Polyglot in Training

Back In Korea

2011-08-19T01:07:00.001-04:00

I finally arrived in Korea yesterday at around 9:00pm after a long day of traveling. I'll be writing more later when I have free time. :)

Making Plans

2011-01-09T13:40:00.003-05:00

So, for the past few weeks I have been planing my life after graduation. My number one priority right now is to start saving money for Korea. I've started searching for teaching jobs and I've gotten a recruitment company to help me with this. The company is called Korvia, does anyone know much about them? If so, please let me know all you can.

I'm so excited about the possibility to come back to a place that I really love and I hope that I can live in South Korea for a while (2 years or more). If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please let me know. I could use all the help I can get :)

Halfway There...

2010-12-27T17:20:00.002-05:00

I was just thinking today that I'm almost finished being a college student. I can't believe that it has already been four years since I started college as an 18 year old girl who didn't really know what she wanted to do, to now being 21 years old, ready to go back to South Korea to pursue her life after college. It has been a very long journey. Sometimes too hard to stand and other times, the most exciting times that I have every experienced.

Hi again....

2010-08-10T19:50:00.002-04:00

I haven't made a post to my blog in such a long time. I don't even know if anyone reads it now lol. Anyway, I'm thinking about posting things more frequently. Things about school, life, etc. If anyone still reads my blog thanks^^ and sorry for leaving you hanging lol

Goodbye Trip to DaeJeon

2009-11-26T02:31:00.021-05:00

Last weekend I took my first trip outside of Seoul. I went to Daejeon, a city about 2 hours away from Seoul to visit my friend SukChul. He was an exchange student at Maryville College last year. Some people may remember him. He will be preparing for the mandatory 2 years of military service for Korean men on November 30th, so we decided to visit him in his hometown before he left.

First we had to take a subway from Hanyang University to Seoul Station. There Rhonda and I met Seoni-Mi and Marissa and we bought our train tickets. We were able to sit on the train for about 30 minutes and then we had to give up our seats (stupid, I know) but we had fun sitting in the train cafe. There was a guy with a really cute hat on the train so I had to take a picture of him ^^

Once we got to the train station, we saw Sukchul waiting for us. He was pretending to hide but we all knew it was him immediately haha. The first thing we did was went to one of the most famous restaurants in Daejeon, according to him. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. I was so hungry I couldn't focus on anything but eating. We ate 갈비탕, a soup made using ribs and different vegetables. It was really delicious. After eating, we went to his home were we met his mother. She was very hospitable.

After meeting his mom, we went to a place called Expo Road. It was so beautiful, even though it was freezing cold that night. We stayed there taking pictures for about 2 hours then we went back to SukChul's home.

Swine Flu???

2009-11-06T20:53:00.005-05:00

Before anyone that reads this blog freaks out, I do not have swine flu. I was, however, very, very sick this past week. It started on Sunday when I had a horrible fever with chills and aching muscles. I felt like I would die!! So, I drunk some green tea and took medicine and slept all day. The next day was a little better, I had a really bad headache and my throat was sore but I didn't have a fever. On Tuesday I woke up at 7:30am to see a movie with a friend I hadn't met in a while. Everything was going well until suddenly during the movie I started to have this irritating feeling in my throat and I couldn't stop coughing. Thankfully, my friend is a good person :); he left during the most important part of the movie to buy me a bottle of water lol.

Fast foward to today, Saturday November 7th. I'm still a tiny bit sick. I'm getting over a cold. I'm still not sure what was wrong with me because I'm afraid to go to the doctor (bad, I know). Anyway, I just want everyone to know that I'm not dead. I know I don't update my blog very often, but these days have been very busy recently. I realized that I should start taking more pictures because I don't have a very long time left here in Korea. I really don't want to leave though. I love living here. Actually, I'm thinking about extending my stay^^ I'm sure my family would be happy about that haha

Exams!!!

2009-10-17T23:59:00.002-04:00

Last week I had my first exam for my Korean class and I'm happy to say that I did very well. I don't know if I'll be able to say that about my other exams next week though....I have 3 exams starting next Wednesday and I have spent all weekend preparing for them. I would rather be meeting friends or just going out but this is more important right now lol. Actually, I'm about to start studying right now. Wish me luck:)

Could you fit into these shoes?

2009-10-02T23:20:00.008-04:00

These aren't real shoes but many of the shoes in Korea look like this compared to my shoe size. A few weeks ago I was trying to find a pair of shoes since the heels that I brought with me were a little too high to wear for walking around for long periods of time. I tried many stores but I couldn't find anything that fit me and when I did happen to find something, the shoe was, to put it bluntly, ugly. Before coming to Korea, I knew that most Korean woman had smaller feet than I did, but I did not realize that my feet were considered "too big" or "close to male size" haha. Since I wasn't having any luck at any stores around my area, 왕십리(Wangshimni), my friend 선미(SeonMi) suggested that I go to 이태원(Itaewon). Itaewon is an area of Seoul were many foreigners live and hang out in. There is a U.S military base located there so many Americans can be seen. I thought it would be pretty easy to find shoes there since many foreigns live and shop there but I still had no luck.

After that, I had sort of given up on trying to find shoes until I went to 이대(Edae), an area close to Ewha Women's University. I saw a shoe store and decided to try one more time. I put on a shoe and it actually fit me! I thought, maybe my feet lost weight or something. Anyway, this blog entry isn't really me complaining about shoes in Korea, it's more about me letting other people who were any size after an 8.5 to consider bringing their own shoes or ordering them online. If your feet are smaller than that, consider yourself lucky (or normal in Korea, lol).

3 Weeks in Seoul

2009-09-12T21:07:00.003-04:00

I've been so busy since I arrived in Korea that I haven't been able to blog about anything that has happened to me. I have free time this weekend so I will write more then. I have so much to talk about :)

I'm Here!!

2009-08-25T02:01:00.002-04:00

I've finally arrived in Korea. I got here on August 23rd but I haven't been able to access the internet until today. Rhonda, my roommate and me had to go find a place to buy an ethernet cable. Fortunately, with my limited Korean skills we were able to find one. I'm very excited and also very jet lagged so I think I will end this post for now. I will upload pics later.

Confusion

2009-06-13T12:18:00.004-04:00

So, I'm trying to apply for my student visa but I am so confused right now. I've been to at least 20 different sites hoping to find help but they all say different things!! If all else fails, I'll just send what was on the list from the Korean consulate in Atlanta. Hopefully, they will tell me if I'm missing anything. Can anyone help me out? Student visas are more stressful than I thought!

Finally Going to Korea!!

2009-05-20T15:54:00.003-04:00

After almost a year of planning, filling out applications and planning I am finally going to Korea! I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I don't know what to talk about first, all the preparations that went into planning the trip or all the things I want to do while I'm there. I will post more soon but right now I'm going to go eat dinner.
-Khamela ^^

First Day of Classes

2008-08-27T16:19:00.003-04:00

Well, actually it's first day of class for me. I only had one class today at 9:00am. I guess you could say I'm lucky lol. World Religions seems like it's going to be fun. Anyway, that's all I have to say right now.

Bubble Tea

2008-08-17T02:47:00.004-04:00

My friend Lauren, sent me a picture of her first bubble tea. If you're wondering what bubble tea is you can read the wikipedia article or I can try to give the best explanation I can lol. Bubble or Boba Tea is usually a milk tea with large Tapioca pearls at the bottom of the drink. I believe the pearls is the reason it's called bubble tea but there could be another reason. There are many, many different flavors of Bubble Tea so I'm sure anybody who tries it might like it. An example of the many flavors is the kind of tea my friend ordered. She had a raspberry flavor while her sister had an avocado flavor. Wow, I didn't even think an avocado flavored drink existed until she told me. She said her sister liked it but I'm not sure if I'll be trying avocado Bubble Tea anytime soon... If you want to try this drink but don't know where to find it, you can order a home kit online if you're daring enough to make it on your own. You can also just search everywhere until you find a place that sells it already made. Good Luck!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

2008-08-08T00:09:00.003-04:00

Yay!! I'm 19 today^^ Big Bang's new mini album is out today. It's a good present cause no one gave me a real present lol

More Japanese Classes

2008-08-01T09:30:00.008-04:00

It's almost time for me to go back to school which means more Japanese classes yay!! lol I'm really excited about going back to college, staying home with nothing to do sucks. Going back to school also means I'm getting closer to studying abroad in Korea^^ I can't wait. I'm so happy lol. Ok, enough craziness.

This is the book I used in my class last semester.If those characters on the book are unfamiliar to you, they say "Genki". I'll be using the "Genki II" book this semester. Hopefully I'll remember everything I've learned so far. Become a Polyglot is harder than I originally thought, but I can do it^^.

Random Pictures

2008-07-30T16:41:00.020-04:00

These are some pictures I took at a restaurant called 가야(Kaya). It's in Knoxville but I forgot the exact address. I'll find and post it later. Excuse the quality, I took these with my cell phone^^;;

김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae) is a stew or soup made with kimchi, of course. Other ingredients can be added also. Mine had tofu, pork, rice cakes , onions, carrots, and rice noodles. When the waitress brought it out it was still boiling which startled me a little but it still very delicious.The picture on Wikipedia looks better than mine.

불고기(Bulgogi) is basically thinly cut beef cooked on a grill. Soy sauce is one of the seasonings used while making this dish. I only had onions with mine but mushrooms are also eaten with this.

파전(Pajeon) is like a pancake but it has onions insead of blueberries. The 파전 in the picture was made with seafood. I think there was shrimp and scallops in it. It was served with a dipping sauce which made it taste even better. Again, the picture on wikipedia looks better than mine lol.

Word of the Day

2008-07-30T16:28:00.004-04:00

김치

(kimchi)

Traditional korean fermented dish made with vegetables, most commonly Napa cabbage

Note: This is also very delicious lol

Full House...not the Mary-Kate and Ashely one

2008-07-29T22:05:00.004-04:00

This was the first foreign drama I've ever watched. It's also part of what made me want to learn korean. 풀하우스 (pool ha woo seu) or Full House is based on a manga about a regular girl who ends up living with a high profile celebrity. I'm not very good at writing summaries so I'll just let you read the article on Dramawiki lol. I'll try to summarize later^^...I'm so lazy haha

우산-Epik High

2008-07-29T21:30:00.011-04:00

Artist: Epik High

Song: 우산(usan)

Album: Pieces, Part One

Genre: Hip Hop

I just saw the music video for this song a few days ago and it reminded me of why I love Epik High so much. I'll write about them later. 우산(usan) is the korean word for umbrella, by the way^^

Word of the Day

2008-07-29T12:25:00.006-04:00

餅
もち(mochi)
sticky rice cake

Note: Mochi icecream is delicious^^lol

Word of the Day

2008-07-28T10:48:00.004-04:00

私
わたし(watashi)
I

Okaeri-Ayaka

2008-07-28T10:20:00.009-04:00

Artist: ayaka
Song: Okaeri
Album: Sing to the Sky
Genre: Jpop

The theme song for the Japanese drama Absolute Boyfriend.

絶対彼氏-Zettai Kareshi

2008-07-28T09:28:00.007-04:00

I finished watch the Japanese drama Zettai Kareshi or Absolute Boyfriend yesterday and I have to say, it was much better than I expected. It was based off of a manga series of the same name like many Japanese dramas, I've noticed. I decided not to write about the drama because I want people to watch it lol (or maybe I'm just lazy). I'll probably end up writing a summary of the story later lol.

Word of the Day

2008-07-27T07:48:00.004-04:00

안녕하세요
(an nyeong ha se yo)
hello

What to do today?...

2008-07-25T07:25:00.005-04:00

nothing...again lol. It's 8:23 am (the time where is say "posted by Khamela at.." is very wrong) here and there's nothing to do, like always. So, I guess I'll start watching "일박이일(il bak ee il)" on youtube. I don't really know what else to talk about right now since nothing exciting has happened to me yet this summer. This blog is boring, huh...lol. Hopefully it'll become more exciting once I get back to school. I'll think of something to write later.

-Khamela^^

Can't Sleep

2008-07-25T05:35:00.003-04:00

Since I can't go back to sleep, I guess I'll start this blog now. I was going to start a blog when I went to Korea but since I have one more year until that happens and I was bored I decided to start one now. Eventually this will become a blog about living and going to college in Korea, but until then I'll just write about random things with an emphasis on languages. Until I think of something else, goodnight.
-Khamela^^