Category Archives: Seoul Life 2011

Day out at Seoul Folk Flea Market 서울풍물시장

Some of you will know that I love visiting markets. I’ve already blogged about my visit to 모란시장 / 가락시장. One of the weekends, I made a trip down to the Seoul Folk Flea Market 서울풍물시장 located near Shinseol-dong 신설동역 exit 10.

Even before reaching the main building of the flea market, there are many makeshift stalls along the streets and the place was crowded, with mainly ajusshis and a few tourists here and there.

Look at all these books! If you ar a collector, maybe you will find some interesting titles here.

They also sell more normal things there don’t worry. Loads of antiques and old stuff.

The flea market itself is a 2 storey building divided into various sections such as: vintage clothes, antiques, electronics etc. On a 2nd floor is a food court kind of area.

I WAS SO TEMPTED BY THESE. Miniature bottles of Korean liquor. DAMN I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT!

Random ‘cafe’ among the stores. Pretty old school and nostalgic. They sell patpingsu for 2000won!

was tempted to get one of these oldies too!

Girls come fashionable in Korea. No matter what age.

An awesome sweet dog owned by a neighboring restaurant. I love meeting random dogs in Korea. And I think the ajusshi was just a random stranger. :D

 

Photolog: 부산여행 Part 3

Read about PART 1 and PART 2 ^^

We were off to Haeundae beach and frankly speaking, I prefer the Gwangalli beach instead. Less commercialized? I don’t know. The scenery is very different though, to the left and to the right of the beach.

There’s something very therapeutic about watching the waves crash onto the shore.

I don’t know how the ajosshis can climb those rocks. ><

The roads next to the beach were lined with seafood stores.

Which sells exactly the same thing at the same price. So I guess it’s up to the owners to get customers?

Loads of 회집.

So much 회 that I couldn’t look at it for a few weeks after we finished this meal. There were 3 of us and we couldn’t finish eating everything ><;; It was actually one of the most torturous meals in Korea, trying to stuff ourselves to death.

No meal in a 회집 is complete without 매운탕!

This a useless video of what we ate!  hehehe. We drowned it in wasabi and soy sauce before eating though. But it was super super delicious. And no, it doesn’t stick to your throat. Although I won’t say the same for those bigger octopus… *cues oldboy scene*

hahaha if I sufficiently freaked you out, I’m sorry. Blogging at 1.30am has its ways of making my writing a little more mean.

I’ll end this entry with a random fire truck photo. Time for bed.

Blogging takes time, so leave a comment if you like the post! ^^ ㅎㅎ

 

Photolog: 부산여행 Part 2

Time flies. I’m looking through my old photos and digging out stuff to blog about. I’ve already blogged about my short trip to Busan last year HERE.

This was the guesthouse (Indy House) that we stayed in. It’s pretty famous in Busan and the service / rooms etc were excellent! Definitely recommended. Click HERE for the site!

Random lunch at a random restaurant ^^ Blogging at 1am makes me hungry.

I’ve never seen lettuce this fresh in restaurants locally.. D: But it’s everywhere in Korea.

One of my favorite photos from the trip! ^^

I think I’ll be very very contented living in one of those apartments. Facing the beach every single day. ^^

There’s just a sense of calm and peace in Busan. None of those mad rushes in Seoul. Perhaps that’s because it was winter then.

More photologs coming up ^^

Leave a comment if you liked the post!

Airport wifi is awesome

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I seem to vaguely remember that the first Seoul 2012 posts started with something about the airport wifi. So it seems apt to end with this.

Yes. The journey has came to an end. And I have no idea when I’ll be able to return to Korea. Maybe a year later? Maybe a few years? I dont know.

I’m strangely calm right now. But all the bitching depression posts may come soon.

30 mins to boarding time.

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I want to drown my sorrows. -.-

Last weekend in Seoul

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Ok. Second last day in Seoul. Post Korea depression has started to set in. Feeling sick and I really hope that I wont vomit on the plane tmr. Right now my stomach is like.. Burning. >< Trying to relax by and study Japanese. #antisocialmax

Don’t feel like hanging out.

FOOD: 추어탕/추어튀김

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Ok I’m actually WALKING and blogging at the same time. This is going to be kind of sarcastic since I’m not happy about some stuff right now. Anyway that was my dinner yesterday. Mudfish boiled in a stew for so long that everything is kinda dissolved. I was like digging through in and wondering WHERE’S THE FISH. I’M CHEATED. It wasnt bad. The tempura was nice though!!!!

I HAD MUDFISH TEMPURA. Sounds cool. They even deep fried sesame leaf.

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This is a disgusting pic but ohwells. What’s inside the tempura batter.

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I dont like to put my own photo on the site, but there, I made an exception.

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People photoshop to make themselves look nicer but oh wells. Sorry if I turned you off the dish/me. The weather is disgusting. Like Singapore.

I’m still walking. Tada. Blog post completed.

Q&A: sharing some thoughts

Michelle left me a comment over at the other post and I thought that since I’ll be answering them on my blog anyway I might as well do it in a post so that other people can benefit too ^^ My answers come from my own experience there, so it might not be the same for everyone.

1. How’s the interaction between the Language Course students and the general Korean KU students? Are they sorta segregated or do they mix well? Apart from the KU Buddy programme, are there any ways to join in and integrate? Like do you have access to the same libraries, same extracurriculars, same sports clubs/ gyms etc? (BTW, I’m not enrolling as an exchange student. Haven’t the luxury of time. I’m just going for the 10 wk programme)

I didn’t attend the language course (being an exchange student), but from what I see, they are segregated. This happens everywhere. Language course students usually have lesson from like 9am to 1pm and they are in a separate building. The KU language building is situated in the middle of the school, so it’s not as ‘separate’ as the KLI in Yonsei.

You can join the clubs etc if you want to know more Korean students ^^ You can just walk in to the student union building (where they hosts all the club rooms) and find out more. I accompanied a friend to do that and they are very welcoming.

We have access to the same libraries etc!

2. How’s the composition of the language class? Are they like mainly foreign exchange students who also do non-language courses? And were the nationalities fairly well-mixed or, as some language schools tend to be, do people hang out along factional lines based on whether you’re Chinese/ Japanese/ Vietnamese/ American/ European? What’s the age group like?

I would say.. it depends on your level? Exchange students do not attend the same courses as the language course students. As for the nationality mix, if I can generalize, I would say that the lower levels usually have more Caucasian students (and also a better mix) while the higher levels are usually Asians from neighbouring countries (Japan/China) or gyopos (like Kor-Americans). This is not to say that non-Asians are less proficient, just that the interest in Korean language is more recent and less common compared to Asian countries. ^^;;

Again, it is hard for me to generalize how people hang out. But based on what I’ve observed, factional lines are kinda distinct and its common for people to hang around their own group and speak their own language. The age group is usually around the 20s, but you do see exceptions around.

3. And yes, I completely don’t drink either. Did the Korean natives pressure you to drink? I know its like that in US, but in UK, you’re socially free to just order juice or whatever.

Nope they don’t pressurize you. But you have to understand that Koreans bond via drinks, drinking games etc. So it’s kinda awkward if you are among a group of Koreans and don’t drink. If you get what I mean… ^^;; But you are definitely free to order your own juice.

4. You know how different schools in Ivy attract different stereotypes? Like the really liberal and artsy sort go to Brown and the more science-y, practical, hands-on learning types go to MIT etc? Is there a parallel for SKY in Korea?

Yup there is such a parallel. I guess it has to do with the fact that certain schools are stronger in different faculties. But I do observe a general difference between Yonsei and KU in terms of school culture, the whole ‘feel’ and I have heard the same for SNU even though I have not been to their campus.

It’s good to look into and find out more about the school, country etc but going there and embrace the unknown is also a good thing. Just go with the flow and you will be fine. (: Everyone will have different experiences, and how it will be for you will depend on how open you are to embrace new cultures, experiences etc ^^

If anyone have any question regarding Korean, Korea etc, feel free to leave them in a comment. If there is enough questions, I’ll pick some and do up another post (:

I’ll try to answer all questions to the best of my abilities, but I don’t claim to know a lot about Korea. Just sharing my experiences

Talking about Korea makes me miss the place so so so so much!

삼선 슬리퍼

푸하하하하!!!

I’m strangely happy that I finally found out what is the name of the slippers that are so common in Korea. I should have guessed. For those who don’t get it, it means ’3 lines slippers’. Ingenious. Dare I venture to say that almost all Koreans will have at least a pair at home? :D

They are worn everywhere, cheap and so comfortable. I have seen university students who wears that to school too.. ㅋㅋ Of course on guys.

On hindsight, I should have bought a pair back home.. although I don’t think I will have much use for it here. Koreans wear them to go to the mart, downstairs etc

As you can probably sense, I’m still feeling super happy about my discovery. :D :D

I’m reading an article on the prevalence of university jumpers and this was in it ^^

Talking about university jumpers, I didn’t really understand the hype behind them. Why would fashion conscious Korean girls wear that everywhere (I don’t think it looks very nice…) and the guys are forever wearing that. I thought it was out of school loyalty and I was only partially correct. Turns out that it’s growing to another trend among university students to differentiate themselves. And also a way to flaunt that you are studying at a branded university. Perhaps that’s why I see a lot of Yonsei / Korea University / SNU jumpers around. ><

Not my cup of tea.

The baseball jumpers doesn’t suit the Singapore climate either and I’ll probably be attracting too much unwanted attention if I wear that to school here. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Okay I got side-tracked.

Back to studying (:

[Tip/Tutorial] How to choose a gositel / livingtel

For students or those on a budget that are looking to stay in Korea for an extended period of time (> 1 month), a gositel or livingtel is probably one of the top choices.

Firstly, let me briefly go through the choices that you have:

1. Gositel / livingtel

2. renting a very small apartment

3. doing homestay

4. living in a apartment converted into a mini hostel

Each of the choices has its own advantages/disadvantages, but since I chose choice 1, I’ll focus on it at the moment.

If you are going on exchange to a university, you may find that their international dormitories are too full or occasionally in a location that is not very accessible and convenient (as in KU).

A gositel / livingtel is an ‘upgraded version’ of gosiwon that boasts a slightly better facility. Most of the gositels in university areas are populated by exchange students, korean students (from other cities), language program students etc.

A gositel can either occupy one / more floors of a building or have their own building. The general idea is that a floor is divided into many SMALL rooms, and they share a common kitchen, with some kind of common area. Each floor usually has an office for the ajusshi living there and it is usually located by the door.

I have lived in two gositels: one very bad (A) and one pretty good (B) and I’ll make reference to both from time to time.

Rooms:

The rooms are usually very small (don’t ask me for dimensions), but there’s barely enough space to walk around. You stand in the middle and you can reach your bed, your table, the bathroom door and the main door – essentially a shoebox size.

There are usually 4 types of rooms:

  1. inner window (내부창) with bathroom
  2. outer window (외부창) with bathroom
  3. inner window without bathroom
  4. outer window without bathroom

Outer window / bathroom are usually the more expensive options. Inner window simply means a really SMALL square window (video below). I don’t open the inner window for privacy reasons and this means the room can get a little stuffy at times. Having an outside window means u are subject to the elements of the weather (super cold in winter) and mosquitoes in the summer. Having your own private shower facility is the best (for girls at least) but there’s also a common shower / bathroom on each floor.

Most rooms have a mini TV and a mini fridge. Bathrooms have the sink and the toilet bowl near each other and you shower using the shower head connected to the sink.

Kitchen:

Unlike what you see in photos, kitchens are not big. Usually it’s annoying to have more than 2 persons in the kitchen but sizes vary from places to places. Gositel A had a spacious kitchen with a kimchi fridge and gositel B had a smaller one with a normal fridge.

Most gositels provide free kimchi, cooked rice, ramen packets and eggs. Gositel A leave their eggs outside in room temp and I often see bad eggs around. I never touched eggs there. The cooked rice are left to keep warm in the cooker but sometimes I feel that the rice looks super old. The eggs in gositel B are HUGE and refrigerated and their rice is the purplish kind (which I like!) and cooked twice a day.

Utensils and bowls are provided and the quality of each varies. Gositel B is good. I usually use their plates / bowls.

Common Area:

Again, there’s no such thing as a common area (for most gositels). Whatever you see in the photos is taken at such a deceiving angle. Most gositels say they provide a PC and although they do, it’s usually the super old PC and located near the entrance of the gositel. It’s so weird to sit there and do your stuff so I suggest you either bring your own laptop or go to school to use their computers. All gositels like to save space and maximise the use of their space.

Internet / Misc:

Most gositels do not offer wireless network service and they provide just a ethernet cable. A solution may be to buy your own router device. There is usually a dustpan / vacuum machine for common use and also an ironing board and iron! Don’t expect too much though D:

General Tips:

  • Buy your own cleaning sponge. I am a clean freak and I use my own sponge to watch the utensils before and after using
  • I buy my own pot / pan. A small ramen pot cost around 3000won and a frying pan 5000won in Daiso (the savior of all exchange students) and I keep those in my own room after washing!
  • I never iron my clothes. Try to buy clothes that do not need to be ironed

Here’s a video of my room in gositel B

How to search for a gositel!

Now that I’ve outlined the facilities in a gositel, it’s time to talk about how to search for one. Gositels are abundant, especially near university areas and they are usually the better ones (I think). There are bound to be popular / unpopular ones and it’s good to check out reviews while you are searching. However, most reviews (in English) are not detailed and perhaps the better ones may be in Korean.

Each university usually have a few gositels that they recommend but doesn’t mean they are the best. Never trust what you didn’t see. That’s a good starting point to begin your search though.

Type in 고려대 고시텔 / 리빙텔 and you should see an array of results. Each gositel has their own site and never believe what you see in their photos. You can use that as a guide, but seriously, nothing looks that nice unless you happen to choose a newly opened gositel.

Gositels are priced at around 300,000 to 650,000won and of course, you get what you pay. A decent room in a decent gositel costs around 480,000won, so take that as a guide.

Each gositel website has a notice board where you can enquire about the room prices / availability, move in date etc. You typically type in a message, input a password (anything) and submit. The ajusshis in the gositel typically knows some English and will reply you within a day or so. If you know Korean, just type in Korean. Reservations are made this way and some places require you to wire a deposit to them.

These places fill up very fast (especially the ones located near schools and in convenient places), so most people won’t have a choice but to choose based on what they see online. However, it would be awesome if you arrive earlier, stay in a backpackers hotel, go see the gositels in person to check out the places before deciding. But hardly possible in reality.

Useful tips / info (moving in):

  • Most gositels require to stay for at least 3 months. Some levy a penalty fee if you move out early, others are more lenient and just require a 2 weeks notice or so
  • You may have to sign a contract. BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING. I can’t stress that enough. Verbal agreement is one thing, a contract is another. Make sure you know exactly what you are signing. Read every single clause.
  • They usually require a deposit of 100,000won (which is part of your first month rental fee)
  • Keys require a deposit of 10,000 – 20,000won
  • Know your contract. Some places cheat by counting a month as in 30 days while others count a month as in 20 nov to 19 dec.

If possible, please visit the gositel before you hand in any money. The surrounding matters too. Gositel A was located in a badly lighted building on the 4th floor and I didn’t like to pass the noraebang and pc bang located downstairs. You always meet random people smoking at the stairways and I hate it. Gositel B has it’s own building and everything is well lit with an elevator. The stairs are nicely tiled and the whole place well ventilated. The front door is locked after 10pm and you have to use an electric key to open it. Adds safety.

Other Tips:

  • location of the neighborhood is important. All gositels may be located near the university, but neighboring streets may have very very different atmosphere/culture/noise level
  • ASK AROUND. There isn’t a wealth of information readily available, but I’m sure you can find someone who said they use to attend that university as an exchange student etc. Just email the person and ask. I’m sure most of them will be willing to help. (If you want to know about KU, email me. But be nice)
  • Choose a gositel near the subway station and on the main street. You won’t want to walk home in the wee hours in the alleyways. It doesn’t matter if the gositel is a little far from school, you will probably be coming home more often from a subway station / bus stop

I might do a review of Gositel B if I have time. But if you want to know the name of Gositel A, send me an email. I won’t entertain questions about it on the comment section.

[REVIEW] Korea University’s Korean Lessons

Disclaimer: I’m writing this based on my personal experience, and it may / may not be accurate. Feel free to disagree but be polite.

Disclaimer 2: The experience may be the same or not if you are attending Korean lessons in summer school or the real Korean Language Program.

Disclaimer 3: If I make comparison to the Yonsei lessons, it’s the international summer school that I’m talking about, which may or not may be the same with other programs.

Disclaimer 4: Korea University offers Korean lessons, Korean Writing, Korean Reading, Korean Speaking modules for the exchange / regular students. I am reviewing the ‘basic’ Korean modules.

Facts: I’m taking Korean lessons which are offered to regular exchange students in the afternoon. We share the same textbooks, the same teachers but perhaps less intensive than the Korean language program lessons.

This is going to be a long review as I am *ahem* not writing very nice things and I want to emphasize that this is my own personal experience and a few factors may have led to how I felt about the lessons. (sorry I don’t want to attract anti-fans)

——-

Placement Test

I have blogged about this before, but let me go through it again. Basically, we were asked to register for the appropriate level of class together with the rest of the modules during course registration. Which I think is ridiculous.

First, course registration is a high stress period where you are trying to coordinate your timetable, making sure that there are vacancies in the classes etc. There was a vacancy limit placed on each Korean class level and they didn’t tell us if they would open more classes should the numbers exceed the limit.

This creates a lot of stress. It’s difficult to pinpoint your own level, particularly for those who have never taken TOPIK, who has never taken formal Korean classes. But the levels in our home countries usually don’t correspond to that in Korea, so nobody actually knows where they stand (unless for the real beginners and the real advanced…) This means that you have to be very careful of which level you choose, and if you end up being in another level, you have to de-register your course, and re-register the correct module, which is a pain in the ass when everything is done offline.

(bah i wrote alot more and due to an error, everything was gone… now I have to re-write again.. in a more concise manner)

Okay, so I went for that horrifying placement test and my confidence got shattered when the teacher pointedly told me that I clearly belong to level 3.. maybe a level 4 at best and she obviously thinks that I’m crazy to register for Level 6 in the first place. So ridiculous. I know I still have loads more to learn, but I definitely don’t belong to level 3. But I thought KU’s lessons were really THAT INTENSIVE and that the teacher should know best… so I re-registered for level 4.

The next day, interviews and placement tests were still on-going and technically you have to report to your new class and take the placement test again if necessary (I forgot the details). I met another girl in the same situation as me and we decided to go for the Level 5 placement test.

The level 5 teacher was busy conducting interviews etc and we told her of our situation and that we already have the TOPIK 4 certification and would like to try for the level 5 class instead. The teacher looked at us, and in an exasperated voice, told us that TOPIK level 4 doesn’t necessary means that you are qualified to be in the level 5 class. If the level 6 teacher tells you that you are in level 4, you should go there. *shrug* but if you want to try for level 5, you all can take the interview after I’m done with the rest. Her attitude wasn’t the most encouraging. We were suffering from shattered confidence then and after looking at the level 4 book, we decided that perhaps we can still learn something in the classes since we weren’t that familiar with the vocabulary and perhaps it would do us good if we can learn how to use the grammar points more appropriately.

So I decided to stay in the level 4 class.

The class / the textbook

Let me put this straight. I liked my Korean teacher. I think she’s nice and a relatively good teacher and she puts in effort in her teaching. But I’m sorry to say that class is horribly boring and ineffective and draining. I attribute that to the textbook, the teaching system in KU and perhaps that fact that the class is clearly below my level.

First, the textbook. I seriously haven’t seen a worse university textbook series. Yonsei Level 6 was awesome, sogang is pretty good, kyunghee is a little dry but still covers good ground. I’ve seen quite a number of textbooks and usually I have something good to say about each. But I clearly have got nothing nice to say about the KU textbook.

Each chapter comes with an opening dialogue / passage, which I think is super simple for a level 4 textbook. (I may think so because it’s below my level.. but I still think it’s easy for a level 4). Then you get additional notes/exercies (very minimal) and then LOADS OF DRILLS. Seriously, the whole textbook is about drills. Each example comes with at least 5-6 practice erm drills to ermm solidify the grammar point and learn new vocabulary at the same time. Horrifying. And the drills aren’t exactly the smoothest sentences or the most useful.

Followed by grammar explanations. Very minimal explanations and a few example sentences. And the textbook is mostly in English.. Seriously, I would think a Level 4 textbook should be completely in Korean. -.-

Our lessons are supposedly less intensive than the Korean Language Program in the mornings. So we cover a chapter every 2 weeks (8 lessons, 1hr 15 min each) and by the end of the class, we should complete about half the book. And we skip alot of each chapter, so basically we are just doing the drills and the grammar points (so interesting…)

I spend every lesson being bored, unmotivated and downright sleepy. Which is a stark contrast to my attitude in Yonsei. I would pay 100% attention throughout the lessons, prepare for classses in advance everyday, be very motivated to learn and enjoying each moment in the class. Korean is my favorite subject and I love learning it. But I can say that I didn’t study at all for any of my tests (I just flipped through the chapter and be done in 15 min or so) and I still managed to get an A+ for my final grade and a perfect score for my presentation.

These Korean classes are supposedly aim at improving SPEAKING and haha i don’t think any of us improved. Seriously. I don’t even think doing drills is helping much to improve our speaking. We did have several exercises where we are supposed to prepare for a topic (using formal language) and then go up to present it in front of the class the next lesson. I would appreciate it if such excercies are given more weightage and importance in the classes.

Oh, did I mention the level 6 teacher told me that students in Level 5 are already fluent and well-articulate and able to express their opinions on several high-level issues such as economy, politics, culture etc. Most of the exchange students stay for a year, meaning that my classmates will probably be in Level 5 next semester. Let’s just say that I doubt any of us are able to fit that criteria. -.-

I’m not saying that I’m too good or anything. I clearly know that my Korean is still very limited and I have a long way more to study. My goal this semester was to really improve my Korean (especially speaking and listening) and I’m really disappointed to say that the Korean lessons did nothing at all to help. I love challenging lessons and would rather struggle a little in a high level class and learn loads than simply getting excellent grades in a class clearly below my level.

I did improve, but I attribute that to my Korean friends who would speak to me in Korean and treat me as any normal Korean. I’m really grateful to them.

————

For all its claims on ‘how intensive the lessons are’, KU’s Korean classes are such a disappointment. All in all, the lessons left me unmotivated, and reduced the beauty and fun of languag learning to drills and grammar points. I can safely say that I learn loads more self-studying. Definitely not comparable to Yonsei.

In case you wonder why there aren’t any photos of the textbook etc, I threw it away straight after the exam. People who know me knows that my Korean textbooks/books are my treasures and I am very very particular about keeping them nice and neat. I simply tear KU’s textbok apart (since the whole book is too annoying to carry around) and threw it away after the classes. I didn’t even open up the CDs -.- whereas I listened to Yonsei’s CDs every single day.

All in all, I’m disappointed in the lessons. Not sure if it was due to the fact that it’s below my level, or the lessons themselves are horrible or a combination of both. But it’s not my fault that I’m being placed into this level.

I did think for very long whether I should write this post, but being honest and sharing my experiences is how I have been running this blog. ^^

I welcome all feedback, and feel free to share your experiences with Korean lessons that you have taken. I would also love to hear something nice about KU, so feel free to disagree. But be nice. ^^

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