somedaysoko
Live + Learn
Applying to teach English in South Korea through the Fulbright program for the 2015-2016 year. My mind runs A LOT, and this is where I spew it. All things Korean (mainly) and traveling, with a sprinkle of personal interests and quips.
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Note
How do I make notes to study Korean or what kind of layout for learning Korean words and phrases on notecards?
Hello~
What kind of resources I am using affect how I make my notes.
In general I don’t like writing in textbooks so I can re-sell them later. However, I make an exception for my Korean textbooks. I would encourage people to use heaps of highlighting and small notes to themselves in a physical textbook if they have one.
(Example of a dialogue section in my textbook)
( Example from the grammar section - still have notes but not as much the dialogue section)
There are a lot of times when I don’t use a physical textbook, so I keep a little notebook.
Roughly I split it into three parts;
Grammar - I will dedicate a page for each new grammar point;
Vocab - new vocab + example sentences;
Sentences - random sentences I found interesting and other things that don’t fit elsewhere.
(Example of grammar page)
(Example of vocab page)
(Example of sentences page)
And finally, of course not all your notes will be ‘pretty’ I often use scrap pieces of paper to think through ideas. Also, I have messy notes from my Korean class as I try to quickly get down what the teacher says.
In conclusion, it depends on the resource your using and what you like personally. Definitely not a ‘right’ way of doing it.
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First Day in Korea
The first day in Korea was mental.
I landed around 2 and made it through customs by about 2:30 pm. Thankfully my new American roommate was there and helped me buy a ticket (Bus #6002 for 10,000 ₩). We also manged to meet up with another girl from a group chat and were able to finally head on our way.
Korea was humid. Think Mexico kind of humid. And beautiful. More beautiful than I imagined. The pillars outside the airport were covered in vines and the architecture played with a lot of modern designs and shapes I had never seen before.
The bus ride was over an hour long but it felt like 15-20 minutes. From the Bus stop we walked about 15 minutes up then downhill to ewha. Which is a trek let me tell you. Korea is famous for it’s hills but I didn’t expect this kind of incline whatsoever, and the walking paths can be very narrow. Thankfully my roommate was there to help me out. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. We got a lot of strange looks on the way.
We eventually made it to our dorm Samsung International House where we dropped off my suitcases. I was welcomed by this lovely sight.
A good mixture of Korean and American goodies and a hand painted sign.
My roommate is a sweet heart.
Then we went down to the basement floor/seminar room to pick up my building key card, fix the wi-fi situation (get them to help you, because your old password and log-in won’t work), and my dorm packet.
Included inside:
Map of Ewha
Cafe/Cafeteria/Convenience Store Map
Resident Handbook (that I still haven’t read oops…)
They were really sweet and helpful, but at that point we were exhausted and just wanted to unpack. I’ll write a full post on our room situation later, but for some very specific reasons we actually had to make a stop at the local Daiso (다이소). Where we together spent 85,000₩. I know… Don’t ask. A lot/most of it it was cleaning supplies and scent neutralizers. We won the lottery there…. But AFTER we were able to unpack and sort through everything which felt so relieving. Then we freshened up and went for our first “meal” in Korea.
Shaved Strawberry and Vanilla Icecream from Baskin Robbins (Song Joong-ki is everywhere here). We were originally looking for Bingsu but this seemed like a good alternative for price and distance from our university. The cakes there were really pretty too.
Then we walked around the main street a bit and went to a local artbox to buy a new charger for my phone and check out fan prices. Heads up to everyone out there. Don’t make the same mistake my roommate did. She spent around 18,000 ₩ on our tiny little metal fan, but you can buy the same fan from the Stationary store in ECC for half the price. The Stationary store isn’t always the cheapest option but for this it definitely was.
And that concludes our first day! My next post will be a tour/introduction of our room.
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Probably gonna bake black bean brownies and draw my first mandala to keep my mind from exploding.
Less than 24 hours...
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OH LAWD... It's TRUE!!
My Fulbright advisor just emailed us the same thing... We find out in TWO DAYS if we're in the final round!!!
Brb throwing up....!!!!!
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Someone JUST posted on Gradcafe that they heard we'd hear back about Fulbright THIS FRIDAY?!
Odd, it'll be the earliest notification date in the past five years.... But OMG.
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It's so hard to have a chunk of change sitting in your savings.
It'd be nice if I had some of it to spend... But i don't.
And I'm about to be out of a job in a few weeks... Excellent.
I'm just waiting to see if I'm even a finalist in January. *sigh*
If I am... Then hold on to my dough I shall... Because I'll be trying to get my passport and visa.
I need a steady joooob... AND TRANSPORTATION!!!
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Change of plans...
I may wait to get my passport.
I'll wait until I hear that I'm a finalist.
BUT, I will get all of my paperwork together. And triple check everything one hundred times to make sure the passport process won't be delayed when I DO apply for it. That's what I've currently been doing. It's hard when you don't have a car and are trying to keep this all a secret from your family.
Plus if I don't get it, that $135 can be used toward a camera, and/or tripod, and/or clothes shopping FINALLY, and/or new piercings and/or tattoos.
I think this is the smartest move. I dunno when I'll ever be able to get a job again after this. Life's complicated.
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All or nothing.
I'm debating if I should get my passport now. We NEVER travel, and I'm so low on funds and ways to even FIND a way to grow in life that I don't think I'll be traveling willy nilly anytime soon. But if I wait, I'll have to pay over $70 extra for the speedy transaction (and it's been said services get slower from January to March or so). I'm not gonna say if... I'm saying WHEN I get chosen for this amazing opportunity... I'll be prepared. I'm going to get my passport now. Because it will happen. I'm speaking it into existence.
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Hey! I looked into it further, and apparently they usually DO have it all together, but last year about 15 Fulbright grantees didn't have a home stay cause there weren't enough schools to host and connect with a home stay. This is where I read about it: http://shainasouthkorea.tumblr.com/post/95107323629/t-minus-18-hours
But that's great that they work so hard to make sure everything's situated for you to settle in--even if it's an apartment!
Whoa whoa... A home stay OR apartment?!
I’m just now reading that some Fulbright ETAers didn’t get home stays… So what? Did Fulbright pay for them to have an apartment then?
What a twist! That’s exciting either way! Especially if you don’t have to worry about the apartment bills.
…. Do you??
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Whoa whoa... A home stay OR apartment?!
I'm just now reading that some Fulbright ETAers didn't get home stays... So what? Did Fulbright pay for them to have an apartment then? What a twist! That's exciting either way! Especially if you don't have to worry about the apartment bills. .... Do you??
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The gamble...
I'm so worried about getting all my documents by the time I find out I'm accepted into the program to teach English in South Korea for 13 months...
I have NOTHING. No visa, passport... Nothing. I'm just trying to save money right now, because it looks like I'll have to do as much express as possible. Especially if I'm gonna ask friends to help me run those errands.
And I NEED to apply for that FBI background check, cause it can take up to THREE MONTHS to receive it back.
And Fulbright leaves up to you to get all of this done. *siiiiiiigh* I'm scared.
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The spiciest thing I'll happily eat is Franks hotsauce.
Which by my Korean friend's standards, was equivalent to pouring water over my food.
Glad I can find lists, haha.
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