this might be fairly standard/expected of goshitels. Who knew?
• I'm still sick; Sneha caught whatever it is I have and we decided today to go to Yonsei Severance Hospital, which is very close & has an International Clinic (where they speak ENGRISH). Plus, I was at my wit's end with trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that's causing me to get so sick, because I can eat certain things just fine (bulgogi, ice cream, yogurt, dumplings) and other things not so much (eggs, pizza, bibimbap, kimbap). The odd thing about the things I can't eat is that they have like, nothing in common. So it was time to call in the big guns. Essentially, I paid about $50 to be told that I have a stomach flu, which I already knew, but I finally got what appears to be a legitimate prescription from a real doctor who, by all appearances, is well-versed in Western medicine. Not to dis Korea's...ah...traditional medicine, but it's kind of ineffective and gross. Yesterday, Jihyang Unni took me to a pharmacy and got me traditional digestive medicine, which consisted of a packet of no less than 30 very tiny ball-shaped pills and a full bottle of some disgusting nebulous liquid. Evidently, you are supposed to swallow all 30 of these tiny balls at once while washing it down with whatever that drink was. When she relayed these instructions to me, Jihyang Unni realized pretty quickly that I was not a fan, so she basically ripped the package open and force-fed me the medicine. I spit it out as soon as she wasn't looking. I do not think I was any better or worse off for it. I showed my writing teacher the remaining pill packets this morning, and she was like, "Ah. That stuff tastes like crap." I wish that was a direct quote. Anyway, my new prescription looks much more like what I'm accustomed to and I understood everything the pharmacist said to me, so WIN. Yet another word to the wise, however: if you come to Korea, it might be a good idea to bring a mini-pharmacy with you. Korean pharmacies are great for getting things that you need, but you don't really have a choice in what you get, especially if you aren't great at vocalizing it or have no idea what sort of medicine you might actually need. The procedure is like this: walk into pharmacy, tell pharmacist symptoms, he/she gives you medicine, you pay and leave. It's not like RiteAid where you can freely browse the shelves to pick something you best like. And there's no Pepto Bismol here. I'd recommend bringing a supply, lest you want to choke down 30 pellets of death followed by a vile brew. Sorry, that embellishment wasn't really necessary.
• On the subject of Jihyang Unni, we went out with her and a bunch of the cool people from my trip to Gyeongju for pizza last night (Jangmi's stomach would like everyone to know that this was a bad call), and NORAEBANG (karaoke!). I keep expanding my repertoire of Korean pop songs, and it makes me infinitely happy. I had a great time, and I'm really going to miss Jihyang Unni. I hope I see her again...next year...?
• I'm sorry that I have no pop songs to post today; here, watch this instead. I nearly died laughing (make sure you read both the subtitles and the text on top of the screen). I guess even Koreans have trouble with Korean. How comforting, especially because I tried to watch the TV show that this is from, SNSD's "Hello Baby" (essentially, some irresponsible set of parents decided to give their 1-year-old son to SNSD to take care of for what appears to be like, a day and a half and they've somehow stretched this into 15 episodes) and I had an incredibly difficult time understanding it. At first, I was upset - I mean, how difficult could it be, these are a bunch of 19-20 year old girls talking in what I'm sure is common speech (반말), and I doubt they're using complicated sentence structure or super advanced vocabularly; but I think there is a big difference between understanding your Level 3 sunsaengnims (teachers), which I can do fairly well at this point, and understanding 그냥 한국어(everyday Korean). I still have a long way to go. But thank you for making me feel better, Kim Taeyeon, and embarrassingly mixing up the words for "nipple" and "pacifier" on network Korean television.
  
• My time here is rapidly dwindling (~10 days), and I'm starting to gather my thoughts on the summer as a whole, including Sogang and my experience there; I promise I'll post some stuff when exams aren't breathing down my neck, even if I have to wait until I'm back in America to do so ㅠ.ㅠ
• Just kidding, you can watch this video of 4 Minute, another abysmally wonderful girl group, singing an annoying song that I of course am currently trying to (illegally) download. The song title is "Hot Issue." AWESOME. What does that even mean?? Oh, and for good measure, I just downloaded this gem right here. SNSD's Jessica + SHINee's Onew = ballad goodness (the song title: "One Year Later"). I am going to start looking for the duet that Tiffany did with K.Will as soon as my homework is done...

Jangmi out.