Sunday 25 November 2012

Thanksgiving in America (sort of)

Before I start writing, let me apologize for the lack of pictures this post is going to have.  Since coming to Korea, both my ipod and my camera have died, and my netbook is well on its way to being next. -_- I will make sure that future posts have lots of photos! 

As all you Americans know, last Thursday was Thanksgiving!  Unfortunately, it was just a normal day for us NSLI-Y students.  However, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the American army base, Yongsan Garrison, in Seoul, on Friday night.  Because we live so far away, those of us in Iksan got to leave school early on Friday to come to Seoul.  We took the train for the first time, which was fun because the scenery was much more interesting than what we usually see on the bus.

Tuesday 20 November 2012



Hey guys! It’s Masha ^^
As I write to you, we have just a week and a half left till yet another month will have passed!
Day by day it gets a little chillier, and many of us have been trying our best to keep ourselves warm. It can be a real challenge, especially with uniform skirts. At first when people told me that Korean winters are crazy cold, I thought “Pshhh, it can’t be that bad!”. I was wrong. If it’s already this cold now, I can’t imagine how much colder it will get as the winter progresses!!

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Oh The Things They Say

Hey everyone! It's Ami again! This is my second week posting and hopefully my blogging skills have improved, yay!
Okay, so I don't think I'll be posting any pictures because my laptop is dysfunctional since I only touch it like once a month and I don't know it's acting up boo. So yeah there won't be any pictures this time around but I swear I will make it entertaining!

I think I'll start with some updates first!

We had our Halloween party last weekend and it was so much fun! I'm kind of disappointed in myself because I didn't use much Korean... It's my goal for our next monthly meeting to use as much Korean as I possibly can! It's just so easy to use English when you're surrounded by fluent and native English speakers!
This week at school my class (1-4) is practicing the Gangnam Style dance! We'll be doing it next week for the school festival. Me and Ash are the centers for the dance (holla) so we've been practicing hard haha.
Speaking of school, school is getting better. Things were extremely tough in the beginning because of reasons but I think all three of us in Iksan are having a better time adjusting lately. Especially with the dance practices for the festival, Ash and I have definitely been spending more time with our classmates, and getting to know them better. It's really nice. :)
Korean is... It's going. These past two months I've been studying, but I know I can do better. I talk like a baby but for the most part I can spit out in broken, ugly fragments most of what I want to say in Korean but now I want it to become more fluid and beautiful-sounding. Also I have the vocabulary of a three year old child so I should probably study some more vocab. However, I think I'm progressing at a pretty good pace. Hopefully the rest of the kids are, too!

Moving on, so today I thought I'd take the time to write out a few memorable quotes that people have said to me while I've been here. I'm gonna write them out in English because my Korean spelling stinks and if you can't understand Korean well then it's not very funny.

My all time favorite:
Korean person: "Where are you from?"
Ami: "America"
KP: "No. Where are you from?"
Ami: "America..?"
KP: "No, no... Where are you from?"
And it just goes on and on until finally they either a) ask me where my parents are from or b) give up and walk away. Yeah, the people of Iksan don't really see me as American first, but Japanese. So a lot of awkward and funny moments stem from that. :P

Next,
"Hey! Have you gained weight?"
"Your eyes are really small"
"You're only pretty when you wear makeup"
They're just normal statements here but it's just so absolutely wonderful when people point out you're flaws!!!! JK, it doesn't bother me anymore but it was a bit embarrassing at first.

"You're Japanese so you must be really good at math."
Love, the math teacher. Clearly Asian stereotypes still exist...In Asia.

"Wow! You're English pronunciation is really good!"
I'd hope since you know, I'm American and all.

"Ami can't get a boyfriend because she's too passionate and loud."
Love, my homeroom teacher.

"Do American boys like Asian girls?"
Love, the Korean teacher (Not my Korean teacher but at my school's)

"You're so pretty! Why don't you have a boyfriend? Do you want a Korean boyfriend?"
Because every pretty girl needs a boy by her side.


Yeah, I'm really not used to hearing any of the above quotes (except maybe the math one...) so it was a bit startling at first. It just goes to show that you really have to keep an open mind and not let things like this get to you when you live in a foreign country. Just laugh it off and move on with your life!

To end, I will share a quote that I stumbled upon on twitter that should give every foreign exchange student the strength to get through life: "If Britney Spears can get through 2007, you can get through today."
Amen to that.


Thursday 1 November 2012

November, December blogger

<RD Posting>


Hi everyone,

This is the list of Bloggers for November and December.
Keep this list in you diary !

11월   3일부터    9일까지 : Arlyss, Ami
11월 10일부터 16일까지 : Ashleigh, Kelsey
11월 17일부터 23일까지 : Lizzie, Masha
11월 24일부터 30일까지 : Andi, Emma

12월   1일부터    7일까지 : DiMitri, Daniel
12월   8일부터 14일까지 : Arlyss, Ami
12월 15일부터 21일까지 : Ashleigh, Kelsey
12월 22일부터 28일까지 : Lizzie, Masha
12월 29일부터  1월 4일까지 : Andi, Emma