Another week. But actually, I can officially say a new month. Wednesday marked a month since I left the States and Friday marked a month of being in Korea. All in all, pretty hard to believe.
So how did I celebrate the month-iversary week?
Hip hop class has been continuous improvement. My greatest problem lies in stiffness. My body tends to lock up often, making my movements either too pronounced or too tight. In turn, my isolations end up being accompanied by unnecessary movements. After finally taking a real dance class for once in my life, I can honestly say that I can spot my weakness much better. As an added bonus, my counting has definitely become more in tune with the rhythm of all our music.
Outside of the Monday and Wednesday hip hop, research continues. On Tuesday, I met with Dr. Murim Choi (최무림) under the auspices of Dr. Kim and Dr. Leventhal at SNU’s Yongon Campus. Over email, it was hard to visualize the persona that I would end up meeting. True to Dr. Kim and Dr. Leventhal’s words, Dr. Choi was a very kind man. He was also super young (although that just may be the Koreans’ deceptive ability to look years younger than they actually are). He actually worked under Dr. Richard Lifton, current chair of the Yale Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, for his post-doc before setting up his lab here in Seoul. Yes, Yale scientists live in a very small world.
Meeting his lab and getting a preliminary project layout for the academic year was a whole lot of science in one meeting. Probably the most science I was exposed to since leaving Yale for the semester. But it was exciting to see how efficient the lab worked and on multiple projects at once, nonetheless! I even left the lab with homework–I’ll have to refresh my knowledge of Python and then some because as it has become clear, coding makes the world go round. Cheers to the upcoming lack of sleep to try to fit cram all my interests into each day!
Later that day, I actually met up with a friend from high school that I hadn’t seen since graduating. Leslie currently will be here for a month both studying and goofing around at Ewha and Seoul. After getting her acquainted the extremely convenient convenience stores of Korea, we went out dinner (well she pretty much watched me eat dinner since she had some with folk she met during her orientation). Either or, sushi in Korea is pretty good. But then again, it could also be a vestige of Japanese imperialism. It tastes even better with wasabi!
How do you end a Tuesday night? With liquid nitrogen ice cream, of course! There’s a place that serves it right by Ewha. I recommend it!
Thursday, I returned to Rudolph to conduct observations. Second time around, I can say the kids were a little more acquainted with me and less shy towards the whole super foreigner aura I radiate. As an added bonus, they even giggled at my silly comments in Korean and enjoyed when I played along with them during free time!
Definitely winning.
Afterwards, I met up with my Korean tutor. This time around I wasn’t as unconfident. For practice, she sent me a HuffPo piece on a former K-pop star and her current home life. Based on the Korean I understood, I can tell that you would enjoy her cooking whether or not you were a vegan. Plus, she currently lives in 제주도 (Jeju Island) so you can chill with a bonfire on the beach following her home-grown and home-made dinner. Admittedly, getting certain ideas, especially on social nuances, across continues to be a tad difficult, but for the most part, I was speaking Korean.
Little victories.
Friday became an even greater victory. I decided to go to my first IH (hair salon) in Seoul for a haircut. If I messed up my Korean, it would be on my head. Challenge accepted. And as I shortly found out, the challenge was succeeded. I spent a solid 45 minutes there without breaking into English once with my hairdresser. I even reached a point where we were exchanging musical recommendations to each other. (Spreading the musical talents of Chet Faker is becoming a job of mine.) To end it all, I even came out with a very clean cut, with the classic Korean shaved sides, of course.
A couple Yalies and I adventured into Hongdae for the urban-mythical club night–entry into 15 clubs for the price of one. Following a great Thai dinner (a desire for which I have grown from New Haven’s finest), we ventured into the underbelly of Hongdae to take part in the bar culture a bit before the club culture. Flavored soju entirely makes up for soju. The concoction actually has more fruit in it than the average Korean diet. I approve.
Thereafter, we had explored into a park in the center of Hongdae. The park becomes a nightly gathering point for foreigners and expats galore. It reminded that Korea actually had tourists in it.
PSA: Hongdae club night is a wive’s tale. Something you tell your American study-abroaders to get their underage giddy on. But we had a fun night, nevertheless, at a local venue.
