Pre- and Post-Dokdo

Before I left for Dokdo, on thursday Nov. 10t, I attended a traditional Korean music performance at the 국립국악원 (National Center for the Korean Traditional Performing Arts). My music professor was actually one of the composers/people who brought back life into the old archaic/damaged pieces so it was pretty cool to see her work performed live. The announcer was very charismatic and funny and was giving away prizes during the show. I won a prize in a really funny way; we made eye contact while he was walking around the stage and he ran up to me excitedly, saying, "WOWWWW YOU KNOW KOREAN!?" When I nodded and laughed we had a short conversation and he gave me a CD of various songs performed on a Korean instrument called 가야금 (Gayageum, sort of like a dulcimer?) including Hey Jude (and 3 more Beatles songs!), some Russian pieces, and of course some traditional Korean pieces. It was really fun and I had a good time. I brought my friend Christine along (the one who had taken me to that unintelligible Shakespeare performance) but I felt like she was really awkward being the only outsider among my classmates, and when I invited her to eat with us afterward she just said no and had to leave. I'm not sure what was up but I tried to be as polite as possible. Anyways, afterward I met my friend Julia afterward for 치맥 (chicken and beer) and we had girl talk time for about 2 hours. It was fun and not too expensive. I will refrain from dwelling on the food.

The following Friday was Pepero Day!!! 11/11/11~!! YAY! I know I've already explained it in an earlier post so I won't rave too much but I received and gave and consumed SO much Pepero that day and it was delicious and exciting and everything I wanted it to be. There were tons of cute couples in the streets giving each other handmade and store-bought pepero, pepero dolls, pepero baskets, giant hearts made of pepero, etc. It was very festive, hyper-commercialized, and everything a pseudo-Valentine's Day should be.

Anyways, after I went to Dokdo, I returned quite tiredly and just sort of threw my stuff around my room haphazardly and went to sleep. I was totally worn out.

Honestly after that my days were pretty much just doing a lot of schoolwork to prepare as exams came around. There were a few things that stood out though.

One night as I was coming home from work I got a call from my roommate who was telling me that her Korean conversation buddy, Johnny, was in our room and that my freshly-done pile of laundry sitting on my bed was a huge embarrassment. I was supremely mortified because I knew for a fact that all of my undergarments were sitting out in a big pile near the foot of my bed, so I shrieked and told told her to hide them. There was a break in the conversation and all of a sudden her conversation buddy was on the phone too.

"Hello, I am-uh Taylor conversation partenuh Johnny, nice-uh to meet you," came the voice. I was totally mortified and was about to blurt out something like "DON'T LOOK AT THE FOOT OF MY BED!" but I just responded with a greeting and attempted to compose myself.

"아~ 안녕하세요. 저는 Janet입니다...반갑습니다..." [*awkward tone* Oh, hi, I'm Janet, nice to meet you...]

"우아! 한국말잘해요!! Taylor보다 아마 잘 하군요!" [Whoa you speak Korean well, probably better than Taylor!!]

*Taylor yelling at him in the background*

"Hahaha ah, no, don't be mean!"

"Taylor is mad at me I think. *laughs hysterically as Taylor continues to scold him*"

[awkward silence from me because I have no idea why Taylor put him on the phone]

"Anyways, so, I saw your picture, Taylor show it to me."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, you blonde pretty girl." *giggle*

"Oh! Uh...oh! Uhmmm thanks!" *did he seriously just giggle?*

"You very welcome. Here to talk to Taylor." *pass phone*

My only thought about that conversation is to point out to you dear readers that in this country, before I am pretty, I am blonde. Apparently that is the most outstanding feature of mine. This is not a single isolated incidence. Remember the dude that told me I looked like Scarlett Johannson? There have been a lot of Korean guys who have hit on me and literally the first or second thing they try to say they like about me is my "blonde" "yellow" "gold" hair.

The thing is, I'm not even blonde. My hair color is a mixture of blonde, brown, and red. There is no name for it, and people will never agree on it.

But I'm not blonde!

Anyways, that was that.

Another thing that was interesting about my few weeks Post-Dokdo was the Yonsei Annual Foreigner Singing Competition! WOOO!! Basically the premise is that if you're a foreigner, you select a Korean-language song and come try out for fabulous prizes! (1st prize-$500, 2nd prize-$300, 3rd-$200, and 4th-$100)

I entered along with about 70 or 80 other applicants and the tryouts were on Friday November 25th. It was nerve-wracking because one of the judges was from YG, one from SM, and one some big important professor of music dude. (YG and SM are recording companies in Korea, as an explanation to people who are confused right now about why I would care.) I was freaking out but I sang relatively well. About half an hour after the tryouts they sent out an email to the people who were accepted - one of them was me, which was pretty exciting, but the thing that shocked me the most was that out of the 70~80 who tried out, only 10 were selected. When I showed up the next week on December 2nd I realized how VERY steep the competition was. They really had picked the best of the best, and I felt like I was in a very low range in comparison, which scared me a lot.

I drew number 5 for the competition order, which means I came right before the intermission.

My performance started out a little rough as I was nervous, but a lot of my friends came to see me (thanks, Ian Ken Josh Dayoung Bomi Monika Vy and more) and they shouted a lot of encouragement at the beginning so at least I didn't faint. Ken really got me because he whisper-shouted "MAKE US BELIEEEVE!" right before my song began so I almost started my song by giggling. The song is by a boy group called 2AM and its title is 웃어줄수없어서미안하다 (I'm sorry I can't smile for you) so starting a sad breakup ballad by giggling is probably bad form. Anyways, I finished the performance strong and was happy with how I did.

Unfortunately, I am still working on my Korean capabilities and my pronunciation tips a little bit when I'm singing because I'm used to singing in English, so I lost points there, and I also lost points because I do this awkward nervous swaying thing when I sing in front of people, and so I lost points for confidence, too. When the results came out it reflected that, and although I was happy with my performance, I didn't win any of the prizes. The one thing that does make me feel proud, though, is that all of my friends told me that my singing ability was much better than the girl who got the 4th place prize, and that they all thought I deserved it instead of her. Oh well, the consolation prize was this really awesome blue velvet blanket that makes me feel like a princess whenever I use it, and Bomi and Dayoung brought me flowers!! So sweet.

I guess I'll have to work on my pronunciation and charisma for if there's ever another singing competition.

The woman who won first was some 40-year-old lady from China. No one even knew why she was in the competition. Guess she takes some classes at Yonsei or something. We were all pretty confused, but she was a great performer so I guess it was okay.

Oh, I forgot to mention. After the contest tryouts on the 25th I attended a Yonsei choir concert, which was great. They performed Mozart's Coronation Mass and then some Gospel and some Pop songs. They finished with a Beatles' medley which was hilariously entertaining because they had a really cute and funny dance to go along with it.

After the choir concert I went out with a bunch of friends of mine to Hongdae at this club called I<3KPOP (great name, I know) where I met a bunch of really funny Korean dudes and had to be rescued by my friend Andrew multiple times by the overly-aggressive ones (one of them really liked my "yellow hairs"). One dragged me over to his table and literally tried to pour alcohol into my mouth and I was like whooooa dude, who says I'm drinking tonight? And when I walked away he tried to follow me around for like half an hour. Another boy tried to get me to take Jager bombs and I was so annoyed at that point that I just sighed, shoved him, and went back to find my friends Amy and Angel (usually I'm polite and say no thank you but seriously it went too far, especially when he tried to convince me by saying "please but you are cute to me and sexy to me so please drink with me - how swagless). It was really fun.

The next morning I got up at around ten or so and had breakfast with Ken, Quinn, Brian, Andrew, and Allen at a nice Japanese place and then we hopped onto a bus to go to 춘천 (Chuncheon) to try Korea's best 닭갈비 (Dalk galbi - like spicy grilled chicken with vegetables). It was delicious and totally worth the 2 hour commute to get there.

Anyways, that's about it. Right now we're entering exam period and I'm freaking out only a little bit this time. I don't think it's hit me that I'm actually finishing up my first semester in Korea. I received my semester extension approval yesterday so I'm REALLY excited to start my spring semester! I'll be back in America for a little while before returning in February hopefully.

Anyways, I'll write again some time soon. I have 5 Korean language tests, a Korean-Japanese Relations paper and a final, and a cinema final, so I'll be studying my butt off but I'd love to hear from you guys in the following weeks!

Love you bunches!

xo,

Janet