Guess what I have been up to?

Aaaaah... it's always nice when I have a 'free' afternoon to do some 'homework' like cleaning, vacuuming and... updating a blog. I am already in my 4th week of Seoul and I must say, up till now everyday has been just as interesting as the day I just arrived. Except for the stomach ache of course.

Culture Club on Wednesday
No, this is not a fancy club somewhere in Ghent, Belgium as some of you might think ;p, but I joined a 문화 동아리 'cultural club' that gathers every Wednesday to do some Korean cultural things like visiting a museum, traditional folk villages and maybe there's a trip to the Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul very soon. I actually thought there would be a lot more 'activity' around that 'culture club', but basically it means that the teacher takes us out for an hour or 3 on Wednesday afternoon, after which we are free to stand and go wherever we want. The main reason for joining a club is to meet some people from other classes and to practice our Korean of course. Met some interesting people in that club, most of them were Chinese and Japanese.

Yesterday we went with the whole 'bunch' to the Korean Folk Museum and the Gyeongbok Palace 경복궁, but I think I am going to go there again one day, because I didn't have enough time to see everything at ease. It took us about 45 minutes to get there by subway, so there were only a 2 hours left on our schedule. I sometimes feel a little bit sad when I don't have enough time to visit everything. Anyway, I am here for another 2 months, so still lots of opportunity to go.
I was accompanied by a young Chinese guy - Zhou Fei - who's the same age as my younger brother. He's calling me 'noona' 누나 meaning 'older sister' all the time. I feel a bit strange, because my own younger brother and sister haven't been calling me 'older sister' for a long time :). His level of Korean is way much better than mine, but he's has been here for more than a year. By the time we got out of the museum, we lost track of the others of the group so we just wandered around the Palace area.

Around 6 he joined me to Myeongdong 명동, not for real shopping of course : I wanted to buy some Duc d'O Belgian chocolates at the Lotte Department Store - you can find all kinds of foreign products there, do you know they even sell Jules Destrooper and Lotus cookies there as a delicacy? - for the brother of my Korean teacher in the USA, because I was going to meet his family the next day. Because Zhou Fei never tried Belgian chocolates before, I bought a small box of Guylian seashelves.
We took the taxi back to Anam-dong and opened the box of chocolate to have a taste. I asked the taxi driver 아저씨 if he wanted to have a try too, and he didn't refuse at all :)). I was really happy to share some Belgian 'heritage' - hahaha - with Korean people. The ajeosshi really liked it so he took another one :)). Arrived at Anam-dong, I said goodbye to Zhou Fei and I bought myself a take away congee. Third time in a row.

And guess what : I WENT JOGGING IN THE EVENING
... yes I did. Most of you know I don't really do sports, except from a little bit of cycling on my folding bike in the USA and some hiking, some skating... but as for the rest, I think I am quite a lazy person as concerning sports. I especially don't like running, I prefer walking in stead. But because I don't like to go to an indoor gym and because of lack of other physic activities - except from finger exercises aka 'typing' - I convinced myself to have a try again.
The reason that I don't like running is because I remember being so exhausted once during that horrible 'Cooper Test' in high school and some other time during uni I had to run an estafet at 3 o' clock in the night resulting in lung ache because of the cold night air.
So, I just decided to give it a try again... And because Heli was going to show me the place where he was told to be a good running place. I must say, I don't know why I have been hesitating to start running again for so many years. Maybe one of those strange mind-twists of me again.
Hmmmm... it really felt great. Especially after the long hike of Saturday, I really wanted to do something more active besides window shopping in Seoul. Running really eases your mind and body. I felt myself reviving again after these few days of stomach ache and while looking at the lights of the surrounding apartments, I felt amazed by the beauty of a metropolitan city at night. Am I really here, right now, in Seoul?

Meeting with the family of 구 선생님
Today after class, I met with the family of my USA Korean teacher. My teacher asked me to take a present to her little niece who became 1 year last month : a very nice pink 'princess dress'. I met with my teacher's younger brother, his wife and child. They picked me up after class to have lunch together at some fusion Japanese restaurant. We ate some Californian sushi - yeah I know, I shouldn't be eating American style food here in Korea - salmon salad, a 'udon' noodle soup and they also ordered a very spicy kind of fried rice - that I skipped of course. Although my Korean is still at a very basic beginner's level, I do notice some improvements in my communication comparing to 3 weeks ago. So, I am glad that I go forwards :)). But still a lot to learn. The brother and sister-in-law of my teacher, and also their cute child, are very kind and warm people. Actually I find this of most Korean people. They invited me to come over some weekend to there house if I have more time. Yeah, I am looking forward to it. Another reason to be more motivated to speak Korean more :).

Today was a good day. The sun was shining, I transfered the present to my teacher's brother and my stomach is getting better. But still feeling some strange things stuck in it, or is it just because I am hungry all the time because I haven't been eating much lately except from the congee? Anyway, I am gradually going to leave my congee diet to have a less 'spicy' normal eating habit.

And talking about eating habits... last week, I tried something ... ehum... VERY STRANGE AND DIFFERENT... but that's for the next entry ;p.