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!