떡뽂이 [spicy Korean rice cake]

From Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Today was my first day of lab! Met my super super nice Buddy! After lunch, attempted to get some errands done such as picking up my ID card (but Estella was in a meeting), and getting a phone for Ling @ Posplex (but they didn't sell prepaid sim cards). Then went back to lab to meet buddy again and he started brainstorming what I can do for the month I'm here. Then @7pm met up English group at the library, 5th floor. We did some discussion on where we would want to go for future field trips, and delved into some discussion topics for their paper.

 magazine I found @ my desk in the lab lol

 lunch. donkatsu! lunch is really cheap here. only 2500won

 posplex - the newer gym here at POSTECH. have to pay to use it though. inside there's a mini SK telecom store

 postech's old gym but it's free for students

 the bridge that connects to the library, 4th floor

 entrance to library

 got back to dorms and other groups are playing games on the first floor. playing president / King and Slave (Korean version of the same game) 

got 떡뽂이 (dokkbokki) @ late night for around 2500won I think. they also have many other "night" foods also @ late night in the cafeteria. Ling and other people got cheese ramyun and they really liked it.

영어 [English]

From Monday, June 25, 2012

I don't think you can buy tickets in advance for the bus? Not sure, but we actually bought our tickets the 2 days before @ Gosuk or Seoul bus terminal (not sure since my Aunt just drove us there...if I actually got there from subway, I'd know though) for around 32000won each for a one way ticket from Seoul to Pohang. Got on the bus for Pohang at 6am and was scheduled to arrive at 10:40am. Maybe there was less traffic, so we actually arrived at 10:15am - a whopping 25 minutes early. We were actually surprised to see that Pohang had more stores than we thought. From the bus terminal, we took a taxi to POSTECH aka 포항공대. Taxi fare was about 6000won. We went to the International Students Office first and met our advisor, Estella, who is super nice. Opened a bank account at Woori Bank and then went to our meeting with Professor Cho and other group leaders at 11:30am. Talked about the Campus English Program and how we have to speak English to the students for at least 3 hours a day. Then split into groups of two (Han is my partner; he's done the program twice in the past also) - basically Prof Cho picked them bc people were so indecisive lol - and then me, Ling, and Michael went to the new international student orientation at 1:30pm with Estella. After, we went to the dorms - RC 21 - and unpacked. Met with our students at 6pm and then split into groups - we call ours "KBG" for Key, Bee, and Gee (the nicknames we gave our students). After talking a bit, we ordered Chinese food for dinner and played Mafia. After, got a group of students and went to Log Cabin - sorta like a pub on campus. 

 Selling food @ Gosuk Bus Terminal 

 our bus to Pohang

 kimbap, rice cake, and watermelon Aunt packed for us ^^ 

 mountains

rest station

 wow~ the area around the rest station felt so fresh and skies were blue! 

 rice paddy

 the honey thing Ling had bought the other day

 pizza @ Campus English meeting

 I suppose Koreans just normally eat pickles with their Pizza?

@ POSTECH 78 stairs.... D:

New International student orientation

 dorm room @ RC 21

 so much nicer than UMD's

 closet

 take shoes off; a must in Korea. I like. 

 Community Center - passing by cafeteria to get to the convenience store

 the pond with lotus right outside the community center

 interesting... never saw this sort of bird before? only in oriental paintings haha

 entrance to student union. wow so many stairs!! 

 first time ordering jajangmyun / take out in general in Korea. they periodically make rounds to pick up the box / dishes

 free mandu (dumplings) aka "service"

 i got jampong for 4500won

 Ling got jajangmyun for 4000won. after eating, we played mafia. mwahaha I was one of the three mafia and we won :) actually, the whole mafia was in my English group. Peter chose.

 went to Log Cabin- located on campus

 ordered 2 or 3 of these? 

 anju. you eat them while drinking

soju

played King's Cup, but ended up switching the shot glass out for a mug lol

So the weather in Pohang is actually pretty nice... definitely not as hot as it was in Seoul. However, I hear that this weather is very abnormal and that it is usually much hotter. It hasn't heated up too much yet though. :)

동대문 [Dongdaemun]

From Sunday, June 24, 2012

Today felt really lazy actually...both Ling and I were sleeping until 12pm or maybe even later after eating breakfast. We met up Ling's friend from UMD - Christine- around 3 30pm and then went to Dongdaemoon. We ate some street food there (like fried chicken on a stick and watermelon on a stick), went into some of the buildings with a bunch of shops inside, and went to Coffee Bean. I didn't really buy anything besides food at Dongdaemoon, because I felt like I would be ripped off and would rather shop at other places or come to Dongdaemoon with my cousins. Then Christine had to go, so Ling and I went to Myungdong again. This is our 2nd time there lol and Ling still wants to go again. We never have enough time as we go for only a couple hours at a time and there's so many shops there! We went to some more make up stores and ARTBOX, a stationary store that has many cute things. Next time, we want to get more glasses. We got home by 10pm and ate some kimbap, apples, and then proceeded to pack. Sike.. more like at 2am bc I was painting my nails, looking for some sort of way to procrastinate. Only slept for an hour or so bc my Aunt woke me and Ling up around 4 45am. Then hauled our asses to Gosuk Bus Terminal in Seoul and was actually 30 minutes early for our bus to Pohang! Cost each of us about 32000 won, but we got a bus that was one class above? Wish there was a regular bus because that would have only cost us 20000 won one way. 

Dongdaemoon! 

 Chung gye chun

 cute mini guitar in a store in one of the tall buildings in Dongdaemoon

 cards from the same store

 geometric and other cute earings

haha cat card

ah I want something like this to put my tmoney in for handy access to tag it when getting on the bus or subway

 in display at the front of the store. I think I've been here before, but last time they had different lego structures.

 shopping center. I didn't end up buying any clothes here bc I didn't feel like getting ripped off. It's mostly a bargaining place, and I'd rather have a fixed price such as many of the stores around Ehwa Uni or Myungdong. I heard if you go later at night, the prices get cheaper though at Dongdaemoon.

 street in Dongdaemoon that has a bunch of street food

 

icecream in a waffle. 1500won

 I think I've been here before.

 stage

 some sort of treat made of honey strings. 5000won for a pack of  8 I believe?

 performances next to the shopping buildings around Dongdaemoon

 street food @ Dongdaemoon! fried chicken on a stick and watermelon on a stick - each 1000won.

 small green tea iced latte @ Coffee Bean. 5800 won. expensive. more expensive than starbucks back home, but the starbucks in Korea is even more expensive I heard.

 watermelon on a stick that I had yet to finish and brought on the subway with me 

 cute glasses that I shouldve got at a store in Myungdong. Hopefully there's a similar pair when I get back and that I can find the store.

 suitcases @ ARTBOX

 cute USBs from ARTBOX but so expensive :( around 20000 won for 2 gb

 clocks @ ARTBOX in Myungdong. I took a picture like this the last time I came to Korea also.

 lol Iwant apartments.

2 more nail polishes, and 2 chapsticks I got from Skin Food and its freebies

 

stuff I bought from ARTBOX. Small notebook was 1000won, and cards ranged from 800 won to 1000won.

Ling's and my nail polishes... amassed within 2 days

=== 

Note: Long time no update. Today is Wednesday and I'm updating for last Sunday! Geez. I have so many other pictures and happenings, but have been very very busy lately. Hopefully will be able to post more of the posts tomorrow.