READY? STEADY? GO!

My third semester is running at a pace I can hardly keep up with... My shadow might catch up with me when I run around like a chicken without a head! In the morning I go to language school from 9 to 1 and three days of the week I'm taking courses in the afternoon. In the weekends I'm reading, doing assignments, studying Korean, swimming and going for a run around the neighborhood. Besides that I enrolled myself in butterfly swimming class and signed a swimming contract at Posco. I'm excited to learn how to swim butterfly! I'm excited about swimming, as it's an old hobby I am re-discovering nowadays. About the butterfly class, actually I have learned how to swim it a little before, but I'm not feeling too confident about it... I never saw myself swimming to know how it looks like. For butterfly stroke to be aesthetically pleasing you need to do it to way you should do it!... So, let's see how it goes! It's also always interesting to do sports classes with other Korean students. They are different. I don't know in how many ways, but they are intriging. Especially when they wear sport outfits and spandex speedo's.

My daily routine consists of... waking up at 6 then climb the hill to go to the swimming pool in Posco sports center. After swimming I take a shower in the pool and use the things they offer there (Sauna, towel, shampoo, moisturizers, earcleaners, swimsuit and hairdryers, and the drinkeable water... If you have a contract you should get the best out of it, right?! ;). It's funny and odd at the same to see how Korean girls take their time to stand naked in front of the mirror so unprudishly, without shame to do their makeup stuff... And this while they are usually so tight-laced outside the walls of the shower rooms! At 9 I'm all washed up and ready to  go to my Korean class till 1. After finishing the Korean class I usually have lunch with some of my classmates. In the afternoon I run to the other courses I'm taking! Well, it seems like this semester will involve a lot of running!

Meanwhile I can add two people to my list of visitors: Peter and Leslie! Belgium REPRESENT!

I have written two articles for the AJA online magazine. One is about Dating Culture in South-Korea and another one about Ten Things You Sould Know About Belgium! If you are interested you can click on the link and have a look.

               

I went to a small filmfestival during Chuseok (Korean Moon or Harvest Festival, Korean Thanksgiving) and saw two movies worth watching, namely Super Virgin (숫호구) by Baek Seung-Kee and The Weight (무게) by Jeon Kyu-hwan.  

Super Virgin is a satirizing comedy, with a wink to Cameron's movie Avatar. The leading role is a super nerd who is still a virgin at the age of 30. He then gets the chance of his life: to participate in a medical experiment and shift his soul from his own body into a super sexy male avatar. 

The Weight is a film about a hunchback mortician and his transgender stepsister. Although sometimes very raw, violent and morbid it is an interesting and enjoyable film.

TWO YEARS! 시간이 화살처럼 이렇게 빨리 지나갈 줄 몰랐다!

When I'm writing this I can hear the ticking sound of the rain falling on the windows of the balcony. I love rainy summer days: how wonderful to walk in the rain under an umbrella, stay inside watching movies, watch the cars passing by and not do anything?!

On the 29th of August 2011, I came to Korea for the first time. Which means that today is the exact day that I am in Korea for two years. I noticed I haven't been writing on this blog for almost a year. So, I thought it's about time we get back to it.

Looking back on the past two years, I can see I have had a splendid time! The first year was amazing! I will never forget how it felt to leave one life behind and start a new adventure in a totally new country. I am still me... but I felt so free, to go to a place where nobody knows you and you can build and work out a whole new life. 

During my first year I was studying Korean in the Language Institute of SNU. During that period, I was able to meet many interesting and inspiring new people who have left a permanent mark on me and have enriched my life in a way I can hardly describe. After language school I entered college. My first semester as a graduate student in SNU was terrible because of the small cultural differences, the different way of teaching, my insufficient academic Korean language ability and the difficulty of the major I chose. However, after mentally struggling for a couple of months I was able to make it to the second semester and even finish it with OK grades. In a few days I will start my third semester... needless to say, with mixed feelings.

Living in Korea has made me a different person, enriching myself with alternative ways of thinking and analyzing the cultural differences that are only visible if you dig deeper beneath the surface. I have experienced that sometimes, when times are harsh it is tempting to complain about how things are and see things from a negative perspective. However the longer I live in Korea the more I can appreciate this country and its people. And I know that everywhere I will live there will always be good and less good things. That's why, it's my challenge to always see the good things and quickly forget about the less good things! :)  

In the past two years I was able to travel here and there. I have been to Jeju, travelled in Korea to different places, to Thailand with a Korean friend, to Vietnam to relive glorious times, Indonesia and Singapore to do volunteer work. Travelling and always coming back to Korea has given me the chance to understand this country better and discover the similarities and differences with other countries. I believe this has opened my mind and taught me how to appreciate who I am, where I am and what I have.

Since April I am also a member of the Junior AJA (Asian Journalist Association) program. AJA is a non profit association that aims to provide transparent news about Asia from a global perspective. I was reporting important news about Belgium and writing short articles on various topics. The program gave me the chance to learn more about journalism and meet great people, who, I hope, I will continue to be able to meet in the future. Click on the names to visit the website of AJA and its magazine The AsiaN!

Many of my family and friends have visited me in the past two years and I have always enjoyed spending time and hanging out together, speaking Dutch and complaining about the spicy food. ;) Thank you to (in visiting order!:): Arne, mama, Jan, Francis, Katrien, papa, Matthias, Geoff (+ Tim and Matthias) for stopping by and having a great time together. I am still waiting for certain people to come, and if YOU are reading this... you know whom I'm talking about! ;) Many times I miss friends who live far away and have wished they were here next beside me. I was thinking... wouldn't it be great if I build a country called Laraland where we all can live happy together?! :)

If I make up a balance, I realize I am having many great once in a lifetime experiences and that I have met and continue to meet a lot of wonderful people from all around the world. For that reason, I will always be thankful for getting this opportunity to come to study in South Korea! I'll let you know when I meet Kim Jong Eun. He then can be added to my list of (less wonderful) people I have met.

Visit the funny website about Kim Jong Il looking at things! Click here!

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

Life goes on, as they say... after one autumn  another comes and after that most likely another, until it won't. I said I was enjoying autumn less this year... I might be wrong. Last year I was amazed by the colors and everything was new. This year I'm overwhelmed by melancholia... colors seem stronger, moods are changing faster. This autumn is definitely not like any other autumn. People around me are more stressed and busy. Next season is at the door with some winter blues. Days are getting shorter, the weather ice cold. It's always nice to talk about the weather, right? I guess that's because it's a talk everybody can enjoy.

I've climbed Gwanak mountain again, this time with Raj. Too bad he lost his jacket on the mountain. ;( We hid it somewhere because it was to hot to wear. We thought that Korean people don't steal easily, but we thought wrong. Umer's birthday has come again, as well as July's. I had a lot of fun. Especially blinding and turning July around, while dragging around on campus before bringing her to the place of surprise: where we would celebrate her birthday. She was so confused, and I had a good laugh!

Academic life is not the same as back in Gent... So students over there have no right to complain! Since it is much more easygoing and far less stressful than here! The workload here is also considerably bigger. Now I start to understand why students here are getting depressed easily. But I'm not letting it get under my skin! :)

I want to go to Indonesia in February... Anybody who wants to join me, just join me!

Love, Lara

Before losing his Jacket :D

On the way to the top of Gwanak, mountain on our campus

After five minutes, this Indian fella got tired already!

Having a quick lunch before heading to the top

view on campus and Seoul center in the background

autmn and spring my favorite seasons

a dinosaur rock with feet!

we reached the top!

The real top

Looking down on Raj

Mr Raj taking a nap

and some picnicing ajumoni's (middle aged ladies who are not afraid to push you aside when they want to pass you. And who always bring a nice picnic. Thanks to them for the grapes!) :)

아름다운 단풍 Beautiful autumn leaves

Gwanak top with the Korean flag

Time for a nap in the sun

After waking up we got invited by some ajushi's (middle aged man) to join their picnic hehe... homemade blackberry wine , kimchi, rice, egss, kimbab, bananas)

een dameskransje... a club of ajumoni's

Indian sweets I got from Raj, thanks to his family! very delicious indeed

The pond next to my lab,  where my department is and where I study

July's bday

a new hairdryer

Cactusses!

students rushing on campus

Where I have one class

my department

AUTUMN AGAIN

We're back... and it's already autumn again. It took me a while to write. Well now some news from the country of forever kimchi. People still eat a lot of kimchi and I started to eat less. Is it a good thing, or a bad thing? Who knows?! ;) 

For the past months I've been trying to find my way in this Korean academic world. I must say it's far more scarier than I thought it would ever be. First of all, my level of Korean is not good enough to study my major (It's actually far from not good enough!)... If you would compare last year with this time... It would be like going from learning how to express "I would like to go to the movie theater, how can I get there?" to "How can I explain Kim Soo Young's poetry through Heideggers philosophy?" Yes, I must be crazy to be wanting to study modern Korean literature after just one year of language school! But it wouldn't be a challenge if it were too easy, right?! ;) I have  to admit that the first weeks were like hell and I wanted to go home straight after the first day the courses started. Luckily it got better after some time... But still, some days I sit and think "what am I doing and what the hell am I trying to proof here?"... That crazy foreigners also can study Korean literature from scratch just after one year of Korean? That it's the experience that counts not the seriousness of all this? Hmmm... Yes maybe. One thing is for sure, if I will be able to graduate from this major, I might be the first Belgian person to do this... ever. And my Korean will be damn good. So we're still going for it... with the low and the highs. Good that I still have a whole bunch of nice friends... 고마워! :)

Korean autumn is as beautiful as always, but last time I enjoyed it more. The weather got very cold all of a sudden, nevertheless still sunny. Let's see if we can reach the top of Gwanak mountain this weekend. I'm planning to go for a hike with a few friends. It would be great to see the colorful autumn scenery before it will start to fade away into that awful greyness.

Like some of us have noticed my Facebook profile is not visable anymore but my head is cleared out and can see well again. I started to like mailing more... and you can always Skype me or send me messages by any smartphone instant messaging app.

Love and some autumn sunshine for all of you wherever you are!

Lara - 라라