Okay, so I've got 10 minutes until our RA will stop by our room to a) make sure we are all there and b) to give us the info for the next day's activities. These meetings are every night at 11pm . . . which means you have to stay up until 11pm, or if you fall asleep, you have to get back up. I've been choosing the former option in order to not drive myself insane.
Today was the first day of lectures, and in the morning we had a crash course in Korean language and writing. It was fascinating, but about halfway through my brain reached its saturation point and I couldn't learn any more . . . but we kept going, and my poor language learning partner was trying to not go crazy when I asked her "Are you Korea?" (as in, the country) instead of "Are you Korean?" (as in, the nationality)(that little 'n' on the end can make such a difference).
After that, in the afternoon, there were ice-breaking activities, such as smashing and eating as much watermelon as possible, pushing people on little plastic carts, and trying to get as many people into a Polaroid photo as possible (sounds easy, isn't, especially when the camera is NOTHING like you would expect it to look like).
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I didn't write much before the meeting. Now I'm writing in between working on posting photos on Facebook. Where was I? Oh yes. The games today. The ice-breakers were okay, but our team didn't do well, and won only one out of five activities. The prizes were more or less the same if you won or lost, everyone ended up with Korean snack food.
After that I went back to the room and had planned on just relaxing until dinner, until someone said that they were going to the COEX Mall with some other students, and we could all go if we wanted. As it is, the group just kept growing and growing and we eventually split up into a group of 12 and ventured forth on the subways and buses and whatnot. Seoul has an EXTENSIVE transport system that I don't even dare begin to attempt on my own . . . our Korean guides are invaluable.
The COEX Mall is HUGE and very modern. We stopped into a store that had tons and tons of cutesy little things (imagine generic Hello Kitty on any accessory imaginable). Pill cases, folders, notebooks, pens . . . all with adorable graphics. I got a planner featuring (what I think is) an adorable cat figure. I don't know the name or line of the product, but I think it's neat. It also has some English phrases on it to make it "cool," but a cursory examination of the sentences makes me think they're a little out there. I'll to examine them later to see if my impressions are correct. We also stopped at a bookstore, where I got a children's book featuring (once again) a cat family. The Korean girls with us said that the book is part of a series, the first book so popular that the author decided to write some more. It's also been made into a TV series that is popular with little kids. I was going to get a book in Korean that I already know or that I know the library has (like Pinkalicious, which I did see), but then I decided it would be better to just get something brand new and not bring back American culture just translated into Korean.
We stopped in the huge food court to get some dinner, and though I wasn't hungry, a Korean girl offered to share some of her supper with me, and it did hit the spot. The soup and rice had a tiny sliver of beef in it, and what surprised me was how EXACTLY it tasted like my grandmother's roast beef. Maybe that's just because I haven't had roast beef in over a year, or maybe I just got lucky.
We then went to the COEX Aquarium, which is more like an aquarium / interactive art exhibit / zoo. There were all kinds of animals, not just fish, and some really bizarre aquariums in one part. And some fun-house mirrors.
Then was the adventure back, which involved 2 buses and 2 subways. The subways are exceptionally clean, and the buses surprisingly bumpy and hard to maintain balance on. But that might have just been the lack of motor control I had after that much walking and at that degree of exhaustion.
It's nearly midnight here, and I got up at 6am this morning (not intentionally, my body clock is just terrible confused). I think it's time for bed . . .
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