Friday, July 25, 2008

FAST FRiends





So a lot have happen in this short amount of time, but I’m going to try to give just the main things. That random week ended pretty fun I hang out with a few of Won’s buddies. We ended up getting into one of the hottest clubs in Seoul called Volume. It was pretty fun but after that night I really started to get tired of the club scene. Saturday was ok; I went on a double date with Jaewon and one of the girls I met on the train the day before. Date started off really good but didn’t end so well. All I’m going to say is don’t play Korean soju games if you’re American. Sunday I went to church and hung out with my bible study group. We went out for some food and shared prayer request for the week. I really have to say meeting the people in my bible study has made an impact in my spiritually. I didn’t expect coming to Korea to meet a great group of people who all have a strong relationship with God.

The night I came home from church I went talk to the girl next door Natasha. She is 26, forth generation Korean and from Kazakhstan (you know Borat) so she has a strong Russian accent. We ended up having a long conversation about her country, music, my art work, and American Idol. Monday, Natasha and I texed back and forth for awhile so we decided to have dinner together. While at dinner she told me she was working on a thesis which is totally in English. I found that really impressive considering English is her third language. So the day she finished, I made her dinner to celebrate. She was mad impressed with the cooking skills. To pay me back for cooking for her she took me to a Russian style restaurant. Before that day I didn’t even know places like that excised in Korea. The food was pretty good, and at the restaurant I met her best friend Natasha, who is Russian and also 4 percent Korean. Yo this girl was funny; she has such a warm personality and can dish out jokes. I like when a girl is confident in her self that means a lot to me.

Also that week I met up with my friend from the dormitory, Hangil. He just had a trip going to Japan, and was in Korea for a few weeks hanging out with relatives. So we decided to go to the Seoul National Arts Center. It was so cool and the center was featuring two new galleries the Magnum Korea (photography show) and Pixar in Seoul. Both galleries were great, but the Pixar gallery really inspired me. There was a really interesting puppet animation called a zoetrope, which gave me a good idea for a senior project. A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of action from a rapid succession of static, simple pictures put in the inside of a cylinder. So when we look at the image it appears to me moving when actually it’s many images moving around in circles. The Pixar gallery did this process with toy story figures, making it look like they're moving in front of the viewers face. I want to do the same thing but with my break-dance figures. I can’t wait to get back and start making this contraption.

For the rest of that week lots of random crap happen. On day I decided to chill out side and I saw two dudes with cool hats heading to the dance studio. So I asked what style of dance do they do and one of the dudes (spark K) was like, "Pop Lock mane). SO I was like, "Word, Me too". SO he invited me to join them for a Pop session. After dancing for like an hour they asked me to join there crew. YO those dudes were so good, and I learned a lot from them. One day they brought a few girls to meet me and I ended up teaching on of them how to do the usher slide ha-ha. Also on that day they told me they got us a gig at MB2. It was some hip hop showcase and they wanted to give me a solo. Only thing is its going to be in the month of Aug and I will be back in America by that time. They were kind of disappointed but they understood.

As for the dance group things have been going really well and I’m almost got the routine done pat. One day after practice I was heading up stairs to my room and I wanted to play the piano on the second floor of the apt. So I asked if I could play for a min, after figuring out was I was talking about they lady said sure. I’m telling you I played for like 2 or three mins and When I looked around there were a group of like 5 or 6 girls pulled up chairs to watch me play. One of the girls (Kyla) could speak English so start asking me my story. After I gave her a little bit of history I asked what where they doing in the music studio and she informed me she was a model, and so was all of the other girls I was playing for. I couldn’t believe it but then they all stood up and "WOW" they were all tall and gorgeous. Kyla ended up getting all my Information and informed me she may be coming to Chicago and if in town she wanted to chill.

The next day Yung, Daegou (they guy whose place I'm staying in) and I took a trip to this water park called Caribbean bay. We were originally supposed to go to Jae Ju Island but Yung and D couldn’t afford it, so we settled with the water park. It was so much fun, and the girls were all banging (slang for really hot). Caribbean bay has this feature where you into the huge pool and they make artificial monsoon waves. They also had some crazy water slides. When it was getting closer to closing time we got on this one water slide like 5 times in a row, the employees were laughing at us. That night we sleep at this place this called a Jim Gil Ban. Basically it’s a community sleeping area with a bath house, TV, computers, sauna, and rooms with different temps. The only problem is you have to sleep on the floor. I also got a really good massage for like 40 bucks (and mom if you’re reading this it was for 100 mins). The whole experience at Jim Gil Ban was so cool and some of that night felt like a dream.

As for this week things have been pretty much the same, hanging out with Jaewon, Won, Natasha and Jake, meeting new people, going on dates, partying till 5am, and hitting up the Hookah bar. I've also been pretty sad because my Korean journey is coming to an end, so I have been thinking of what I want to do before I leave. These last to weeks have been so fun and I've met more people then I have mention on this post. Meeting more people is fun but also makes it harder to say good bye. I really thank God for this opportunity to come and see how others live and enjoy life. Well it is now Sunday and this is the start of my last week in Korea, I’m not sure what will happen but I will give your all the highlights.

WELL I must head to Church.
AHn Young

Thursday, July 10, 2008

BACK AND FORTH




So a lot has happen since the last time I bloged. Well first, the week in Busan was a lot of fun. Tuesday Yung and I went to the United Nations graveyard. It was so amazing; I didn’t realize how many people were involved with the Korean War. What really shocked me was when I see how many people from my hometown (Missouri) where in evolved with the war and gave their life. It’s different when your fighting for your country but to go to another country and fight for people who you don't even know is so honorable. I have a bigger respect for the war after going to the graveyard. That night we met up with Yung's pops and brother to get some food and go do karaoke. That made for a really fun night.

The next day we got up early because Yung's mom took us to this Buddhist temple, it was so beautiful. I think the pictures I took there were most deff my favorite on the trip. Yung's mom also bought me a prayer bracelet with my Chinese zodiac on it (the hare). After the temple we went to go eat real chapagettie, I eat it in the states but Real chapagettie is so good. After the food we went to go work out at the gym. Also at the guy was my first time going to a public bath. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but when we went in to the sauna some old Korean dude was staring at my man hood, which I found a little bit awkward. That night we went to see hulk (which was dope).

Thursday was a lot of fun we went to Hondae beach. It was so nice, and the girls were on point (slang for just right or wow). That night we decided to hit up the bars. We ended up getting in to a fun dart battle with a few other guys. Well on Friday I was heading to Seoul to go hang out for the forth of July weekend. While Yung and I were getting ready Yung found out his mom thought I was heading back to the states, so she was going to give me a ride to the airport. When Yung first asked his parents about me staying he failed to mention I’ll be in Korea until Aug 3, since she didn’t know she made plans to go to there family plantation and grow some crops. So Yung and I went on a quest to find a place to stay while in Seoul.

After asking around one on his friend who we call polar bear (dude should be a football player and I don’t mean soccer) said we can stay at his place for the night. Another one of his friends said I could stay at his apartment during the week since he stays with his parents, and only stays at the apartment on weekends. So that’s where I’m staying now. He wasn’t going to charge me but I told him I'd give him a 100 for letting me stay at his place, which is Extremely cheep considering I would spend that in a day at a hotel. The place is really small but I'm not complaining, it has no bed but a pad so I sleep on the floor and it has the most importing thing everyone needs Internet. As for Yung he’s living with his grandma looking for odd jobs so he can save up for Jae Ju Island.

That Sunday I went to church to surprise Tina. When I got there I found out they put me in a bible study group. The group was really cool and showed me a lot of love. That night they had a fundraiser for this group going to a high school in China to preach the word. They served food and the group put on some performances. The performances where great and I even cried during one of them. Tina also performed that night and did a great job she may have a future in dance.

As for this week, I would have to say RANDOM so far. The apartment I'm staying in just so happens to have a dance studio in the basement. So Monday I went by to check it out. There were only three people in the class so when I came so I thought it wasn’t open, but they said it was ok to come in. The three students (two guys, and one girl) seem pretty cool and I told them I can pop and do a little break-dance so they invited me to come out on Wednesday to learn a routine. That night I couldn’t sleep to I went to this shopping area called dongdaemoon and picked up some new shoes. On my way home some kid name Esco sparked up a conversation with me. The dude clams to be a rapper and wants me to be in his music video (I guess he feels he will get more street creed if a black dude’s in his video). Tuesday my friend Won came to visit from Japan so we met up. That night we partied in Hongdae. We met a few girls from the states at a hookah bar and then hit up this club called MB2. It was mad fun and we stayed out until 5am (MIND YOU THIS IS A TUESDAY THIS DOES’NT HAPPEN). Wednesday I went to the dance studio to learn the routine. The female dancer, who I found out is skilled in pop and jazz style, greeted me. Man I tell you the girl is talented and she even showed me a few of her routines. So we chilled and danced around for a bit until the other two showed up to teach me the routine. The hip-hop dude showed me this routine he made up to this song off the new Usher CD. The dance was sick but a little hard to get use to being my first time but I got with it. After hanging out the afternoon dancing we went to get some food and called it a day. After eating I found out the girl was going to be on a Korean dance show this weekend and she asked me to watch.

As for yesterday, I would have to say it was the most random day of my life. I decided to go take a walk to check out my area and stumbled upon a university, so I decided to take a rest. While sitting down this Korean kid name Jack comes over to have a conversation. He informed me he's learning in English and wanted to talk ha-ha. We actually ended up having a long conversation about girls, school, and my experiences in Korea. The funniest part is on their campus you can drink in the courtyards, so we had a few beers. While drinking He taught me how to say a few phrases to sweet talk Korean girls. Next thing I he's trying to call up some girls to see if they could come out but they were all in class. So we decided to go to Hondae to test out my skills. We ended up going to a grill and meeting two cool girls. One of the girls was really in to me but she was 29 and in Korea going with a much younger person is a no no. So we ended the night going to MB2 and dancing with some cute girls. So like I said this was one random week so far. As for today I have no idea what will happen, but I will keep you all posted.

Well I know this has been a lot to read and I hope I didn’t bore you with my craziness ha-ha.
Until next time
PEacee