Bad Bad Blogger

Yet again, it has taken me about a month to write on thisthing again. I promise from here on out, at least once a week! :)

Things have been crazy...although getting ready for the BFA show at KU hasn't been too big of a task. I am about 75% done with two rings and one bracelet and I will post pictures when they are completed. My teachers are good, albeit strict, my Korean class is moving quite quickly, but I have the kindest woman on the planet who cares about her student's success as a teacher. So that's good. Although I have to say, it is rather intimidating walking into the classroom each week since I am the only one who had time for 1 Korean Language Class instead of 3 or 4...needless to say, they're a bit ahead of me. Luckily I have met a friend of a friend (named Dennis) who needs help with his TOEIC Test (the English Proficiency test in Korea which is ridiculously hard!). He has also promised to help me with my Korean Writing Class in return.

So far I have a couple of trip ideas in the works which I'm hoping work out! There is a little island in the Philippines called Cebu that me and some friends are looking into for a few days after the semester ends (check out www.tipoloresort.com) and...get this: the Filipino Peso is 1 = $0.02. My Lord I love that exchange rate. A full breakfast a tipolo costs about $0.75. The other trip I'm looking into is the Design Festa in Tokyo, Japan although Japan is a little harder because Tokyo is expensive. Also, me and my friends are trying to book these on Korean websites which make things interesting too.
FINALLY the weather started to pick up. I had kept hearing about the beautiful, hot weather back home and now we're starting to get Spring. The cherry blossoms are blooming all over campus which are every bit as beautiful as people make them out to be. Here's proof!
This is Yon Du Ri, a fountain/sculpture near the entrance of Kookmin University. Oh! And how could I forget? Several friends and I had a little barbeque one Saturday afternoon to celebrate the beautiful weather (and we even had wine!!!). More pictures to come seeing as my harddrive is full right now :)

Another exciting tidbit is I had the pleasure of meeting the Chairman of the Kookmin University Foundation who is a KU alumni. His name is Dr. Jong-Woo Han and he was such a kind man. We went to lunch (Sunyoung, two of my professors and myself) with Dr. Han in this amazing restaurant which was in the Kookmin Law Building! Who knew? We talked about Sunyoung, her family, and her life back in the States, KU Basketball, KU/MU rivalries, and we talked about the Korean War (also mentioned was the Korean War Memorial on KU's campus which was created by my professor, Jon Havener, which Dr. Han donated money to make it happen and also was present at the dedication ceremony). He even knew one of my grandfather's friends that he met in Korea in the war, Tai Sun Kim, who unfortunately has passed on.


It was a pleasure and an honor to meet such an interesting and kind man. Man, I feel lucky!

Well...next up on my journey next week: Reinactment of King Sejong's (the creator of the Korean alphabet) Banquet, Pusan, and sending my work off to KU!!! Hope all is well and I love you all.

Peace, Love, and (I really do love) Kimchi :)

Lauren

Oops! Hi again!

Sorry ya'll, it seems as if I have let a few weeks slip by before I could update on what's going on in my life. So, school is in full swing, I'm still trying to figure out how the credits transfer, and trying to get inspired to get a few pieces of jewelry knocked out so I can send them to KU right quick before their end of semester. Surprisingly daunting. I do like my teachers though and they are all very understanding and kind. Let's see if I'll be singing the same tune come critique time! :)

I have to say...it finally happened, I got sick. Not sure if it was food or a stomach bug, but I was definitely out of commission for several days last week and still feeling the effects. Unfortunately, I have to say this has been the most challenging of my adventures (or misadventures). For whatever reason, my body and mind are quite frustrated that everything is spicy...makes it hard for your stomach to recover when all there is available has jalapenos, red pepper paste, kimchi, etc. etc. Not to mention seafood and the raw food too...my body is not used to bouncing back on such exotic foods. Or rather ONLY on such exotic foods. I just pray the Big Man Upstairs grants me some patience...

Other than that exciting stuff, I went to a forum this weekend with all the metals students. It was great! We played a lot of getting to know you games, had many glasses of soju and beer, got to know our teachers and peers better...it was all in all a good weekend getaway (and it only cost 45,000 KRW!). Still not sure of our exact location of where we went, but it was neat...our place was next to a lake nestled in the mountains.

Wish I had more exciting news, but looks like I should get to gettin' on my models for some of my classes. Love to you all!!!

Peace, Love and Kimchi,

Lauren

Crossing the 38th Parallel, Getting Settled, and Starting School

Don't worry, I did not enter North Korea...I merely took the holiday weekend (March 1st is celebrated in Korea as an "almost independence day" marking the first effort at taking down the Japanese during their occupancy) to explore the Saraksan National Park with a tour group filled with English speakers. If you ever get to Korea, be sure to contact the Royal Asiatic Society...their tours are wonderful. Also, everyone was so terrific on the tour. I was the youngest, but they all took me under their wing. They all gave me advice and even gave me extra clothing once the unexpected snowstorm hit the mountains. We all talked about how it seemed we had known each other for a week, not just the 48 hours we had spent together.
Well, to give you an idea of the spectacular people I had the pleasure of meeting, here they are:

Mr. and Mrs. Dent (Mr. is from England, Mrs. is from Sweden...they have lived EVERYWHERE. Their stories were fascinating. They couldn't even recount all the different countries in which they lived),
Margherita (also from Sweden, but has a home in Seattle, WA. Is only calling Seoul home for a few more months. She was definitely the jokester of the group)
Bonnie (an American single woman teaching accounting in Seoul for perhaps a few more years. Lived in Kansas City at one point and taught at Belton where my mother taught, albeit they missed each other by a few years in the 70's)
The Italians ( I didn't catch their names, from Rome, very kind couple and very fashionable. Kept mostly to themselves, but were very kind on the occassion that they stayed with the group)
Vicky and Steve (from Iowa, felt like they had been my parent's friends for years. They had wonderful advice and I enjoyed their company a lot. Vicky always told me about parts of town I needed to see and restaurants that were a must. I admire Steve greatly because he has made a valiant effort in learning Korean.)
Simon (from England, actually from the same town that Beatrix Potter was from. Photographer, middle-aged, doing graduate work at a university in Seoul. )
Michael (tour guide from Canada, completely fluent in Korean...very nice guy who knows just about anybody who's anybody)
Last but not least, a Korean-American woman who has lived on and off in Korea for several years (has a home in Connecticut, but work moved her back to Seoul for some time...I don't even think she knows how long she will be here. She was fabulous, explained all the different types of food to me, what they are, etc. She also spoke Korean fluently, so I definitely learned a lot from her and Michael)

Saraksan was beautiful...pictures are a bit hard to post here, but I put up my favorites near the top. Please visit my facebook if you would like to see more. And please forgive me while I try and figure this image thingamabobber out. From top to bottom: 2 feet of snow later on day 2 a bridge to some hiking trails in the National Park, beautiful view from on top of a mountain that we hiked, a giant copper statue of Buddha at the base of the mountain, and a traditional house captured with the mountains in the background.

I returned to Seoul Monday morning about 2 am to find my dormitory locked...'course something had to go wrong somewhere didn't it? So I spent the night at a hotel which was rather nice, but quite inconvenient. Made it to classes this week just fine...only one class has a professor that does not speak English, so I feel I am doing pretty well. I also had a Korean placement exam which was...interesting to say the least. However, the professor eventually just looked at me and said "Level One". I was quite happy with that decision.

I keep meeting more and more new people each day and no telling what's in store for the weekend. Will have more later! Love to you all.

Peace, love and kimchi,

Lauren

The Eagle Has Landed...(and let me tell you, this eagle stands out like a sore thumb)

My first meal in Korea. Top to bottom: onions, sweet pumpkin (which is small and green, almost carmelized..yum), one type of kimchi (I am not sure what kind. looks like spinach), tofu, bean paste, garlic, and fish.
More food. All the food comes at once, so you have all these side dishes to choose from and add to your meal. Clockwise from top: lettuce to use to wrap pork bbq, Korean style salad (hot pepper paste with vinegar...very simple and very yum), kimchi ( SO much hotter than the kimchi in the US. I LOVED it.), Cabbage/Coleslaw-like dish, and last but not least, Blood Soup. Joo looked at me and said "Don't worry, I don't even eat that". I tried it, but that will probably be the first and last. Just be glad there's not a close-up.
The lovely Joo, who took me to her favorite Korean BBQ place. DELISH. There was a hole in the table and our waitress called in a man with a big bucket of hot coals, placed little itty-bitty sweet potatoes in the coals and put the bbq mesh on top. The waitress thought I was French...I thought that was pretty funny. People were definitely looking at me in this restaurant. At this point, I had only seen 1 other American.
My first picture of Korea...the cars are all so different! Even birds sound different here...is that possible? Well, I've spent a lot of time on the computer today, but more information to come. Be sure to check out my new favorite website Korea4ExPats.com...very useful information. If anyone finds something interesting, please let me know!

Peace, Love, and Kimchi,

Lauren

Preparing for a Seoulful Journey

So...t-minus 10 days til lift off, then I'm off to a foreign land called Korea. I'm vaccinated, passport-ed, (in the process of being) visa-ed, and catching up with everyone before I peace out. Couldn't be more excited, but...uh...it's creepin up quick! I'll be back with more info when I'm in the midst of flying for 23 hours and wondering what the heck I'm doing. Peace, love and kimchi!