So it's been about 3 weeks into Korea at this point. I've been on break for the past few days for Chuseok and thought I should get another blog post out so that everyone can see what I've been up to. It's been a little stressful and hectic these past few days which is why I've postponed an update for so long, but so much has happened within the last few days that I can't push it back any longer! I promise to explain things more in detail unlike the last post where I just uploaded a bunch of pictures and BS'ed my way through the post, BUT there's so much to cover so this is gonna be a crazy post. After I get this mass-post out of the way, I will try to post more frequently so they aren't so long and I can be more specific and detailed!
So let's start!
September 3rd
My first day at Daewon Foreign Languages High School was on September 9th, but before that our resident director took us to meet the English department coordinator for class assignments and to get our uniform. Right after class, we couldn't find her anywhere so we just went to the stationary shop to buy homework notebooks for Korean class. We met up with her a little later on, maybe an hour or so, and headed off by subway to Daewon where she quiz us on our ability to find our way to school. Luckily, my host dad had taken me to Daewon on the very first day that I moved in, so I had a good idea of where to go (although I accidentally went in the opposite direction at one point).
First, we met the English coordinator after hiking up the ridiculous and infamous Daewon hill. He took us on a tour of the amazing campus with rooftop views and secret gardens. I was already in love with this place before the first day haha. The campus is beautiful and, aside from the hike, I love that it's built into the side of a mountain so it overlooks all of the surrounding area. My commute is super short because it's only 4 stops away from my subway station so it only takes 25 minutes or so to get to school compared to the 80 minute commute I was supposed to have before switching host families. Definitely blessed to live so close to this place and in the middle of Seoul!
Once we finished our tour and said our goodbyes, we headed out to get fitted for uniforms! I've never worn a uniform before so this was a really exciting experience for me, especially because I had heard that Daewon has really nice uniforms. I only took photos of the shop, so I don't have any pictures of me wearing the uniform on that day, but a little bit down you'll find a picture from my first day!
Our director also treated us all to ice cream before we parted ways that day!
The day that we went to get uniforms was unfortunately on the birthday of one of the girls from the program, so we didn't get to celebrate it that day. We made plans to celebrate the next day after Korean class by going cake decorating and to noraebang!
We found a little cake decorating place on the internet that was also in Hongdae where our classes were, so it was within walking distance after class. Unfortunately, two of the girls had to leave to go home that day so there was only 10 of us instead of 12. I remember I got very irritated when we were walking to the cake place that day because the others were giving some attitude while we navigated our way there which built into additional tension later on. The cake itself was $20 and there was an additional charge for icing, fruit, utensils, and additional adornments so we just stuck to cake and melon icing.
Before decorating!
Afterwards decorating! Mine was the top center one, but I went a little crazy on the icing.
I remember I didn't really want to eat any of the other cake slices even though we decided we would each take a bite from each slice and rotate it around. When I was about to take a bite, the others started pushing me to hurry up and pass my cake around so I got a little peeved. I just passed my slice and decided I'll finish it up after 9 other people have a piece of it first... I realize it was a little immature for me to get irritated, but I just felt offended that nobody was considerate enough to let me have a piece of my cake since it would be the only one I wanted to eat. I passed all the other cakes, but somehow they all piled up near my end and the others made comments that I was taking too long and clogging up the line even though I passing every single slice as soon as it got to me... Alright. I definitely didn't enjoy the experience that day, but it wasn't about me! So I just let it blow over before we headed out for karaoke across the street.
So we went over to the black building in the picture for karaoke which was cool because the windows were tinted, so we got great views without people being able to watch us sing our hearts out! We had a lot of fun that day! I remember singing Oh Yeah by GD&TOP as the first song that day and then Hands Up by 2PM a little later on. It was a great experience, but I feel a little embarrassed knowing so many KPOP songs while everyone else chose throwback American music.
We split off from the group after karaoke, so it was just 4 of us and we walked around Hongdae to grab some dinner while stopping to listen to a few street performances. After we ate dinner, I headed home, which marks the end of that day!
September 5th
The next day I just went to Korean class as normal and didn't make any plans afterwards except studying and doing homework. I just remember my host mom actually cooked a really nice and filling breakfast that morning.
For breakfast, I will usually just have rice and kimchi with an occasional soup every few days, but recently my host parents have been making me toast and eggs which I love. Lunches are light, usually just toast and butter, sometimes bread rolls too. Dinner is also the standard rice and kimchi with a few other sides like mushrooms or pickled turnips. There will usually be soup, but I only liked it when it was kimchi soup.
September 6th
The next morning, our Korean class was pushed back, so I decided to go out and explore a few places alone before then. My first stop was Myeongdong because I had to exchange my USD for KRW and I heard that Myeongdong has the best exchange rates. I didn't take very many pictures that day since Myeongdong isn't that pretty in the mornings, but I just bought a few cosmetic products like face masks and hand creams.
Afterwards, I went to get my haircut at Juno Hair in Ewha because a friend of mind told me that they treat you VERY well and give you amazing service for only $25. I normally cut my own hair in America and haven't gone to a salon in 5 years, but I knew I wouldn't have time to spend 3 hours on my hair and decided to just get it styled here instead. As soon as I walked in and told them I wanted a haircut, they took my backpack and cardigan from me and put it in a locker. They brought out a robe, had me take a seat and brought out a complimentary drink menu. I just got an iced green tea while they brought out a photobook for me to choose haircuts from. I didn't have anything in mind, so I just told the stylist to cut my hair however he liked. They took me into the washing area where they shampooed my hair and did a mini scalp & neck massage. After he finished cutting my hair, I got another wash/massage before coming back out for drying and styling. I was really happy with my haircut. I only had 10,000 won notes on me so I just handed them 40,000 won and said to keep the change. I wasn't sure what the tipping rate was in Korea, but apparently 15,000 is extremely generous. After asking a few people, they said that they usually don't tip for haircuts at all and were all shocked to hear I tipped enough to get another haircut. I don't really mind because it was the first time I've gotten my hair cut in years and he did a really good job.
The only photo I had from the experience, unfortunately from an awful angle. Oh well.
By the time the haircut was finished, it was about 12:45pm and my Korean class was at 2pm so I headed over to Hongdae. Since I still had an hour before class started, I just walked around the Exit 9 area where the nice part of Hongdae is. While walking around, I noticed Crow Piercings, a place where a girl who had been here for the summer trip recommended. When I walked in, I mentioned her and one of them said "Oh yeah! She was from Saudi Arabia and spoke really good Korean. She got 7 piercings while she was here." All the other girls were so surprised haha. I just browsed around a little bit before asking how much a piercing would be. They said it's $3 plus the price of the earrings, but would do a flat $10 for me. I couldn't pass up $10 piercings, so 5 minutes later my ears were pierced! I didn't remember that piercings actually hurt until I was actually sitting there with the needle in my ear hahahaha. They must have thought I was really brave to walk in and get my first piercings alone!
The above picture was taken right after I walked out and I was still freaking out internally that I got my ears pierced within 10 minutes of walking past the store. Below was me later that night with my piercings, haircut, and face strips that I bought in Myeongdong. I went to class that day and was freaking out because I started to not like how the earrings looked, even after my classmates reassured me that they looked nice. It wasn't until a little later in the day that I started to like them again. I was considering taking them out and letting the holes close up before I got home and my host parents noticed I got my ears pierced, but they never said anything anyways.
September 8th
That weekend, I had plans to meet up with one of the girls who would be going to the same school as me so that we could find our way to the school before our first day the following Monday.
After we made sure we knew our way to the school, we just went around to check out the area. We just chatted, walked around, and snapped a few photos since she brought her DSLR with her.
While we were walking, we noticed a cute little coffee shop called Rally Café and decided to stop in. Unfortunately, it was closed at the time but as we were about to walk away, the owner ran up to the shop to open the door for us. Since it was early and there wasn't anybody else, we stayed there for about 2 hours just catching up over caramel macchiatos. I had also ordered an ice cream waffle and a churro, both of which are frozen and heated up rather than actually baked/cooked... The coffee was amazing, but I pass on the defrosted food whenever I come here haha.
After we finished our coffees, we still had several hours to kill and decided to do a little exploring around Hongdae. We went a little past where we usually are for classes and found some really endearing and charming places, most of which were cafes. There isn't much to be said about that day because it was mostly just taking photos and chatting.
September 9th
The next morning was our first day of school! Like I said, I have been slacking on photo taking each day so I don't have any photos from my first day except me in my uniform that morning. I made it on time and checked in with the coordinator teacher. He introduced us to our home room teachers who took us to our class room and assigned us a helper student who would show us around. When I was walking by my classroom, the girls started to scream up until I entered the room. When I introduced myself, they would all "oooo and ahhhh" at everything I said haha. I've never felt so admired before. My helper was pretty nice and easy to ask questions, but otherwise he kind of brushed me off and didn't really have any interest in talking to me. When lunchtime came around, he ditched me to meet his friends so I had no idea where to go for lunch or how to get to the cafeteria. Luckily, another boy showed me the way to the cafeteria and ate lunch with me. After we finished eating, we went out into the field where kids play dodgeball and soccer after lunch. He brought me to a snack shop on campus and treated me to a chocolate cone ice cream! Since we have Korean class, we leave right after lunch and head over to Hongdae, so I said my good byes to my new classmates and headed out.
The days in between are kind of a blur because I didn't really go out or do much, and if I did then I didn't get pictures, but I'll definitely start! That Wednesday, a few kids from another class saw me alone afterschool and invited me to dinner, so of course I said yes! They were so easy to talk to and I definitely enjoyed my time eating with them. I was able to vent a lot about my frustrations and concerns about the school haha. However, the next day everyone was asking me "Did you really go out to eat with blah blah blah?" and when I replied yes, they told me they were so jealous... Haha.
September 12th
I don't remember what the day was like, but it was a little rainy so me and the other girl I was with stopped into a little shop before Korean class and afterschool to buy some bubble tea. The shop was suuuuper nice and the music was really good, too.
September 13th
On Friday, we had plans with the same guy who showed me how to get to lunch at the school. He wanted to take us out for dinner before evening classes started. The kids at my school have normal class from 8am to 4pm, then they have a break before evening class starts from 6pm to 10pm. We went to Rally Cafe first (the place where me and the other girl had gone to that weekend) and grabbed a coffee while we waited for him to finish and meet us at 5pm. While we were there, we met a very interesting girl named Sunny Kang who was filming a documentary in Seoul. She was following a girl at Daewon who was romantically attracted to men, but sexually attracted to women. Her parents thought it was a mental disease and apparently they're abusive towards her (throwing chairs). We added her on Facebook, so I'll definitely share her documentary whenever it's finished.
So after leaving Rally Cafe, we met up with our Daewon friend and he treated us to shabu shabu! While we were there, another table was full of Daewon kids who were dancing and singing to their upperclassman friends to encourage them to do well on their exams.
September 14th
The next day, I didn't really have plans, but one of the girls from the program called me and told me that it was the last day of the Seoul Fringe Festival in Hongdae and asked me to go with her. I got ready and headed out after inviting another friend to join us. Since it was my first time going out, I wanted to dress nice instead of my normal t-shirt and shorts haha. Most of the street performances started around 7pm so we just decided to meet at 4pm and walk around to explore before checking out the shows.
I only have videos of the performances which won't upload, so I'm sorry about that haha. The night was really fun and I picked up some flowers for my host mom before heading home just because I felt bad for staying out late. It was definitely worth coming out that night because I got to see some live rapping and eat samgyeopsal (which one of the girls form the program treated us to!)
So nothing interesting happened in the next few days. I went jean shopping at a place called Rodeo Jeans and had the door opened while I was pants-less in the changing room. Two of the NSLI-Y girls were standing outside with two of the employees when one of the guys opened the door. Hahaha. Apparently the jeans are cheap because I pay them in free shows. The thing was that after they opened the door, they just kind of stood there for at least 5 seconds before closing it. The two girls at least looked away, but both the employees just kind of checked out the goods before closing the door lmao.
September 16th
A few days later I took my friend to go get her hair cut at the same place that I went. She really liked her haircut and afterwards I found a sugar cane cart and bought one. It's not much... but since I actually have photos from that day I wanted to talk about it LOL.
September 18th
We only had to go to school on Monday and Tuesday, but had the rest of the week off for Chuseok. The first day, I went into Myeongdong with one of the NSLI-Y girls. Her host family was going out of town for Chuseok, so she had to get a temporary family and asked me to go with her to find her new place. Afterwards, we headed out to Myeongdong which was only a 15 minute walk from where she was staying.
There were about 8 of those posters so I took one down, rolled it up, and put it in my backpack haha. I was wanting to go to that one, but since it's a two day concert I found another one later in October that I want to go to. For those who don't know, I LOVE Korean hip hop and rap music, so it's my dream to go to a bunch of hip hop and rap concerts while I'm here. Unfortunately, most of them are in clubs and bars and I'm not allowed to go to those places on program rules. Anyways, we just walked around and bought some KPOP merch since she likes SHINee and Jay Park. We got super tall ice creams for $2, way better than a McDonald's cone haha.
Mango and yogurt flavor ahhhh so yummy.
Really nice shot of the sun setting behind the buildings.
We got some street food from one of the MANY carts.
Myeongdong is absolutely gorgeous during the night time!
So after walking around, shopping, and taking pictures, we came across a place that I had heard of online called Rest with Book and Coffee. It was one of my things that I wanted to do because after you drink coffee, you can go into another room and have a doctor fish pedicure!
The coffees were pretty expensive in the $5 range, but it was only $3 for the doctor fish service so it was actually worth it since other places charge upwards of $15 for doctor fish. I ordered a caramel macchiato (usually my go-to drink) and it was delicious!
After taking a thousand shameless coffee selcas, we moved over to the doctor fish area (where we took more shameless selcas)! The coffee shop worker washes your feet before you dip your toes in for the hungry fish to feast on your feet.
Before I even put my feet in... So scary hahaha.
It tickles so much!
Going for a mani-pedi. Smart girl.
After we finished getting our toes nibbled on, we headed out to take a few more pictures of Myeongdong at night. I walked with her back to her new temporary host family, dropped her off, and headed back home by subway.
September 18th
The next day was Chuseok and my host mom made so much food! I feel bad because I was sleeping all morning and she woke me up to come eat a huge breakfast that she had been preparing all morning long. This was also the first time that one of the side dishes was MEAT. I was really happy to finally have some haha. My host mom said that after we finished eating, we should go for a walk and go work out, then come back home hungry again for lunch.
After we finished eating, we went to get ready and my host dad took me to the Cheonggyecheon river where there's a really nice walking trail and a really beautiful place where you cross the river. I remember my coordinator told me in the taxi when we drove past the river that it was build by the president. The water is really clear and the fish are huge! Kind of scary... I'll probably fall in trying to cross to the walking trail one day...
Along the path, there is also a little workout park. Since it was Chuseok, it wasn't really crowded at all and I want to come back out here later on to work out before it gets really cold, but I'm worried that there will be too many people.
The other way to cross the river is an overhead bridge which actually leads into a subway station. The view from on top is really beautiful. It's just so interesting how the scenery goes from city to nature so quickly. Everything is so green on one side and so gray on the other.
September 19th
The next morning, my host mom took me to the mall to go shopping for winter clothes. I didn't actually buy anything because it was expensive as hell. When she said she would take me shopping for clothes, I thought we were going to the markets to bargain, not the international department store.
After eye-shopping, I headed over to Anguk to meet up with some of the other NSLI-Y kids who were getting a tour of the traditional area. One of them was stopped and aggressively pulled by the wrist to take a picture with some Chinese tourists... Hahaha.
After some exhausting street-hiking, we headed to Insadong to check out the area and grab some food. We found a cute coffee shop where I ordered an amazing mango smoothie. We just chatted, vented, and caught up with each other for about an hour or so. Our pictures together look really bad because we were all pretty exhausted from the tour haha.
We grabbed dinner at Crazyddok and it was delicious! We split an entree of chicken ddeokbokki for about $4 each, which was sooooo worth it. We ordered cheese-fried rice which they brought out and fried in the ddeokbokki broth and it was soooo good. This is one place that we definitely have to come back to in the future!
I went home a different way that I normally do because I discovered a really nice area of my neighborhood that looks like a street from Hongdae at night. It's a different subway stop on Line 2 rather than the one on Line 5. It's only 5 minutes or so further than the other subway stop, but much more convenient just because it's on Line 2.
WAIT I'M GONNA FREAK OUT FOR A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE I FOUND A SHOP THAT HAD A BUCCEE'S SWEATER AND IT MAKES ME MISS HOME SO MUCH. HOW DO THEY KNOW ABOUT BUCCEE'S IN KOREA?! PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF TEXAS WHO LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT BUCCEE'S IS! AHHH.
September 21st (Today)
So now that we're all caught up, we'll talk about what I did today! After breakfast, my host dad wanted to take me hiking at 9am. I had planned to study and sleep all day, but this was a much better idea haha. We went to Yongmasan Mountain, about 20 minutes by subway from my place and one stop away from my school (you can actually see Daewon from the mountaintop). Needless to say, the view was spectacular and overlooked a part of downtown Seoul.
I really did NOT want to take a picture after 2 hours of sweating, but my host dad insisted on taking one for me. I even had to keep pushing up my glasses because they would constantly slip off my face. We took a little break about a fourth of the way through and snacked on some bananas that my host dad had packed. About three fourths through we took another break and bought some ice cream from the somewhat out of place ice cream man at the top of the mountain, but I'm not complaining~
I honestly didn't expect to do a full blog post in one sitting, especially since it's been so long since I've last posted, but now I've caught everybody up with what I've been doing so far and I can start making posts about Korean class, high school, food, coffee, whatever! Hahaha. It's about 2am now so I'm just gonna go to bed. My favorite things that I've done so far are exploring the cities, eye-shopping, and hiking! All of which require a lot of walking and physical endurance haha.
Good night!
Now Playing: Don't Do That by Dok2 (ft. Beenzino & The Quiett)
