Korean study dilemma...

So I'm feeling a bit stuck. Or rather, no motivation to study. I feel like I'm at another fork in the road. Or... I actually don't know how I feel about it. I know I have sufficient Korean to express myself, but at the same time, I know it's not perfect and not like how native Koreans would say it. And because of that, I'm starting to want to withdraw from trying harder. Whenever I say something or write something, I just keep thinking, "this is probably not how the natives would say it", and that lack of confidence starts to set in, making me not want to try harder to overcome the obstacle. Because to overcome this, A LOT more effort has to be put in... like, really really intentionally changing the way I talk, and paying super close attention to HOW natives say things and asking for corrections all the time. Weighing the efforts and reward, I just don't know if it's worth it. I keep thinking.... I'm never going to speak like a native anyways, and besides, there is no one I really need to speak Korean to anyways. 90% of the Koreans I know are probably my language partners anyways... so there is no one who is actually my friend who I need to talk to. And so, why should I put in so much effort into something that doesn't really have a real purpose? And so my drive to correct my pronunciation, or correct my sentences, to understand Korean... all that passion has died down. 

Also, I've started to take a hard look at my actual Korean ability. I think I'm good at understanding both in listening and reading mostly because I guess really well by context and by facial expression, tone, etc. Because if you were to ask me to repeat what they said verbatim, I wouldn't be able to. Same thing with reading, I wouldn't be able to tell you why they had to write it that way. And that's because I don't fully understand every part of the sentence they say. Rather, I look for key words.... like the verbs and noun, rather than the grammar that connects these things together. And the tone of the voice and context... and a lot of times, knowing Chinese helps guess the context better since (I heard) 70% of Korean is from Chinese. So rather than saying that I actually had a solid understanding and had a good foundation in actually having learned the stuff, I would say that I feel quite iffy... because I just "know it" because it feels right. And then because I guessed correctly, I wouldn't feel the need to learn the words or the grammar or the sentence structure. 

So yeah, I'm weighing the cost to improve.... and I'm not certain if I really wanna go down that road.

2021 Korean Resolution

I've been thinking a lot about my Korean learning resolution this year... to be honest, I'm not sure if I have any! Is it really necessary that I continue to learn...? Sigh. I don't know. 

However, our teacher showed us the winner of this year's Sejong Speech Contest in Korea.... and wow!! They're GOOD! It makes me feel like.... I really ought to get to that level and not stop! 

https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/People/view?articleId=191790

I think I have gotten complacent with my current level because I can understand "enough" and can express myself "enough"...but truly, I'm really only at an intermediate level. I can guess pretty well, thanks to my Chinese background, but that doesn't mean I can express myself to that level nor be able to understand EVERYTHING they say and respond accurately. 

Hmm... so what's my goal for 2021?

• TOPIK Reading and Listening score to be above 80/100 by the end of June.
• Focus mainly on expressing myself through speaking and writing.
• Be able to use other sentence endings more comfortably.
• Whatever my language partner has noticed as problems, make a conscious effort to correct them.
• Speak Korean at least 30 minutes a week with somebody...

How will I achieve these goals?

• Read articles at least once a week and study the words I don't know well. And then use them in a sentence immediately!
• Shadow the Naver language thing to match exactly. Do it at least once a week.
• Alternate between IYAGI practice (mark up sentence breaks and intonations) and recording my own speech practices every other week to get a different kind of practice.
• Try this once in a while.... watch a variety show and take notes of what they say, how they say it, and check up words I don't know (and phrases I don't feel comfortable with).

Hmmm... this is a lot. Hopefully I can hit some of these targets...

I didn't win :(

Sigh. So disappointing. I didn't win the speech contest. Not even an honorable mention. :( 

I thought I prepared really well.... I even pretty much memorized the speech for a month... but still didn't win :( Maybe my topic is not what they were looking for... or maybe other people were really good. In either case, I feel quite disappointed. 

Progress!

 So we've had quite a few new Korean students entering our school this year... and the former students introduce me to them as "the teacher who can speak Korean". I wasn't that sure about my ability, although my language partner (Brian) kept telling me that my current ability is definitely enough to speak to my students.

Well, I guess some of them wanted to test my abilities and we started speaking in Korean and they're amazed that I can understand them well and respond well! I've never thought of myself as one who can speak fluently, but to them, I'm actually pretty good!

Thinking back around 4-5 years ago when I started learning Korean, I've never thought I'd get to a point where I can converse with a native speaker. I just didn't think it was an achievable goal of language learning. Yeah, of course, the purpose of learning a language is to communicate, right? But in learning Spanish, I quickly found out that it was such a textbook exercise of language learning that I didn't think any real communication, meaning, spontaneous communication, outside of pre-established context, is possible! (You know what I mean. When we practice within a classroom, it's always with that SET vocab and SET situation... when someone uses a phrase outside of the pre-studied vocab or situation, you all of a sudden cannot use the structure anymore. 就是學習可是不能活用). So yeah, I've never had doubt that I can LEARN it, but I highly doubted that I can actually have a spontaneous conversation with another person... especially to have them understand me perfectly well.

And here we are! I can speak fine, I can understand fine, and they can understand me as well! It's such a feat that makes me feel that I can actually tell people "I can speak 3 languages!" Amazing huh? What's more amazing is that I feel that I speak better than some Koreans born here! I think I always had this expectation that all Koreans should be able to speak their own language, regardless of where they were born. I figured that their parents would have forced them to learn the language regardless of fluency. Well... it's true. They can definitely speak Korean well enough to get around (probably better than my vocab in terms of daily conversations!)... but in terms of understanding their own language in all domains, a Korean learner is definitely gonna be better!

After asking Brian about this phenomenon, he said usually Koreans born here will be able to speak and understand fine, but they cannot write or read well. And they usually only use banmal (the most informal way of speaking) and really hate using jondetmal (the normal politeness language). I think it's because they speak to their family only in banmal so they've only had to practice that.... although if you speak to anyone outside your family, you should use a more polite version, they cannot. So it's really weird whenever I talk to a Korean born here and they immediately speak to me in banmal... when we just met! You only do that if you've known each other enough that they're close to each other... but I digress.

I don't know why I find it so strange for this to happen... maybe because I always lack confidence in speaking in Korean. Even though I objectively know that I have attained a certain fluency, the times that I have faced conversations where I didn't understand a thing still traumatizes me so that whenever I'm dealt with a foreign situation, I panic. Like... I have no problem speaking Korean to the people I know well enough, like my language partners, friends, students... but to strangers, like supermarket ajumma, restaurant workers, etc... where I feel that I have to respond quickly and accurately, I blank out and cannot process (either in understand or speaking). Hopefully I increase my confidence through successful spontaneous interactions over time! 

Language Learning Thoughts

So I attended a Korean class for 5 weeks and... lots of thoughts. So the main thought is, I don't think the class really helped me learn Korean at all. That thought quickly led to, does any language class really help the student learn? I mean, there are a lot to be said about attending a class: the accountability, the forced practice in class, the vocab you won't learn otherwise, and someone in authority who knows everything to answer all your questions.

That being said, being passive and think that just by attending a class will help you learn is absurd. At the end of the day, language is all about communication. Language is not learned to impress others. There's no reason for doing that. It's so that we can communicate ideas w/ each other, share lives with one another, and so on. And so.... while learning a language, don't forget that THAT is the ultimate reason. And so, learning language in a class where you never talk to anyone who actually is a native speaker makes no sense. You cannot practice in a vacuum forever. And just acing a class without any practical use makes no sense. It's not the completion of the class that shows your capability - it's whether you can actually communicate your ideas across to someone else that is the ultimate test. And so I feel that should be the basis of evaluation of anyone's language ability.

And so, after attending the class for 5 weeks, I realized that it doesn't help me learn at all. To be honest, since I had no access to a class for so long, I depended on self-studying for the longest time... and to get to this class and realize that I'm at the same or better level than other people made me realize, I actually didn't need to attend the class. And really, the class moved at a much slower speed than I had been doing on my own.... of course, all except the accountability part. The teacher is definitely a good accountability partner. But anyways, I digress. What I'm trying to say is, having one-on-one time with my language partners helped me MUCH more than any classes would. That is, if I put in my time to study on my own and figure out WHAT I need to learn. I basically have an one-on-one tutor... but since that person is not a teacher, he doesn't really know how to help me either. So I have to be proactive and ask the right questions so I can get the right help. And so, to learn through this method, the learner has to be very very proactive. But even through a class, the learner has to be proactive in order to progress enough to communicate with native speakers. 

But isn't that the way things are? People who excel in English are ones who actually immerse themselves in the English speaking environment. People who hang out with English speaking people. Because what you're learning is not just the language, but the manner in which they speak, the culture, the ways things are said, and what matters most to that culture. And that is the same for me. Except that I have the advantage of being a teacher first before I am a student, so I am learning through a teacher's perspective. I know what's required to learn (as I am a teacher), and I know HOW to learn. I know what kind of accountability to give myself and what questions to ask in order to make myself get better. And that may be the difference between my self learning versus an average Joe's self learning.

Bleh. So what I'm trying to say is (as I try to sort out my thoughts), I find myself improving A LOT through self-study and with my language partners much more than attending any kind of class. But, I would only recommend it for people who have a very strong drive, a lot of self-discipline, and knows how to study for themselves. 

I probably ought to make a pros and cons for each method huh?

Speech Contest

Man, I post so infrequently...

So while I was doing language exchange all summer (it has been a super long summer), my language partner told me about this language class at Sejong Language Institute for free. So yup, I attended it for 5 weeks and they're having a speech contest! I'm very excited!

https://www.kccla.org/koreanlanguageprogram/contest/

I'm not planning to win anything as I don't think my speech is quite at that level of proficiency yet... but I think through preparing for it, I will definitely be able to speak much better. But the problem is.... I don't know what topic to speak about :( I'm supposed to record a 3 minute video of myself talking (memorizing script for 3 minutes :( )... and it just has to be about anything related to Korean stuff, could be personal experiences or could be anything else. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TALK ABOUT! I want it to stand out and be interesting... but also something I can memorize for 3 minutes. YEESH! 

Progress!

So my language exchange partner, Brian, told me about an opportunity to take Korean class this summer with the Sejong Language Institute in Korea Town over Zoom (for free!). I wasn't sure which level to take, and I remembered that I had taken a self-placement test with them before online in March, so I figured I would take it again to figure out my current level after having intensively studied for about 3 months.... and, wow! What a difference!

This test consisted of two parts: listening and reading. The questions start easy and move up to more of an intermediate, pre-advanced level. Here are the results.

This one below is one I took on 3/22/20.

It shows that my vocabulary is about 73% correct, grammar is 64%, and understanding is 90%. It also says my listening is 90%, while my reading is 68%. It says my current level is 4A (out of 6?). I remember commenting to a friend that I feel like an illiterate idiot. I can understand what people are saying, but I cannot read and I don't understand the grammar structure.

Now looking at the test score on 7/3/20 (I know it says 7/4, but I think it's Korea time). All parts of my understanding have improved! Listening went from 90% to 95%, reading went from 68% to 92%, understanding went from 73% to 91%, grammar went from 68% to 93%, and understanding went from 90% to 95%!

I don't think the questions were exactly the same... and if they were, I would totally say that I didn't remember any of the questions! 

It says my current level is 4B, but my suspicion is that the test only tests up to level 4... since I'm almost at 100%, I don't know what other levels they could actually detect. Maybe I should ask my language partner to do it just to check. Haha. 

But I can feel the difference between studying and no studying! I remember when I took the test the first time, I was definitely guessing a lot towards the end... maybe not so much for listening (because for some reason, I could understand what they're saying), but for reading, it was hard for me to figure out which sentence is grammatically correct. After a lot of pain of studying these 3 months, with language partners correcting my writings like crazy and I feeling down a lot for continuing to make mistakes, but not giving up on trying to learn them, I have finally reached another level! Another milestone!

Of course, there is still a LONG WAY before fluency, or even close to fluency. I would say that I can speak now, but with a lot of grammatical errors. And even when I don't speak with grammatical errors, the sentences are not too natural... I guess that will be a constant struggle. 

Anyways, I am very proud of my accomplishment. Now back to more studying.

It's been a long time! 오랜만이다!

I haven't updated this blog since 2018! The last time I traveled to Korea! 

Well, with COVID19, nobody is traveling anywhere. Bleh. Since I started this blog as my Korea travel blog, I figured that I should continue it as more of my Korean study documentation blog.

Thanks to COVID, tons of people have nothing to do at home. No, I don't mean it in a sarcastic way (ok, maybe I do, a little). But really, thanks to COVID, tons of people are stuck at home so they want to improve their English as a result of this extra time they gained. Which means I got tons of people asking me to do language exchange!

So yeah, that's how this summer had been. Since late April, I had been studying with 3 language partners, and they ALL wanted to meet more often than once per week (as was my old language partner). Thankfully, they are all relatively close in time zone to me, saving me the headache of figuring out how to meet with someone in the Korean time zone. 

Initially, two of them wanted to meet everyday, and I was like.... no way man, I don't want to spend ALL my summer on video conferences! So we reduced to 3 times a week for 2 of them, and the other person we meet twice a week. 

At the beginning, they all feel that my Korean is pretty good, but still have hiccups here and there. But so far, I have improved (after about 2 months!) to the point where they think my Korean is much smoother (I can hold longer sentences without stopping), grammar is better, and writing is also better. Phew, improvement! 

But seriously, this summer's intense studying had been quite the ups and downs! The first month or so, I seriously wanted to just give up learning this language. The improvement was haphazard, and to be honest, I had no idea how to improve. There seemed to be this wall that I cannot breakdown, no matter what methods I tried. And also the lack of motivation... why am I even studying?! Finally, a breakthrough came where I finally figured out how I can systematically study this by breaking down Korean sentences from textbooks and modeling my sentences after them. I started to figure out the way Koreans structure their sentences, which also made my speaking skills better. As for motivation, it's no longer "how good I can get", but more "I want to be able to communicate with these people" or "why do I keep thinking it's IMPOSSIBLE to learn this language?"... it's hard to explain, but at least I'm over my slump.

So in this first language post, I want to introduce my language partners! I actually wrote this as my first ever Korean presentation, which I presented to one of my language partners. He helped me correct the Korean... so the following is the corrected version!

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여러분 안녕하세요? 저는 앤이라고 합니다! 지금 언어교환을 한지 거의 2개월 되었어요. 

제가 언어교환을 어떻게 하는지 언어교환 파트너들이 어떤 사람인지 하나 하나 소개해줄게요! 이제 발표를 시작하겠습니다!

Hello everyone! My name is Ann. I have been doing language exchange for about two months. I want to show you how I have been doing language exchange and also introduce you to my language exchange partners. Let's start the presentation!

1. 해운 (아저씨) / Haewoon (ajeossi)

해운은 텐텀에서 만난 친구에요. 처음 만났을 때 저한테 계속 한국어로만 하고 있어서 영어를 잘 못한 줄 알았는데 그렇지 않았어요.  영어정도가 다른 파트너들만큼 아니지만 대화를 통할 수 있는 정도에요! 

I met Haewoon through the Tandem app. When I first met him, he kept speaking in Korean so I thought he couldn't speak English, but it was not true. His English level is not as good as my other partners, but enough to hold a conversation in English.

그는 지금 알라바마에서 살고 있어요. 10년전 일 때문에 가족이랑 (아내, 쌍둥이 아들) 같이 한국 여수에서 알라바마에 이민왔어요. 회사에 그만두고 나서 아내하고 같이 알라바마의 대학교에서 일본 식당을 차렸어요. 지금은 코로나 때문에 식당을 잠시 영업하지 못해요. 집에 있는 시간이 많아서 영어 실력을 올리고 싶어해요.

He is currently living in Alabama. He came here from Yeosoo, Korea ten years ago with his family (wife, twin sons). After he left his company, he started a restaurant in an Alabama university with his wife. Because of COVID, he has to temporarily close his restaurant. Since he has a lot of time at home, he wants to improve his English skills.

우리 매번 만날 때 카톡 보이스톡으로 얘기하거나 한국어로 된 글을 읽거나 이렇게 하거든요. 우리 서로 무슨 틀린 게 있을 때 바로 고쳐줘요. 해운은 칭찬 을 정말 잘 하는 사람이어서 자주 제 한국어를 정말 잘 한다고 해서 저는 진짜 큰 위로를 받았어요. 

Every time we meet, we would chat through Kakao Talk or read something in Korean. Whenever we make a mistake, we would correct each other immediately. Haewoon knows how to praise people a lot and always tells me that my Korean is really good, which gives me a lot of encouragement.

해운은 클래식 음악을 정말 좋아해요... 너무 좋아하니까 좋은 음질의 노래를  듣고 싶어해서 심지어 Atlanta까지 스피커를 사기 위해서 4시간쯤 운전했어요! 왜 클래식 음악을 좋아하냐면 들을 때 진정할 수 있고 기분이 좋아질 수 있대요. 그래서 아내하고 잘 지내고 있는 이유가 클래식 음악 덕분이에요 라고 농담했어요. 

Haewoon really likes classical music... to the point that he would drive four hours to Atlanta to buy speakers just so he can have better sound quality. If you ask him why he likes classical music so much, he would say that it always improves his mood. Which is why he gets along with his wife so well (he said this jokingly).

2. 시찬 / Si Chan (Brian)

시찬은 언어 교환 웹사이트에서 만난 친구에요. 그는 15살 때 미국에 왔어요. 여기 산지 한 15-16년 됐어요. 고등학교를 졸업하고 나서 먼저 community college에 들어가고 UCSD에 다녔어요. 졸업한 후에 군대에도 가고 지금은 Korea Town 있는 서점에 일하고 있어요. 코로나 때문에 서점 일이 잠시 그만두고 쉬는동안 영어 더 공부 하고 싶어해서 언어교환 파트너들하고 만나게 됐어요. 

I met Sichan from a language exchange website. He came here when he was 15. He has lived here for about 15-16 years. After he graduated from high school, he first went to community college before going to UCSD. After he graduated, he joined the military and is currently working at a bookstore in Korea Town. Because of COVID, he stopped working at the store. During this resting period, he wants to raise his English ability so he started looking for language exchange partners.

시찬의 영어가 고급이어서 얘기하거나 한국어로 설명을 간단 하게 할 수 있어요.  처음에 일주일에 한번씩 만났는데 지금은 2번씩으로 바꿨어요. 만날 때 한번은 발음 고치는게 한번은 쓰기에 대해 수정하는 것이에요. 하지만 지금은 여전히 쓰는 것 수정하고 다른 한번은 수다를 떨어요. 

Sichan's English is very good, so it's easy to chat with him or have him explain Korean to me. When we first started language exchange, we met once a week, but we have since changed to twice a week. In the two times we meet, we would practice pronunciation one time and the other time we would correct each other's writing. But now we had changed to just chatting for one time and kept the writing correction for the other time.

시찬은 음악을 좋아하나봐요. 여러가지 음악 장르도 좋아해요. 예를들어서 재즈, Kpop, 피아노 음악, 이탈리아 노래 등등. 특히 이탈리아 가수중에서 제일 좋아하는 가수가 Andrea Bocelli에요. 

Sichan seems to like music a lot. He liked many music genre. For example, jazz, Kpop, piano music, Italian music, etc. his favorite Italian singer is Andrew Bocelli.

다른 파트너들보다 가까이 살고 있어서 연락하기가 더 쉽고 나중에 거리두기  끝나면 직접 만날 수도 있어요.

He lives much closer than other language partners, so it's easier to contact him and once "safer at home" is over, we can even meet in person.

3. 민식 / Minsik

민식은 언어 교환 웹사이트에서 만난 친구에요. 그는 지금  콜롬비아에 있어요. 민식은 여행을 아주 좋아해서 여러가지 나라에 살아본적 있었어요... 그래서 어디에서 왔냐고 한다면 대답하기 좀 어려워요. 민식은 원래  콜롬비아에 간 후에 다른 남미 나라 여행 하려고 했는데 코로나가 갑자기 발생해서 지금  콜롬비아에서 지낼 수 밖에 없어요. 

I met Minsik from a language exchange website. He is currently living in Colombia. Minsik really likes to travel so had has lived in many countries before... so it's hard to answer questions like "where is he from?". Minsik was going to travel to Colombia first before going to other South American countries, but because COVID happened, he has no choice but to stay in Colombia.

코로나 때문에, 방, 옆집, 마켓 밖에 갈 수 없어서 하루종일 언어교환을 하고 있어요. 매일 거의 한 5-6시간은 언어교환을 하고 남은 시간은 쓰기연습하거나 운동해요. 그리고 영어만  하는 것 뿐만 아니라 일본어, 스페인어도 할 줄 알아요. 그래서 매일 언어교환을 3가지 언어로 연습 해요.  진짜 대단한 사람이에요! 

Because of COVID, he can't go anywhere beside his room, neighbor's house, and the supermarket, so he stays in his room all day doing language exchange. He spends about 5-6 hours a day doing language exchange and uses the remaining time to practice writing or exercise. He doesn't only know English, but he also knows how to speak Japanese and Spanish, which is why he is practicing all three languages at once. He's quite an incredible person!

민식하고 만날 시간 좀 별로 없어요. 일주일에 3일, 매번 한 시간만 만나요. 그리고 그는 일주일에 쓰기 5번씩 보내서 (주중 매일 한번씩) 만날 때 초반에는 믹식의 글에서 생긴 문제에 대해 대답하고 다 끝나면 그냥 얘기해요. 다른 파트너 언어교환 방식처럼 틀릴 때 바로 고쳐요. 

We actually don't spend a long time meeting. We meet three times a week, each time for an hour. He also sends me his writing 5 times a week (once a day on weekdays). The first half of the meeting, I would spend time answering his questions about his writing, and then we talk during the remaining time. And like what we do with the other partners, if someone makes a mistake, we correct them immediately.

민식은 간단하게 살기를 좋아하는 편이에요. 사진 찍기를 좋아하지만 사진 찍으려고 비싼 카메라 사는 것은 좋아하지 않아요. 그러면 사진이 별로 일수도 있겠죠? 사실은 아니거든요! 사진 찍는 실력은 정말 좋아서 비싼 카메라 없어도 예쁜 사진이 나올수 있거든요!

Minsik is someone who likes to live a simple life. He likes to take pictures, but he doesn't want to buy expensive cameras. So his pictures could turn out not so well right? Not true at all. His picture taking skills is so good that he can take great pictures even without expensive cameras!

여러분 제 발표를 듣고 나서 제 언어교환 파트너들을 더 알게 되셨나요? 제 발표를 들어주셔서 감사합니다!

Do you guys feel that you got to know my partners a little more? Thank you for listening to my presentation!

Back to America!

Traveling on a cross-continent flight makes the day super long. What was a one day flight is in reality more than 24 hours of travel. It seems like two days ago that I left Korea... which is probably true, given that I was on the plane for 12 hours.....

That was it for our 2.5 weeks of travel. It seemed like a dream now that I am back in LA, looking at the same scenery that I see 2.5 weeks ago. Nothing changed. Did this trip really happen? I suppose the blog (and all the stuff I bought) is the only evidence I have of this trip.

Walking at night in LA is quite different from Seoul. It's really quiet.... so much so that you are given too much space to think. In Seoul, there are tons of people everywhere. Even if you do decide to walk in your neighborhood (not sure why you would want to do that since it's SO HOT and so hilly), there are still people walking around, smoking, and just eager to get somewhere - out of the neighborhood. But in LA, it's so quiet that you're basically the only person walking outside at 10pm. The quietness makes you think a lot.

Alright, enough philosophical views and etc. Back to our last day in Korea.

We cleaned up our luggage in the morning around 9am, got out of the Airbnb at 10:30am. Fortunately, we met our landlord, John, on the way out, and he gave us a ride to the subway station! Score! It was super hot by that time and it was very nice of him to not let us walk in that hotness!

He had been very helpful in our trip.... whenever we accidentally meet him outside our room, he would always give us some tips for our travel. Super nice guy!

We got to the airport at 12pm, and we had to meet a friend's friend there to pick up her dog. This was a first for us - bringing a dog with us on the flight! Well, not exactly. The dog was gonna go inside the cargo ride.... he looked totally scared.

His name is Mongsi, and he got SO MUCH attention in the airport! Everyone was much nicer to us because of him :) Joyce and I kept thinking about Mongsi during the plane ride.... is he ok? Is he scared? Did he poop? Fortunately, he was a stellar dog! I didn't hear him bark at all to anyone in the airport in Incheon, and also in LAX! We finally got Mongsi back to his owner!

It was very interesting how I got Mongsi in LAX. So I asked the Asiana person where I can pick up the dog, and they took me to the oversized luggage section, opened an elevator, and there he is! I took Mongsi across the customs declaration, and all they did was take the electronic receipt I did at the customs beforehand, and that's it! They didn't even ask to see the rabies certificate. What the?! I feel like American security is just not consistent in what they consider strict and not strict. They would tell you that you need this and this, and make it sound super serious, and then not care once you got it. And then they'll be super strict on the non-essential items. Bleh.

Ok, back to the plane ride. Pretty uneventful beside all the turbulences we experienced. I think turbulences are what make me super scared of plane rides. And I'm gonna guess that it happens more in the summer... sigh. Fortunately, this time, I get to sit with Joyce the whole ride! This made the ride feel so much shorter......

I watched a fantasy Korean movie (Be With You) on the plane (the only one I can actually understand due to English subtitle. Because the earphone wasn't that great, I couldn't hear any other movies that didn't have subtitles/captions).

It was quite sad.... so I cried a lot in the movie :( But I do recommend it!

And then I tried to set record in Tetris again..... successfully beating the other people on record!

And then there are the meals.

First meal - ssam bap. Basically, they gave us this variety of leaves to wrap bulgogi and rice in. It was pretty good!

And this miso soup came in as a miso cube that they poured hot water in. It then dissolved into miso soup.

Second meal - snack. It was a chicken burrito. Not bad, can't complain.

Last meal - porridge. I don't think it was very good...

And then my first meal back. Some tacos (I was famished. As I am now..)

Oh and when we were waiting for our luggage (which took a long time), it was this decal that I put on my luggage that helped Joyce notice it!

I love this guy! He's so cute! I guess his name is Boss because in another sticker, he said "My name is Boss!"

Ah right, my new acquired favorite character on this trip - Pororo.

Got this from Paris Baguette right after we got our tax refund from Incheon Airport. I was famished. I think that is the theme today.

And then got these cookies as well.

And lastly, people reunited at the airport!

That's it friends! Thus ending our 2.5 weeks of vacation, which really just felt like a dream. Now back to reality, and figuring how to escape the heat while keeping up the walking routine in America....

Ah, lastly, I want to thank my best travel partner - Joyce! I'm so glad that we get to take 2.5 weeks to travel together - no better travel partner! I think our travel style are, for the most part, similar enough that we can do the same thing together. And when our interests are different, we are ok to just do separate things for a while. The most important thing about traveling together is finding someone to travel with who has similar traveling style... whether that's the places you want to visit, things you want to eat, living habits, pickiness, etc. When it's too different, it's really hard to live together for an extended amount of time..... Glad we share the same humor, same living habits, same laidbackness (of course, Joyce is way more laid back than I am), same food interest, and entertaining me on my obscure interest at times. Thank you Joyce!!

2nd to last day in Korea

This is the second to the last day in Korea..... after much much food, we have come to the point where we feel that we can't eat anymore. But we still must eat.

Got up around 12pm and went out to get some food. We found this place next to our hostel that lets you order Japanese food through a kiosk (and pay too) so they can reduce labor cost. The place is actually really nicely decorated even though they don't have a large staff.

And this is Joyce waiting for food...

Our food was actually quite delicious! I couldn't really stuff all of it in my stomach though.... big eating the previous days..

Joyce's bulgogi rice.

My tonkatsu.

After lunch, I went to meet this person I met through the Korean app that helps me learn Korean with other Korean. I was a bit nervous since I've never met this person before. However, she turned out to be pretty cool, and we talked for four hours just about culture, life, and etc.

We randomly found this cafe in Hongdae (seriously, there are TONS of cafe in Hongdae), and it was quite awesome. It's upstairs, and it has these balcony seating that's still enclosed with air condition, so you can people watch.

All the cafes in Seoul have their own style and I really really like them. There is definitely no lack of cafe in Seoul.... but their prices often can be steep. I wish there would be more cafes like these in LA so I can frequent them!

This is the cheesecake that we got.

Not bad. I would say the drink in this cafe is not bad, but would not be the reason for me to consider coming back again.

By the time we finished talking, it was already 6:30pm and since Joyce is reading at a cafe, I thought I would just take my last stroll around Hongdae. It was still SOOOO hot..... seriously, every Korean we met says this is the hottest and abnormal summer ever. And everyone who walks into every store has this "oh goodness, I'm now alive" expression on their face as the A/C blows on their face. It really is too hot.

There were a lot of buskers today (hope they survive the hotness) and this one in particular had soooooooooo many people setting up real cameras to film her! I was like.... what's the big deal? So I waited until she started singing. Not bad, but why such a following?

Is it just because she's cute? Or is she actually famous? I have no idea..... and just walked away.

I thought that I would shop one last time in Korea so I walked around the clothing stores in Hongdae... and to my dismay, I saw this girl from China doing a live broadcasting, in Chinese, to a lot of follower with her phone. So apparently, she was trying to buy clothes for these random people on live broadcasting. She could pull her phone really close to the cloth, describe the clothes, and call it "this is #1, this is #2", and take orders like that. She was sooooo loud. I don't know... I really don't like people who kind of takes advantage of what other country offers for their own benefit. I left with distaste in my expression and went to the other stores. Except that I met her again! Ugh. Bleh.

After an unsuccessful shopping for about an hour, I met up with Joyce at her cafe and went to eat dinner. Last dinner in Korea. This place sells more traditional snack food... and we also ordered it through a kiosk!

The tteokbokki was soooo spicy though. Cannot eat it without sweating. The spicy kimbap is really good..... It looks like I've expanded my tolerance for spicy food!

Came back, watched an hour of "Are you human too?" drama, and decided that we'll just pack tomorrow. Time to go back. Kind of bittersweet, but mostly glad to go back to my normal life. If I were to come back again, I would want to come back because of a specific purpose and have that be a regular part of my daily routine, like attending a Korean class for passing an exam, working at a job, or something like that. I don't really want to vacation with no plans... because I don't think I would be able to have enough energy to make myself get up everyday, to walk outside everyday (especially when it's hot) for that long. It makes me not enjoy my vacation as much (I suppose I'm a bit workaholic...).

Alright, flight is checked in, and ready to go back to America tomorrow with my friend's dog!

More food....

Ok, it's been really really hot lately, but that was expected at this time in Korea. Except the Koreans all told us that this is abnormal. They said that it's never this hot in Korea... and they're all melting when they go outside. Everyone is trying to stay inside as long as possible.... eek! It's been so hot that we pretty much don't want to do anything, but sit in an A/C room all the time.

So we met up with two people today... which means, more food! The trend has been: 1) meet the person, 2) eat dinner/lunch/meal together, 3) drink some drink together. Meet the next person and repeat. Too much food!! Super full all the time now!!

We first met up with my friend's friend, Soo Mi. She looks super trendy! She is also very bubbly too, so it helps with getting to know her a bit better. She doesn't really speak English, but she can speak Japanese very well! So she kept switching between Korean and Japanese to talk to both Joyce and me.... I was like..... aren't you tired switching between the two and basically just repeated what you said in Korean in Japanese?! But she was nice enough to do that for both of us.... and she's patient enough to listen to my Korean and urge me on when I'm trying really hard to express myself.

She took us to a chicken kalbi place.... I didn't know what it was until we got there! It's like a super chicken bbq place... and it was sooooo delicious!

(haha, he probably thought it was so weird that I was taking a picture of him. But the employees are supposed to mix it for you. And that big round thing around it is to prevent it from splattering onto our clothes)

It was SUPER good!!!! I'm gonna miss it when I go back to the states......

And it has this kind of tteok..... ones with sweet potato inside!

Koreans DO NOT let any good sauce go to waste. Always add a few bowls of rice and continue eating! Except this one has CHEESE!

It was AMAZING! Except I was sooooo full. Soo Mi told us that we have to eat the crispy rice that's on the bottom of the pan because that's also the "main course". Haha... they're all so funny. Anyways, yes, it was also amazing.

She was too nice to treat us to lunch.... (they've all been buying us all the food.....) so we treated her to Starbucks and talked some more in Korean/Japanese. She said she was trying to learn salsa, but gave up because they had to dance too close to the other person, and I showed her Joyce's wedding salsa dance video and she was impressed (I would too). We talked a bit more and went on to meet the next person!

We met up with Bomi around Gyeongbokgung and she did Korean language study with me for 90 minutes! I really appreciated her spending so much time helping me when I didn't even meet her before! She was nice enough to speak in easier words and urged me on to express myself in Korean when I got stuck. I realized later that both Soo Mi and Bo,i spoke really really fast (Soo Mi also said that she spoke really fast), but I think it was good training for me... because now I can listen to faster Korean. But seriously.... I'm still a ways off from being able to talk more naturally. However, I always appreciate the opportunity to speak to Koreans in Korean!

While we were doing Korean language exchange, Joyce was studying Korean on her own! She learned the Hangeul in 90 minutes! Good job Joyce!

She then took us around the National Museum of Palace and explained pretty much the entire first floor exhibit to us because she knows so much about the history. Seriously, she should have just worked for the museum! Oh yeah, her English is really really good! And she has never studied outside of Korea! Amazing!

After that tour (notice how we pretty much just stayed inside the entire day), we went to eat gamjatang (potato soup with pork), which she treated. They're all too nice!

Seriously, too much food!! I ate as much as I can.... but I was pretty much at the full extent of my stomach.

Bomi studied journalism in college and she had been very interested in meeting foreigners because she can learn more about other cultures through conversation with them. We had a lot of discussion about politics, education, racism, culture differences, and etc. It was a very interesting intellectual exchange with her.... and I'm glad to meet someone as smart as her!

It was still sooooo hot outside, so we walked around the Seochun (West Village) area until we decided to just stop at a cafe. Here are the scenery and drinks we ordered.

This is the oldest existing bookstore in Seoul (or Korea).

I, again, got an ade.

We spent the next two hours or so just really exchanging thoughts about culture and all. It was really really awesome!

I think meeting people like Bomi (which there are many on this trip) was that there are a lot of people out there who have ideas about their life that they are seeking to accomplish through their decisions. Sometimes meeting these people made me wonder why I didn't think about traveling and meeting different people earlier? I think I lived a life where I was kind of taught to just be content with where you are at the moment instead of even entertaining the idea of maybe living outside of where I was, or doing something that I may like doing better.... I just thought that staying put would be the best decision for my life. I'm really glad that we kind of branched out and actively met people on this trip.

A lot of people always ask me why I learn Korean (a lot of Koreans I meet on this trip also ask me that question). To be honest, I don't know. I started because I watched a lot of Korean dramas and wanted to sing the songs, and then it became a challenge to see if I can learn another language. Then it became my hobby to see how far I can get in a new language. But really, I don't know why I'm learning a language.... but meeting people on this trip who have mastered another language or is practicing a language, I realize that.... you sometimes don't really need an "end goal" (like you want to marry someone from that language, or to travel somewhere, or to ...whatever), it's just a hobby. Many people learn Japanese because they were interested in the culture. Will they ever live there? Maybe not. Will they marry someone who's Japanese? Maybe not. But hey, learning a new language doesn't mean that it has to have a practical reason, right? Why do polyglots learn all those languages? I think they just thrive on being able to understand more things in that language... and just the thrill of being able to learn yet another language. So yeah.... the path for me to master this language is still quite far, but I appreciate every opportunity to learn and to get a bit better!