The Next Step

Signs that I am moving further in my learning of Korean: I finally went to Yongsan and picked up an English-Korean electronic dictionary and some hangul stickers for my keyboard!
Ooooo...

Ahhhhh...

I have probably put it off for a few reasons. One, I am not a techno geek, so owning more electronic things don't interest me so much. Another is that I am not a techno geek, so looking around techno geek stores like iPark is a little overwhelming. I was getting sick of it though, because not having a dictionary really sets me behind in understanding most of the Korean teaching resources that I have. The vast majority of them are badly done, and the good ones still don't have good glossaries. Most of them require extra resources to use them. The stickers are a huge help too. Unlike Chinese, to use the Korean alphabet on the computer I kind of needed a keyboard guide. Korean has letters, so the keyboard is set up with the letters in certain places. Without the letter guide on the keyboard, I'd probably hurl the computer out the window out of frustration from all the random guessing. Therefore, I couldn't use hangul at all on my computer.

All that has changed! Yay for getting off my butt!

안녕!

:'( My Trees Are Gone

One of the things I've noticed about Korean culture in the city is their complete and utter inability to create, preserve or appreciate green space. Case in point is that all space on the ground is paved. All of it. With obvious exceptions that were created to be park area. There just aren't any lawns or weeds or flowers growing anywhere.

I had a nice exception outside my building. The house had a huge wall that was covered with vine and there were several trees that the vine also climbed. It was great for the rustling sound and the occasional birds chirping in the branches when I was sitting in my room. I love green, it's often so grey in this city that I cling to what I can.

That is, I WAS enjoying the green. A week ago they started construction on the building, first with ripping out the vine, then getting progressively more and more loud and invasive doing work on the property. Yesterday, they took a huge section out of the brick wall. I had been curious and mildly at unease, but otherwise unattached. But today, they have done the most atrocious thing, and I can do nothing about it but whine. Successively they have removed all the trees in front of my apartment, with indications that it may continue further into their backyard.

WAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Why? Why?

I can't understand, nor can I change anything. I am sorry to lose my friends.

Cherry Blossoms - Beginning of April

The cherry blossoms were gorgeous. I wandered around different parts of the city to find them. They were put in by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation, but the Koreans kept them because they were so pretty. They are a wonderful gentle pink-white that add a lovely peace and tranquility to the early spring season. I have a bunch more pictures I put up on my other blog here: April 14, April 18, April 20, April 21, April 22.

I enjoyed going to take pictures at Children's Grand Park. The whole main walkway is planted with cherry trees. It was wonderful to walk underneath and see the petals fall like soft rain.

Daejon - March 22-23

For the last weekend in March, Aaron and I went down to Daejon to hang out with his friends Dan and Gliah. We took the train, which was only about an hour. After we met up at the train station, we all went to a market nearby and did some kimchi shopping.

There was much kimchi to choose from, cabbage, cucumber, radish... and actually I still have some in my fridge even now. Some really nice, spicy, old, stinky stuff. Hmmmmm....

I enjoyed walking around the market. I found some cute things, like some socks and some nail polish. I don't really go around to markets in Seoul like this. A lot of them are really out of the way and I get lazy and just stay to central Seoul because it's easier to get to. I'm interested in checking out the fish markets in Korea. There is always much more than just fish being sold.