LARGER apartment view pics - per request

Here's a shot facing up toward the school (up the tree-lined street just left of center):

And one facing south toward the Han River (just follow the curve of the road between the buildings; a couple poles of a bridge and a bit of water are just visible):

That's the best I can do for now. Trying to select and position pictures and add text on this blog seems to get harder all the time! Is it Korea?? Anyway, come and visit and see the views for yourself!!

And now...With Furniture!

A trip to the Recycle Center and $400 later (a bargain, I thought), the apartment looks like this:

I'm in a corner room on the 15th floor, so there are views! I'm on the west side of Seoul, and the windows face west and south, so I don't get to look toward the city center, but if I look to the northwest, I can see Yonsei University (though not the building where I study); if I look to the south, I can see a corner of a bridge that crosses the Han River. If I look down, I see a huge, ever changing world of shops and streets and people and rooftop living; at night there are bright lights everywhere. Some views going around, starting by looking toward the northwest and ending by looking toward the smoggy southeast:

My Apartment

I am finally getting fairly settled into an apartment, but it took some doing! I had to choose between some much more basic, much less private, albeit cheaper, student-type rooms - or this! Finally decided on this. I like it quite well - it's perfect for one person and well-located. For now, here are some pictures of the apartment on moving day, pre-furniture:

Looking through the front door:

The kitchen/laundry on the right:

The bathroom on the left:

The living room:

The very narrow stairway:

The 4-foot high sleeping loft:

Looking down into the living room from the loft:

Home sweet home, for now.

Placement Test Result and First Days of Class

The test results were posted on a big board; hordes of students crowded around, pushing and shoving to find their test result and class assignment. I finally found my name, my test result and class assignment - Level 2!! This was what I had hoped for - Level 2. All smiles, full of pride, I went to my first class.

Two days, 8 hours of class and buckets of sweat later, the teacher and I had a conversation (in Korean!) It went something like this (minus all the "what?" "please repeat" etc.)

Teacher: What is harder for you, vocabulary or grammar?

Me: Vocabulary

Teacher: I think both. Do you want to stay in this class, or do you want to move to Level 1?

Me: Should I move to Level 1?

Teacher: It's your choice.

Me: Let me think about it.

So I thought about it. Kato Lomb said - go for the challenge. I'm willing to work fairly hard at this. The Level 2 material is possibly within my reach - if I have enough time and will to study.

But - I did decide to move to Level 1. Kato Lomb sought challenge, but she also approached her language learning with joy and optimism. The Level 2 class was really stressful. We had the same teacher and same method (teacher-ask, student-respond) for 4 hours straight. We had to answer questions and perform in the class over and over again. My brain - (is it age? laziness? fatigue? insufficient motivation and confidence?) just couldn't concentrate that hard and that long, and I disliked the feeling of being put on the spot to perform each time the teacher demanded it. Perhaps my preparation really isn't up to par.

So tomorrow morning I will begin my Level 1 class - hopefully with joy and optimism. I think that there will be plenty of new material for me to learn, and I will try to supplement that with reading of my choice, real-life excursions, self-study, etc.

The Placement Test

There must have been about 500 of us, seated in a big auditorium, waiting for the testing process to begin. Mostly quiet, people looking around nervously. I was glad to see a few older folks like me among the sea of young kids! We were sent to various rooms to take the test. There would be 2 parts: a written test and an oral interview.

The paper test was about 10 pages long. I was pleased when I could answer the first question! And the second! Things went pretty well for the rest of that page and a few questions on the next. After that I pretty much had to quit. But I felt ok - I could demonstrate the little bit of knowledge I had.

My interviewer smiled a lot and seemed interested in me. She adjusted her speaking level to meet mine so that I could show what I knew. Just as in the written test, I could answer a few basic questions and then I had reached my limit. Test was over.

A couple of observations:

• The test was administered by the directors and teachers of the school. Almost certainly it was a local test written by the school professionals. Since answers were hand-written directly on the test paper, it was clear each test would be read and scored by a teacher. Then there was the oral interview with a teacher. Thus teachers were completely and personally involved in evaluating student ability and getting students placed in the right class. The benefit of this teacher involvement seems logical and obvious, and inspires confidence.
• The interview did so much more than allow the teacher to evaluate speaking ability. It gave me a chance to meet a teacher, to ask questions. It made me feel the instructor's interest in me personally and her desire to ensure I was in the right class. It certainly showed much more about my ability than the written test alone would do, and again inspired confidence.

So - no fancy computer test, no pre-recorded listening test, no essay. I don't know if there are concerns with validation, unbiased questions, and all the things we struggle with at SJCC. My feeling, as a student, is that those things don't matter much. What mattered to me was how I was greeted and treated as as I went through the placement process and how confident I felt that the process could accurately assess my language ability. Not really complicated.

Charles, Yvonne... and Wilson!

So... I had done quite a bit by Friday. I took some time on Friday and Saturday to tour the city on the Seoul City Tour bus:

visit some palaces:

and do other touristy stuff.

Then Saturday night I met former SJCC colleague Charles Montgomery and fiancee Yvonne, who have been living here and teaching English for the past year:

We had a great time visiting a bookstore, having refreshments at a sidewalk restaurant on the banks of the lovely Chonggyecheon Stream, walking around, taking in the street performers and lazer shows and all the lively sounds and colors of Saturday night in a beautiful section of downtown historic Seoul. How great it was for me to be guided around, get the inside scoop on how to do things, exchange experiences and thoughts on living in Korea, reminisce about SJCC, and share the wonderful balmy September evening in downtown Seoul with them.

And then, in the midst of jostling crowds as we walked along the Chonggyecheon, what do I hear but..."Oh hi, how are you?" I turn around... and it's Wilson, a student who had been in one of my Korean classes at De Anza College. There I am, in the middle of Seoul ... and I run into someone from home:

It was a great Saturday night!

Finding a Home

I decided my best bet for finding a home was to go out with Mr. You, an English-speaking real estate agent. Eventually we found this place - the top floor of the "SKY" building. It's a corner room with 2 big picture windows on two sides, high above the hustle and bustle below. I will post more pictures once I move in - but until all the paper work gets done, I'm staying in a little hotel across the street. I'm very pleased with the location. It's about a 30-minute walk from the school. The building is flanked by two streets. The street on one side looks like this:

The street on the other side looks like this:

I took these pictures yesterday (Saturday) morning when few people were out, but actually the streets rarely look like this. Normally they are filled (really filled!) with cars and pedestrians. I like feeling in the middle of two worlds, two Seouls, in this spot. If I go out to the smaller street, and then turn left, I go into street after street of little shops, restaurants, sidewalk stands, etc. If I head straight up the big street, I come to a big traffic circle with 8 different entrances to the subway, and if I get across the circle, I come to a smaller street that leads up to the school. Actually, I have to go through the subway tunnel just to get to the street leading to the school. I have everything I need near here - big department stores, Starbucks and all that stuff, supermarkets, and little store after little store. So ... this will be my home for a while.

A Hard Day

Wednesday was a hard day. I hadn't showered and felt grubby. I had hours to kill before I could check back into my hotel where my luggage was. I walked and walked. I breathed in the smoggy air and battled cars and pedestrians at every road crossing. I rode a big loop on the subway, trying out different lines. I sat in a little park where other idle solitary Koreans sat. Finally in my room, I got on the computer and tried to figure out how to find a place to live. Eventually I made an appointment to meet Mr. You, an English-speaking real estate agent, the next afternoon. I watched a Korean drama to take my mind off my anxieties (it really helps!) , and called it a day.

My Day with Mrs. Park

On Tuesday I left my luggage here at the hotel where I stayed for the first 3 nights, and took off in a taxi with my overnight bag for Mrs. Park's apartment. This visit had been arranged by, once again, my most generous colleague John Song and his family. Mrs. Park is a very close family relative of theirs, and she had so kindly offered to let me stay there until I found a place of my own. She received me warmly and had a room all cleared for me. After settling in, we sat down to visit. I am glad to say her English is better than my Korean - but actually not much better. So it took us a while to exchange information about our families, why I'm here (always a hard one to explain - even in English - even to myself sometimes!) etc. Talking about the future and how we might arrange things between us proved too much, however. In the evening we ate Japanese sushi in her apartment together and watched some TV; in the morning I came back to the hotel, leaving things indefinite as to whether I would return or not.

I am so grateful for the day I spent in a real Korean high-rise apartment with a lovely, kind and gracious Korean hostess. Even though it looks like I will not be staying there (more in the next blog), I am glad to have met her and hope to have more chances to visit in the coming year....when my Korean gets better.....!!

"Ne" and "Aniyo"

"Ne" means "yes" and "aniyo" means "no." These are the magic words. Hear a "Ne" - and the all the world becomes bright. Something is working, a step toward settlement is being made, there is someone who can help. Hear an "aniyo" - and a world of troubles descends. That idea won't work - now what?? How do I figure out an alternative? Amazing how much power those 2 words have to a newcomer. This is the hard part - setting up living, bank accounts, phone accounts etc. - trying to finish all before school starts next week. Stay tuned for news about how all this works out. Wish me luck!! Ne!!

A Terrific Morning

Right up that tree-lined street is Yonsei Korean Language Institute, where I will be studying. And right next to me is Young Kim-Parker, a family friend of SJCC colleague John Song. Young is American but spent the last year here in Korea studying at the same institute. She is going back to the States this week but graciously spent one of her last mornings here with me, showing me how to cash money, ride the subway, get to Yonsei, order food, etc. We had a terrific morning, and I learned a lot! Thank you, Young!!

In Seoul

I made it this far! This is the view from my hotel room - there is Namsan (or "South Mountain" - the hill behind the buildings) and the Seoul tower right there in the hazy background. Somehow I managed to get my tons of luggage and myself to this hotel last night, had a good sleep, and spent this morning walking around. Now this afternoon I'm sitting in my cool hotel room and contemplating next steps.

Some early observations:

Traveling alone: not easy! Things that seem easy with a partner seem daunting when doing them alone. Fortunately, the need for food, and money - and coffee! - and the need to learn - force me out the door.

Speaking Korean: Day 1: Total failure! Every time I tried to say something to someone in Korean, they either just looked at me and said "huh?" - or acted as though I hadn't spoken at all. In the end, it was just easier to use English - almost everyone I spoke to had at least a smattering of English, and I became too intimidated to try any more Korean. Day 2 (today): partial success! I could not figure out how to set the air conditioning in my room - so with a combination of English, Korean and sign language I asked a maid about it. Turned out I had been monkeying with the floor heating settings instead of the air conditioner - when she saw what I had done she looked aghast, punched a bunch of buttons, said "hot, hot!' and "No touch, no touch." The air conditioner control turned out to be a remote control device I had overlooked. In all this I did keep saying things in Korean like "It's too hot" and "I don't know how." Whether she understood my Korean words or just the gestures I don't know, but at least she didn't say "Huh?"

Seoul: Wild and crazy! Traffic like Guadalajara (ie it doesn't move; lanes are narrow with no shoulders; taxis, buses, motorcycles, cars all vie with each other over any possible space that opens up to move forward). Layout of the city seems complicated with hills and tunnels and twisting roadways seeming to separate and intertwine sections. Lots of standard, block-style high-rises, and a few spectacularly dramatic modern buildings, art work, arenas, bridges, etc. Lots of pedestrians. In my hotel area, there is a mixture of main thoroughfares and big buildings and places like Starbucks and KFC and Dunkin Donuts and signs in English, and little alleys with little shops and sidewalk venders and mysterious stairways and nothing in English. So far I have only ventured into establishments on the main thoroughfares, but time and growing (hopefully!) confidence may lead me down some of those alleys...

Night comes early here in Seoul; it's now almost 4 o'clock and daylight will end soon, so I'll be off for one more foray.

I'm Off

I'll be catching the plane in a few hours and arrive in Seoul tomorrow evening. This week has been busy with all the packing and gathering of documents and advice and saying good-bye and whatnot. Someone asked me how I was feeling. Excited? Yes. Nervous? Yes. But mostly amazed - that all the preparation and anticipation is over and the actual journey about to begin. I am also feeling that I will miss dear friends and family and home... but onward to Seoul I go.

Packing

Somehow all of this:

Has to fit into this:

Hmmm...