내가 제일 잘나가

I am the best! (That is the translation to the Korean in the title. More on that later)

Wow I'm high. No not in that sense (I don't want to go to jail and be deported in Korea). But I just won a competition... more on that later. But first let me update you...

I've been taking Korean classes. In some ways they are great. I am learning a lot. New vocabulary everyday, lots of grammar. In other ways I hate my class. At Yonsei you have the choice of learning at a slower pace as a westerner, which they call track B, while people of Eastern backgrounds (Chinese/Japanese) study at a much quicker pace because they already have the same grammar structure etc. As a result it is a class full of westerners (Europeans and Americans). What happens is we often resort to speaking English. In addition there are students in there whose level of comprehension is so minimal that I am worried if that is how it normally should be or if I am just in the wrong level. It can sometimes be a hindrance to the class because they also don't care but I don't know if it is a chicken or the egg scenario.

Often I am so tired that it also makes me cranky and bitchy. Then came the worst announcement ever. Yonsei level 2 was going to have a singing competition. It had to be a Korean song. For our president we chose the person who spoke the least amount of Korean because well, show's how much we cared... then we didn't do a thing about it for weeks... We selected a random song while out drinking after our midterm: The days flew by and suddenly we realized we had a week left. Oops. We planned to meet at a Noraebang to practice the song and everyone agreed to look at the lyrics at home. Only four of us (out of a class of 14) showed up. We sang for about 20 minutes while drinking soju and then proceeding to wander the street of hongdae drinking beer, makgolli, everything, until people passed out. That night I got ripped off by a taxi driver...

Anyways, we chose this awesome song
 
  Tuesday we met to practice the dance. Disaster. Everyone was cranky and I left annoyed. Wednesday we stayed and broke it down. Plus we added in some new parts. Again for a little bit on Thursday. The show was Friday. We found out there were 20 other level 2 classes (but we are the only B). Luckily our teacher gave us 10 minutes to fit in the other people who had never come to practice.

우리 반친구들

Show time: Everyone was super aegyo (애교)- think Girl's Generation Gee - which I heard 3 times that day. We went for a more hardcore theme. In the end not bad for less than a week's practice. I will let you decide for yourself Here is the video

In the end we came in third place. Awesome... I feel like I am the best. It really was more fun than I thought it would be...

하 선새님랑

 I learned a couple of things from this. One is that I miss performing. Another is that my teacher is a sweet heart. The third is that many westerners take A course and I would like to eventually switch maybe after the next term. Since I will be working part time I'll have to be more frugal, but I think it will be worth it when I chat fluently enough in Korean. Life at Yonsei - 재미 있을 것 같아요

(p.s this is a super old post, should have been up ages ago, I have since stopped studying at Yonsei, as I get to eventually.)