Hello everyone.
Tests are over, and they went well. I worried a little much about them, as I usually do. We had a writing test, a listening/reading comprehension test, and then a speaking test, with a subsequent mock interview in Korean.
Before I forget, I don't think I have talked about it yet; I'd like to introduce the Chimchilbang. It is this massive sauna/spa type place, where for a mere 8 dollars or so you can spend the night, and enjoy all sorts of different specialized rooms, like the ice room, which is pretty much just a giant freezer, the medium, and high temperature rooms, or ou can sleep in the giant bucket of warm clay balls. If all of this doesn't sound bizarre enough, you come into one of these at night and there countless Koreans sleeping on the ground, where ever they can, lying there heads on either books they have taken off the shelf or wooden blocks that serve as pillows. This is where we stayed when we went to Busan, and I was quite surprised to say the least.
Last weekend, I went on a retreat with a church that I have started to attend. I really needed to get out of the city after exams and everything, and it turned out to be a remarkably restorative trip. Here, I also came across something unlike anything I had ever seen before. When my friend Lucas and arrived at the retreat site, that looked like some gigantic post-nuclear-fallout fortress more than the typical cabin in the woods that at least I associate with the word "retreat" with, we came across loud chanting in front of a cemetery. Being the curious individual that I am, Lucas and I started climbing the hill that was the cemetery and there were Koreans praying passionately in front of gravestones, and yelling out the "Father", along with a group of people at the top in a dark hut chanting. I wasn't really frightened, just really thrown off; it was a really interesting experience. We later found out that it was an old prayer mountain turned cemetery. If anything, Koreans take their Christianity seriously, at least a lot of them do. However, our retreat was quite different, thankfully. The congregation has a lot of young people, foreigners, who are in Korea for certain amount of time much like myself. I met some great people there, a couple from Portland, a Korean pop-star (he is the praise team leader), and a bunch of music producers. I met some people that'll be hanging out with Beyonce when she hits up Seoul this month. I'm so jealous...not really, haha.
Then, this coming weekend, with this church, I'll be going on a trip to the DMZ (demilitarized zone), the really wide border between North and South Korea, thanks to some special connections, we'll get into a little of North Korea, and we are going to pray for those in North Korea on that ground.
I need to speak to the people organizing the trip to see if I can bring a camera man along, haha.
The documentary is going very well. And it has been confirmed. I will be appearing on Korean cable televison. I'm so excited. Before I get to that though, my class at school threw the people in our class a surprise belated Birthday party. It was really nice. Sogang's goal is to provide students with functional Korean skills and help create long-lasting relationships, and I really think they're doing well at reaching that goal everyday.
Yesterday, Friday, I got followed around by the cameras all day. It was a really exhausting day. But I love it! It started out in the morning with them filming miscellaneous living scenes, and then of course my daily wlk to school, and then all day at school. Then Lucas and I had our first legitimate performance yesterday, and it went great. So the camera's followed me to the South side of the city to go rehearse with Lucas for our gig. And along with all the following, I also had to do bunch of interviews whenever we could find a picturesque background.
The term at Sogang is halfway finished, and I am really looking forward to heading to Thailand next month during our break between terms. That's my next trip on my intermittent Asia tour. I am gonna go visit my brother for a couple of weeks, and since he has a trip of his own for about a week, I may head Malaysia, or just chill in Thailand. See you all in a week or so!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Back from Busan
It's been a week since I got back from Japan. Last week school was quite relaxed, a pretty intense contrast with this week and its midterms.
Last week Sogang had its yearly culture festival. The slogan was, " fall in love with the world with Sogang." There was also no school last Wednesday, some important person's birthday, I think. Then one day was spent participating in the festival. We played games, and then set up booths with typical food from the countries of the people in each of our classes. Last week was fun, but this week calls for some buckling down. I have my writing midterm on Wednesday, and then the listening/reading, and speaking portion are on Thursday. Then, we have a mock interview next week. I am in second level. I thought I was going to be in level 3 when I got here, but there was still quite a bit to learn in level, and given all the adjustments, I felt it was better to spend my first month at Sogang, in a sense, reviewing, so I could get all things pertaining to lifestye settled. Now the new stuff is coming out, and it is quite exciting. However, the same it was with Japanese, when it comes to language, I do most of my learning outside the classroom: watching tv with dictionary in had, talking it incessantly with Koreans, etc. So, although, at first, I was bit dissapointed with getting into level 2, but since I am in the country, it doesn't make that much of a difference, because I am basically swimming in a big pool of Korean 24/7. And, also my Korean is a lot better than my Japanese was when I had only been there for a month, so I think that is a good sign, especially since Japanese people think I am half Japanese, and in Korea whenever I speak Japanese to Japanese-learning Koreans, they ask me if I am from Japan, so I am gonna forget my inner Yalie for now, and not let a number on paper bother me. Being here, completely immersed, is the true reward of the fellowhsip. Also the friends I am making at school are great, and I probably wouldn't have met them had I not been in the class I am in. I am personally a big beleiver of fate and what not. One them is Shao Nan. He is Chinese and a really nice guy. We are gonna start doing some language exchange, some Spanish for some Chinese, that way I can get a head start for my what I am hoping will be ayear abroad at PKU at some point, probably junior year.
Enough about school, I went to th Cannes of Asia this weekend, and it was amazing, but it was even better because I went there being the star of a documentary! Unlike the Seoul festival, this festival was HUGE! Over a 100 films, and they all got sold out. I got to see a concert with Japanese and Korean hip-hop artists. I saw m-flo, and SOUL'd OUT. This probably means nothing to anyone outside of Asia, but I love these guys. I got really hooked on them when I lived in Japan, and it was really surreal to see them live in Korea.
It was so refreshing to see an entire city, Busan, so dedicated to its film culture. It was also surreal, that last year at Yale, I had written my final paper for my film class on Korean cinema and talked a lot about the Busan film festival, and, now, I was actually there. Too good to be true.
I saw a Thai film for my brother, a Slovenian film (which was amazing, I may have a new favorite director) since I had never seen a Slovenian film, a Canadian film (French) which I had also not yet seen, and then Paranoid Park, a film my Gus van Sant, from Portland, Oregon!!! The movie was actually questionable, but the reason I saw it is because, I auditioned for this film and got a callback, but I was already at Yale. So had I not been at Yale, I may have been in this film, maybe it would have been better, haha. Just kidding.
Being in this documentary is pretty ironic. Why do you ask? Well, this summer, in Argentina, my job was to cater to all these rising actors, and at times I wouls be overcome with all sorts of day-dreaming and wishful thinking, but then I would remember that I was just an assistant producer. But now, although the documentary isn't that big of a deal, the production is really hooking me up, and it is quite fun to be followed around with a camera, and get interviewed just like the kinds Argentina had been; it's a funny little irony of the universe, and I am enjoying it thouroughly. They will be coming to my school a couple of times this week to film me, and then they will film Lucas and I at the club where we played last time at well, then I have to go to their studio to do interviews. The director is a lady that used to work for MBC, a major broadcasting company in Korea. She has been all over the world, and is so nice and funny. I also get to narrate in Korean, and all the extra attention I get from production is really helping my Korean.
Wht's the documentary about?? well, I finally found out. It is about happiness. I consider myself an extremely happy person, and this lady was convinced enough to put me in the documentary as the happy foreigner. The documentary is going to follow three subjects: Me, a Korean housewife from the southern part of Korea, and a Korean indie rock band. Her vision is to make a documentary that will contage people with happiness, and inspire them to dare to be happy....etc, etc, you get the jist. So am I quite honored to become the face of foreign happiness in her documentary, haha. It's a blast.
This is getting really long, so I will wrap it up. Basically, Busan was amazing, I ate raf fish on the beach while watching fireworks, and a beautiful light-up bridge (I ate raw sea worm, it looked disgusting, but it was glorious), saw amazing films, and was able to experience something that until recently I had only read about. Thanks Light Fellowship! Well, I need to get to studying. Until next week!
Last week Sogang had its yearly culture festival. The slogan was, " fall in love with the world with Sogang." There was also no school last Wednesday, some important person's birthday, I think. Then one day was spent participating in the festival. We played games, and then set up booths with typical food from the countries of the people in each of our classes. Last week was fun, but this week calls for some buckling down. I have my writing midterm on Wednesday, and then the listening/reading, and speaking portion are on Thursday. Then, we have a mock interview next week. I am in second level. I thought I was going to be in level 3 when I got here, but there was still quite a bit to learn in level, and given all the adjustments, I felt it was better to spend my first month at Sogang, in a sense, reviewing, so I could get all things pertaining to lifestye settled. Now the new stuff is coming out, and it is quite exciting. However, the same it was with Japanese, when it comes to language, I do most of my learning outside the classroom: watching tv with dictionary in had, talking it incessantly with Koreans, etc. So, although, at first, I was bit dissapointed with getting into level 2, but since I am in the country, it doesn't make that much of a difference, because I am basically swimming in a big pool of Korean 24/7. And, also my Korean is a lot better than my Japanese was when I had only been there for a month, so I think that is a good sign, especially since Japanese people think I am half Japanese, and in Korea whenever I speak Japanese to Japanese-learning Koreans, they ask me if I am from Japan, so I am gonna forget my inner Yalie for now, and not let a number on paper bother me. Being here, completely immersed, is the true reward of the fellowhsip. Also the friends I am making at school are great, and I probably wouldn't have met them had I not been in the class I am in. I am personally a big beleiver of fate and what not. One them is Shao Nan. He is Chinese and a really nice guy. We are gonna start doing some language exchange, some Spanish for some Chinese, that way I can get a head start for my what I am hoping will be ayear abroad at PKU at some point, probably junior year.
Enough about school, I went to th Cannes of Asia this weekend, and it was amazing, but it was even better because I went there being the star of a documentary! Unlike the Seoul festival, this festival was HUGE! Over a 100 films, and they all got sold out. I got to see a concert with Japanese and Korean hip-hop artists. I saw m-flo, and SOUL'd OUT. This probably means nothing to anyone outside of Asia, but I love these guys. I got really hooked on them when I lived in Japan, and it was really surreal to see them live in Korea.
It was so refreshing to see an entire city, Busan, so dedicated to its film culture. It was also surreal, that last year at Yale, I had written my final paper for my film class on Korean cinema and talked a lot about the Busan film festival, and, now, I was actually there. Too good to be true.
I saw a Thai film for my brother, a Slovenian film (which was amazing, I may have a new favorite director) since I had never seen a Slovenian film, a Canadian film (French) which I had also not yet seen, and then Paranoid Park, a film my Gus van Sant, from Portland, Oregon!!! The movie was actually questionable, but the reason I saw it is because, I auditioned for this film and got a callback, but I was already at Yale. So had I not been at Yale, I may have been in this film, maybe it would have been better, haha. Just kidding.
Being in this documentary is pretty ironic. Why do you ask? Well, this summer, in Argentina, my job was to cater to all these rising actors, and at times I wouls be overcome with all sorts of day-dreaming and wishful thinking, but then I would remember that I was just an assistant producer. But now, although the documentary isn't that big of a deal, the production is really hooking me up, and it is quite fun to be followed around with a camera, and get interviewed just like the kinds Argentina had been; it's a funny little irony of the universe, and I am enjoying it thouroughly. They will be coming to my school a couple of times this week to film me, and then they will film Lucas and I at the club where we played last time at well, then I have to go to their studio to do interviews. The director is a lady that used to work for MBC, a major broadcasting company in Korea. She has been all over the world, and is so nice and funny. I also get to narrate in Korean, and all the extra attention I get from production is really helping my Korean.
Wht's the documentary about?? well, I finally found out. It is about happiness. I consider myself an extremely happy person, and this lady was convinced enough to put me in the documentary as the happy foreigner. The documentary is going to follow three subjects: Me, a Korean housewife from the southern part of Korea, and a Korean indie rock band. Her vision is to make a documentary that will contage people with happiness, and inspire them to dare to be happy....etc, etc, you get the jist. So am I quite honored to become the face of foreign happiness in her documentary, haha. It's a blast.
This is getting really long, so I will wrap it up. Basically, Busan was amazing, I ate raf fish on the beach while watching fireworks, and a beautiful light-up bridge (I ate raw sea worm, it looked disgusting, but it was glorious), saw amazing films, and was able to experience something that until recently I had only read about. Thanks Light Fellowship! Well, I need to get to studying. Until next week!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Back from Japan
I got back from Japan a couple of days ago. I came back to school for a pretty relaxed weeks, probably because we have our midterm next week. Today, October 3rd, is a national holiday, and tomorrow all of the foreign students at Sogang will participate in Sogang's yearly cultural festival. it is currently taking place, from October 1st to the 5th.
Japan was truly wonderful. It was so great to see old friends, and all of my former host families. I spent the first half in Niigata, and then I spent the rest in Tokyo. I also checked out the small village of Kamakura, the former capital of Japan almost one thousand years ago, the location of the great Buddha, the giant 35 foot Buddha statue.
As for new developments, there are a bunch of live music clubs by where I live, particularly one right next door, at which my friend and I played before I went to Japan. The owners want us to play once a week, and I am more than willing. As for the documentary. I was given a camera to film myself during my trip in Japan, and this Saturday they are funding my trip to the Busan International Film Festival, the largest and most important film festival in Asia. They will film my entire trip there. This will be the first major shooting of the documentary, and beyond that they will probably start following around Seoul and in to school and what not. I am so excited. Busan is about 3 hours away on the KTX, which is like the equivalent to the Japanese bullet train.
It is a city on the south coast of South Korea, and it has a ferry service to Fukuoka, Japan.
I have made a bunch of Korean friends at parties and what not, and they have become instrumental in the improvement of my language skills. Little by little, my Korean is getting better and better. It is all about getting past the first three months, and then it is smooth sailing from there on, it's been that way with the German and the Japanese.
FIGHTING!
Japan was truly wonderful. It was so great to see old friends, and all of my former host families. I spent the first half in Niigata, and then I spent the rest in Tokyo. I also checked out the small village of Kamakura, the former capital of Japan almost one thousand years ago, the location of the great Buddha, the giant 35 foot Buddha statue.
As for new developments, there are a bunch of live music clubs by where I live, particularly one right next door, at which my friend and I played before I went to Japan. The owners want us to play once a week, and I am more than willing. As for the documentary. I was given a camera to film myself during my trip in Japan, and this Saturday they are funding my trip to the Busan International Film Festival, the largest and most important film festival in Asia. They will film my entire trip there. This will be the first major shooting of the documentary, and beyond that they will probably start following around Seoul and in to school and what not. I am so excited. Busan is about 3 hours away on the KTX, which is like the equivalent to the Japanese bullet train.
It is a city on the south coast of South Korea, and it has a ferry service to Fukuoka, Japan.
I have made a bunch of Korean friends at parties and what not, and they have become instrumental in the improvement of my language skills. Little by little, my Korean is getting better and better. It is all about getting past the first three months, and then it is smooth sailing from there on, it's been that way with the German and the Japanese.
FIGHTING!
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