I am an officially registered alien in the ROK! Got my alien registration card (ARC) this morning. I was surprised that the immigration office let me pick it up so quickly.
With my ARC, I was able to:
Receive a debit card
Get my KU ID
Be a real alien!
I just find it really funny that they call us aliens...
고연전/Goyunjun/Big sporting events between Korea University and Yonsei University this weekend. Get pumped! 민족고대! ㅋㅋㅋ
Hope everyone had a wonderful 추석/Chuseok/Korean Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was pretty uneventful, but I met my cousin's sons. Apparently, they're my cousins once removed? They're SOSOSOSO cute:
Hyunsoo/현수
Insoo/인수
Here's Hyunsoo/현수 being adorable and playing by himself. He did this for like 30 minutes straight:
So cute.
Here are some of my aunt's watercolor paintings. My family is so talented!
And here is a cousin who isn't directly related to me, but he's quite talented:
The day after 추석/Chuseok, I met up with my uncle and aunts at this quirky restaurant called 타사의 정원/Tasha's Garden. It had fusion food with so many courses. So good:
Beautiful with so many flowers.
Café area.
The traditional Korean part of the meal.
누렁지
Complimentary coffee.
I then hung out with my friend in 홍대/Hongik University again, but this time, I got to experience the street musicians! Here is my absolute favorite:
First time eating 호떡/hodduk/mini pastry with sweet filling in Korea. Noms.
Saw these things and thought they were hilarious:
Back to real life on Monday! I'm picking up my alien registration card, which is exciting! I hope they don't take ridiculously long for the pick up too...
Just got back today from KU GSIS MT! I was exhausted. So much yelling and singing. The night before MT, a few of the international students got together to eat shabu shabu, drink 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine, and go to 노래방/noraebang/karaoke:
After dinner, we went to this rasta bar, which had the wrong flag. They were trying to be Jamaican, but put up the flag of Libya instead.
We went to this very popular 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine place in 안암/Anam.
노래방/noraebang/karaoke was a lot of fun and very emotional!
Reena, Shiloh, and I!
The next day, we went on MT at 남이섬/Nami Island. One of my best friend's name is Nami, so this was so funny that the island was name after her. ;)
남이섬/Nami Island considers itself its own republic. You need your passport and everything for the ferry ride onto the island. Overall, the island is very quirky, as you will see:
Super yummy peace iced tea.
Super fluffy bunny!
And an ostrich.
Some of the people on my team: Joe, Taro, and Alex.
Strangest sculpture ever...
I'm not sure if you can see, but there is a spiderweb.
Chipmunk!
Very traditional way to make rice and other food.
남이섬/Nami Island is very famous because of this drama called Winter Sonata. It's a classic!
Cute snowmen.
Pretty lily flowers.
On 남이섬/Nami Island, there is a lot of arts and crafts with used soju bottles.
Here are recycled 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine bottles.
This guy was jammin' on his sax all day long.
Soju bottle tree :)
Being a tourist :)
The trees on the island are beautiful!
Front gate.
This is my friend, Sunny! :)
Hahaha. I don't know who that girl is, but she is in my program.
The island is known for its peculiar animals. After exploring the island, everyone stayed at a "pension." It's basically a house with a big area for activities and kitchens, then men's and women's sleeping quarters. We ate so much 삼겹살/samgyupsal/thick bacon without any salt. It was delicious.
Then, we had a few bonding activities inside the main area. Each team introduced themselves with a traditional KU introduction called FM (apparently it stands for Field Manual). Although we are in graduate school, it was still an interesting introduction to our school life together. After the FM, each team member drank a bowl of 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine while everyone else sang the 막걸리/makkoli song. I found out that we are all terrible singers. You were also supposed to put the bowl on your head upside down after you were done to verify that you drank the whole bowl. Here's a video of one team:
