December!

So to wrap up my trip, I'm making one more blog. This time, it's a picture a day! 40 days are left!!!

http://lastkdays.blogspot.com/

check it out! this is a daily thing until i get back.


Some things that are coming up this December:
1) Tests
2) Moving to the new church
3) Christmas!
4) Violin performance

School has been...school. Nothing special to report. The second half of the year was definitely less active, but somehow, I enjoyed it more than the first. I've been trying to study subjects that I will be taking when I get back as much as possible [Spanish, English vocab, math...].

I can't wait to come back, but it's of course so sad that I'm leaving! Today one person said, "Tears are going to fall when Tintin leaves...". Another person said, "Only tears? I'm going to have a runny nose, my mouth..."
In Korean tears is noon mool, runny nose is kon mool, and then out of the mouth-eep mool. They all have "mool", so when she said this it was: "noon mool, kon mool, eep mool...MOOL!"

water is going to come out of their faces, basically, when i leave...awwww!

Bombs

great. N.Korea bombed S.Korea. uhh...as long as they let me go back to the states, it's all good.

a project

D-55! I would like to do some kind of project, but I'm not sure what to do yet. I have to think about it...but I have to start...well, it can be a D-50 thing too.

so many posts

i just read a few of my first posts. when i read them, in my head, my voice is like a squirrel...all hyper and such... especially with all of those "!!!!!!".

it's been a great year. it's odd that it's ending. i feel so at home here, and right now, the situation i'm in is so much more comfortable than the one i was in in the beginning. i keep reading about my old host house and the people, especially umma, and i can't believe that i survived. i have learned a lot from this experience and have been challenged in a bunch of new ways.

D-63.

i lost my voice

i got sick. so i lost my voice..

today is vocal chord rehabilitation day. i need my voice by wednesday, so i'm starting today. i bought some ginger tea and i'm going to try not to talk as much as possible. on wednesday, my sister asked me to sing with her at her school [international school...yay!] so i need my voice!

we are singing a song called 부르신 곳에서 [Wherever You Call Me].

she made a powerpoint and we decided to translate it...it sounds so funny in english. it doesn't make much sense.

today we had another group of people come up and sing in class. someone sang "nella fantasia~". she's so cute. we sang in english class. when i sang, it was in economy, so my friends said i have to sing in english class in front of our homeroom teacher. "unfortunately" my voice was gone today...heheheh...

i've been wanting to study, but everytime i go out to study, something else comes up. my friend and i went to go an study and we ended up decorating cakes and watching a movie instead...oops.

just trying to stay warm...it's fall!

November!

It's november...it's cold. The church had a garage sale. I bought a really nice scarf for about $1. [WIN] so I'm ok. I also bought a nice warm jacket.

I've been really sleepy in class. My friends asked me to teach them how I can just sleep through anything. They say that they can't get over how uncomfortable the desk is, but I somehow figure out how to fall asleep.

Crafting! I made some earrings for my friend's birthday. I just finished a leather bracelet using a hemp technique my sister showed me. I've also made a pearl necklace, several pairs of earrings, etc...

We are going to be singing a special song on sunday :) By we, I mean myself and my host sister and another girl.

Don't get sick! I think I'm starting to...

exercising. not my thing.

I went to the gym! Aren't you proud? I ran on the treadmill, the step thingy, jumproped, stretched...etc. etc..

I've lost 2kg so far...It'll have been a week tomorrow. I need to crack down man. I need to lose more weight.

I'm going to cook adobo tomorrow. We have tests tomorrow, so we get out early. I need to buy ingredients.

My vibrato still sucks, but we are progressing.

I wrote an essay. It sucks. http://empressofunicorns.blogspot.com/2010/10/exercise-essay.html

bye!

Diet

I'm eating carrots and yogurt right now. Just wanted to let you know.

The Goyang Philharmonic

Today I went to see the Goyang Philharmonic Orchestra with Anna. My hagwon teacher had two extra tickets, so she gave them to me :) They were great. All of the soloists were high school students! Minus this one CRAZY violinist...she's in 8th grade...I really enjoyed it.

After the concert, we saw these little girls dancing [dance hagwon?]. It was a pretty big event, with stage, lights, etc...These little girls were about 7~12 years old and they were dancing with scarves and stuff to really ....yeck... one of the songs was Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up". Oh, children.

Food consumed: bibimbap, dwenjjangjigae, kimchi jigae, gyeran jjim, yogurt. AWESOME.

It was a pretty good day.

Punishment

On October 2, 2010 [Saturday], I, Kristin DeJesus, was punished by a Korean teacher. Yes, that's right...I was late today. I told my teacher that I was willing to recieve punishment, and I did. My teacher doesn't hit kids like most of the other teachers though. All we had to do was stay in a pushup position in between classes: 20min in total. It wasn't that bad...and I really feel like a Korean student now.

My alarm wasn't set. It's a Sat, and my alarm was set for Mon-Fri...so no alarm went off. DANGGIT! It's ok though.

I'm going to see an orchestra concert with Anna today~ One of the piano teachers at my hagwon gave me tickets for free.

Must. Study.

A new blog

Hi guys! So I've created a new blog. You can check it out at
http://empressofunicorns.blogspot.com/

I need to start preparing for the SAT! And I just want to be a smarter person.

The last week we had a vacation because of the Korean holiday "chuseok". From Monday to Thursday, we visited family. It was really fun to meet everyone! I ate a lot of food...I'm still gaining weight. Fortunately I have lost a little weight since my family change, but I'm still pretty heavy.. NEED TO DIET.

I have been thinking a lot about SAT prep and such. I feel like it's going to be crazy when I get back...with all of my credits and such and catching up in class! But it will work out :)

September Update!!!

Hello everyone! It has been SUCH a long time!

Anyways...I'd like to give you a brief update of everything that has been going on: I hadn't been posting because I was in a little bit of a stressful situation, but now everything is wonderful once again!

I changed host families! I now live with my pastor's family. Their house is about 20min by bus to school. It's so nice here!

I have been going to violin academy 3 days a week. I have a lesson on Wednesday, and the other days I come in to practice. The lessons are 1 hour long. Practices are however long I want them to be.

Tests are tomorrow! I have English tomorrow I think. I want to get 100%, but I probably won't. After tests, we have a week long break for the Korean 'thanksgiving': Chuseok.

I went to a gospel concert with two of my friends and two of their friends. It was SOOOO fun.

My hair is straight now. That's right, I had a straight perm done. It was only....$35! [approx]

I will try to keep this updated more often now...Bye!

studying

hi! right now i'm in a study room. it's called a "dok-suh-shil".
the one i'm in right now costs 6,000W and has free wireless.
so basically it's like $4 for air conditioning, free wireless, and quiet.

i want to come again, but tomorrow i'm planning on visiting a violin academy. maybe i'll come again on thursday or friday.

the libraries are full! that's why i'm paying for a place to study. you need a ticket to get in to the library...

my korean seems to be stuck. i know a lot, but i'm still not great at talking. practice makes perfect though...

summer studies

from monday on i'm going to go to the library and study!
my host dad requested that i do this, and i think it's actually a really great idea!
i wanted to study during the summer, but i'm not that studious...therefore my plans went down the drain...hehehe...

anyways, summer has been uneventful so far. i'll update as summer passes along!

summer!

plans:

busan trip to visit jungin.
shop shop shop. [for gifts of course]
STUDY.

there's this show on tv here that has foreigners who speak korean. every time i watch it i just want to study. it drives me insane.

summer is here! what to do? i don't know. the only planning out i've done is study plans. my host parents say i should attend an academy or something, but i don't think i can afford it. i'd like to go and take violin, but i have to find out the cost.

went to the yfu-usa<--->yfu-korea thing today. it's like a debrief for returnees and the outbounders get to hear the returnees talk. we had to introduce ourselves in korean. easy right? i got really nervous and blacked out. i said my name was tintin. i'm so used to introducing myself that way.

met the americans. they're cool.

what to do during summer?

sleepy

i slept for two hours and i'm still sleepy. ever since lotteworld i've been beat! i need to take some vitamin c and sleep more! i hope i don't get sick.

i'm seeing eclipse tomorrow...FINALLY. i have to wait until the 22nd to see the last airbender. BOO!

nothing very exciting. just been normal these days.

our school trip is on wednesday. we're not allowed to bring shampoo because of the environment. 3days. a bunch of high school students. no shampoo. grrrrrrrreat.

monsoon season is crazy! the rain comes so quickly and in large amounts. it's like sheets of water...

it's july!

so june is over!

i took my english test again. i got 2 wrong this time. better than last time at least!!!

eclipse doesn't come until the 8th. the last airbender doesn't come out until the 22nd. shrek forever after was an ok childrens' movie. iron man 2 isn't playing at the theaters anymore!

i went to a piano recital today! she did so well!!! we also got to eat free fancy food.

it's been hot but rainy. monsoon season i guess.

i bought new shoes! my other ones had holes in them and my feet were getting wet when it rained...so i kind of needed new shoes.

school has been good. home has been good. life has been good.

my sister seems similar to me in many ways. we just get along on certain topics. like we both are quiet when we eat...so it's not awkward when we eat, just quiet.

i will try to update more often now! summer vacation is soon!

dying down.

if you take a look at my blog archive you will see that there are
19 posts in March
11 posts in April
5 posts in May
2 posts in June

interesting.

today a bug came in. the guys were so afraid. it was hilarious. they were screaming and were thrashing about. it was a fly of some sort. it was about the size of a quarter. one of the guys hit it, but when it came down to its death, he screamed and threw the shoe and tried to get away from the carcass. hilarious.

it was so hot. in pe, since the 3rd graders had the gym, we went into the taekwondo building instead. smells in there. played soccer and dodge ball [with a soccer ball].

it's been a while. again.

the weather is weird. today it was hot at school, then as i was walking home it started to rain. i went to a stationary store and when i came it out, it was pouring, but it was still hot. there was thunder. crazy.

my hair is long. well, longer than it has been in a few years. it's past my shoulders now. it's hot, so i may cut it again, but i've been wanting to grow it out. someone suggested i cut it like yunuenhye in coffee prince. i have cut it in a yuneunhye style before, a short style, but not that short.

i've been studying a lot lately. i thought i was bad at studying because i grew up not ever studying, but i'm not. i'm actually pretty smart. all the kids at my school ask me why i came to jeongbal if i'm so smart. we're doing sequences in math. i get it, some people don't. it's taught in korean. it's numbers though. numbers are the same everywhere. we're going to do limits soon...=shudder=

i haven't been practicing violin as much as i want to. the problem is the sound of the electric violin...i hate it. jin had his violin at church. i was like...duuuude. acoustic sounds soooo much better. i want to practice on THAT violin.

world cup is coming up again. korean vs. greece. sung-gyung is going to SEOUL...with ALL THE PEOPLE. he's going with his church. it sounds fun...and crazy.

my plans for now are just: study. study. study. i want to speak decent korean by the time i leave dudes. must. study.

you think...

it was a bad day?

i had to wash the blackboard AND sweep the floors, yaja, tired....HUNGRY. you think it was a bad day? no. it actually wasn't.

today one of the guys sang in front of the class in hanja. HAAAAAAAAAA!

i played basketball before yaja with the guys. i did an alley-oop [well...a fake one] with one of the dudes.. we're both short. i made it though.

yunju kept on getting "hurt". the ball hit me too. you know though...i told her, "it's basketball right?"

i acted as yunju's electronic dictionary and read some words for her. she also dictated the speed at which i read.

i really love my class.

may 19

today is the day when i received my korean name [which i don't very much like, but it's growing on me slowly]: tin [last name] doori [means two; entire name means two "tin"s].

adjectives: weird weather, itchy, messy

lunch: curry rice. delicious.
dinner: salmon. delicious.
side note: i wanted my name to be baram [wind] because i tell hyejo that i'm a casanova/player/i like everyone... when she asks me which guy i like the best in the class. in korean, the phrase for a "player" is "like the wind".

raining.

yet again. spring showers i suppose?

no pe. we watched glory road instead. earlier in the day, a guy from the other team tried to bribe me. he was like "if you pretend you're sick and let us win, i'll buy you something from the snack store." HA. i looked over to the other good guy on my team and was like, "NO WAY."

we had eel for lunch. it wasn't very good. too many bones.

i'm sleepy. i only slept in english at the end. in korean i took notes and the teacher came to my seat and was like, "YOU WROTE THIS?" and then she pinched my cheeks and told me how good i was and to continue to take notes.

nothing really eventful today.

been practicing for pe day. my right thigh hurts. all of the girls' right thighs hurt. a certain move is the cause. if you know the dance, "oh! by snsd" it's the first thing.

pe day sounds fun. i'm nervous about the relay race, but i think it'll be fine. i'm the first runner and i'm running a roundabout. i think we have to start in a lunge...i really can't do that.

tomorrow: curry rice for lunch. yessssssssssss...

best day #1

i gotta say. today was pretty cool.
stuff that happened wasn't that great, i just feel good.

today was children's day. the day started with the tea ceremony stuff. my friends practiced for the cheer part of pe month...i couldn't go. i'm doing 2 of the 3 dances too. the third dance is the guys...how am i supposed to do anything?

anyways...i really wanted to go and i was just so exhausted to do the tea thing. i did well though. i felt like i did.

when we got back we went to watch hairize. they were awesome. after i talked to the older members...[alumni]...one guy was from germany but he only lived there when he was small so his english wasn't perfect but he could understand me.

today was also the day we met the devil...heh heh heh. ask me when i get back. i'd love to tell you the story.

overall i feel good even though i'm exhausted. i'm afraid i'm getting sick. gotta take that vitamin c.

pe month

yesssssssssssss...

my body hurts so bad.
why?
three words:
tug o' war.

then today i played basketball. we are doing dances too for the "olympics" and one of the guys wouldn't agree to doing one song. we said if he lost the basketball game he would have to. i made sure that we one. my team is awesome.

our class won 4 out of 4 in tug o' war too. we used a "one two" technique in which we pulled and pushed. the last one we totally won. my back hurts so bad though.

tomorrow i have tea ceremony training again. i was supposed to go practice for the dancing with my class, but i can't....so sad. hopefully we'll do practice on thursday too.

since it's childrens day and the anniversary of the opening of school, there is no school tomorrow or thursday. yesssssss.

deep sleep. that's what i'm going to do.

shi-hum [tests]

soooo...the tests are coming up. not excited.

today...was uneventful.

Jeongbal Olympics: Tintin "aka basketball Jesus" will be participating in kickball, jump rope, cheer and relay [100m for me; I'm first]. The guys were going to have me as a sub for soccer too, but let's not go overboard.

I have to start eating well and working out. Great. I think if it's not raining, I'll start jogging to the park jog to the rabbits.

Wrote down the steps for the tea ceremony. 7 pages. Had to rewrite it so that Enni has copy.

Had a delicious lunch: donkatsu with cheese.
Had a delicioud dinner: chicken and dduk gook.
Now I'm eating fruit.
My best friends are doing great.
I've been talking very well in Korean [I think].
Had a great Sunday.
God is good.
I am blessed.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

i just discovered

all of the comments that have been left! i thought i would get an email or something if a comment was left, but i guess i didn't set it up!

anyways...responses:
i'll take a picture of the toilet asap.
it's lolila...not lolita.
thanks for the college advice!
i miss you all!
why can't i like ufc? it's fun.



ANYWAYS. today is sunday. i went to the lake park with church after church.
it was really fun! we ate and enni and elly came too.

we walked around the park. [it's quite big.] there is a museum of different kinds of toilets, a very large swing, and this plank of wood [it's like a seesaw...but you jump on it. quite dangerous. it was fun though] i wish i had brought my camera, but we had enni's camera. i want videos though!

this little girl [can't remember her name] stuck with me for a while. she was very cute and practiced some english with me. we spoke in korean mostly though.

it's weird because most of them call me unni or noona. i'm not used to that.

one girl had a wave board [ripstick...i don't know what it's called]. i used to be pretty good on it. i can't do it anymore though.

jin brought his guitar. he asked me to show him my guitar skills. i have none. especially compared to him. his mom asked me if i wanted to participate in a church thing they do every month. she wants me to play the violin. i can't do it this month because of the tea ceremony thing, but i may participate one month. i need to buy that string for my violin so i can practice though.

when i came home i slept a long time. my body is still kind of tired. we didn't do much today...but i feel very drained physically.

i get my alien card tomorrow! yay! and i'm going to try and go to the christian bookstore and get a korean/english bible too.

this week

was wonderful!

i made jokes in korean and bought my summer uniform. it was 113,000won. $100 approx.

nothing really to report. i got to skype quite a bit and have been sketching stuff. read the glass menagerie today. liked it a lot.

this week was my dad's 7th death anniversary. i ate a bulgogi burger in honor of him.

tomorrow i'm going to a picnic at the park with church. enni is coming too.

i'm apparently the "jesus" of basketball.

on monday i'm going to pick up my alien card and hopefully buy a korean/english bible.

goodnite!

the sun is shining

but it's still super cold and windy. what the heck. it was sunny yesterday.

basketball. won the first game by A BUTTLOAD, but then lost the second game...by a buttload. Reasons for my loss: I was tired, I sat out for a rest in the first half, when I got back in nobody would give me the ball... [girls score more points...i could have gotten so many], when i got back in, our teacher decided to play on the other team. WHAT??? but seriously...I was on fire in the first game.

we got the name quizzes back...i got a perfect score! everyone was super surprised, especially me. the people who got some wrong mostly got my name wrong. for the quiz they weren't allowed to put tintin, they had to put my real name.

umma is going out to dinner tonight, so i have quite a while to myself today.

fun times today. i slept at 9pm so i had a lot of energy today. enni said she was depressed until she saw me! yay! i'm glad i make people happy.

the sun is shining

it's been a while

that's because i've been sick.

umma got angry because i go out when i'm sick but i skipped school once and came home early once. it's a korean thing. i understand. she is just being a mom.

i went to youth group today too. when i asked umma if i could go, she said anything i do is ok, but i have to control myself when i am in my sick condition. i understand. i told her from now on i will work harder.

tomorrow is monday. i'm not dreading it in the same way. it's kind of like...i want to please umma so i have to go. i don't know how to explain my feelings.

anne frank and i are really similar. it's weird.

got to skype my family for 2 hours on saturday, and my friends for 2 hours today! i'm so happy skype exists. it's keeping me alive.

in youth group, the youth pastor used 2pm to explain the men of Baal and SNSD as the asherahians. ha.

i'm super homesick again. i feel like the bump with umma is starting to go down now. i can't ever skip school again though...and i think for like the next two weeks i can't go out very much.

oh well. can't wait for my host sister to get back. i think it'll be better.

april 6th.

thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

i was really tired and sick. my nose was so stuffed! i slept through homeroom, korean, math and economy today. that's a total of approx 3hours 20 min.

in the morning my parents gave me a paris baguette cake! it's so pretty and it was really good.

in pe some people were talking...so we had to go inside and do drills. we did a couple of pushups and then group squatting...it was terrible. i hung out with hyona and kiri after...their legs were like jello. thankfully, i've done physical exercise before, so my legs were ok.

during lunch, hai-rize surprised me with chocopies! one of the third year dudes stuffed one in mouth! then his brother threatened to beat me up [korean birthday tradtition...saengiil bbang.]

while i was eating my choco pie, my friends from my class came and said that our teacher was at the class and i had to go. when i got in to class it was filled with balloons! i quickly went to my locker to get my camera...and i caught them coming in with the cake. [watch on facebook]

they baked me a cake and bought me lots of snacks and gave me a big card! gunhye also gave me a cute pen.

it was a very nice day. lots of sleep, lots of cake, no saengil bbang :)

lo siento

i met an el salvadorian today at church. i wanted to practice my spanish...but i really didn't know what to say. jin just asked if i speak spanish and i said "un poco. lo siento amigo. mi espanol es muy mal." i wanted to say like "porque hablo en koreano simepre, no puedo recordar mi espanol." yeah. that'd been good enough.

anyways. i also met a girl from torrence and another girl from the states. they go to the same international school as salvadorian and the english speaking koreans.

since there were international peeps there today, our pastor translated a lot of the message. SWEEEET!

after that i went to lotte and the noraebang with enni. we won't be going to the noraebang again for a very VERY long time.

i'd really like to get better at the guitar so i can sing more songs. thanks to the "transpose" button i can usually find a key where i know all of the chords in the song. i don't want to have to do that though.

toe told me some ways to worship the Lord other than devotions. just thinking about Him makes me feel better.

school yet again. i didn't used to hate mondays so much.

Adventure day

I went to Seoul with Enni today. I wanted to go to the Kyobo bookstore...but it was closed for remodeling! The first day of remodeling was today too! so...i still don't have a translator.

Tomorrow I have church. Yay! I haven't seen them for so long.

Since the bookstore was closed, we walked to myungdong. i bought a cool hat! my birthday present. i set aside 50,000 W for my birthday. I bought paints, a shirt and the hat. It's a lamb hat. the ear flaps are long though so you can wear it like a scarf and at the end it has pockets for your hands! the hands are paws! [even though it's a ram.]

when we got back, hai-rise people were still out at the noraebang, so we went to join them. it was so fun! i ended up singing "You and I" by Park Bom. It's a hard song...ughhhhh...

after that we walked around for a while and finally went to eat jjajjangmyun.

this morning we had club activities. they wanted me to freestyle, but i didn't. i solved the rubiks cube. enni and others mixed it for me. they battled. the girls don't really battle. they dance and then run back to their side...haha. maybe next time i'll dance. maybe.

sunny day!

it was beautiful today! but it was still windy and cold.

i had a really good day actually! many good events.

in english there was something about junk metal. which led to junk food. which led to obesity. which led to americans. great. apparently, to others we're just a bunch of obese people.

i had an interview for the school paper. it was two guys, first years. i'm barely older than them though. anyways, it was really fun. one guy couldn't speak that much english, but he really could say quite a bit. the other guy lived in england. his accent is cool. it's a mixture of british and korean.

they took video of me. they asked one of the questions wrong and we all couldn't stop laughing...HAHAHA! i don't know what they're going to do with that part.

we had a quiz on peoples' names in class. i memorized pretty much everyone in the last class. i only didn't know one on the quiz. i stole it from my partner though. they had to answer my real name...since everyone knows i'm tintin.

we watched a video on sexual harassment protection. it was one of those old school ones on tape. it was so hilarious. the acting was....grrrrrrrrrrrrreat.

tomorrow i'm going to the kyobo bookstore! yay! i need to buy a translator. i'm really excited.

umma is going to buy me skin stuff for my birthday! woohoo for birthday!

Tintin is SOOO good at English!

Really? That's cool.

Today we had Rachel for English. She's a Canadian. A French-Canadian. She says "aboot" and "soory" heh heh heh.

Anyways...we played a game today and the rules were really difficult. I asked a question and again all everyone was saying was "waaaaa~ yung-oh chincha chareh!" [she speaks English so well!] yeah. i know. i'm korean. not american apparently.

Had more konglish lessons. They kept making me switch from the American way to the Korean way. This one girl fell on the floor from laughing so hard.

We played basketball...but all we did was layups. Timed layups. It took me three shots. I was the last one on my team. BUT. I have a star next to my name. there are like 4 people with stars. I'm the only girl. das right.

We were outside for PE and it had just rained this morning...so the dirt was wet. So a couple of the guys took a shovel and a pail and started taking the water out and putting dirt on top. We have a gym. wth.

In my 8th class [extra class], I talked to junghwan and the class president today. They just kept insulting each other. "he ijuh [is] trash" "junk" "idiot". it was fun.

The Konglish way to say Hermione is "her-mee-oh-nuh". just like the way it's spelled.

I stood next to some of the dudes from my class in line for lunch today. They also insulted each other. Junsu was standing on a step and he was almost as tall as dohyun [tall guy]. He said that he is a loser because he is so short. Dohyun said "I winner. tall and handsome." ha. he is though.

Went to Burger King. Saw a bulgogi burger. Didn't buy it because I want my reaction on camera.

bold is for things i think are interesting. you can just read the bold really.

speak korean!

my friends have decided that if i speak english to them, they're going to hit me. i am allowed to use english words, but i have to say them with a korean accent.

for example...i can say "you're face is handsome" but i have to say "ni ulgoolee han-sum"

i also have to say:
ah-ees-ka-reem: ice cream
te-re-bi-jon: television
cho-ko-rit: chocolate

ha. great. it think this is good for me though. the rest of the day i spoke in korean. WOOHOO!

i think economy is my favorite class. today the mood was really good. he singles me out sometimes, but he singles other people out too. he jokes with me like just another student.

before, in economy, we played an english game. it was like scrabble...kind of. i was the moderator. i came up with the words "ashen" and "abet". they didn't believe those were real words. they looked them up on their cells though. ha!

today he wanted to continue class after the bell. jiyoon just said "saranghabnida [we love you]" and he immediately answered "gurae[ok.]" and let us pack up. haha.

i was really tired most of the day. i barely talked, even to enni. at lunch it got better. sohee pointed out that after jeju i became quiet and tired.

my friends INSIST that i am korean. they always joke around about how good my ENGLISH is. haha. we made fun of enni's accent today. i have no accent. MUWAHA!

i bought canvas and paints today. for two small canvases, one big canvas, paints [set of 12] and 2 brushes, it cost me 35,000 won. about $25. that's the price of one canvas. SCORE. i don't know what the quality of the canvas or paints are yet...but they look decent at least.

i crocheted in class today. they were amazed at how fast i am.

brought my rubiks cube. didn't take it out until enni came. she mixed it up for me. she thinks its fun to mix it. she insists on me looking away while she's doing it. like it makes a difference. koreans were amazed.

we actually learned some russian today. YES.

met another dude from the states. he lived there for 6 years. he seems like a cool guy. he's a third year. he told us that third years have to go to yaja until 10pm. ughhhh...lame.

tomorrow i have basketball! we are going to play a game again, but i think with the whole class... on the real baskets!!! YESSSSSSS.

Ha.

I have begun to realize that it's my birthday soon.
ha. i'll be 16. that's hilarious.

school was DEATH. i really didn't feel like going. I was super tired and quite depressed. enni was not into it either. not really depressed though.

JEJU: BIKING COMPETITION

so it was the first international jeju biking challenge. notice the word international. the yfu students and these college exchange students were the only international people. everyone else was korean. from jeju even.

it was fun. the goal for us was 50km. i rode 20km with elly but they stopped us. we could have gone further.

the second day, there were two bikes that were broken so i was asked to sit out, since i was still kind of sick. i sat in the bus with enni and katariina [who fell. she's missing a chunk of her knee]

after the first day, there were no more lunch boxes left for us. we ate in this super dirty place. we had ddukbokki and soondae and stuff. i didn't feel like eating. i was really sick again.

it was really fun. jeju reminds me of san diego. the sky was blue and you can actually see the moon and stars at night.

i also liked being with the other exchange students. we got to talk about how we were doing. of course, everyone is having problems. it seems that i have the best situation. i think i miss home the most though. i'm the one who's always saying that i want to go back to america.

i realized how useless i am. they were looking for an english word and they could say it in a bunch of languages, but i failed to come up with the word. everyone speaks at least 2 languages. i speak english. woohoo.

there is a filipina coming in june i think. i want to talk to her but i can only understand her. maybe i can piece together some stuff. i just would like to have a secret language like the others have.

there is a tea ceremony class/competition. i want to participate. it's on saturdays, so i may have to miss some school or high rise. get to wear a hanbok and learn the traditional tea ceremonies. exciting.

i'm very tired and very drained.

today i had basketball! we played an actual game. i think we won by 2 points. we played junsu's team. he's good at basketball, but he was the only good one on his team. there's one guy who is good on my team. they keep saying i'm MBA and MVP. i'm really not good at basketball though. ha. they go crazy every time i make a three.

i kept missing the shots because the basket was so low and there was no backboard. i make bank shots... it's my excuse. everyone else was missing too because of it though, so i can use it.

the other sport we're going to play is volleyball. i can't wait. i would enjoy any sport. volleyball is fun.

tomorrow i have russian. i have been listening to a podcast. i know a few more words. i know how to say "i speak a little russian" teehee.

goodnight.

I don't feel like blogging.

not right now. i got back from jeju today. bicycling is hard and tiring. i'll write tomorrow. i need SLEEEEEEEP.

Basketball!

We played basketball again, but since there was yellow sand outside from China, we played in the gym!!! SOOOO much better. I was so happy! I just wish i wasn't too sick. It was hard to play.

my teacher kept pointing me out. how i have proper shoes...[everyone needs to buy shoes like mine] how i am better at dribbling than most of the guys...and how i can't do a layup for my life. seriously. i've never been able to do one properly. people used to tell me that i look like i'm pedaling a bike when i jump into one.

junsu tried to talk to me today. he was trying to tell me something about his basketball teacher. it was always in between drills so he'd be dribbling away while telling me. i didn't hear the last part of every sentence.

i felt really good about my korean today. hyejo was telling me to stop speaking korean because it's like i'm a korean. heh. heh. when i got home, i talked to umma in korean too.

my spelling still sucks, but my friends are helping me a lot. i ate with the girls from my class today. jiyoon taught me the difference between "kiss-su" and "bbobbo". she showed me bbo bbo by kissing sohee...then she was going to explain kiss-su...we stopped her of course. hahahahaha.

i feel really gross right now. the cold has finally attacked my head. grrrrrrrrrrrrreat.

i think i walked in on the guys when they were changing. no one was changing though. it was just changing time and they usually change in the room and when i came in they were like "oh!!! oh oh!!! tintin!! no! out!! out!! oh! oh! tintin! why? go! go!!" my bad.

i was going in to get money for my teacher. apparently a letter from the school that shows proof that i go there costs 300 won.

i'm going to jeju on friday! i get to skip friday and monday! it's an international bicycle competition. we just need to ride a bike. through jeju? fun!

i haven't gone to dance practice in a while. going tomorrow. should i join basketball club instead? it would be easier on me...i don't know.

boeun wants to straighten my hair. i didn't think i wass allowed to. i was actually going to ask my teacher if i could.

tomorrows schedule is.....korean, ethics, russian, math, geography, english and economy. ehhh...

sleep in korean, shin yoon in ethics [he's a funny dude. knows a lot of english vocab. we get put into groups and he's in my group], hopefully some real russian lessons, geography teacher that says "uh?" a lot, english with ms. canadian rachel, and economy teacher that always asks me really long questions in korean...to which i reply with a head nod or a head shake. i understand him...just can't answer.

sickness...

means no school today.

it started on thrusday. i had a sore throat. i went to the noraebang anyways on friday. i wasn't too sick. i shouldn't have...but it was really fun and i think it was worth it.

on saturday i was SICK. i was coughing every 2 seconds. the noraebang was closed when we got out of school, so instead we went to dunkin donuts.

sunday i was supposed to go to seoul to meet the family. i was REALLY sick though. i slept. i went to the craft store with enni. i didn't think it was going to take very long and it would be easy because enni said she knew where it was. it took us 3 hours to find it. i was very angry and feeling very sick. if i had known it was going to take forever i wouldn't have gone! now i'm super sick.

been taking medicine and sleeping. i'll have to go to school tomorrow.

yfu manager called! he asked if i could ride a bike. there is a competition in jeju. all expense paid trip to jeju...all i have to do is participate. tomorrow the final list of students who are going is going to be announced. he put my name down though. i'd love to go to jeju!!! and i love riding bikes!

The last few days...

everything has been so mashed together so I don't know when things happened.

Anyways...

Today was good. I had PE! Korean girls really don't like PE. the guys were playing soccer...i wanted to play too. Instead I shot a few baskets by myself.

There is a guy who looks like Junsu. He's good at basketball. When I went to shoot everybody was like "ooooh...tintin can play basketball?" Junsu said "yeah. i saw her playing earlier. my style." ha. ha. ha. oh junsu. you kill me.

we had to do a few laps to warm up. man. those korean girls don't have ANY energy at all.

my pe uniform is a first years uniform. i don't know why.

one of the guys was helping our teacher demonstrate the stations. he's a bit plump. he was doing an overhead pass when...WOAH! TUMMY! i laughed so hard.

i finally finished catcher in the rye. it seems like it took me a really long time to finish it. i've noticed that when i read books i start to narrate my life as if i were writing it down. it's funny.

on the way home, on the bus, i was the only one on the bus for a few stops. when i got to my stop i started thinking..."it's kind of depressing, this man's job. he shuttles random people around and nobody even says thank you. i wanted to say it, but i didn't". if you've read catcher in the rye, you will understand. he says depressing a lot. narration. weird, i say. weird.

i was walking with harry to my class when the guys from my class showed up. they told harry that i am a part of their class and to stop talking to me and to go away. it was quite funny.

the guy who told harry to leave is.... junghwan[?] i really don't know his name. he doesn't have a name tag. anyways...before night study there is an 8th class. i went with kiri to a math class. junghwan and hyunjoon were in there. i talked to them in konglish. they asked about what i do in my spare time. told them that i like fighting and war games, and that i don't like wwe, but i like ufc. kiri thinks that i'm really not ladylike because i like playing video games and watching people beat each other up.

sohee promised that she'd take me to see shinee. PLEASE!

tomorrow i'm going to the noraebang with some of my classmates. not going to dance practice. need rest. i have dance on most of saturday though..DEATH.

today we learned hyunah's change in high rise. it's really hard for me because the song is really sexy. it just feels really awkward right now. enni is HILARIOUS to watch. i'm so mean. i called her elly today too. then i said..."i'm sorry for calling you elly! i just miss her so much...i got stuck with you instead." HA.

yumi, the 2nd year leader in high rise, is really good! she has so much feeling. it's really fun to watch her. the bboys and really cool to watch too.

my throat hurts. don't know why. umma is sick too.

i want to eat cake! i'm going to i think. yes. good idea.

my legs are on really sore....actually...all of me is really sore.

tomorrow will be a good day! yes. i think it will be. good night!

High Rise.

or "hai-rai-jee."

dance club at school. really popular club, not only in school, but in goyang. there were auditions and stuff. i didn't have to do them. neither did enni. i love being an exchange student.

it was really cool. we learned their "intro" dance. it's really cool. they are all really good dancers.

i had a really good day today. i slept early so i had energy.

understood math, pe [we're going to play basketball!], and english...of course.

today hyona said that i have really long eyelashes. then other girls came over and told me how jealous they are of my eyelashes. i'm wearing mascara girls. calm down.

harry gave me these books. i told him i like to read. they're easier than the ones i read in kindergarten. ha. it's called "a to z mysteries" or something like that. i told him that i'll read them and translate them into korean. ha. yeah right.

boeun kills me. so does hyejo. they're so crazy.

high rise practice is in the basement of this building. it's a dance studio with mirrors and stuff. really cool.

i'm really tired. i kept up, but i didn't pick up the steps as fast as i thought i was going to. i really haven't learned choreo for real in a while. they really don't expect anything out of me though...since i'm an honorary member...they were really surprised when i could actually pick up the dance. he he..

i don't know if we have practice every day...i left at 1030 and they were still dancing. practice is after school of course...so it starts at 9. weird. i'm going to try to go as much as i can. i'm really having fun. it's a lot better than baking bread.

good night. my muscles hurt.

church of love and dream.

that's what it's called. my church. a BUNCH of the kids speak english. the pastor and his family lived in dallas for 11 years. pastor's daughter sat next to me and translated some stuff. she also had an english/korean bible. i was really welcomed there. the message also addressed a lot of my stresses. amazing.

after the service they served lunch. the entire experience reminded me of the filipino churches i went to when i was small. we sang old hymns and stuff. it was really nice. the food after it too was very filipino. some of the guys actually went to the PI for a missions trip. they knew a couple of phrases. english and tagalog. weird.

after eating, some of the guys brought me to a music store so i could buy guitar strings. i replaced them today! yay! they play guitar. pretty well too. i hope they'll teach me some stuff. the pastor's son, jin... [seriously? his name is jin?] really likes taylor swift. when he started to play ..love story i think?..., i was like UGHHHH... he said, "why do all calis not like taylor swift?" we hear a lot of her there. that's why. ughhhhhhh...

after that i went to western dome and la festa yet again. hikari's friend ditched us, so anna, enni, hikari and i just walked around. we took pictures and stuff. it was fun. it started to rain though...

i think we're having dwenjangjigae tonight. it smells like it. bleh.

school yet again. enni and i have decided that it's time for a vaction.

to-yo-il.

to-yo-il [saturday]

today i was going to go see alice in wonderland. no seats.

i hung out with enni, gunhye and eunjin. since we couldn't see the movie, we went to the noraebang instead. fun times.

before the noraebang we went to mcdonalds. it's the same. tasted the same too. except for the coffee. it didn't taste as delicious.

i had to leave because kyunghae umma was waiting for me. we went to eat galbi. i really wanted to talk to her but i couldn't. after galbi we went to emart and she bought me a BUNCH of snacks and ice cream. she said to call her up sometime and that next time i can bring my friends instead of leaving them. i want to call her in maybe 3 months...when my korean is better.

after hanging out with kyunghae umma i went home...then i called enni. we ended up meeting gunhye and eunjin again. we took sticker pictures and i bought presents and stuff.

i had a really fun day with gunhye and eunjin. tomorrow after church i'm going to hang out with hikari, enni and hikari's friends. noraebang.

got to skype my american friends. nice to see them.

goodnight.

finally.

finally...
1. i get to blog
2. it's the weekend
3. i can sleep


thursday
-----------

i had hanja, with the crazy teacher. she was explaining something that required examples of things we like and things we don't. all i heard was..."....FU*&!" she said it happily too. it wasn't like a mad one, it was just loud. I looked up and started cracking up.

we had octopus. bleh. hwiyoung ate enni's and mine.

harry likes high school musical. nobody else knows what it is apparently, so he has no one to sing with. he said he heard me singing, not for realz though, so he wants to sing with me. he has all of the dvds and cds....woah....wha-hat?

i was playing a game with gunhye and i cut her with my nail. there was blood. it was only a little. i was more hurt by it than she was. she has such small hands. her fingertips are at the middle of my middle joint.

they always play some classical piano at the beginning of the day. i swear, they are trying to make kids sleepy. it adds to the torture. there are more opportunities for punishment. if they catch you falling asleep, they can punish you.



yaja
-----------
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh...i did nothing. i studied some korean, read catcher in the rye, and drew. i went home with my teacher, so i left school around 9:20pm. yaja ends at 9pm.

i liked the dinner. i ate with kiri. we went to the snack store after that. i had an ice cream...even though it was super cold and there was still snow.



friday
-----------
today some women from yfu usa came. they are taking a tour of korea to try to learn more about the culture and publicize yfu korea. they were fun women. nice to talk to.

i met some of hikari's friends today. i went to her classroom [which is in a whole other wing that i didn't know existed] and talked with some of the her friends while i was waiting for her. she also has friends who speak english well. why don't i have english speaking people in my class?

there were girls dancing at lunch. there's a dance club. don't want to join. i'm in baking club. the teachers suggested that enni and i be together and enni decided baking. i wanted pottery, but it was canceled. no music. there's an orchestra but i guess i can't join...something about "pro" something...and kiri told me the teacher is crazy too.

jiyoon was so funny today. she did really well trying to talk to me. hyejo helped translate things she didn't know. she started singing "sing sing sing" by chris tomlin to me in korean. she also was trying to show me magic tricks. didn't work out. i learned that she's been doing taekwondo since she was 7. got her black belt at 9.

hyejo was funny too. she was just being really crazy. apparently she likes the root tips of hair. weird. she went to new zealand for a year, so her english is good.

lots of christian girls. they all say that they have been christians since they were embryos. ha.

the lunch was good today. i don't remember what it was. i just remember that it was good.

i talked to hikari a lot on the bus back home. she gets off after like 3 stations for her transfer bus, so we didn't talk long. she asked me to teach her english. she speaks very well. her korean is really good too. she only studied for 4 months. she goes to church by herself like me. she has a japanese-korean bible. i need an english-korean one, or a church with an english service.

no school tomorrow! i'm going to see kyunghae. she called me today and asked a question. i thought she said "was school hard?" so i answered... "yes? ..." then she said she'd meet me very quickly then because i'm tired...i think that's what she said. she speaks so quickly. i hope her nephew comes to translate.

sunday is white day. enni and i are each others dates. sad sad sad. ha ha.

happy birthday to my kimberly.

The perks of exchange studenthood.

Soooo...today all of the high schools in Korea took a test today. It's on previous knowledge and gives you your national ranking. Crazy. Enni and I didn't have to take it. Instead we studied Korean together...well..."studied"...

The school gave us...chocolate bread, chocolate, cheetos, ppeppero, grape jellies, costco pizza and one of the geography teachers even took us off campus to get ddukbukki. ha. we're awesome.

i don't know where hikari went today. kiri told me she stayed home today.

after school i was really tired...but once i got off the bus, the cold woke me up. it's super pretty here! all the snow!

still kind of confused on my grade situation. mom and prob are going to call tomorrow.

went to emart to buy an electronic dictionary. none of the ones they had can be changed to english. the menu i mean. the menu can't be changed to english. tomorrow i have to ask enni what model hers is. i don't really like hers though. i may just order online.

watching chuno right now.

the computer teacher gave us a presentation project. it's in english and it's just a powerpoint. we're using google docs to do it too. the teacher is so amazed that i know how to use google docs and stuff.

had pig belly again today. i asked for it. it's so good.

appa called and texted elly. they found out she has a cellphone now and asked for her number. hilarious.

umma lost her keys at emart. first time to lose them she said. she almost had a heartattack.

tomorrow i have to go to yaja! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?! enni isn't going too...what am i supposed to do? ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... i already finished catching fire. the next on my list is catcher in the rye. didn't finish metamorphosis though...

i'm tired. good night.

It's snowing!!!

It started "snowing"!!! IT'S SNOW TO ME!

anyways...Today was a lot easier. i slept at 8pm yesterday because i had a terrible headache.

this morning i met my teacher and she drove me to school. she's going to be taking to me to school for a while i think. i'm meeting her tomorrow.

tomorrow the korean kids have tests. it's on the 1st year stuff. enni and i just have to take the english one...and only if we want to. we decided we should.

in order to take the tests we need a special "compyutuh" pen. umma says you have to say "compyutuh" or else they [other koreans] won't understand.

while the others are taking their tests, enni, hikari and i will be studying korean together in the teacher's lounge. sweet.

after school, enni and i walked to western dome and went shopping. we ate udon and i bought stuff. enni didn't...she had the money though. i had to borrow some. she just wanted to buy food. she wasn't in the shopping mood apparently. i bought hair ties. ma didn't send them in my package. i also bought earrings and a sweater.

we're going shopping again somewhere else on sunday. i'm proud at how little i've spent on stuff here so far. WOOHOO! i shouldn't buy a lot anyway because i don't have space anyway.

enni and i failed to initiate plan "plan" today. on thursday we're going to try plan...b. b as in "better than plan 'plan'"

i read catching fire most of today. my friends are surprised at how fast i read. i don't know how many chapters i read but kiri was like "last time i looked you were on chapter 16! now you're on chapter 25!" hehe.

was talking to elly on the phone while we were eating udon. my phone died though. cut her off. "oops"...heh heh.

i need a translator. i should order one.

i can get pass/fail credit for my classes but i can't go to a 4year college straight out of high school. i feel like that's ok. a 2year college for a while and then later a 4year college. i don't know what i want to do in life though...what do i want? hmmm...

korean actiing SUCKS! i can't stand watching dramas anymore. i think i could stand it before because i was so busy reading the subs that i wouldn't pay attention to the acting...but now that there's no subs...it makes me so annoyed!

Monday...

Today was one the first of [I'm sure] many days of asking myself why the heck did I come here. I want to go back to American school. It's not the people or the country or homesickness...it's school. DANG SCHOOL! It's seriously torture. Suffering. Painful.

I woke up and I didn't feel too good. I have a major headache now.

I really need to learn Korean. It hurts my head to try and figure out what people are saying.

My counselor hasn't gotten back to me on my grades yet. I NEED to know. We have a test day on Wednesday. Not sure if I have to take it or not. It's to figure out your ranking among all of the high school students in Korea. Pressure.

Enni and I decided we are hanging out WAAAY too much. We aren't learning Korean. I might ditch her tomorrow...but my head says right now that I want English. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to take it.

I have like 30 weeks more of this. That's terrible to think about.

I'm really just stressing about my grades back home. How are they going to do this? I was thinking it'd be ok to take another year, since after high school just comes more school, but then I thought of how I wouldn't be able to graduate with my class. That'd suck. I was thinking maybe if I need the grades I can make up for my classes by taking courses at the college after regular school. I'd be going to school as long as regular school is here.

I thought I was ok with credits...I hope my counselor can work it out.

Been reading catching fire. i love this series.

Another day tomorrow. All I can say to that is,
I want to sleep.

It's the weekend!

Saturday: Had school. It ended at 12pm. Saturdays are just self-study days. I studied Russian. I was chosen to clean too. Crazy.

Lots of people on the bus because everyone gets out at the same time...lame.

Sunday: Went to Seoul to see Sean Lim today. Ate a hamburger, went to the bookstore [bought catching fire!!! and catcher in the rye] and went to a bakery. It was goooood. I'll post the videos soon.

Apparently they extended my train to ogeum...but I didn't know that. The train I want to take is to suseo. All the trains were to ogeum though. After 3 or trains I just got on. It was the right train. woohoo!

I'm going to meet Kyunghae on saturday. Shopping with Enni [and hopefully Ells and Lisa] on sunday.

school tomorrow . . . . . UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...
I have to go to yaja on thursday too. WTH.

Cool weekend. I feel like a big girl.

Bought some Korean study books [one for foreigners and one for babies] and a hanja study book for foreigners too. YULSHIMI GONGBOO HAGESSUMNIDA! [I will study hard!]

So that's Russian, Korean, Hanja, math. sweet.

Still don't know what I'm going to do about grades. My counselor is being difficult. I just want credit for the classes. I may not graduate on time. We'll see how it works out.

Watching 1bak 2il. Love this show. Kang hodong, lee seungi, eun jiwon, mc mong, kim c...so good.

Last day of the week...

or so I thought. I have school on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month.

WHAT?! UGHHHHHHHHHHHH... DANG KOREANS! YOU ALREADY HAVE PLENTY OF SCHOOL!!! MOST OF IT IS JUST SITTING AROUND!

since umma is having me go to yaja every thursday...i need a new book...CATCHING FIRE! I just have to find a bookstore. I've been reding metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I remember reading it before but only remembering that he turns into a cockroach.

I was waiting for enni this morning. i kept on texting her...apparently her phone is in the shop...

went to emart after school today. it's cool. like a department store with a market on the bottom floor. i bought an ipod charger. it was like $4. YESSSS FOR MUSIC! lots of walking...i feel healthy.

ate with english speakers again today. they are going to start speaking konglish...so we can still learn korean but enni can understand.

apparently enni, hikari and i don't have to take the tests...but i have to ask my counselor back home. just emailed her. my teacher asked if i wanted grades or a comment. how the heck am i suppossed to get anything higher than a 6?

talked to a woman who lives on the 11th floor when i got home. good thing the elevator ride is short. i couldn't properly answer her questions. i understood everything...just couldn't answer.

so there are extra courses...after school activities. i thought that meant music, dance, etc. because that's what elly and risako had and that's what umma said...but no. not at my school. we have extra korean lit, english, math, geography and hanja. WHAT?! NO SPORTS??? NO MUSIC? two current kpop stars [a guy from the group CNBLUE and yeeun from wondergirls] graduated from here! when did they have the time for music???

tomorrow...school...again. UGHHHHHHHH.

Thursday...with the English speakers.

Enni's friends speak English. yesssssssssssss...

I don't want to hang with them too much because we can't talk in Korean..since Enni doesn't understand. I like being with them though because they think I'm funny. The people in my class think I'm funny of course...but the English speakers are constantly laughing. I feel at home. Constant laughing. When I first got here, Elly was my constant laugher. Then a few days without the laughter made me feel like I was in another country. No ynah, no elly, no one laughing.

Good day today. English, math and Russian all in one day. those are the subjects I understand, therefore, a good day. Also had Korean and hanja today too, but it balanced out.

Listened to American music when I got home. I also had pizza. No matter how many times the Koreans tell me I'm Korean, I'll always be an American. Haven't had a cheeseburger craving yet. Had a spaghetti one. Umma helped me out.

Got my package from mom today. The converter doesn't work for my computer...LAME! I tried it out and it was like "EEROHOEIOHE!!!" I pulled it out immediately. It still works. Charging my camcorder now.

English teacher had me help a little again today. I just gave her synonyms to explain the meaning of words and expressions like, "hanging out" and "kind of".

Took the bus back home. Easy. i met hikari at the bus stop. her stop for her bus change is the next stop though, so i was by myself for most of the way. Went to the stationary store too. The man remembered me so he told me how much the stuff cost in English.

Didn't eat lunch with my usual crowd...the ones who cut in line...so I had to wait in a RIDICULOUS line. My school has a BUTTLOAD of people...it was like a war. I hurt my foot...it's fine now. We were packed like sardines...btw Lindsay...Korean boys smell good. I was shoved into a pile of them in the line.

Russian was cool. I really wanted Japanese but now that I've started learning it, I actually like it. I don't know when or where I'm going to use it..japanese is WAAaAY more usefull to me...but I realized how hard it's going to be to move me around...it's actually impossible. We have a different school schedule everyday...so Russian is a different period everyday..somedays I don't even have it.

took photos yesterday...headshots. korean students need them...and you don't take them at school. they gave me a free big shot too. the lady asked umma if i was a "talent"? and how my eyes are so pretty. yay! i took the picture without my glasses because umma and the photographer said it looks better.

i'm going to be going to yaja "night study" every thursday from next week on...............UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... umma said i should go to make friends. i told her and SHOWED her i have friends!!! but she said that i need to talk to them so i can learn korean. yeaaah...i guess.. i don't actually have to study anyways. i can do anything really. i just have to be quiet.

enni, elly and i are going to make a korean study group. we really need to. i want to see all of the yfu peeps. elly and risako!!! and everyone! katariina! i hope she's doing well...

soooo...i still have no comp. LAME. well...tomorrow is a shorter day. every friday is one class less. yessssssssssssssssssssss...

i really want my ipod to work!!! no music on the bus...on down time...nothing...WAHHHHHHH!!!

heh. whine whine whine.

school...DAY 2!

was really har din the beginning. i was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired. and listening to lectures is one thing...but listening to lectures in a language you don't know is another thing...SUUUUUUUUUPER boring. i seriously almost fell asleep.

what kept me up was hunger games. my present from eliana. i really like it wizard. i'm at the part where rue and katniss are allied and katniss just blew up the careers' stuff. i like the names in there. primrose, rue, thrash, peeta.

i've also been playing my ds to get me to sleep. it's the one electronic device from the us that is still alive...so i've been trying to save the battery as much as i can. i have games on my phone though...

today was english!!! my teacher's cd thing wasn't working so i read the monologue. i had to read it once normal slow, once really slow, and then twice ormal slow. there were 3 of them...i felt needed! and i didn't fall asleep!

during economics there was something about the butt of a gun and life choices. what? yes...

butt of gun + life choices = economics.

also had math!!! thank god that numbers are the same everywhere! it was partly new but i remember learning part of it from mr.berray...i don't know what they are called in english... it's like
[ 1 2 3 ]
[ 4 5 6 ]
[ 7 8 9 ] <---------that's a 3x3

a canadian came in! she's our second english teacher! THANK GOOODNESS!! someone who speaks COMPLETE english! she's a french canadian. she says "aboot" and "soory" heh heh.

i've really been craving pasta from watching the drama pasta...i just ate spaghetti! my stomach hurts from eating to quickly.

today i was approached by dudes. they come, say hi, then run away. some girls do that too, but more often the girls will actually talk to me.

i got stared down today. everyone knows me now. good or bad? i don't know.

one of the dudes asked for my number. that was all he could say in english. heh heh. he seriously didn't know anything else.

pretty sure the entire class has my number now. they give out their numbers to everyone! it's weird...they'll pass their phone to the other and then be like "what's your name?"

got some texts when i got home. my phone has been so silent here. it's nice to here "MESSAGIE WAHTDA!~~~"

i don't know korean. end.

Things I learned at my first day of school:

Russian is hard. Especially when being taught in a language you don't know.

Korean school is like military school. Uniforms, make you stand in the cold for hours, and the "at ease", "greet" stuff...it was weird.

Korean girls are SUPER vain. I fit right in. They always keep a mirror on them...and if not a mirror anything reflective [cellphone, window, etc.]

Most of Korean school is waiting. Waiting for the next teacher to come, waiting for lunch...

They brush their teeth after lunch. Mom said she did this in the PI.

Korean students have a room cleaning time. Certain students are chosen to clean the room. Heh.

Pretty much every girl student I've met likes pop. Except for Kiri who loves opera. She likes to sing. I'm hoping we can sing together sometime. Not opera though.

Lolila? That's what the girls that wear short skirts are called I think...

First day at school.

was AMAZING! everyone was SOOOO nice!

I barely understood anything though. My Korean teacher had no clue what to do with me...

I made a lot of friends though! Boeun always greets me with this high pitched shrill "TINTIN!" to which I reply "HELLO!!!!!!!" in the same tone. She is also my homie. She talks ghetto konglish. It's pretty cool.

Also this dude greets me with a "YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and we man hug. Even Koreans think i'm ghetto.

Kiri is my escort. She's a quiet girl but she lived in virginia for a while so she can understand me completely. she still has to speak to me in korean though.

I was crowded a lot. Lots of people talked to me and they kept saying how "kyo~~~wo" i am. My korean teacher made me read something and everybody was like "kyo~~~wooo"
heh heh.

in the morning we had to "congratulate" the first years for making it to high school. i don't know how they did it. one day and i feel completely exhausted...i don't even have to go to night study...or as sungyung says "night club" [dance dance dance]

weird bathrooms...the toilet is like in the floor...and it's not a toilet it's...weird... maybe i'll take a picture of it.