Tae-Kwon-Do!

Mmmm.... breakfast.....

So Korean dorm food (maybe just in our cafeteria) doesn't have a lot of meat.... or I feel like Korean food doesn't have a lot of meat in general. But I like it anyways because it's so flavorful. I really LOVE all the soup, except the 3 meals that they kept using miso as base... just a little too strong.

So today's culture class we get to do taekwondo. Our sa-beom-nim was really funny... he really knows how to interact with the class. We got to do all the basic warm up exercises and also a few punches and kicks. I realized how super inflexible my body is....... oiy!!

Sorry I don't have any more pictures because we were all doing the moves and I couldn't have anywhere to put my phone. But the teacher's aides took a lot of pictures.... we just have to get it from them later (I suppose). It was really fun :) We have to make sure we had 기합 when we did it..... basically we have to use 丹田 to say "hiya!" Anyways, it was fun.... but I think I'm too old to start doing taekwondo.

The sa-beom-nim says we had to break the wooden plank with our fist before we can complete the class.... here's the evidence of my break.

Done.

So after class, I went to shop at Sinchon and got more make up and face cleaning supplies. This time I went to this place called Memebox. It's kind of funny how they have two doors, before and after. So you enter from before, and the people in there can help you put on make up to decide which product you want to buy (there are only two brands), and then you exit looking better (after you buy it). I spent a lot of time with this lady in there who speaks Chinese (I only buy make up if they speak Chinese... not that Chinese is special, it's just that they don't usually speak English, but the majority of them speak Chinese, and that's how we communicate about make up). She's actually a Chinese who came to Korea.

Anyways, I left with new compact cushion thing and a concealer. My classmates said I look much better with make up on.... yeah, the lady put A LOT (in my mind) of make up on me.

I went to this place called ArtBox later. This is a pretty popular place among the foreigners for cute stuff. I think there is at least one in U.S., but it's not nearly as popular as it is in Korea.

By the way, this is me with make up on.

And since no one was taking pictures with these things, I used my time trying to take selfies. I didn't end up buying much of anything...... I think this is more for people who like little stuff here and there. I think I'm really too old to be buying a lot of this kind of stuff that I'll never use and just collect dust. Bleh. But I got a small card case to hold all my cards (T-Money, dorm room card, laundry card, ID card, etc) while I'm in Asia.

I forgot to mention, I went to get some bingsu today. Once by myself, and once with classmates. Man.... are they expensive. One cost 8,000 won and the melon one cost 14,000 won. Bleh. So unnecessary! I asked our Korean student aide why it's so expensive, and she said it used to be cheap, but now they make it into like a "dessert item" so it becomes very fancy and so it's expensive. Dang it.

I know we have the same place in U.S., but I thought I'd give it a try anyways.

8,000 won?! Dude!!

Not bad... but 8,000 won?! I can probably get a lot better ice in Taiwan...... booo....

And this is the melon bingsu we got. I'd say that this is more of a gimmick than really tasting so much better. The 8,000 won one tasted much better.

Then while I was eating bingsu, a classmate texted our entire class on Kakao Talk...

I thought about going there to see him, but then I remembered.... I don't know how this person looks like?! I had to Google him to see how he looks like..... which reminded me that this is the guy I've seen on Shinee's video before. But then again, I really don't know this person.... so I gave up the idea of trying to walk there. Nevertheless, our classmates were all super excited.

The highlight of the day was me walking into a open concert in Sinchon. They were SUPER GOOD!

I was so impressed that I stayed until the very end and donated some money for their band. AND took pictures with them afterwards.

They seem like really cute college kids :)

Thus ends the day. Tomorrow we're going to a field trip for two days at some places outside Seoul. Gotta meet early in the morning to take the bus there.

Last thought: Koreans don't wear sunglasses! Ahhhhhh..... I asked the Korean class aide why they don't wear sunglasses even though they sell them on the street (!?!?!!?!) and she said it's because Koreans think sunglasses are fashion items and you only wear them if you want to grab other people's attention. They don't see it as something to protect your eyes -_-. So I haven't been wearing sunglasses because I don't want to upset their culture too much. Nevertheless, we're going on a field trip tomorrow and I'm going to feign ignorance and wear sunglasses anyways.

Alrighty, good night!

Korean War Memorial Museum (전쟁기념관)

First.... obligatory breakfast picture..

Mmmm.... so yum.

So today we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum that talked about all the wars that had happened in Korea. It's mainly focused on the Korean War, but it also included some things from Joseon era. Here are some pictures of the exterior:

We got an English guide for the tour, but his English wasn't great :( AND, he wasn't using his megaphone correctly, so we were losing half of what he was saying all the time...... Please correct me if any of the history facts I write below is wrong!!!

Nevertheless, here are some things I captured. This is a drum that they hit once a year (not this one, there's one outside the Blue House) for good luck.

A replica of the city in Joseon era.

In the Korean War, the communists from the North were fighting the South and at one point, the South was pushed back to only Busan was remaining as the free territory.

But one of the American general was able to reroute around and land on Incheon, which cut off Korea at the 38th parallel, which took back half of the country. They had a stalemate for a while, and eventually, UN stepped in and wanted peace talk. I think it was at the time that North Koreans dug four tunnels to try to get in South Korea.

When UN signed the deal with North Korea to split the country, South Korea did not sign the deal because they never wanted to split the country. The guide says even now, they are looking to one day reunifying the country as one Korea.

There was a gallery walkway to commemorate all the people from different countries who came to help South Korea during the war.

And a place for visitors to leave messages for people they miss..

After the war, foreign countries came to help rebuild South Korea. 

It was just really sad looking over the history. There had been too many invasions from other countries, and too many people were sacrificed. Sigh.....

We walked back from the subway to our dorm in the hot and humid weather (temperature wise, I think is ok, but the long walk makes it really hot...). A classmate suggested that we try this peach tea from GS25. It's really interesting... you buy the tea pouch and then pour it into a GS25 cup of ice.

It tasted really good! Unexpectedly! 

And then I bought some Market O Real Brownie that everyone had been raving about on the internet.

Mmm..... it's good? But I'm pretty sure Americans know how to make real brownies from scratch so..... probably won't bring it back to the States.

Lastly, our teacher checked our workbook today and wrote a comment on my book:

She said that I put in a lot of effort and did  a good job! Awwwww....... 선생님!! I realized that teachers comments really encourage the students (as well as their presence intimidate students when students are practicing speaking...). 

Oh and I got my phone fixed! Apparently I had to have some voice credit in my phone in order to access data. So when I used up all my voice credit, even though I still have data left, I couldn't access it o_O. That's a very interesting rule.... nevertheless, it's working now!

Cooking class and..... my SIM card doesn't work :(

So we went to a cooking class today....... they really overestimate our Korean comprehension ability. Everything was done in Korean..... but a bit slower so we can understand. But hey, working under pressure means that our Korean comprehension is even slower! Eek!!

But first. The obligatory dorm food picture. This is from breakfast. Oh. So. Good.

So we were to meet at the 2nd exit of Ewha station, and we got there a bit early so we can find some food. Since we were cooking in the class anyways, we thought we'll just get a light lunch.... so a bunch of us bought some juice.

This lady is super nice, and all the juices are so tasty and fresh! I got the kiwi-banana and it was really good! She uses sugar from sugar cane water for sweetening. Yum!

And it was just 3,000 won. It would have been at least $5.50 in U.S.

Here are some pictures of us hanging around eating our food, or drinking our juice, until the meeting time.

To get to the cooking class, we had to take an elevator up 6 floors. There were a lot of students, so we cramped into one elevator....

It was quite cramped and hot..... so one girl took out her portable fan. Hahaha..

Alright, so for culture class, three classes went to Korean cooking class. We made jeum chicken (I don't know how to spell it :( ) and seafood pancake. I must say, my seafood pancake making skills is STILL the same as in U.S. Ahh...

The food actually turned out really good! Here is the final product...

There was so much food that we took the leftovers back. It's gonna be my lunch today.....

And then I went to a close by Christian store at Sinchon afterwards. It was not very appealing... more like a warehouse.

I saw some pretty desk placard things... but my reading was too slow to understand what they say, so I took some pictures so I can check and decide which one to use later.

Now for the phone issue. Somehow my SIM stopped working today, which means I can't access the cellular network even though I still have data left. So frustrating! I spent hours yesterday trying to figure out what to do...... restarting my phone, resetting my phone, resetting network, using my old T-Mobile SIM card, etc etc. Nothing worked. Urgh! Their customer service on Facebook and e-mail aren't great either. So I'm gonna see if I can drop by an office today to get some help. Eeek!!