노래방/Noraebang & KU GSIS MT

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:

Shabu shabu has 3 steps: 1. meat 2. noodles 3. fried rice

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: 

Interesting welcome to KU :)

Immigration Office Nightmare

So Shiloh and I went to the Seoul Immigration Office's Sejongno Branch today. We got there by 8:30 (30 minutes earlier than the office opens), but there were people already there since 6AM. We were #120 and 121 on the list. I waited for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS just to submit my paperwork for my "Alien" (that's really not a nice term for foreigners) Registration card. It was absolutely ridiculous. I can't even pick up the card until the 23rd! Government bureaucracy at its finest...

Oh, and FYI. For the D2 student visa alien registration card, you need:

• application form
• 2 passport photos
• copy of your passport AND visa
• school certificate of enrollment 
• passport 

Here's a picture of the full waiting room, which remained this full for the entire duration of my five and a half hour stay:

What a nightmare. In the meantime, I got quite a bit of reading done. Then, Shiloh and I went to explore. The rate was about 20 people/hour at the office, so we went and had some fun:

Shiloh's 빙수/bingsoo...So much 빙수/bingsoo

We happened to find this traditional bell:

Zoom in for a description of the bell.

These guys got to ring the bell and even got a certificate.

Loved their outfits. Real traditional!

This guy did not seem to enjoy his job.

They were having some fun with it.

Shiloh and I in full on tourist mode.

They kicked us out...

Delicious chicken galbi fried rice.

Huge, but funny looking building. 

We went to Daiso to get some random things and went back to the immigration office to turn our documents in at 1.

Although everything turned out all right, I'm still pretty frustrated with how long they took. Apparently, the Sejongno Branch is the smaller office, so I don't even want to know how long the wait was at the main office, which I heard is far away. You can only go to the Sejongno Branch if you live in certain districts.

Lesson from today: My Advanced Readings in Korean professor is right. She described the odd nature of Koreans as both fast/efficient AND slow/inefficient. Koreans are so good with technology/math/school/etc., but they couldn't open more than 2 desks for the hundreds of students waiting to get their registration cards... It doesn't make any sense. And why does Korea University require our registration card in order to get our student ID? Do they not realize that foreigners can't get phones (I'm lucky I have family here), bank cards, or just about anything without  our registration card, which we can't even apply for until school starts? Do they not realize that it takes 2+ weeks just to get the registration card? We can't join the gym, go to the library, use the study rooms, or do anything without a student ID. Why can't they make our lives easier instead of more difficult? They really should take better care of us foreign students when they benefit (point system) from having us. Being a foreigner in Seoul is tough when it comes to paperwork.

Rant complete.