30. Tofu and Fruit Salad
Hiya,
So was very tired and went to bed earlish after writing my blog. I got up and had a shower about 6ish and my breakfast at 7.15ish. Now inbetween the time I went into the bathroom and brushe dmy teeth, father had his brecfast, got dressed and put on his shoes and was calling me to hurry up. I'm not really sure how he manages to do it but one day I'll catch him out.
We got to class really early so I got us good seats. Luckily we could finish at 10.40 as it was Dongguk graduation for some of the monks and teachers. Because the weather was good and we were all feeling refreshed we decieded that today would be good to do the Inwangsan Shamanist Hillside Walk. Now, I really do hate Korea Sparkling because not only did it lie to me about Noodle X being open, but it also lied to me about it being a 'hillside'walk. First we had to get out of the tube station and walk up this really hard slope, then up this hill to the top where we met some Americans and chatted then up some steps, and that was just the beginning. We got lost and started chatting to a monk who let us go in the temple alone to film and take pictures as much as we wanted. We searched high and low for the Shamanistic icons but only found Buddhist ones until the last 5 minutes where we spotted the drawings in the corner. We then moved on up the mountain, yes mountain, to these rocks which apparently look like a monk praying. I couldn't see it but apparently it brings fertillity. I figured I'd get blessed ready for the future and I done my prayers. I done extra as it's more work to ask for a girl than a boy, it sucked and my legs hurt after a while. We filmed a little and realised that there was a monk sitting on top of the mountain. Stupidly we figured we could get to him, how wrong we were.
We passed the Shamanistic temple, which was closed to our dismay, and carried on up the rocks. We met the American couple and figured that if they were climbing the mountain, than we definately could. Helena was a tad nervous of heights so I went first, she as behind and the Caroline at the rear. It was at this point that we realised flip flops were not the best idea in the world. I tried to find logs and gap in the stones to climb up and we stopped at the highest point to drink the cleansing mountain water. I'm pretty sure we almost deprived the rest of Seoul water for that time as it was really nice and cold. We carried on through the mountain and then started our descent. This was easier said than done and the sweat was running down me. I was at the back this time due to not being confident with going downhill. Helena became one with the forest and walked barefoot most the way and helped me to not slide down the hills.
We finished our walk and realised we smelt really quite bad and had to go meet a film direstcor. We wandered around a little and bought some t-shirts and spray and wetwipes to clean up. I thinkw e done agood job. We then went to meet Mahinda ina new area to get a taxi to the directors house. It was a strange place we went to, near an army base so many white girls and boys. It was unnverving and I really didn't like it there. It was too.. western and I think I'm now prefering the company of Asian people. There were all Americanised stores and one even called, ENGLAND! It was really disturbing. We bought a cake for Lee Myung-se, the director and went to his office in a taxi. He was a very nice guy and smoked like a trouper. He made us a lot of black coffee and was great to interview, I felt very lucky to interview him and he made me realise that I should be doing film, that life is too short. I could relate to him very much and we got talking about Anime and Manga series. I told the girls that he was my temple, my church. I am in much awe of the man. I gave him my email and youtube address, I hope maybe he will contact me.
After the interview his producer and assistants joined us and we went to Myeongdong for dinner. We walked up a dingey alleyway and I was surprised at how cool the resturant was. I had three bowls of rice wine which is really nice and he was kind and ordered omlette, cucumber, fruit salad and tofu for me and Caroline. Everyone had a good laugh and we made jokes about Mahinda, calling him the monk paparazzi because he takes about a million or so photographs.
Anyway, logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, buddhist, donguk university, free market, Lee Myung-Se, madu, mahinda, monk, mountain dew, seoul, shamanistic walk
24. Part 2
Ding, ding, ding, BANG BANG BANG, BOOOOOSSSSHHHHH
That's what woke me up at 2.30Am, a guy going round with a bell, chanting and scraping against a wooden thingy. My three hours sleep was bizarre mainly due to the fact we were in a temple, on the floor. Everyone was getting up when I awoke and I put my stuff away into the locker. I put on my soaking trainers and we went to pee in the hole in the ground, it was an experience. I followed Helena and Lucy and we went to the main temple and started our prayers. My knees got weaker as we done Mantras and full prayer about 20+ times before being ushered out into the courtyard. We were arranged into pairs and one by one went up to slam this huge piece of wood into a massive bell with a Priest. It was really quite loud and meant to call the monks and nuns to prayer. I tried to bang it as loud as I could but the piece of wood took me with it and my attempt was quite feeble. I walked with the others up to main temple and we done mantras and prayers again. I felt really faint as this was about 5am and we hadn't eaten or drunk and had to keep getting up and down. This was for an hour or so, we were lucky as we had a nun in front of us that we just copied the entire time.
After morning prayers we got back to the hall and was greeted by the most awesome monk ever who had this tinkle in his eye. He taught us this really fun meditation and spoke in such a way that we didn't need a translator. We were shown some Buddhist self defence using the international guy as 'a bad man'. We also done some crazy exercises that made everyone laugh, like swinging our arms, doing some sort of JudoBallet combination, it was just too funny. I wish we'd filmed it. Afterwards he let us 'meditate' by lying on the floor and closing our eyes. We done this for an hour and had free time afterwards.
The big dong rung for Breakfast and we all hurried to find.. Babimbap. I had some rice and was told it was bad to waste any which was really annoying as it had these horrible beans in it. I also had some water and tea. Caroline has the same and afterwards we washed our plates out the back and said thank you for the meals.
As the night had been rainy, we couldn't do mountain walking as it was slippery so we got to make our own prayer beads. We had to count 108 out and a big bead. We threaded everything on and then laughed as everyone struggled doing the knots. I'm just Glad scoobies were in fashion when I went to school otherwise I would've never understand the ending pattern and how to finish off the excess wire and thread. I laughed at took pictures of the International guy as revenge and we talked about anime and manga, it was nice and relaxing.
After beads we had more free time before having traditional temple tea and an 'about me' section. The tea was lovely and I tried to drink the 20 cups but only managed about 10 altogether. They brought round the sticky gooey pasta and I warned everyone about it. People tried it only for them to tell me I was right in my description.
A short monk then came over about 10Am ish and we went on a tour of the temple grounds and the museum. Somethings were really interesting but I think generally everyone was really tired and didn't pay much attention. I was shocked to learn that the temple is open to the public to prayer, just like a church. It was weird because I just assumed that only Monks and Nuns could go there. Many Koreans stopped to talk to us and ask us questions. I told a story about the Chinese zodiac to the International guys and they told me one about a turtle in return. They also helped me in the gift shop as I wanted something for year of the Horse, having a friend being able to read Korean comes in handy when you need to buy things.
Next I toured the museum in the temples and was amazed at how old everything was, all made in roughly 1760 or something, crazy. We got to do screen printing of Buddhist texts and pictures too which is a lovely memento to have. The lady doing mine was evil though and made sure it came our perfect. I'm glad in a way by my hands are still covered in ink!
We then heard the dong for lunch which was the same thing as breakfast but with added noodles. I tried a rice thing wrapped in tofu, it was quite yummy but strange along with pineapple which made my mouth sore due to a reaction to the fruit.
Luckily after dinner we had more free time and were able to change into our wet, but normal clothes which was a relief! I was dead happy to be our of our prison ware. Helena told me that her roommate in Sweden was sent to a temple as punishment for bad grades once, I think I can see why it's a fitting punishment!
We gave our gifts and collected our things before saying goodbye. The others visited the tombs but I wasn't interested and just slept on the bus until we got to Dongguk. I'm at the flat now, and am very tired typing this. It's nice to be home and I had such a great experience at the temple, we have so many things for the DVD, mainly bloopers though!
I've been thinking alot about my course in life and I'm debating restarting the year but am still unsure. It feels like I should be doing something more creative at University.
I'd like to say thank you for my birthday messages, it was very nice of everyone!
Anyway, Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, birthday, bu, Buddha, merthyr tydfil, teapot, temple stay, tire seoul, tired
22. Raindrops keep falling on my head
Hiya,
So I'm already 19 in Korean and still 18 in Britian. It's crazy, I'm so old. I got up and packed for the temple an had the quicket breakfast known to man before grabbing my cards and present and going. The tube annoyed me because I couldn't get a seat althought I had about 5 bags with me, so annoying. I got into a small arguement with a Korean girl too cause she nicked the seat I wanted, it sucked. However my mood was lifted when I got into uni and had cards and presents to open. I got some stickeres, face mask, nail varnish and the cutest earrings off the girls and new charms for my braclet off my parents along with some spending money! I'm really happy about it. We had our last ever lecture and graduation of Indian Buddhism so I have a nice folder with a diploma certificate, it's all good.
We said our thanks to Professor Bronkhurst and gave him a card, he signed our fans for us as a momento and hopefully we'll be seeing hin in Bath for a special lecture. We all popped over to the international office and dropped off our stuff before going to food. I just had soup as I'm not up to eating much at the moment. We had a chat with Mahinda and currently we're in the computer rooms waiting to leave.
My birthday is quite uneventful, I can't say what it's like because I'm bored and we celebrated yesterday. Overall I'm just waiting to go home now.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: 19, age, bath house, bath spa university, birthday, buddhism, cards, girl, mahinda, metro, seoul, soup, tired
21. Killer Chair, Nakedness and a Fake Birthday
Hello,
Because I'm already 19 in Korea and I'm in the temple tomorrow we figured that we'd go and celebrate my coming into the world today. We had a lecture first off and played around online checking emails and such and then
exchanged some money. I'd looked up spas last night and knew the one I wanted to go to, so we popped on the metro to Seoul Station, got lost, asked a police man and was shown by an
English speaking Korean where it was.
We got to the spa and paid about 4
GBP which gave us access to everything! It was amazing, we got given two towels and went through to the changing area. We then took off our shoes and went to another desk where we were given a t-shirt and shorts, it was at that point we realised that everyone around us was naked. We got lockers and stripped off (EVERYTHING) and got into our new spa uniforms. We then went upstairs and got bagels which were really yummy. First we went into this sauna room which gave a whole new meaning to the word hot! It was boiling, much hotter than an English Sauna, it didn't even compare. Naturally we didn't spend long in there. Next we went to the ice room, a room full of ice where we were heckled
by old men thinking we looked Russian. It was highly amusing! Onto the Dug out rooms which didn't really do much, that or we missed the point of it. After that we went to the Oxygen room. It had a big air thingy and my lungs felt really nice afterwards although we all agreed to feeling a tad giddy after too long. We moved to the Charcoal room where we stayed for a while, it was meant to speed up your metabolism so we wanted to stay there the longest and had a short nap. A man kept snoring which sent me and Caroline into fits of giggles. We relaxed and moved to the salt room, it was lovely, being surrounded by millions of rock salts which were warmed and you could just lie in and absorb, it felt so nice and you could talk whilst just chilling.
We checked out some other rooms but weren't bothered so we
decided to see what the bath rooms were like... big mistake, there were many naked ladies. We stood about for about 30 minutes debating the pros and cons of getting naked and joining in. Caroline was the first to say no, then Helena said no so I took it upon myself to take one for the team and I'm glad I did. I got changed in the toilets (no way was I trouping around the spa with my goods on display) and went to the showers. The first bath I took was at 42
oC and had Jade in it, it was
okay little hot for me though. Next one was at 45
oC and looked like gravy, it had some mineral dirt in it but it freaked me out a little so I didn't stay in there long. It was a bit creepy as the women looked at me, I guess seeing a western girl naked probably makes them feel so skinny. The next pool I went too was full of charcoal and I stayed in there for a while despite the
scalding temperature of 48
oC, it was bloody hot in there. I gave in after that and went in a salt pool at a mere 30
oC and found a nice swimming pool. Little did I know (i found it out afterwards) that the pool was an Ice pool. I immersed myself only to regret it big time. I felt really dizzy at the shock in
temperature and only realised what had happened when I saw ice cubes float past me. I however stayed in and reasoned that it was probably being amazing for my skin, it was only until I realised I was growing a layer of frost that I got out and eased my frozen body into a massage bath which soon warmed me up. It was amazing, then sauna at the end really helped and when I had a shower I was given free shampoo and conditioner to help with my skin, to close the pores up.
I got changed out in the open (everyone had seen everything at this point) and went back upstairs where I found Helena and Caroline and we went off with our cameras to capture moments in the rooms. We however got distracted and found a
Karaoke machine and sung Flying without wings and Bohemian
Rhapsody, it was so funny, especially when we realised the rooms weren't 100% sound proof. We then went on these massage chairs which I thought would be a really fun idea. How wrong I was. It was like the chair wanted revenge for everything in the world. It strapped us in and held my hands and ankles in place and proceeded to kneed at my back and bum. It was like being stabbed over and over and it kept pinching my bum. It then vibrated us and tried to snap our necks. This lasted 10 minutes before
releasing us where we
decided never to trust my judgement about chairs again.
We finally got dressed and left the spa and walked over to pizza hut for my Birthday meal. Me and Caroline shared a medium cheesy bite pizza which we couldn't finish and Helena had a salad. Now I'm at home waiting for my family to get home, it's so quiet without them all! The spa website is Here:
Siloam Sauna if you want to check it out.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bagels, bath house, bath spa university, clothes, girls, killer chair, SAUNA, spa
20. Bucket of Caramel Popcorn = $1.50
Hiya,
Got up and got organised before I looked out the window, it was absolutely tipping it out. Mahinda cancelled because he melts in the rain and Lucy isn't feeling up to much so our plans were reorganised. Mother came and my breakfast, she cut the crusts off my bread today, it was amazing, I almost hugged her. She then drove me to the tube, I think she spent so long drying my converse that she didn't want them to get wet again. I got on the tube and met Lucy and Caroline at Chungmoro and we went to Dunkin Donuts (see a theme here?) for some coffee. We decieded the cinema was a good idea and got tickets to see Transformers 2. We wanted refreshments and managed to get the biggest tub of popcorn and a drink for only 600won, It was amazing, I didn't even dent it. The film was funny mainly due to Helenas comments and Caroline getting upset. We were just amused at the cheesy lines Optimus Prime banged out.
After the film we went to Myeong Dong just because it was still raining, we found this big market thing with loads of frilly tops, I am definately coming back at the end when I have some money left over. I can't wait!
I'm home now and found out that Brother has he pokemon game, I guess I should say bye to him now as he's become a pokemon master, only emerging from the game when needing to eat, I'm pretty sure he took it in the bath with him earlier. I'm not sure whether he got into school but I have a feeling he's done well.
Tomorrow we're going to a spa and I just can't wait!
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: amazing, bath spa university, film, korea, love, mall, melon, pokemon, popcorn, seoul, shopping, transformers
18. Once you go Asian, you don't go Caucasian
Hi,
I'm not quite sure what a green tea latte is but I didn't like it when I came and now I do. That and the fact I can't remember what a white person looks like is proof that I'm now a honorary Korean. I was still feeling rough today but the lecture was alright and in the break I joked with professor saying that I really wanna hang out with the
Jain's and poke them in the eye, then it mentioned 'hanging out' in the lecture. I was dead impressed. We then had a break and had our special lecture,
toady's was on Business and Korean investment
opportunities; it sounds boring but was interesting and the guy was really amusing. We then hung around and got a burger king (well fries and onion rings, no wonder I'm getting fatter) before seeing the big boss guy. He was really nice and offered tea and
coffee. We also saw his little girl on video call who was
sooo cute, I want to steal her. The little Korean kids are adorable, I think I'll adopt one. We're lucky because we don't have to do an essay for class now as our
assessment is the DVD not the course so we just get to get a
certificate for showing up. We then went to the tube to go to
Insadong where Caroline was chatted up by a
fittie old man ;) and then started being flirted with by a student. Because of a loss of translation we got off too early and had to
re catch the metro. We then got off and
realized we were lost so Lucy tried to look on the big map when this crazy witch type lady came over and started shouting directions. We said thanks and hid until she was gone to bring out the map. However when we got the map out she reappeared and started shouting again, it was crazy! We proper run away from her and found our way by asking people. It was a nice after to just stroll and look at shops and buy some presents. Helena and Caroline figured out how to use their cards out here which is really good. We got shakes in between shopping and these
students appeared downstairs with Free Hugs sign. As a laugh I
decided to go down whilst Caroline and Helena filmed me. So I waited ages for this
arrogant American to shift and then the Koreans were really excited and gave me hugs and waved to the camera. It looks so funny on film! We all had a laughing fit and was a bit sugar high before going back to shopping where we scared small children by trying to give them a Balloon. Before going home we got these weird fried potatoes on a stick, they were well nice. Caroline saw a shoe stall and was
iffing and
arring about thee shoes until we pointed out that their actually costing 1.50
GBS. It was really funny and we
definitely will be making fun of her for a while to come.
We all then went to the tube station and saw a sign for BIG CLOTHES, that meant us as it's hard to find Korean clothes for a British frame. After going our
separate ways I was on the tube and the metro line stopped. A nice Korean man helped me by telling me I had to get off for the cleaners. I said thanks and stepped away, learning my lessons after other Korean people. However he kept talking and I just answered
minimalistic answers hoping he'd go away but he'd keep talking and tried to let him walk me home. I declined and made out I was going a different way home but he didn't leave without a fight and I have his name, number and email address scrawled on my hand and I have his card. It turns out he's a director for an electricity company and would very much like to meet me for coffee and lunch. He's quite harmless but it's still crazy how the boys just home in on me. Caroline reckons it's because I'm quite cute looking in a Korean way, wearing the same dresses and speaking the same. If only though, I don't see the attraction, Korean girls are just so pretty, no,
beautiful here, I can't see why a guy would look at a
Caucasian girl ever again.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: asain, bath spa university, caucasian, DMZ, donguk university, dresses, guy, korean melon, south, stalker, wales
17. Chips
Hiya,
I'm still not feeling so well and nothing much happened as there were huge storms in Korean, meaning we were stuck indoors all day. I missed the lecture because I was still ill but made it in for lunch and the meetings. We had western food but I couldn't handle loads as I'm still feeling icky. Afterwards I went to the book shop alone in Anguk and looked around. I bought the Lolita bible (please someone buy me a lolita dress?) which is really cool but then this guy satrted chatting and asked me millions of questions about books and why I'm in Korea. Afterwards he took my picture and then his friend had a picture with me and before I knew it I was being photographed by and with a bunch of Korean students apparently doing research on foreigners and what books they like to read. I'm getting used to this Korean type celebrity lifestyle now.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, card, gothic, korean melon, Lolita, love, magazine, photographs, shoes, stalker, storm, students
16. Knockout Water
Hiya,
So today I'm not very well. I went to the lecture but went home early for fainting and managed to get home okay. When I got there, I got given '
special water' which basically knocked me out for about 6 hours. Lots of people rung me too, it was really annoying. The bank rung saying Caroline and I owe them money because they did not take off a charge. Then
Mahinda rung saying that they is problems with the DMZ thing so we're no longer going, then a
Korean man rung saying '
sri lanka,
sri lanka' until I hung up and turned my phone off. I then got a note under my door asking what was wrong, to which I replied that I was feeling faint. I had more knockout water a
nd some melon.
I am now feeling
abit better but am still ill.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, DMZ, donguk university, hurts, ill, korean melon, tummy
15. Pot ramyun
Hello all,
Today we're been doing not much as it's host family day. The lecture wasn't very interesting and Lucy was back in from being ill. We all
decided to go 'for a western' which
consisted of chips an a
panini. It was lovely and we talked about what's happening in the next few days. Only 2 people are allowed to go to the
Demilitarized Zone. Helena was very nice and gave up her place for me, I'm really lucky so me and Caroline are going on the weekend. Lucy and Helena went home and me and Caroline stayed for a few moments to go on the computers and reply to emails etc. I then left and walked to the tube station to go home. I could hear the noise as I
ascended to my
flat. As I entered I was greeted by 12
adolescent boys and poor mother. There were laptops thrown around on the floor, each child hooked up to a headset and shouting angrily. It looked like I'd stepped into a MI5
headquarters. After many questions 'who are you?', 'where are you from?', 'how old are you?", I was beckoned forth to come play
Starcraft, the Korean Addiction game (think world of
warcraft, same company, same addictive powers over boys). I assume I done well as one child was taunted with chants as I destroyed his player. After much chocolate and more questions the children grabbed shoes and run home (or to
game bang, a gaming cafe) I was later informed. I helped mother clean up and used the computer before we got ready and went to the Lotte
Department store. Lotte Department is like,
perhaps House of
Frasier with a cinema and
Resturant. Mother bought the tickets for (wait for it... *gulp) Terminator. I faked
enthusiasm in the upcoming film and done a very bad Arnie impression. We went downstairs for some
babimbap which tasted horrible but I managed to somehow eat up. We then waited for the film to start and was bought some honey popcorn and a drink. I closed my eyes for the evil that began on the huge screen. It's not that I don't like the film but more that I'm terrified of the terminators. I wish we'd stuck to the original plan, a j-horror or night at the museum 2. The film was overall not bad but I must admit I was shaking leaving the cinema.
Brother complained he wanted a snack so we went to the nearest 7/11 and got some
Ramyun and some
pocky and melon. We got home and mother tried to explain it was was an instant meal. I didn't want to point out that we had these in the UK but I made a big show and clapped at the 'magic' of Korea. She then brought out these
cakey snack things. They were sticky and tasted like pasta when you put them in your mouth. However, as soon as you bit in a sticky sweet liquid
came out. It was the weirdest sensation ever and I did not eat another.
Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting,
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, boys, funny, girls, korea, raymen, seoul, starcraft, teenagers, terminator, western
14. Korean Dinner...An Indian
Hiya,
So today I got dressed and fixed myself up before going to university. Father and I got a lift off mother but only to the Tube station. I got a seat early and was able to play animal crossing on my Nintendo. We got off and father saw a
colleague who bought us a taxi, it was very kind of him. We got to university early and I
was able to buy some biscuits and a Mountain dew. The others
came in except for Lucy who is ill today, I feel bad for her as
Migraines are horrible. I listened but I'd already studied the subject so it was a little boring to me. We where then allowed to go early so I went and changed some travellers cheques with Caroline. It took so long, about 30 minutes in all. I now appear rich in Korean Won when in sterling it is very little (5
GBP=10,000 Won). We got our money and had
Babimba in the
canteen with
Mahinda. I think he
was Little upset as the nun did not have time to come and eat with us today. We discussed many things about filming and home. It made me a little home sick which was annoying as I'm getting used to Korea now.
We left
Mahinda and went to the library to research and study although not much got done as we were mainly looking at photos and looking up touristy things to do as we are no longer going to
JeJudo Island.
We decided to leave the computers and visit father. I told him we were going shopping and he gave us an orange juice to take with us. I think we really brighten up the office when we come over and say hi to everyone in the
international place.
I
decided that we should go to
Myeong Dong so together we took the tube down. When we got there, we were so amazed we didn't know what to look at first. It was amazing, so many shops and clothes and shoes. I loved every second. We wandered for ages and picked up various things. Lotte department was very
disappointing as it was very expensive and not very fun. Helena got hungry so we all went in search of food. On the way up we passed a noodle bar and there where white gentlemen sitting in the window, excited to see them I waved. They looked very
awkward and apparently it meant we couldn't eat there. However, the girls hid me and we swallowed the
embarrassment and went and sat down. We called over a few
waiters and tried to explain that we didn't eat fish or meat. They tried to tell us that the only
vegetarian meal was for two and because we are a three it wouldn't work. Helena tried
auguring but eventually we got up and left. We wandered around for ages until they stopped for a
cigarette and then I noticed an Indian place. It was a sauce, drink and
nann for only 11,000 so we went up and tried to explain we were veggies. The guy was little confused at first but then when I showed him my
Korean translation book he sat us and got a menu, there were loads of veggie curries so we ordered away. I also had a
Lassi, a
yogourt drink for the first time, it was really nice and cool. My mild curry was very hot but otherwise yummy. We talked over food and then went back to
the shops where we got some clothes. I got the lushest dress, it's a kind of Lolita one and I got it for 5
GBP, very happy.
Lucy said she was going home so we thought it'd be a good time to depart. I got on the train asap and got a seat so I played
Nintendo on my way home. I called Gav and it was nice to talk to him, he thought I was saying something weird when I was saying hello in Korean to my doorman.
When I got in I had a lovely plate of watermelon sitting for me, I am very lucky. We talked about what to do tomorrow (it's host family day after university) and we are going to the cinema with brother and his friends to watch terminator. The films are in
English with
Korean subtitles so I should be okay. Brother got 0 wrong on maths, P.E and ethics, I'm very proud of him. Tomorrow is Geography and English, I said he must do well for me and I am currently giving him lots of tips.
I am hoping to join Erasmus when I get back to university in
England because it's possible to study
someplace. I am thinking of studying in Florence, Italy for my third year. However, I am yet
undecided. I would really like to travel more and
Italy seems ideal. I do enjoy Korea and maybe I will come back to the
International school one day to teach English.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, britian, brother, donguk university, dresses, english, erasmus, exams, gavin, hungry, indian, korea, mahinda, mr kim, study, teacher, uk, yum
9. Chocolate Fish!
Hiiya,
So today's been pretty uneventful so far. I got up and brother is like a mad thing, his exam is toady and he's really worried! I had a cheese sandwich plus salad for my breakfast and father took me to uni on the tube again. We decieded to play some games on his mobile, it was really hard! You had to like, bounce animals on a blanket, so strange yet fun. I'm really really tired again today, I'm having really stanrge nightmares.
Got to uni (only just) and was soo out of breathe like you would not believe! The hills are just way too steep, especially if your rushing. The lecture was boring but I've started to write a short story to pass the time. We only had a few breaks and I bought these chocolate fish things. They are sooo yummy, it's pretzels with chocolate shaped like fish.
Just now we had a special lecture with Lee Myung-su the film director, it was soo interesting, I wish I'd done film now :( We got to watch behind the scenes and I asked some questions about the mise-en-scene and whether he used visual kei. I also got his autograph, I think I might slip him my youtube address so if he ever needs a western girl ;)
There's theses weird bugs around uni lately, their like mutant killer ladybrids. I took a picture on my phone, they spring like frogs, it's like crazy!!
Going to Insodong this afternoon. I kinda just want to go by myself shopping soon though, I'm still not good with crowds.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, Fish, lecture, Lee Myung-Se, Lolita, shopping, tire seoul, Visual Kei
8. Noodle X
Hola,
So after I text you we went to the kitchens to meet Mahinda. However, he did not show up for almost two hours!! However we did get quite alot of things listed that we want to see nad worked out a sheduale. I made some drawings to remind me of what things we want to do but Lucy gave me a telling off and said I wasn't being invovled with the group. Not my fault if I learn differently, it upset me very much.
Apparently when we go to Pusan we're going to a Rehab centre that the dean owns to stay there as it is cheaper. Except it's not where people where addictions go but people with learning diffuculties. How weird is that? So we sat down at lunch for a very long time and talked about different attractions. Mahinda told us that the Government are paying for us to go to DMZ, the no mans land between the North and the South. Our hotel, food and daytrips are going to be paid for when we go and we'll be officals from the U.K. I'm excited but I'd rather not be attacked by the South.
We the went to a different town near the other university. It was a short ride and very packed, It was much nicer than the other places that we've been to so far. Helena's student camena dmet us and we really wanted to go to Noodle X, a noodle bar that was in the lonely planet guide. We searched for it high and low only for the student to point out that it had closed down (the book is out of date!) However we managed to find an english type Pub and ordered lots of "western" food. Me and Caroline got cheesey nanchos and some crinkle chips. The food came and it was huge, it was so nice to have a filling meal rather than sloppy rice.
We paid our bill and walked to the Tube and went our seperate ways. About 10 stops before my own this man started talking to me asking about the Uk. I was happy to talk to him. After a short whil eh started to get a tad aggressive and demanded to know where I live and my mobile number. I was quite nervous so I got off at a different stop and walked around. I'm not always sure whether someone is being friendly or not in Korea as it can be mistaken easily.
I am however, home now and there's work EVERYWHERE. Another exam is tomorrow and brother is frantic!! It's 11.30 and he still is not going to bed. I'm very tired so shall be logging off now. I'm hopefully uploading pictures tomorrow in uni! So you have them to look forward to!
I'm still not 100% about being here but I guess I'm stuck right?
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, chips, gangnam, korea, metro, rice, scary, soeul, welsh girl
6. Ice Noodles
Hello again,
So today has been interesting. I left you when it was time to go see the teacher who teaches Indian Philosophy and helps with the international affairs. He gave us some lovely coffee (their instant has sugar and milk added already, a miracle!) and some Korean Green tea. It tastes pretty bland in flavour but probably does wonders in the detoxing world. I gave him the Rugby ball and he said his daughters would enjoy it. We than saw a photo of them, they are quite young and very cute. Lucy came late and brought her host student Olivia with her. We all chatted about certain things before going off to the University kitchen. We were very lucky and our lunch was being paid for by the University. The kitchen does western type food so we had two pizzas to share and I had a lovely cheese
baguette and a coke. It was the nicest thing ever, seriously. After lunch we all
separated to go check the mail and get some drinks before meeting
Mahinda. We walked down to the Tube and rode for three stops. We
decided that we would like one month rental mobile phones for safety and to
contact one another. We walked around for what seemed like forever, but no one done the deal that we were hoping for.
Whilst the others were talking, me and Caroline went for a walk and in the windows are really cute puppies up for sale. They were so sad looking but so cute. This one was very fluffy and had big puppy eyes. I took a photo, I wanted to bring him home. We went then to a
English/
Korean bookshop. There were so many
anime books but most were in Korean, I'd never seen so many in my life. The others bought Korean guides and books about
Buddhisim. Olivia was very kind and managed to
bar gin with a phone retailer so now we have three (very crap) mobile phones for the month so I will get the number
in case anyone would like to text or call me.
After the phones and books we wanted to visit tourist information to find
leaflets for the tube and for things to do.
Mahinda got us really lost because this man showed the wrong way. However we found a man who had lived in New York and spoke good
english, he drew us a map and we were soon on our way! After walking around some more we found it and picked up as many information booklets as possible. I want to go to
Dinoworld but it had already closed. I think we are going mud wrestling though. After about 10 minutes of being in the tourist information, some Korean group walked in. Myself and Caroline were sitting down when this very
elderly lady started making her way towards us. I was
abit worried because she was staring, having obviously not seen many westerners. Lucy noticed our worried looks and called us over only for 'dawn of the dead' lady to start following. We sharply made an exit and she still shuffled behind us. We were hysterical afterwards. The group met back up with
Mahinda and we walked through the town to find some food. I spotted a
McDonalds but everyone gave me evil looks. We went to many
restaurants but the main
vegetarian meal seems to be
Babimba which we are not to keen on. We found one place but the food cost
about 20(BPS) so we gave it a miss. The next one we found served
beansprout noodles so we went and sat down. Lucy and Helena shared a massive broth on a heater whilst Caroline,
Mahinda and I had the noodles. I wish someone had told me that they were served ice cold. It was a shock to the system and tasted mainly of just plain cooked spaghetti, not nice. Caroline
accidentally gave me this
chilli paste, I think my reaction was quite funny. Lucy and Helena had a same go at us for not eating meat which was annoying as I don't
particular like eating meat and am fussy when I do.
We left the
restaurant hungry so I slipped into a 7/11 and got a small snack. We made our way to the tube station but I needed the toilet. Little did I know it was a crazy hole in the ground one, really not nice! I had a right job to lift my trousers up and down at the same time. I got home about 10o'clock, it was scary walking in the dark but okay, lots of teenagers are in the parks playing football and it's very well light. I got in and felt lucky because I got fruit and an ice cream so I feel a little fuller. I had a really nice shower and we've been talking about the hostility between the north and south of Korea. It seems the South hope that they are
reunited again soon.
Brother is practising his singing for an exam tomorrow, it's quite funny but sweet. I am nervous for him, he's very stressed out. I offered to take him to see Harry Potter when he is done with everything and he seemed happy at the
suggestion. I think he really wants his game (he's getting
pokemon) more than anything so he is studying all the time when I am home.
It is now 11.44 and I am very tired so I'm going to head off to bed. I hope all is well in the UK!
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, cold, donguk university, harry potter, hills, hot, ice noodles, international affairs, korea, north, south, sun, tourist office, uk, wales
5. Pocky and Mt Dew
Helloo,
I'm up at the uni really early again today, I guess it's just easier for me to go on the computers and it's takes me a long journey to get here anyway. On the way to uni I saw a poster for a vet and on it is a fox terrier! I took a photo straight away. I'm quite impressed that I got here on my own, vise versa with getting home last night.
I think today that we are meeting the man who made the trip possible, I have a welsh squashy rugby ball for him as a present. After that we are getting... PIZZA! I can't wait! Although me and Caroline have to find the place, that hsould be quite hard, the campus is so large. We're then going around the town and going to tourist information to get leaflets and broushures. Hopefully we'll have loads of time to go shopping. I'm not sure if I'll buy anything today but I definiatly want to find a Lolita shop.
This morning for brecfast I had facepack salad again along with Korean Melon. It was lovely but a little too sweet. Host mother stopped me beofre I went out the door today, I managed to get a treat for uni. Pocky (long biscuit sticks with chocolate on) and mountain dew. It made me laugh and she seemed very happy. I managed to walk with Brother today too. He was tired as he was up late studying hard. He really wants his computer game. I explained that my boyfriend also likes computer games.
I now have to go to international affairs to meet the others.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, donguk university, girl, korea, korean melon, merthyr tydfil, metro, mountain dew, pocky, salad, seoul, wales
3. Facepack meal
Hello all,
I'm not sure what it was, but last night my supper consisted of. I had broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, peppers and banana on a plate and then this stuff on it which I swear tasted of my face cream. It was so weird. I keep being fed a block of cheese as well. I'm eating it though so it's not too bad. I then went to bed only to be woken again cause host father was home. We decided on a plan and I have a key to the house. Then went to bed about 10.30ish. I had to turn off the fan because of fan death. Korean believe fans will kill you in the night, it's really funny.
Got up at 7 today and had a wash and stuff. Had a block of cheese for my brekkie. Host mother gave me some water and we set off into the metro. We walked for about 10 minutes and got to the metro. I now have this card thing that I have to put money on. I have no idea how it works. We travlled for an hour, got off and walked up the biggest hill ever. I got shown where our class is and now I'm just waiting for the others.
I'm not really liking it here at the moment and I want to go home.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, facepack, hot, korea, sad, seoul, sticky
2. Onigiri
Hello!
I am here in Korea at my host families house. It is all very nice, I'm living with the director of international studies, his wife and their son. So far I have unpacked and have just had my first Korean meal, omlette, rice and peppers with a nice glass of orange juice. iI'm down as a vegatrian on the trip to make my life abit easier. Apparently I like Omlettes now, well i'm not fussed but it's food. I am surprised at just how close the weather is, it is so hot and sticky! I can't wait to have a shower. The last 24 hours have been well interesting. Gina backed out literally last minute so mam and dad had to run me up to Heathrow. Caz, Mahinda and Helena arrived and we all checked in. After some amusing photos in Heathrow we got on the plane at about 10.30ish. We were all granted access first to the plane because Mahinda is a monk, it was dead funny. We arrived in Paris at 12, having to rush to the next gate and we found out we were all sitting seperately, so annoying. Mahinda had to wear bags on his feet due to his shoes having metal in lol. The in flight films were really good, I got to watch Madagascar 2, 101 dalmations, Adventures of Tintin and Friends. They also had pretty cool games to play. The food on the plane was icky, I just had a rice ball and a ton of bread and a pot noodle type thing. After 10 very boring very long hours we landed at about 7am and got our baggage and started the wait for the university people. At 10 they came and took us to Dongguk, which is an hour away in a taxi. Mahinda told us all we're fat and ned to lose 10lbs each and tried to get the girls and our poor driver set up. Finally we arrived and had a quick introduction where we met our host families. Everyone else has teenagers but I get the boss dude, bit gutted as all he done was put a piece a paper around my neck, put me in a taxi and wave goodbye, I know how it feels to be an evacuee after that expirence. His wife met me from the taxi and I have my own pair of around the house slippers. The toilet here is dead weird, too many buttons :S It's really quiet here, she doesn't speak much english and is just a housewife who goes out in the day. However she is nice and showed me how to work the computer! My mac is playing up :'(
I'm really homesick atm, just hit me that I'm here for a month and my birthday. :( I got to get to uni tomorrow by myself :( eek
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, girls, jet lag, merthyr tydfil, rice, seoul, tired
1. Packing and Waiting
Hi all,
At home in Wales typing atm and just about to have a cup of tea. Going to start packing my things now. I have no idea of what to take, just light clothes I guess. Gina and Caz text me saying how nervous they both are, I know the feeling. Gav should be coming round about 6 to have tea and many cwtches. Gina is going to pick me up in 12 hours time (5am) and we're going to set off to Heathrow. I'm abit anxious about luggage allowence and the fact that we only have one hour to transport everything between the two flights in Paris. Scary stuff. Lucy is already out in Korea so we'll be meeting up with her on Monday.
My new phone is going well so I'll be able to upload to this blog quite often to keep everyone up to date with my activities. My email is angharad,john@bathspa.org if anyone wants to contact me! I'm quite dissapointed with the fact that I'll be spending my birthday in Korea and not with my family and friends, but I'll be okay, I'm hoping we'll do something special for it.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, blog, girl, girls, korea, merthyr tydfil, parents, seoul
30. Tofu and Fruit Salad
Hiya,
So was very tired and went to bed earlish after writing my blog. I got up and had a shower about 6ish and my breakfast at 7.15ish. Now inbetween the time I went into the bathroom and brushe dmy teeth, father had his brecfast, got dressed and put on his shoes and was calling me to hurry up. I'm not really sure how he manages to do it but one day I'll catch him out.
We got to class really early so I got us good seats. Luckily we could finish at 10.40 as it was Dongguk graduation for some of the monks and teachers. Because the weather was good and we were all feeling refreshed we decieded that today would be good to do the Inwangsan Shamanist Hillside Walk. Now, I really do hate Korea Sparkling because not only did it lie to me about Noodle X being open, but it also lied to me about it being a 'hillside'walk. First we had to get out of the tube station and walk up this really hard slope, then up this hill to the top where we met some Americans and chatted then up some steps, and that was just the beginning. We got lost and started chatting to a monk who let us go in the temple alone to film and take pictures as much as we wanted. We searched high and low for the Shamanistic icons but only found Buddhist ones until the last 5 minutes where we spotted the drawings in the corner. We then moved on up the mountain, yes mountain, to these rocks which apparently look like a monk praying. I couldn't see it but apparently it brings fertillity. I figured I'd get blessed ready for the future and I done my prayers. I done extra as it's more work to ask for a girl than a boy, it sucked and my legs hurt after a while. We filmed a little and realised that there was a monk sitting on top of the mountain. Stupidly we figured we could get to him, how wrong we were.
We passed the Shamanistic temple, which was closed to our dismay, and carried on up the rocks. We met the American couple and figured that if they were climbing the mountain, than we definately could. Helena was a tad nervous of heights so I went first, she as behind and the Caroline at the rear. It was at this point that we realised flip flops were not the best idea in the world. I tried to find logs and gap in the stones to climb up and we stopped at the highest point to drink the cleansing mountain water. I'm pretty sure we almost deprived the rest of Seoul water for that time as it was really nice and cold. We carried on through the mountain and then started our descent. This was easier said than done and the sweat was running down me. I was at the back this time due to not being confident with going downhill. Helena became one with the forest and walked barefoot most the way and helped me to not slide down the hills.
We finished our walk and realised we smelt really quite bad and had to go meet a film direstcor. We wandered around a little and bought some t-shirts and spray and wetwipes to clean up. I thinkw e done agood job. We then went to meet Mahinda ina new area to get a taxi to the directors house. It was a strange place we went to, near an army base so many white girls and boys. It was unnverving and I really didn't like it there. It was too.. western and I think I'm now prefering the company of Asian people. There were all Americanised stores and one even called, ENGLAND! It was really disturbing. We bought a cake for Lee Myung-se, the director and went to his office in a taxi. He was a very nice guy and smoked like a trouper. He made us a lot of black coffee and was great to interview, I felt very lucky to interview him and he made me realise that I should be doing film, that life is too short. I could relate to him very much and we got talking about Anime and Manga series. I told the girls that he was my temple, my church. I am in much awe of the man. I gave him my email and youtube address, I hope maybe he will contact me.
After the interview his producer and assistants joined us and we went to Myeongdong for dinner. We walked up a dingey alleyway and I was surprised at how cool the resturant was. I had three bowls of rice wine which is really nice and he was kind and ordered omlette, cucumber, fruit salad and tofu for me and Caroline. Everyone had a good laugh and we made jokes about Mahinda, calling him the monk paparazzi because he takes about a million or so photographs.
Anyway, logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, buddhist, donguk university, free market, Lee Myung-Se, madu, mahinda, monk, mountain dew, seoul, shamanistic walk
24. Part 2
Ding, ding, ding, BANG BANG BANG, BOOOOOSSSSHHHHH
That's what woke me up at 2.30Am, a guy going round with a bell, chanting and scraping against a wooden thingy. My three hours sleep was bizarre mainly due to the fact we were in a temple, on the floor. Everyone was getting up when I awoke and I put my stuff away into the locker. I put on my soaking trainers and we went to pee in the hole in the ground, it was an experience. I followed Helena and Lucy and we went to the main temple and started our prayers. My knees got weaker as we done Mantras and full prayer about 20+ times before being ushered out into the courtyard. We were arranged into pairs and one by one went up to slam this huge piece of wood into a massive bell with a Priest. It was really quite loud and meant to call the monks and nuns to prayer. I tried to bang it as loud as I could but the piece of wood took me with it and my attempt was quite feeble. I walked with the others up to main temple and we done mantras and prayers again. I felt really faint as this was about 5am and we hadn't eaten or drunk and had to keep getting up and down. This was for an hour or so, we were lucky as we had a nun in front of us that we just copied the entire time.
After morning prayers we got back to the hall and was greeted by the most awesome monk ever who had this tinkle in his eye. He taught us this really fun meditation and spoke in such a way that we didn't need a translator. We were shown some Buddhist self defence using the international guy as 'a bad man'. We also done some crazy exercises that made everyone laugh, like swinging our arms, doing some sort of JudoBallet combination, it was just too funny. I wish we'd filmed it. Afterwards he let us 'meditate' by lying on the floor and closing our eyes. We done this for an hour and had free time afterwards.
The big dong rung for Breakfast and we all hurried to find.. Babimbap. I had some rice and was told it was bad to waste any which was really annoying as it had these horrible beans in it. I also had some water and tea. Caroline has the same and afterwards we washed our plates out the back and said thank you for the meals.
As the night had been rainy, we couldn't do mountain walking as it was slippery so we got to make our own prayer beads. We had to count 108 out and a big bead. We threaded everything on and then laughed as everyone struggled doing the knots. I'm just Glad scoobies were in fashion when I went to school otherwise I would've never understand the ending pattern and how to finish off the excess wire and thread. I laughed at took pictures of the International guy as revenge and we talked about anime and manga, it was nice and relaxing.
After beads we had more free time before having traditional temple tea and an 'about me' section. The tea was lovely and I tried to drink the 20 cups but only managed about 10 altogether. They brought round the sticky gooey pasta and I warned everyone about it. People tried it only for them to tell me I was right in my description.
A short monk then came over about 10Am ish and we went on a tour of the temple grounds and the museum. Somethings were really interesting but I think generally everyone was really tired and didn't pay much attention. I was shocked to learn that the temple is open to the public to prayer, just like a church. It was weird because I just assumed that only Monks and Nuns could go there. Many Koreans stopped to talk to us and ask us questions. I told a story about the Chinese zodiac to the International guys and they told me one about a turtle in return. They also helped me in the gift shop as I wanted something for year of the Horse, having a friend being able to read Korean comes in handy when you need to buy things.
Next I toured the museum in the temples and was amazed at how old everything was, all made in roughly 1760 or something, crazy. We got to do screen printing of Buddhist texts and pictures too which is a lovely memento to have. The lady doing mine was evil though and made sure it came our perfect. I'm glad in a way by my hands are still covered in ink!
We then heard the dong for lunch which was the same thing as breakfast but with added noodles. I tried a rice thing wrapped in tofu, it was quite yummy but strange along with pineapple which made my mouth sore due to a reaction to the fruit.
Luckily after dinner we had more free time and were able to change into our wet, but normal clothes which was a relief! I was dead happy to be our of our prison ware. Helena told me that her roommate in Sweden was sent to a temple as punishment for bad grades once, I think I can see why it's a fitting punishment!
We gave our gifts and collected our things before saying goodbye. The others visited the tombs but I wasn't interested and just slept on the bus until we got to Dongguk. I'm at the flat now, and am very tired typing this. It's nice to be home and I had such a great experience at the temple, we have so many things for the DVD, mainly bloopers though!
I've been thinking alot about my course in life and I'm debating restarting the year but am still unsure. It feels like I should be doing something more creative at University.
I'd like to say thank you for my birthday messages, it was very nice of everyone!
Anyway, Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, birthday, bu, Buddha, merthyr tydfil, teapot, temple stay, tire seoul, tired
22. Raindrops keep falling on my head
Hiya,
So I'm already 19 in Korean and still 18 in Britian. It's crazy, I'm so old. I got up and packed for the temple an had the quicket breakfast known to man before grabbing my cards and present and going. The tube annoyed me because I couldn't get a seat althought I had about 5 bags with me, so annoying. I got into a small arguement with a Korean girl too cause she nicked the seat I wanted, it sucked. However my mood was lifted when I got into uni and had cards and presents to open. I got some stickeres, face mask, nail varnish and the cutest earrings off the girls and new charms for my braclet off my parents along with some spending money! I'm really happy about it. We had our last ever lecture and graduation of Indian Buddhism so I have a nice folder with a diploma certificate, it's all good.
We said our thanks to Professor Bronkhurst and gave him a card, he signed our fans for us as a momento and hopefully we'll be seeing hin in Bath for a special lecture. We all popped over to the international office and dropped off our stuff before going to food. I just had soup as I'm not up to eating much at the moment. We had a chat with Mahinda and currently we're in the computer rooms waiting to leave.
My birthday is quite uneventful, I can't say what it's like because I'm bored and we celebrated yesterday. Overall I'm just waiting to go home now.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: 19, age, bath house, bath spa university, birthday, buddhism, cards, girl, mahinda, metro, seoul, soup, tired
21. Killer Chair, Nakedness and a Fake Birthday
Hello,
Because I'm already 19 in Korea and I'm in the temple tomorrow we figured that we'd go and celebrate my coming into the world today. We had a lecture first off and played around online checking emails and such and then
exchanged some money. I'd looked up spas last night and knew the one I wanted to go to, so we popped on the metro to Seoul Station, got lost, asked a police man and was shown by an
English speaking Korean where it was.
We got to the spa and paid about 4
GBP which gave us access to everything! It was amazing, we got given two towels and went through to the changing area. We then took off our shoes and went to another desk where we were given a t-shirt and shorts, it was at that point we realised that everyone around us was naked. We got lockers and stripped off (EVERYTHING) and got into our new spa uniforms. We then went upstairs and got bagels which were really yummy. First we went into this sauna room which gave a whole new meaning to the word hot! It was boiling, much hotter than an English Sauna, it didn't even compare. Naturally we didn't spend long in there. Next we went to the ice room, a room full of ice where we were heckled
by old men thinking we looked Russian. It was highly amusing! Onto the Dug out rooms which didn't really do much, that or we missed the point of it. After that we went to the Oxygen room. It had a big air thingy and my lungs felt really nice afterwards although we all agreed to feeling a tad giddy after too long. We moved to the Charcoal room where we stayed for a while, it was meant to speed up your metabolism so we wanted to stay there the longest and had a short nap. A man kept snoring which sent me and Caroline into fits of giggles. We relaxed and moved to the salt room, it was lovely, being surrounded by millions of rock salts which were warmed and you could just lie in and absorb, it felt so nice and you could talk whilst just chilling.
We checked out some other rooms but weren't bothered so we
decided to see what the bath rooms were like... big mistake, there were many naked ladies. We stood about for about 30 minutes debating the pros and cons of getting naked and joining in. Caroline was the first to say no, then Helena said no so I took it upon myself to take one for the team and I'm glad I did. I got changed in the toilets (no way was I trouping around the spa with my goods on display) and went to the showers. The first bath I took was at 42
oC and had Jade in it, it was
okay little hot for me though. Next one was at 45
oC and looked like gravy, it had some mineral dirt in it but it freaked me out a little so I didn't stay in there long. It was a bit creepy as the women looked at me, I guess seeing a western girl naked probably makes them feel so skinny. The next pool I went too was full of charcoal and I stayed in there for a while despite the
scalding temperature of 48
oC, it was bloody hot in there. I gave in after that and went in a salt pool at a mere 30
oC and found a nice swimming pool. Little did I know (i found it out afterwards) that the pool was an Ice pool. I immersed myself only to regret it big time. I felt really dizzy at the shock in
temperature and only realised what had happened when I saw ice cubes float past me. I however stayed in and reasoned that it was probably being amazing for my skin, it was only until I realised I was growing a layer of frost that I got out and eased my frozen body into a massage bath which soon warmed me up. It was amazing, then sauna at the end really helped and when I had a shower I was given free shampoo and conditioner to help with my skin, to close the pores up.
I got changed out in the open (everyone had seen everything at this point) and went back upstairs where I found Helena and Caroline and we went off with our cameras to capture moments in the rooms. We however got distracted and found a
Karaoke machine and sung Flying without wings and Bohemian
Rhapsody, it was so funny, especially when we realised the rooms weren't 100% sound proof. We then went on these massage chairs which I thought would be a really fun idea. How wrong I was. It was like the chair wanted revenge for everything in the world. It strapped us in and held my hands and ankles in place and proceeded to kneed at my back and bum. It was like being stabbed over and over and it kept pinching my bum. It then vibrated us and tried to snap our necks. This lasted 10 minutes before
releasing us where we
decided never to trust my judgement about chairs again.
We finally got dressed and left the spa and walked over to pizza hut for my Birthday meal. Me and Caroline shared a medium cheesy bite pizza which we couldn't finish and Helena had a salad. Now I'm at home waiting for my family to get home, it's so quiet without them all! The spa website is Here:
Siloam Sauna if you want to check it out.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bagels, bath house, bath spa university, clothes, girls, killer chair, SAUNA, spa
20. Bucket of Caramel Popcorn = $1.50
Hiya,
Got up and got organised before I looked out the window, it was absolutely tipping it out. Mahinda cancelled because he melts in the rain and Lucy isn't feeling up to much so our plans were reorganised. Mother came and my breakfast, she cut the crusts off my bread today, it was amazing, I almost hugged her. She then drove me to the tube, I think she spent so long drying my converse that she didn't want them to get wet again. I got on the tube and met Lucy and Caroline at Chungmoro and we went to Dunkin Donuts (see a theme here?) for some coffee. We decieded the cinema was a good idea and got tickets to see Transformers 2. We wanted refreshments and managed to get the biggest tub of popcorn and a drink for only 600won, It was amazing, I didn't even dent it. The film was funny mainly due to Helenas comments and Caroline getting upset. We were just amused at the cheesy lines Optimus Prime banged out.
After the film we went to Myeong Dong just because it was still raining, we found this big market thing with loads of frilly tops, I am definately coming back at the end when I have some money left over. I can't wait!
I'm home now and found out that Brother has he pokemon game, I guess I should say bye to him now as he's become a pokemon master, only emerging from the game when needing to eat, I'm pretty sure he took it in the bath with him earlier. I'm not sure whether he got into school but I have a feeling he's done well.
Tomorrow we're going to a spa and I just can't wait!
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: amazing, bath spa university, film, korea, love, mall, melon, pokemon, popcorn, seoul, shopping, transformers
18. Once you go Asian, you don't go Caucasian
Hi,
I'm not quite sure what a green tea latte is but I didn't like it when I came and now I do. That and the fact I can't remember what a white person looks like is proof that I'm now a honorary Korean. I was still feeling rough today but the lecture was alright and in the break I joked with professor saying that I really wanna hang out with the
Jain's and poke them in the eye, then it mentioned 'hanging out' in the lecture. I was dead impressed. We then had a break and had our special lecture,
toady's was on Business and Korean investment
opportunities; it sounds boring but was interesting and the guy was really amusing. We then hung around and got a burger king (well fries and onion rings, no wonder I'm getting fatter) before seeing the big boss guy. He was really nice and offered tea and
coffee. We also saw his little girl on video call who was
sooo cute, I want to steal her. The little Korean kids are adorable, I think I'll adopt one. We're lucky because we don't have to do an essay for class now as our
assessment is the DVD not the course so we just get to get a
certificate for showing up. We then went to the tube to go to
Insadong where Caroline was chatted up by a
fittie old man ;) and then started being flirted with by a student. Because of a loss of translation we got off too early and had to
re catch the metro. We then got off and
realized we were lost so Lucy tried to look on the big map when this crazy witch type lady came over and started shouting directions. We said thanks and hid until she was gone to bring out the map. However when we got the map out she reappeared and started shouting again, it was crazy! We proper run away from her and found our way by asking people. It was a nice after to just stroll and look at shops and buy some presents. Helena and Caroline figured out how to use their cards out here which is really good. We got shakes in between shopping and these
students appeared downstairs with Free Hugs sign. As a laugh I
decided to go down whilst Caroline and Helena filmed me. So I waited ages for this
arrogant American to shift and then the Koreans were really excited and gave me hugs and waved to the camera. It looks so funny on film! We all had a laughing fit and was a bit sugar high before going back to shopping where we scared small children by trying to give them a Balloon. Before going home we got these weird fried potatoes on a stick, they were well nice. Caroline saw a shoe stall and was
iffing and
arring about thee shoes until we pointed out that their actually costing 1.50
GBS. It was really funny and we
definitely will be making fun of her for a while to come.
We all then went to the tube station and saw a sign for BIG CLOTHES, that meant us as it's hard to find Korean clothes for a British frame. After going our
separate ways I was on the tube and the metro line stopped. A nice Korean man helped me by telling me I had to get off for the cleaners. I said thanks and stepped away, learning my lessons after other Korean people. However he kept talking and I just answered
minimalistic answers hoping he'd go away but he'd keep talking and tried to let him walk me home. I declined and made out I was going a different way home but he didn't leave without a fight and I have his name, number and email address scrawled on my hand and I have his card. It turns out he's a director for an electricity company and would very much like to meet me for coffee and lunch. He's quite harmless but it's still crazy how the boys just home in on me. Caroline reckons it's because I'm quite cute looking in a Korean way, wearing the same dresses and speaking the same. If only though, I don't see the attraction, Korean girls are just so pretty, no,
beautiful here, I can't see why a guy would look at a
Caucasian girl ever again.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: asain, bath spa university, caucasian, DMZ, donguk university, dresses, guy, korean melon, south, stalker, wales
17. Chips
Hiya,
I'm still not feeling so well and nothing much happened as there were huge storms in Korean, meaning we were stuck indoors all day. I missed the lecture because I was still ill but made it in for lunch and the meetings. We had western food but I couldn't handle loads as I'm still feeling icky. Afterwards I went to the book shop alone in Anguk and looked around. I bought the Lolita bible (please someone buy me a lolita dress?) which is really cool but then this guy satrted chatting and asked me millions of questions about books and why I'm in Korea. Afterwards he took my picture and then his friend had a picture with me and before I knew it I was being photographed by and with a bunch of Korean students apparently doing research on foreigners and what books they like to read. I'm getting used to this Korean type celebrity lifestyle now.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, card, gothic, korean melon, Lolita, love, magazine, photographs, shoes, stalker, storm, students
16. Knockout Water
Hiya,
So today I'm not very well. I went to the lecture but went home early for fainting and managed to get home okay. When I got there, I got given '
special water' which basically knocked me out for about 6 hours. Lots of people rung me too, it was really annoying. The bank rung saying Caroline and I owe them money because they did not take off a charge. Then
Mahinda rung saying that they is problems with the DMZ thing so we're no longer going, then a
Korean man rung saying '
sri lanka,
sri lanka' until I hung up and turned my phone off. I then got a note under my door asking what was wrong, to which I replied that I was feeling faint. I had more knockout water a
nd some melon.
I am now feeling
abit better but am still ill.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, DMZ, donguk university, hurts, ill, korean melon, tummy
15. Pot ramyun
Hello all,
Today we're been doing not much as it's host family day. The lecture wasn't very interesting and Lucy was back in from being ill. We all
decided to go 'for a western' which
consisted of chips an a
panini. It was lovely and we talked about what's happening in the next few days. Only 2 people are allowed to go to the
Demilitarized Zone. Helena was very nice and gave up her place for me, I'm really lucky so me and Caroline are going on the weekend. Lucy and Helena went home and me and Caroline stayed for a few moments to go on the computers and reply to emails etc. I then left and walked to the tube station to go home. I could hear the noise as I
ascended to my
flat. As I entered I was greeted by 12
adolescent boys and poor mother. There were laptops thrown around on the floor, each child hooked up to a headset and shouting angrily. It looked like I'd stepped into a MI5
headquarters. After many questions 'who are you?', 'where are you from?', 'how old are you?", I was beckoned forth to come play
Starcraft, the Korean Addiction game (think world of
warcraft, same company, same addictive powers over boys). I assume I done well as one child was taunted with chants as I destroyed his player. After much chocolate and more questions the children grabbed shoes and run home (or to
game bang, a gaming cafe) I was later informed. I helped mother clean up and used the computer before we got ready and went to the Lotte
Department store. Lotte Department is like,
perhaps House of
Frasier with a cinema and
Resturant. Mother bought the tickets for (wait for it... *gulp) Terminator. I faked
enthusiasm in the upcoming film and done a very bad Arnie impression. We went downstairs for some
babimbap which tasted horrible but I managed to somehow eat up. We then waited for the film to start and was bought some honey popcorn and a drink. I closed my eyes for the evil that began on the huge screen. It's not that I don't like the film but more that I'm terrified of the terminators. I wish we'd stuck to the original plan, a j-horror or night at the museum 2. The film was overall not bad but I must admit I was shaking leaving the cinema.
Brother complained he wanted a snack so we went to the nearest 7/11 and got some
Ramyun and some
pocky and melon. We got home and mother tried to explain it was was an instant meal. I didn't want to point out that we had these in the UK but I made a big show and clapped at the 'magic' of Korea. She then brought out these
cakey snack things. They were sticky and tasted like pasta when you put them in your mouth. However, as soon as you bit in a sticky sweet liquid
came out. It was the weirdest sensation ever and I did not eat another.
Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting,
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, boys, funny, girls, korea, raymen, seoul, starcraft, teenagers, terminator, western
14. Korean Dinner...An Indian
Hiya,
So today I got dressed and fixed myself up before going to university. Father and I got a lift off mother but only to the Tube station. I got a seat early and was able to play animal crossing on my Nintendo. We got off and father saw a
colleague who bought us a taxi, it was very kind of him. We got to university early and I
was able to buy some biscuits and a Mountain dew. The others
came in except for Lucy who is ill today, I feel bad for her as
Migraines are horrible. I listened but I'd already studied the subject so it was a little boring to me. We where then allowed to go early so I went and changed some travellers cheques with Caroline. It took so long, about 30 minutes in all. I now appear rich in Korean Won when in sterling it is very little (5
GBP=10,000 Won). We got our money and had
Babimba in the
canteen with
Mahinda. I think he
was Little upset as the nun did not have time to come and eat with us today. We discussed many things about filming and home. It made me a little home sick which was annoying as I'm getting used to Korea now.
We left
Mahinda and went to the library to research and study although not much got done as we were mainly looking at photos and looking up touristy things to do as we are no longer going to
JeJudo Island.
We decided to leave the computers and visit father. I told him we were going shopping and he gave us an orange juice to take with us. I think we really brighten up the office when we come over and say hi to everyone in the
international place.
I
decided that we should go to
Myeong Dong so together we took the tube down. When we got there, we were so amazed we didn't know what to look at first. It was amazing, so many shops and clothes and shoes. I loved every second. We wandered for ages and picked up various things. Lotte department was very
disappointing as it was very expensive and not very fun. Helena got hungry so we all went in search of food. On the way up we passed a noodle bar and there where white gentlemen sitting in the window, excited to see them I waved. They looked very
awkward and apparently it meant we couldn't eat there. However, the girls hid me and we swallowed the
embarrassment and went and sat down. We called over a few
waiters and tried to explain that we didn't eat fish or meat. They tried to tell us that the only
vegetarian meal was for two and because we are a three it wouldn't work. Helena tried
auguring but eventually we got up and left. We wandered around for ages until they stopped for a
cigarette and then I noticed an Indian place. It was a sauce, drink and
nann for only 11,000 so we went up and tried to explain we were veggies. The guy was little confused at first but then when I showed him my
Korean translation book he sat us and got a menu, there were loads of veggie curries so we ordered away. I also had a
Lassi, a
yogourt drink for the first time, it was really nice and cool. My mild curry was very hot but otherwise yummy. We talked over food and then went back to
the shops where we got some clothes. I got the lushest dress, it's a kind of Lolita one and I got it for 5
GBP, very happy.
Lucy said she was going home so we thought it'd be a good time to depart. I got on the train asap and got a seat so I played
Nintendo on my way home. I called Gav and it was nice to talk to him, he thought I was saying something weird when I was saying hello in Korean to my doorman.
When I got in I had a lovely plate of watermelon sitting for me, I am very lucky. We talked about what to do tomorrow (it's host family day after university) and we are going to the cinema with brother and his friends to watch terminator. The films are in
English with
Korean subtitles so I should be okay. Brother got 0 wrong on maths, P.E and ethics, I'm very proud of him. Tomorrow is Geography and English, I said he must do well for me and I am currently giving him lots of tips.
I am hoping to join Erasmus when I get back to university in
England because it's possible to study
someplace. I am thinking of studying in Florence, Italy for my third year. However, I am yet
undecided. I would really like to travel more and
Italy seems ideal. I do enjoy Korea and maybe I will come back to the
International school one day to teach English.
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, britian, brother, donguk university, dresses, english, erasmus, exams, gavin, hungry, indian, korea, mahinda, mr kim, study, teacher, uk, yum
9. Chocolate Fish!
Hiiya,
So today's been pretty uneventful so far. I got up and brother is like a mad thing, his exam is toady and he's really worried! I had a cheese sandwich plus salad for my breakfast and father took me to uni on the tube again. We decieded to play some games on his mobile, it was really hard! You had to like, bounce animals on a blanket, so strange yet fun. I'm really really tired again today, I'm having really stanrge nightmares.
Got to uni (only just) and was soo out of breathe like you would not believe! The hills are just way too steep, especially if your rushing. The lecture was boring but I've started to write a short story to pass the time. We only had a few breaks and I bought these chocolate fish things. They are sooo yummy, it's pretzels with chocolate shaped like fish.
Just now we had a special lecture with Lee Myung-su the film director, it was soo interesting, I wish I'd done film now :( We got to watch behind the scenes and I asked some questions about the mise-en-scene and whether he used visual kei. I also got his autograph, I think I might slip him my youtube address so if he ever needs a western girl ;)
There's theses weird bugs around uni lately, their like mutant killer ladybrids. I took a picture on my phone, they spring like frogs, it's like crazy!!
Going to Insodong this afternoon. I kinda just want to go by myself shopping soon though, I'm still not good with crowds.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, Fish, lecture, Lee Myung-Se, Lolita, shopping, tire seoul, Visual Kei
8. Noodle X
Hola,
So after I text you we went to the kitchens to meet Mahinda. However, he did not show up for almost two hours!! However we did get quite alot of things listed that we want to see nad worked out a sheduale. I made some drawings to remind me of what things we want to do but Lucy gave me a telling off and said I wasn't being invovled with the group. Not my fault if I learn differently, it upset me very much.
Apparently when we go to Pusan we're going to a Rehab centre that the dean owns to stay there as it is cheaper. Except it's not where people where addictions go but people with learning diffuculties. How weird is that? So we sat down at lunch for a very long time and talked about different attractions. Mahinda told us that the Government are paying for us to go to DMZ, the no mans land between the North and the South. Our hotel, food and daytrips are going to be paid for when we go and we'll be officals from the U.K. I'm excited but I'd rather not be attacked by the South.
We the went to a different town near the other university. It was a short ride and very packed, It was much nicer than the other places that we've been to so far. Helena's student camena dmet us and we really wanted to go to Noodle X, a noodle bar that was in the lonely planet guide. We searched for it high and low only for the student to point out that it had closed down (the book is out of date!) However we managed to find an english type Pub and ordered lots of "western" food. Me and Caroline got cheesey nanchos and some crinkle chips. The food came and it was huge, it was so nice to have a filling meal rather than sloppy rice.
We paid our bill and walked to the Tube and went our seperate ways. About 10 stops before my own this man started talking to me asking about the Uk. I was happy to talk to him. After a short whil eh started to get a tad aggressive and demanded to know where I live and my mobile number. I was quite nervous so I got off at a different stop and walked around. I'm not always sure whether someone is being friendly or not in Korea as it can be mistaken easily.
I am however, home now and there's work EVERYWHERE. Another exam is tomorrow and brother is frantic!! It's 11.30 and he still is not going to bed. I'm very tired so shall be logging off now. I'm hopefully uploading pictures tomorrow in uni! So you have them to look forward to!
I'm still not 100% about being here but I guess I'm stuck right?
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, chips, gangnam, korea, metro, rice, scary, soeul, welsh girl
6. Ice Noodles
Hello again,
So today has been interesting. I left you when it was time to go see the teacher who teaches Indian Philosophy and helps with the international affairs. He gave us some lovely coffee (their instant has sugar and milk added already, a miracle!) and some Korean Green tea. It tastes pretty bland in flavour but probably does wonders in the detoxing world. I gave him the Rugby ball and he said his daughters would enjoy it. We than saw a photo of them, they are quite young and very cute. Lucy came late and brought her host student Olivia with her. We all chatted about certain things before going off to the University kitchen. We were very lucky and our lunch was being paid for by the University. The kitchen does western type food so we had two pizzas to share and I had a lovely cheese
baguette and a coke. It was the nicest thing ever, seriously. After lunch we all
separated to go check the mail and get some drinks before meeting
Mahinda. We walked down to the Tube and rode for three stops. We
decided that we would like one month rental mobile phones for safety and to
contact one another. We walked around for what seemed like forever, but no one done the deal that we were hoping for.
Whilst the others were talking, me and Caroline went for a walk and in the windows are really cute puppies up for sale. They were so sad looking but so cute. This one was very fluffy and had big puppy eyes. I took a photo, I wanted to bring him home. We went then to a
English/
Korean bookshop. There were so many
anime books but most were in Korean, I'd never seen so many in my life. The others bought Korean guides and books about
Buddhisim. Olivia was very kind and managed to
bar gin with a phone retailer so now we have three (very crap) mobile phones for the month so I will get the number
in case anyone would like to text or call me.
After the phones and books we wanted to visit tourist information to find
leaflets for the tube and for things to do.
Mahinda got us really lost because this man showed the wrong way. However we found a man who had lived in New York and spoke good
english, he drew us a map and we were soon on our way! After walking around some more we found it and picked up as many information booklets as possible. I want to go to
Dinoworld but it had already closed. I think we are going mud wrestling though. After about 10 minutes of being in the tourist information, some Korean group walked in. Myself and Caroline were sitting down when this very
elderly lady started making her way towards us. I was
abit worried because she was staring, having obviously not seen many westerners. Lucy noticed our worried looks and called us over only for 'dawn of the dead' lady to start following. We sharply made an exit and she still shuffled behind us. We were hysterical afterwards. The group met back up with
Mahinda and we walked through the town to find some food. I spotted a
McDonalds but everyone gave me evil looks. We went to many
restaurants but the main
vegetarian meal seems to be
Babimba which we are not to keen on. We found one place but the food cost
about 20(BPS) so we gave it a miss. The next one we found served
beansprout noodles so we went and sat down. Lucy and Helena shared a massive broth on a heater whilst Caroline,
Mahinda and I had the noodles. I wish someone had told me that they were served ice cold. It was a shock to the system and tasted mainly of just plain cooked spaghetti, not nice. Caroline
accidentally gave me this
chilli paste, I think my reaction was quite funny. Lucy and Helena had a same go at us for not eating meat which was annoying as I don't
particular like eating meat and am fussy when I do.
We left the
restaurant hungry so I slipped into a 7/11 and got a small snack. We made our way to the tube station but I needed the toilet. Little did I know it was a crazy hole in the ground one, really not nice! I had a right job to lift my trousers up and down at the same time. I got home about 10o'clock, it was scary walking in the dark but okay, lots of teenagers are in the parks playing football and it's very well light. I got in and felt lucky because I got fruit and an ice cream so I feel a little fuller. I had a really nice shower and we've been talking about the hostility between the north and south of Korea. It seems the South hope that they are
reunited again soon.
Brother is practising his singing for an exam tomorrow, it's quite funny but sweet. I am nervous for him, he's very stressed out. I offered to take him to see Harry Potter when he is done with everything and he seemed happy at the
suggestion. I think he really wants his game (he's getting
pokemon) more than anything so he is studying all the time when I am home.
It is now 11.44 and I am very tired so I'm going to head off to bed. I hope all is well in the UK!
Logging off for now,
AngharadLabels: bath spa university, cold, donguk university, harry potter, hills, hot, ice noodles, international affairs, korea, north, south, sun, tourist office, uk, wales
5. Pocky and Mt Dew
Helloo,
I'm up at the uni really early again today, I guess it's just easier for me to go on the computers and it's takes me a long journey to get here anyway. On the way to uni I saw a poster for a vet and on it is a fox terrier! I took a photo straight away. I'm quite impressed that I got here on my own, vise versa with getting home last night.
I think today that we are meeting the man who made the trip possible, I have a welsh squashy rugby ball for him as a present. After that we are getting... PIZZA! I can't wait! Although me and Caroline have to find the place, that hsould be quite hard, the campus is so large. We're then going around the town and going to tourist information to get leaflets and broushures. Hopefully we'll have loads of time to go shopping. I'm not sure if I'll buy anything today but I definiatly want to find a Lolita shop.
This morning for brecfast I had facepack salad again along with Korean Melon. It was lovely but a little too sweet. Host mother stopped me beofre I went out the door today, I managed to get a treat for uni. Pocky (long biscuit sticks with chocolate on) and mountain dew. It made me laugh and she seemed very happy. I managed to walk with Brother today too. He was tired as he was up late studying hard. He really wants his computer game. I explained that my boyfriend also likes computer games.
I now have to go to international affairs to meet the others.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, donguk university, girl, korea, korean melon, merthyr tydfil, metro, mountain dew, pocky, salad, seoul, wales
3. Facepack meal
Hello all,
I'm not sure what it was, but last night my supper consisted of. I had broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, peppers and banana on a plate and then this stuff on it which I swear tasted of my face cream. It was so weird. I keep being fed a block of cheese as well. I'm eating it though so it's not too bad. I then went to bed only to be woken again cause host father was home. We decided on a plan and I have a key to the house. Then went to bed about 10.30ish. I had to turn off the fan because of fan death. Korean believe fans will kill you in the night, it's really funny.
Got up at 7 today and had a wash and stuff. Had a block of cheese for my brekkie. Host mother gave me some water and we set off into the metro. We walked for about 10 minutes and got to the metro. I now have this card thing that I have to put money on. I have no idea how it works. We travlled for an hour, got off and walked up the biggest hill ever. I got shown where our class is and now I'm just waiting for the others.
I'm not really liking it here at the moment and I want to go home.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, facepack, hot, korea, sad, seoul, sticky
2. Onigiri
Hello!
I am here in Korea at my host families house. It is all very nice, I'm living with the director of international studies, his wife and their son. So far I have unpacked and have just had my first Korean meal, omlette, rice and peppers with a nice glass of orange juice. iI'm down as a vegatrian on the trip to make my life abit easier. Apparently I like Omlettes now, well i'm not fussed but it's food. I am surprised at just how close the weather is, it is so hot and sticky! I can't wait to have a shower. The last 24 hours have been well interesting. Gina backed out literally last minute so mam and dad had to run me up to Heathrow. Caz, Mahinda and Helena arrived and we all checked in. After some amusing photos in Heathrow we got on the plane at about 10.30ish. We were all granted access first to the plane because Mahinda is a monk, it was dead funny. We arrived in Paris at 12, having to rush to the next gate and we found out we were all sitting seperately, so annoying. Mahinda had to wear bags on his feet due to his shoes having metal in lol. The in flight films were really good, I got to watch Madagascar 2, 101 dalmations, Adventures of Tintin and Friends. They also had pretty cool games to play. The food on the plane was icky, I just had a rice ball and a ton of bread and a pot noodle type thing. After 10 very boring very long hours we landed at about 7am and got our baggage and started the wait for the university people. At 10 they came and took us to Dongguk, which is an hour away in a taxi. Mahinda told us all we're fat and ned to lose 10lbs each and tried to get the girls and our poor driver set up. Finally we arrived and had a quick introduction where we met our host families. Everyone else has teenagers but I get the boss dude, bit gutted as all he done was put a piece a paper around my neck, put me in a taxi and wave goodbye, I know how it feels to be an evacuee after that expirence. His wife met me from the taxi and I have my own pair of around the house slippers. The toilet here is dead weird, too many buttons :S It's really quiet here, she doesn't speak much english and is just a housewife who goes out in the day. However she is nice and showed me how to work the computer! My mac is playing up :'(
I'm really homesick atm, just hit me that I'm here for a month and my birthday. :( I got to get to uni tomorrow by myself :( eek
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, girls, jet lag, merthyr tydfil, rice, seoul, tired
1. Packing and Waiting
Hi all,
At home in Wales typing atm and just about to have a cup of tea. Going to start packing my things now. I have no idea of what to take, just light clothes I guess. Gina and Caz text me saying how nervous they both are, I know the feeling. Gav should be coming round about 6 to have tea and many cwtches. Gina is going to pick me up in 12 hours time (5am) and we're going to set off to Heathrow. I'm abit anxious about luggage allowence and the fact that we only have one hour to transport everything between the two flights in Paris. Scary stuff. Lucy is already out in Korea so we'll be meeting up with her on Monday.
My new phone is going well so I'll be able to upload to this blog quite often to keep everyone up to date with my activities. My email is angharad,john@bathspa.org if anyone wants to contact me! I'm quite dissapointed with the fact that I'll be spending my birthday in Korea and not with my family and friends, but I'll be okay, I'm hoping we'll do something special for it.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, blog, girl, girls, korea, merthyr tydfil, parents, seoul
Designer : Cynna
Welcome to my blog. This is my blog to keep you all updated on what I'm doing in Korea. Hopefully you can follow me on my adventure, I'll be sure to upload lots of pictures and to tell you what I'm doing each day!!
Small, Welsh, 18 years young. Mrs Edwards to be! Studying in Bath Spa. Living in Merthyr Tydfil. <3
