Free Stuff

In the campus area they have a lot of promotions and give out free stuff. During one day I got the following:
DVD movie
Tomato juice
Tea
Soft drink
Razor
2 cell phone accessories
Post-it notes
Shampoo
4 pens
Calendar
2 notebooks
Face products

Korean Sauna

Finns cannot live without sauna they say, so today we headed to a local “chimchilbang” sauna and spa. I went there with Lea, another Finnish girl and ended up being there for like 3 hours. This chimchilbang had saunas with different temperatures (of course we chose the one with 90C degrees) as well as Jacuzzis/hot tubs and a cold water pool. You could just relax, have a massage and so forth. The spa side with the pools was for women only, but if you wanted to go to the common area they gave you a t-shirt and shorts to wear in the mixed saunas. (Like it wouldn’t be sweaty enough!) Also for the busy Koreans it was normal to use a cell phone in the sauna as well.

Demilitarized zone: a look to North Korea

Today we made a visit to the border of South and North Korea. It’s one of the most guarded borders of the world and actually I had no idea how many security systems they have even in Seoul in case of a North Korean attack. Well the border was basically full of American and Koran soldiers and they had observatory stations there. We could actually visit North Korea’s side, but only for like 3meters and the soldiers keeping an eye on us. While you were moving you weren’t allowed to stop for any reason and it was strictly prohibited to try to contact the North Korean soldiers by any sign language like waving or pointing. We could chat with the American soldiers and ask questions but mostly we had to listen to the soldiers’ dry jokes that only he was laughing to. We could use binoculars to check out the North Korean villages and Kim Il Sung’s golden statue. They also had a 160m high North Korean flag there, but no binoculars were needed to see that. Unfortunately I only saw 2 North Korean soldiers, but I took some pictures with the southern ones like you can see...

In this other picture you can see North Korea in the background.

Double trouble: Try to get a phone here

Could you imagine that getting one cell phone would take you 8 hours? Well, so didn’t I, but in Seoul that’s normal for a foreigner. First of all, foreigners aren’t actually allowed to get an operator contract here, but you also cannot get a prepaid sim, because they don’t have sim cards over here. So what we did was to go and buy a phone first. I got a pretty ok one, but when I was signing the contract they said this phone could not use that specific operator. So heading to another part of Seoul to find a shop where I could get a different contract. It was easy to find the shops, but 3 of them refused to let me sign a contract because I was a foreigner. The fourth place finally accepted me as a customer but after 1,5 hours of trying, calling the customer service like 10 times and trying to explain technology for me in Korean the said that this phone wasn’t good for the contract. I should buy a new one. However the manager was “nice” and agreed to change my new phone to an old crappy version where their contract would work. Well I really didn’t have a choice and agreed. (I tried to leave the shop already but they had my 30000W and kept saying stop so I stayed.) They really didn’t speak any English, so after several phone calls to the customer service I found out that my phone number would start working tomorrow. Great! But my fortune didn’t last long as I noticed at home that my brand new charger didn’t work with the phone they gave. So I was still forced to buy a new charger… Oh well, the phone’s still deaf, but I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll start working soon… And when it does I’ll give my number so I can finally have contact with the outer world…

Lession One: Adapting to Korean Life Style

Many Koreans as well as foreigners warn you about the culture shock you’ll face in Korea. I’m probably not yet in that phase as everything’s just new and exciting but I can tell a few things. First of all before you have been introduced to someone, you don’t exist to him. So don’t be surprised if people push you in public areas for example. For me however, this was no shock, because that’s how people are in Finland, too, but many foreigners find it confusing.
Also all Koreans tell me that they are so afraid of foreigners. This is why they won’t come to you or answer if you start speaking English. So to see how Koreans really are, you have to make a friend first.

Koreans are also very hospitable and do everything to please their guest. I’ve been trying to ask if I can help around the house, but the answer has always been no. Today when the family left I secretly washed the dishes, so let’s see what they say when they come home… They also always try to be polite, so it’s kinda hard to tell what they really think about something. If you don’t like the food you still take a new portion and praise how delicious it is. (Fortunately I’ve liked everything this far…)

Another thing is that people work here like it’s their last day. Six or seven days work per week is normal, and we are not talking about western 8-hour days. That’s why the mom usually stays at home taking care of the kids and household when the man is working and earning. What a shock it was when they heard that my mom’s a doctor! The man is the man in the house and the gender roles are very traditional.

Today we had an orientation at school and I also met May and Joshua from Hpair. Most of the exchange students live in the I-house at campus, so that’s where everything’s happening. I might be a little isolated because I live over an hour away from school, however I’m glad to be able to see real Korean family life, too. The campus is huge and there are also various activities for exchange students. Let’s see where I end up to…

Greetings from Seoul

Ok guys, sorry from now on I’ll write in English, too. So I’m here in Seoul to spend my exchange until summer 2007. I’ll study in Yonsei University and in this blog I’ll let you know how things are going… Above I just wrote a few lines about my flight, and then on 18th February I finally arrived to Korea. It was the Korean new year and biggest holiday of the year (like we have Christmas) so my host family was in another town. However, I heard about an internet site targeted to travellers called hospitality club where you can have visitors at your place and visit someone else abroad. So I stayed the two first nights at a really nice Korean girl. After two nights I moved in to my host family. They are called ‘Oh’ and besides father and mother I also have two adorable siblings. The boy Sung (Tommy) is eight and the daughter Youn (Annie) is seven. They are just melting my heart by being so happy =). The family lives in an apartment in a cosy area and I have an own room there. The room is Korean style, meaning that it has no bed in it. For the night you roll a thin mattress on the floor and have a good night sleep there. The pillow is stuffed with some dried peas. And it’s surprisingly comfortable!

Matkaan...

Lauantaina 17. Helmikuuta 2007 aloitin siis vajaan puolen vuoden mittaiseksi suunnitellun vaihdon Souliin, Koreaan. Lensin eka Pariisiin josta otin Korean Airin lennon kohti Soulia ja pääsinkin jo Aasia-tunnelmiin kentällä Kiinalaisten, Korealaisten ja Japanilaisten joukossa. Koti-ikävä ei kuitenkaan päässyt iskemään, sillä lento olisi yhtä hyvin voinut olla Aurinkomatkojen lomalento Kanarialle. Korealaiset liikemiehet aloittivat ryypiskelyn saman tien, tosin sillä erotuksella, että Suomalaiset sentään odottavat tarjoiluvaunun tulevan kohdalle. Korealaiset kuitenkin juoksuttivat lentoemäntiä yksitellen hakemaan juuri haluamaansa olutmerkkiä. Lentoemojen lisäksi joukossa oli myös yksi stuertti, jolle oli tarjoilun lisäksi delegoitu hieman miehekkäämpiä tehtäviä, kuten käytävällä edestakas kävely kiireisen näköisenä, lentoemäntien toimien tarkkailu sekä liikemiesten neuvominen tietokonepeleissä. Jostain kumman syystä olin mennyt tilaamaan kasvisaterian joka osoittautui englantilaisen keittiön ja koulun ruokalan pohjalta inspiraation saaneeksi peruna-papu-riisi-mössöksi. No, onneksi mieltä lämmitti Korean Airin lahjoittamat villasukat…