Khanh in Korea

Day 122: The End of a Chapter: Khanh’is not’inKorea

The day of departure came quite swiftly as the day of arrival seemed so recent. I had everything packed up, checked out of my room, and said goodbye to my roommate. We never really hung out together but the goodbye was still sincere.

For my last few hours in Korea, I promised Dana that I would spend some of it with her. So we went out for lunch and had jajangmyeon. We talked about how sad it was that we were just really getting to know each other and started to hang out on a regular basis and then I have to pick up and leave. Seems to be the theme recently that I realize how much of my time in Korea was spent focusing on Kpop related events rather than getting out there to meet people and make friends. I don’t regret any of the decisions that I have made though because everything happens for a reason and I wouldn’t change a darn thing about my overall experience here.

We finished off our conversation over some patbingsu and before I knew it I had to get on the shuttle bus to Incheon Airport.

It never really hit me until I actually got off the bus and was met by the open are filled with planes that Korea is now part of my past.

No more transferring around on the subway; no having tons of side dishes with all of my meals; no more watching SNSD perform live; no more randomly running into celebrities; no more Korea.

But life moves on. In the book of life, every chapter needs to come to an end in order for a new one to begin. Whatever the next chapter of my life holds for me I will live it with as much enthusiasm and fervor that I have for the past 4 months in Korea. I want to thank everyone who has read or will read any of the blog posts that I have written here. It has been quite a journey and I am glad I was able to share with you guys all of the significant moments in my life for the past 4 months. Obviously because I am no longer in Korea, this blog is now at the end of its term and will probably become irrelevant with each passing day. One day I will look back on this blog and reminisce about the good times that I had and just sit there with a smile on my face. And who knows! Maybe I might end up in Korea again and have to restart this whole thing ; )    

Day 121: Too Much Stuff!!!

Starting to pack the day before you have to leave for another country is not a good idea. I originally only played on packing for a few hours and then hang out with as many people as I could. However, packing everything that I have accumulated in Korea proved to be a difficult feat. The first obstacle was getting everything to fit into my 2 suitcases. When I finally through out enough stuff to fit everything in, I weighed it and find out that it was about 15 pounds over the weight limit. Having to pick out another batch of things to throw out after I thought that I had already gotten rid of everything that I needed throw away was even more difficult of a task than fitting everything into the suitcases. 

I took a lunch break and went out to Korean BBQ with my friend Janis who I met a few weeks ago. We just talked about SNSD and how she would be attending the concert in July. I pretty much had only met her 2 times and already I have to say goodbye. But at least now I can say I have a friend from Canada!

After lunch I went back and finished packing, got hungry, and went out for some street food. Nothing hits the spot like a really nice tray of ddeokbokki. There is this little sit down shop in Sinchon that has the best ddeokbokki that I have tried in Korea. 

Day 120: Having Fun in the Present and Looking Forward to the Future

sunday: young ji apgujeong hang out. drunk

Sunday was my last weekend in Korea and it was basically winding down to finding people  for either one last hangout or a goodbye. I was scheduled to leave Korea Tuesday night, but have to be checked out of my dorm by 11AM and Monday is totally dedicated to packing because I hadn’t started. 

Ji Won nuna and Young Ji wanted to meet for one last time to have lunch with me. Even though I randomly met them and haven’t had that much time to spend with them, they are still been an important part of my trip here and I will miss them greatly. I waited in front of Ewha for them to show up but Ji Won nuna came down with a cold and couldn’t make it. So it was just be and Young Ji and we had donkatsu at a popular donkatsu place in the Ewha area. 

This is the first time I really had a 1 on 1 conversation with her and learned a lot about her. She’s the same year as me and Ji Won and she is majoring in physics. She is from Gwangju and wanted me to come visit, but that wasn’t exactly possible =(

We then went for some frozen yogurt dessert to finish off our conversation. I really feel like it took about 3 months to fully adjust and to find my place in Korea. Just as I got the hang of everything and found people to see every week I have to say goodbye. 

And after that goodbye it was another goodbye hangout with Dana and Seungyun. Because our previous hangout in Apgujeong was so much fun we decided we needed to do it again. For dinner we went to a popular samgyeopsal place called Kogii Kogii. It was right across from the construction site of T-ara’s cafe shop that should be opening across Korea in the near future.

They had a menu consisting of different samgyeopsal that were flavored differently. It seemed to be a favorite dinner spot for DBSK as well. 

As we finished eating, Seungyun says to me “you are oppa, you should pay!” ^_^

UGH. WIth the Korean guys that I have met here I get differing opinions on the whole “oppa” thing. “oppa” is a term for an older male or older brother used by a female. And if you guys aren’t actually brother and sister then it is more of an endearing term beefore a younger female and an older male. Some guys absolutely hate it! They can’t stand the whiny Korean-girl-style of talking and adding oppa just gives them goosebumps. On the other hand, some guys love it! They think it is really cute and just love being called by that term. It’s as if it makes they have a soft spot that just gets tickled every time they hear it. I for one…..LOVE IT. Oh my gosh….I’ve been waiting forever for someone to call me oppa in Korea. I don’t know what it is, or maybe I just watch too many Korean dramas, but when a Korean girl calls you oppa you can’t help but cave and do whatever it is that she wants you to do. So I paid…

Next up was saju for me!! Dana did saju (fortune telling) last time but it was just at some street tent. This time we were going to a more reputable place that Seungyun has gone herself and recommends it. It is a saju cafe, so you have to buy a drink along with your saju reading. 

They used your birthday and time of birth to do the reading. I liked a lot of parts of my reading, but some parts still irk me…but it’s all just for fun!

• Have study luck until the age of 28 and will study at a good university
• fit to be in a position where I am watching over people like a CEO
• should work where I get to meet lots of people everyday and not alone in an office
• If I choose not to study then I will need to pass through many job interviews before landing my permanent job
• I will get my first career-like job around the age of 28 but i will be disappointed with the job
• Money will start flowing in and I will get my dream job after I am 38
• I have money luck and will earn a lot until I am 60
• From the age fo 28-38 even though I will not be at my dream job I will be paid higher than many others
• a hospital job would suite me well
• I should invest in assets because I will lose everything if i invest in stocks
• I have love luck this upcoming year and then again 2 years later. 
• I will either marry before 27 or in my mid 30’s
• I want a wife that is obedient and I will always try to “fence” her in
• this will be the biggest obstacle for marriage
• I will most likely end up with an older, mature, white girl T.T
• The problem I have in relationships is that I overthink everything rather than just act 
• Will have 2 children that are hardworking and an overall harmonious family life
• I need to be careful of diabetes and high blood pressure
• I don’t need to try to seek new people or friends

Next was noraebang!!! We went to a different place which was nearby to Everysing because they offered all you can eat popcorn and ice cream!!

And then some boba at Cofioca to end the night. 

Day 119: IU Is Way Too Cute!

Saturday was the GSL finals and also IU’s 1st official fanmeeting. The GSL finals was scheduled to start at 3PM but the venue opened at 1PM. The IU fanmeeting was scheduled to start at 6PM and would take about 45 minutes to get there from the location of the GSL finals. I wanted to go to both because it would be my last time attending any Starcraft 2 event and I could just leave early and go to the IU fanmeeting. 

The GSL finals took place at the SETEC convention center in Seoul and had a set up similar to the LG 3D Game Festival where the entire event was done with 3D screens and everyone is given 3D glasses. 

I couldn’t stay too long and just had enough time to get pictures with a few players and play a few games on the 3D monitors. 

Then it was off to AX-Korea convention hall to see the IU fanmeeting! It was supposed to last 90 minutes and was a combination of interview, performances by IU, and prize giveaways.

When I arrived I was able to see the demographic of IU’s fans and it was more skewed than I thought. I expected a lot of guys to be there but out of the 1000 people that were there, it was basically 99% guys. I mean for SNSD, the fanbase has quite a nice balance between genders. I have met and seen lots of boy fans but I have met an equal amount of girl fans. I don’t know what is it with the dynamic of SNSD and the charms of each member, but they attract fans of all ages and sexes. for IU, it was basically all guys, and within those guys, they either fell into the group where they were younger than her, or a lot older than her. I was walking around a bunch of little teenagers who would yell out IU nuna this, IU nuna that. IU is 17 and if you are calling her nuna, then you are hella young. Then you have your older crowd where they are all probably mid 20’s and all the way up to 50 years old. 

Lots of vendors took advantage of the event by setting up shop to sell IU merchandise. 

The actual convention hall itself was pretty small and everyone was squished into small portions of lower level and upper level seating. I got a seat on the lower level seating on the right hand side. 

The event opened with IU singing Good Day and it then followed with an interview where IU answered fan questions selected randomly. A few other songs were performed for a total of 6 and there were also guests such as Luna from f(x) that made an appearance on stage. There was a very strict no camera policy that was enforced heavily on the first level. I’m not sure if the upper level was as strict or had as many guards but they were constantly checking and seized people’s cameras to delete the photos they took. However, during the presentation of a celebratory cake for IU, they allowed about 3 minutes for people to take as many pictures as they wanted and I just filmed a video instead. 

 The event ended after about 90 minutes and I found an IU lighstick on the ground on my way out!

However, I wasn’t lucky enough to win any of the Le Coq T-shirts that were raffled off, or catch any of the signed plastic balls IU was throwing into the crowd. And I especially wasn’t lucky enough to win the grand prize raffle of a guitar signed by IU herself.