Chuseok Holiday and just whatever.

September 14th was the Chuseok holiday weekend. It's similar to Thanksgiving where families come together and eat a bountiful amount of food. It's also a day to remember your ancestors, those who passed on, and those who are still with us. I followed Nathan and visited two of his aunts/uncles/cousins. They were all very kind. Despite the language barrier, I still enjoyed myself. How can I resist delicious traditional homemade Korean food? The first family that we visited had two tiny really adorable doggies. I wanted to snuggle with them the whole time, but they were scared of me. :( The second family we visited didn't have any pets, but I met two of Nate's second cousins. The boy was paid off to give me a gift. It was cute and awkward because he was shy. haha. Inside the gift bag were two things to go on my head. They also matched the butterfly earrings that the first aunt also gave to me as a gift... I'm glad to feel accepted by his family. His uncle was telling us how we were good for each other. lol. The next time I will see his family will probably be a month later when I go with Nate to celebrate his dad's 70th birthday. :)

School is still going... I'm started to understand how the Korean sentence structure works... But it's so complicated that I have trouble remembering how to make the sentences... There are too many extra syllables and such... You also have to conjugate verbs and, of course, there are also irregular verbs. I'm just still glad that I learned how to read Korean... There are quite a few Korean words that were borrowed from the English language, so if you sound out the words correctly, you can sometimes guess what it means since it sounds like the english. Such as... "co-pee".. and "coffee." I've made a few things in my ceramics class, too... I'm trying to stick to a bunny theme... I miss my bunny so much. Today when I was walking around Myundaemun, I saw 3 baby bunnies that just fit in the palm of my hand. They were uber adorable. I really wanted to just buy all of them and hide them in my room.... I just don't know what I would do with them when I leave...

Things are still going well. It doesn't feel as amazing waking up anymore, which simply means that I'm used to being in Korea. I've now been here for nearly a full month. Time has definitely flown by.

Nearly empty streets because of Chuseok. Very weird to see. Cute doggies...

Nate's family

My hair accessories!

Me and a cute bunny that I wanted to get...

Inside Pizza Hut. Yes. Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut: Cabonara Pasta

Pizza Hut: Potato pizza... also has corn, bacon, and green pepper topping. So de-leesh.

Exhausted from all the walking...

Every night I fall asleep immediately and wake up still feeling unrested. The beds aren't very cushiony, and I don't really have a thick cuddly blanket to snuggle into while sleeping... There is also a lack of stuffed animals in my room... so no snuggling those either. It's okay. I hardly ever wake up mid-sleep. It's almost magical, the feeling of blinking and all of a sudden the sun is shining through the blinds...

What a bad kind of magic...

Besides my lack of energy, everything else has been fine. Tomorrow is Chuseok, which is like a Korean Thanksgiving. I will be hanging out with Nate's aunts this weekend. They don't know any English, so I'm just going to smile and say "ne" (yes) a lot.

Yesterday was very awesome... like all the other Friday nights. I went to a bar with the French and Americans, watched Nate get pressured by the French into taking shots, then went to Hongdae to check out the Ice Bar, which is a bar with ice everywhere... The bar, walls, and alcohol glasses were all made of ice... Needless to say, it was freezing in there. After enduring the cold for 30 minutes or so, we ventured off to S Club, where foreigners got in for free! It was pretty sweet, but there were a lot of creepy guys there trying to hit on the girls. I had my Nathan, so I was okay. All the girls actually watched over one another. Plus, we also had our Germans and French present, also. It was a long but fun night.

Today... I went to the COEX Mall with Nate. It's the largest basement mall in Asia, according to Nate. There were a lot of stores with cute little items in them... but it seems that everything was over priced. I'm ready to shop on the streets. I can't wait for Nate's mom to get here and help me bargain....

Random thing I saw on the streets...
Me, Klaudia, Tabby, Linda, Amanda, Melanie, Leslie, and Stacey
-ready to go out-

The French guys and Nate

Icebar Sub-Zero!
Linda, Amanda, Me, Tabby, Nathan, Stacy, and Thomas

Warmth <3

The bar... all made out of ice...

Me drinking out my my ice drink

Frozen pee from people who stayed in the icebar for many many many hours

Warmest position.

S Club... Way too smoke in there, right?

Norebang, Ocean World, and Hangang Park

Never would I have ever thought I would have so much fun at a norebang (a.k.a. karaoke). If you don't like singing in public, there is a simple cure. In my case, it's a long island iced tea. Actually, now that I know how thrilling norebang can be, I might not even need my long island anymore... Regardless, it was fun. I have no pitch, no rhythm, no voice. I'm basically tone deaf, but no one cares. :) I especially loved hearing Gym and Armstrong sing Guang Liang's Tong Hua to me. Hong Kongians have such beautiful singing voices. Bohemian Rhapsody, A Whole New World, My Heart Will Go On, and Barbie were probably the most hilarious and fun.Norebang pre-game...

The boys at their best.

Together we sing...

Ocean World was 2 hours by bus away... It's basically a water park. And the "Ocean World" name is quite deceiving. It was very Egyptian themed.. Not.. World themed... Also, instead of the lazy river, it's called the Extreme River. At first I laughed at the name... but when I got in the tube and floated down, I was very surprised to see the gushes of waves that came out of nowhere. I then understood why 1)we weren't allowed to sit on the tubes and 2) why it's called Extreme. There was also the Big Wave, which smooshed us at first because the girls and me were at the bottom of the wave , making the girls very close to losing their bottoms. I think Leslie will still go into 'panic mode' if she hears "DUN-DUHHHH~~" (The sound made before the big wave came).. But really...the Big Wave was really fun when you were on top of the wave... Not the bottom... Unless you're Daniel, where you'd be supposedly heavy enough so you wouldn't get tossed and flipped by the wave.

A pretty scenery on the way to Ocean World.

Nate fell over during this ride. What a dork, right?

Indoor area... mainly for kids...

Daniel, Leslie, and meeee

The Ocean World groupee.

Hangang Park was sooo pretty like every other nature spot in S. Korea. I love seeing green everywhere (but I don't love having tons of mosquito bites right now...) Not much to say, simply standing on a bridge over the river... and just looking out... and the scenery... just beautiful.

My Peace Buddy and me~

Cute wittle caterpillar

Gym and Armstrong

Mul!

An unexpected surprise.

All done! :)

After 4 days of Korean class, I have finally learned the whole alphabet! If I take my sweet time, I can read everything I see here!!! Now, it's time to know the meaning of all the sounds I see/hear. This will be quite challenging... Regardless, I am happy. :) I just went to the cafeteria and bought a waffle with chocolate spread inside. Deeee-li-cious!! They really need these back in Arizona...

Yesterdee, I went to Seoul Tower, the location of the highest viewpoint in the middle of Seoul. The city lights were undoubtedly mesmerizing. Too bad my camera cannot capture its supreme grandness.

I haven't been traveling much this week, but I have been continuously eating good food. People back home will have to welcome a more plump Connie in a few months.

At the observatory inside the Tower.. If I flew straight that way... I can go back home...

The view from the tower...

The Towers

Locks symbolizing relationships. Nathan and I didn't get a lock to put on. :(

My PEACE buddy (center) and her buddies.

The Tower... OooOoOooOo..

The sign supposedly says, "Seating for the elderly." So I lamely tried to pose as one.

A backpack that I want. This girl was really cute, btw.

First day at Ewha University~

First day was pretty grand. I just had a 2 hour and 45 minute Korean class (which I will have M-F). Tomorrow I'll also have a one hour and 15 minute class called "Personality Psychology" which I hope will be interesting. It's interesting learning a new alphabet and having to sound out everything one by one. For some reason, I feel Chinese is easier... nothing to sound out. Either you can read it or you don't! ha... But I guess I'm just used to that... Maybe I should treat the Korean words as Chinese symbols, but use the "alphabet" as assistance... Yes? Yes?

Yesterday, I hiked on Mt. Samgaksan with about 30 other international students. It was unexpectantly very strenuous. We basically hiked vertical for 1.5 hours to get 600m. There were a lot of old people doing it, so I kept up despite feeling uber tired. If ond people can do it, then... I should be able to do it, too, right? The view up top was spectacular. You can see the wide span of Seoul atop. The surrounding was Korea's nature at its best- luscious, green vegetation everywhere, large vibrant butterflies flying, and beautiful mountains.

After the hike, I took a little nappy... Afterwards, I went out with the Germans, Half-Koreans, and my full Korean to have some unbelievably delicious sushi that none in the States can even compare. Next was the visit to the Dr. Fish Cafe- where I ordered a strawberry smoothie, which I sipped in delight while I soaked my feet in a pool of water filled with tiny fish that ate my dead skin cells.... hahahaha.

It was a good night. And today has been a good day.

Today, in the international building, I saw panoramic poster of U of A thumb-tacked to a wall with other college brochures. I suddenly started to feel slightly homesick... Not really homesick, exactly... but... a part of me misses Phoenix and Tucson. It'll be okay. Three more great months ahead still. :)

@ Doctor Fish Cafe

My yummy T.N.T. sushi~

Yep. A whole store dedicated to condoms. Cute, huh.

Gorgeous mountain

View atop the mountain of Seoul

^__^

The boys got to start the hike first... So they waited for us.. That is, after finding a place that sold beer first... >_> What a great way to start a 5.7 mile hike.