I think, more than anything else, the first weeks in Korea have broadened my taste horizons. I'm tasting so many new things, some gross (cold tea with corn), some weird (makkoli/rice wine), and most of them delicious. I'm starting to get a taste for kimchi. I'm even trying regular things I normally avoid – beer, coffee, mushroom, pumpkin... Koreans do things with egg which I've never seen before, but so wonderful.
Nothing so far has managed to kill me.
It's great.
The credit card thing isn't getting solved at the moment – both my bank and the credit card company claim there's nothing wrong. Alas, the card is refusing co-operation ("LOL u has no mony" – should probably have known better :D). But, I've opened a bank account here, and I've made an express transfer from my Finnish account, and I hope it's going to be here soon.
Today, I've made my alien registration so as of September thirteenth, I'm officially an alien. Wohoo! After that, I have to figure out a mobile phone deal that doesn't bankrupt me in the short or the long term... Also, I already have a homework assignment for next week, because I'm an idiot. It's for the Korean History course, and I volunteered to be the first one to write a review on an article (because no one else wanted to – why does this seem so familiar?), and it's due on Wednesday night. And I have to present it on Thursday. Scary... I've never really studied history, so I have no idea if I can make any kind of an argument.
On a positive note, once I'm done, I don't have to do it again and can just watch everyone else squirm. Happily, there's no final exam on the history class, just a final paper.
I'm feeling a bit iffy about the Art Criticism course – it seems like a lot of reading and writing. The Korean language courses are fun so far. The first one, Beginner's Korean, is taught by a lady who could be a elementary school teacher, she's so sweet and funny, and doesn't speak a whole lot of English. The teacher in Colloquial Korean speaks really good English, and she's a good teacher, but also much more strict. It's like moving from first grade class to ninth grade all in one.
All in all, I'm still enjoying pretty much everything, although I think I need to look for a cheaper room than this one. I can manage, but between paying a lot of rent for a room much bigger than I actually need, and being able to spend it doing nice things with people, it's no competition really. I might see if I can get an "A-type" room next month – it's pretty much just a bed, a desk and a cupboard, but I'm not sure I actually need anything more.
A kitchen – any kind of kitchen – would be nice, though. Here we just get hot and cold water from the hallway, and there's a microwave in the laundry room.
Well, my brain just froze completely, I guess that's a sign to get off the computer, have a shower and head to bed. Long day tomorrow.
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