I’ve gotten a bit behind here.
I’m way behind on my emails. If I haven’t answered yours yet…Sorry, I’m working on it!
Just Inside
Rock "Massage"
Just before June started, I took the KTX, Korea’s high-speed rail system, up to Seoul and I’ve starting attending Sogang University (서강대), or more specifically their language institute. There was a bit of a hitch–they insisted I’d placed at level 2 on the phone interview (I didn’t take the phone interview) despite the teacher telling me level 3 at the end… Well, I tried attending level 2 but it was really boring, so I retook the test and level 3 again! Sigh.
But actually, things have been going pretty well.
Rock Outcropping
Yesterday we celebrated one of my classmate’s birthday a day late (Monday was a holiday, a sort of Korean veteran’s day). Her name is Kayo, a Japanese national married to a Korean one. There’s a fair number of Japanese in the class, though most are younger and merely students. Anyway, we went to the cafeteria, had lunch, and then a cake they brought with them. I also got to practice Japanese a lot. And, I don’t know why exactly, but unlike with BYU students… I felt that I didn’t need to be on my guard. I could just sit back, enjoy the food and friendly company.
The Way Down
It felt particularly nice to return to the old language. It’s like returning to a favorite book, or movie, or place. Even though it’s not my first language, it was relaxing… and in Provo, there isn’t much chance to really use the language.
Korean is still really stressful for me, haha.
Right now I’m trying to get into Sogang’s photography club. The regular students are in finals season, so I might have to wait a bit. And this month I need to plan a visa run to Japan…Hmm.
Perimeter Fence
Anyway, I’ve done a few random things. One particularly notable even was exploring a park with a friend. That’s where all these photos came from. We got lost on the paths a bit ㅋㅋ. They’ve also got this sort of rock garden thing… The rocks are set into concrete at differentangles and patterns… depending on which sections you walk over, it’s supposed to do a sort of massage therapy on your feet. For some reason we decided to go twice. Those things really hurt, though I seem to have fared better than my friend.
I think that’s about it for now…
The theme change, incidentally, is due to the other’s poor picture handling. If I figure out how to edit it I may change it back.