10 days UNTIL Korea

This trip is coming up so fast! When I first started this blog, it seemed like it'd be forever until our 10 day trip in Korea. What used to be 7 weeks is now simply 10 days. 10 days until our 10 days in Korea.

It's going to be really exciting, and I already have my Flickr account set up to ingest the hundreds of pictures I plan to take.

Another Awesome weekend

This weekend was supposed to be a quiet and relaxing weekend of which camping out for the Nintendo Wii reservations were going to be the only thing worthy of notice.. This weekend turned out to be a real blast.. at least for me.

I would like to get into detail about the weekend but it was full of interesting events. Lets just say that we ate tons of Korean BBQ, drank tons of Korean alcohol and sang lots of Karaoke songs.. I think we are prepared for our trip to Korea! The only thing we wanted to do this weekend was camp out for the Wii reservations.. but we didn't do it.. as there were over 20 people at the local Toys'R'Us. (luckily we had others camp for us and we still got 2 reservations!)

Yahoo News: Thu. 10/26 - South Korea enforces sanctions on North

uh oh...

read the article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061026/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear

Yahoo News: Wed. 10/25 - Pyongyang threatens war if S.Korea joins sanctions

North Korea warned South Korea on Wednesday against joining U.S.-led sanctions against Pyongyang and said it would take action after any such move by Seoul.

South Korea's participation in sanctions would be seen as a serious provocation leading to a "crisis of war" on the Korean peninsula, a North Korean spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The North issued a similar warning in September before it conducted a nuclear test earlier this month, prompting the U.N Security Council to impose financial and arms sanctions on North Korea.

Link to actual article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061025/ts_nm/korea_north_war_dc

I found this at: http://www.survivekorea.com. I wouldn't wear it, but I found it slightly amusing. It says "I like Korean girls." : )

I feel bad for feeling good, but it also feels good to be bad for once..

I recently found out some bad news about my ex. To make a long story short.. I was with my ex for 5 years (during high school and some college) and we broke up because she cheated on me (twice). It was complicated and devastating on many levels. So she recently got married (less than a year ago) to some guy who supposedly makes a ton of money and alot of people (myself included) thought this was it... but it turns out that is not the case. She is getting divorced because she found out that he was cheating on her. I know its really messed up, but the irony of the situation is just too good to not be appreciated on my part. At least shes not pregnant (so I hear) and she'll probably recover, unless she jumps into another relationship.. which is highly probable.

Why would I bring this up on this blogger you may ask...

well.. it got me thinking.. about how my life may seem slow and that I'm being lazy and not "progressing" like many others my age. But I am certainly glad that I have these great friends that I can count on, a life heading somewhere (albeit slowly) and time to have vacations and enjoy life. I'm gonna make sure that I enjoy these days as much as I can...

3 More Weeks!

Thus far, all we have ready is... our airfare.

I think our trip will look something like this:

Wednesday, Nov 8
Yuichi and I drive up from Los Angeles to San Jose and rendezvous with Alex

Thursday, Nov 9
The three of us drive up from San Jose to San Francisco

Friday, Nov 10
I hope we're not too jetlagged. Since it's our first time in the country, we'll have to check out the scenery. The female kind.

5:00 PM - Arrive in Seoul and meet cousin (Whom I've never met before).
6:00 PM - Check into hotel/motel (Which we haven't booked yet).
7:00 PM - Dinner
9:00 PM - Drinking/Clubbing/Karaoke

Saturday, Nov 11
We'll probably just wander around downtown and see what life is like in Seoul. The scenery from the previous night was hopefully good enough for us to revisit. ; p

3:00 AM - Eat
4:00 AM - Sleep
12:00 PM - Wake up
1:00 PM - Eat
2:00 PM - Wander
7:00 PM - Dinner
9:00 PM - Drinking/Clubbing/Karaoke

Sunday, Nov 12
Recover. Do some sightseeing. Sleep early.

3:00 AM - Eat
4:00 AM - Sleep
12:00 PM - Wake up
1:00 PM - Eat
2:00 PM - Wander
7:00 PM - Dinner
9:00 PM - Light drinking
12:00 AM - Sleep (or try to anyway)

Monday, Nov 13
Some of my relatives on my Mom's side still reside in the 'country'. It's probably more developed today, but nevertheless, we'll get to see more of Korea by visiting my mom's hometown.

8:00 AM - Wake Up
9:00 AM - Head down to Pohang
2:00 PM - Meet relatives (whom I met once before)
3:00 PM - Wander
7:00 PM - Eat
9:00 PM - Light drinking
12:00 AM - Sleep (or try to anyway)

Tuesday, Nov 14
My parents recommended that we visit Gyeongju while we're down to see more of the countryside. Afterwards, we'll probably head back to Seoul.

8:00 AM - Wake Up
9:00 AM - Head from Pohang to Gyeongju (sp?)
12:00 PM - Eat
1:00 PM - Wander
5:00 PM - Head back to Seoul
11:00 PM - Check into a hotel.

Wednesday Nov 15 - Nov 19
Nothing planned... LOL. We're just going to wing it. Going to party on the 18th and 19th fo sho!

Learning some Korean in Art class

I talked to a Korean girl in my art class today... she was kind enough to translate some of the phrases below for me. The pronunciation of these phrases are quite difficult (in my opinion) I just hope people will understand my crappy foreign accent in Korea..

LESSON 2: simple phrases

I can't speak Korean - hanguk mal mohteh yo
Sorry - meeyan haeyo/ meeyan hamnida
Excuse me - jamshee man yo
Nice to meet you - manaso bangam sumida
Where is the bathroom - hwahjangsheel uhdeheesoyo
I don't understand - iheh mwotehsoyo
How much is it? - ulmahyeyo?
What is your name? - ilumi mwoyeyo?
Can you speak English? - yonguh haljoolalayo?

*edited thanks to Grace!*

Back from SF! Happy Bday Alex

This weekend I spent alot of time behind the wheel as Joseph and I went to SF and back. We went to celebrate Alex's 26th bday. We have a friend who also has a bday this weekend but couldn't make it due to midterms (happy bday Ben). Anyway.. on this long drive up to Norcal and back I learned some Korean phrases, ones I will be sure to use and others.. maybe not. Thanks to Joseph, I will be studying some Korean (while studying Japanese) for the next few weeks... and maybe continue to do so after =P

LESSON 1
Hi/hello - annyeonghaseyo
how are you? (greeting) - annyeonghaseyo?
yes - ne
no - anio
what?- mwo?
thank you- gamsahamnida
I like it!/Great!/Ok!/an excited positive response - joa!
I'm hungry - na baegopa
I'm thirsty - na mongmalla
I understand - arasseo

thats it for now.. as for pronunciations.. I'm not clear on how to pronounce these really.. once I do I'll come back and write my version.. for example gamsahamnida (thank you) sounds more like kamsahamnida and na baegopa (I'm hungry) sounds more like na paekopa...

Testing Flickr / Blogger Integration

...
Originally uploaded by dissonance.

Please pay no attention to this goofy homoerotic picture. I am testing a Flickr feature that lets you arbitrarily blog an individual picture. I have no idea what we're doing. All I can say is, we better be careful when we drink in Korea.

Nuclear North Korea

I am not going to try and start a political rant on this blog, nor do I want to. However, the purpose of 10daysinkorea is to express feelings and events up to, during and after our trip to Korea. In that regard, I must say that this news is worrisome.. I don't know whats going on over in Korea as I don't really keep up with political and international news. I did read (online, mind you) that South Korea recently fired warning shots at North Koreans as they crossed the border for a while just before the Nuclear bomb test run. I wonder how this will affect our flights as well... I just don't want things to get out of hand and be a pain to deal with. I guess we'll see as time goes on..

Happy Lunar Festival!

In Korea it's called Chuseok. I called my mom today to wish her Happy Chuseok and she was like, "wtf? who told you?!" as if it was some kind of secret. I guess she's just shocked that I knew.

I wonder if anything is going while we're visiting. : )

LOL

I posted on a discussion thread on http://www.iluvkorea.com which resulted in this tidbit -

Me: My friends and I will probably go to a booking club in Korea just to see how it compares to the ones in America. : )

joshua: There's no comparison. The Korean club will book you at least a dozen times.

SWEET

5 Weeks!

5 weeks from now, my friends and I will be flying out of San Francisco on Singapore Airlines on a direct flight to Incheon International Airport. I was talking to Yuichi last night and I was telling him how difficult it's going to be to NOT get plastered every night. Here in the states, soju is $3-4 USD in the grocery market and $10-15 at the bars we frequent. I've heard that soju is anywhere from $1-2 in the stores in Korea, but still pricey in the bars. Darn. I've also heard that hard liquor is generally expensive. Crap. I guess we'll just have to stock up at the duty free store! : )

I R TEH US CITIZEN

[Jin] (11:19:20 AM): according to my friends, the phrase to use is : 'i am a US citizen'

My cousin IM'd me with this gem so I'm writing it down so I don't forget. It's not that I won't forget, but I have to remember to really try it! "Hi, I am US citizen. You dance with me?"

I guess if that fails, I can just dance with Alex and Yuichi. I've heard (and seen stateside) that it's not unheard of for heterosexual men to dance with each other at a club.

/nudge

Trip preparations

Having recently been outside the country, I feel that I am a bit more prepared for this kind of trip. I made alot of mistakes that I will try to avoid on this trip. Most of the problems came from negligence and lack of preparation. Luckily, the person I travelled with has been out of the country on a few occasions and was well prepared. One thing I didn't think of that came in handy was a compass. That compass saved us on so many occasions. Another thing that helped were trail mix bars. I know what you're thinking, "Trail mix bars?! are you nuts?! just buy some food over at a restaurant or something. Why eat that crap when there are so many delicacies to be had in another country!" Well.. it is for that reason that the bars helped out. We had an idea of what we wanted to eat and where and sometimes, in a mass transit country, you just aren't around food you want to eat or don't have time to stop. Another reason is because, with small granola bars, its easier to fight the urge to eat at weird hours when you are halfway across the world.

There are a few other things that I need to be aware of before the trip. Weather is obviously a big one. Culture and daily life are big as well. For example, in Japan, handkerchiefs are almost mandatory as they (usually) don't have tissue paper (or air dryers) in the bathrooms and restaurants usually give out moist towelletes. Respect for elders and trying not to offend others are pretty high priority. The last big thing (that I can think of at the moment) is learning the language...
I'm gonna need help learning these and will post them as I come across them.

Right now I'll write a list of phrases I think I will need to use in Korea.
"where is the bathroom"
"I can't speak Korean"
"I am lost"
"thank you/no thank you"
"sorry"
"excuse me"
"hello/goodbye"
"nice to meet you"
"do you know English?"

Welcome to 10 Days In Korea!

On November 9, 2006, a couple of friends and I will be traveling to Seoul, South Korea, for a 10 day excursion. While the trip itself is of no significant consequence, it is a momentous occasion for me having never stepped foot on my homeland (let alone leave the United States) in the 27 of years of my existence. My parents are both Korean, but since I was born and raised in San Diego, California with peers of non-Asian descent, I estimate my understanding of the language to be no better than that of a 1st grader's.

Since there's still a little over 5 weeks remaining between now and our trip, consider this time as the prologue of what we hope to be a very memorable adventure.