Time is going super fast.
It’s already been a month since Christmas, and there’s only a month left until we leave Korea.
We had our Midterm Exams two weeks ago, which took place over two days. The exams included Reading, Listening, Writing, and an individual spoken interview with our teacher, which lasted 10 minutes each! Definitely a little different and a little more intense than our assessments back home. I do really well in written situations, but they really emphasise speaking practice here, and I once again realised the importance of being able to think and communicate on the spot. When learning a language, it is important to use your language skills not just in the classroom but also outside in real life!
I also visited a PCbang – or internet cafe in Gangnam after class with some friends. We stayed for two hours, but it only cost 5,000 won = roughly $6.50! It was spacious, and the computers were fancy and expensive looking. I couldn’t think about how they would make much money with the hourly fee being so cheap – but then I ordered fried chicken (which was actually really yummy) at the computer for 10,000, and I realised that was why. Ordering food and drinks to be made and brought to you at the computer is definitely an experience I would pay for again.
In preparation for this year’s Lunar New Year of the Rabbit, and after hours of research for the nicest and most affordable designs – I got bunnies and carrots on my nails for this month!
There is so much choice for almost everything here, and because of the competition of all these businesses, the quality of what you get here is pretty decent. I’m a little worried I won’t be able to stop getting my nails done when I return to New Zealand.
Also, compared to my first visit to a nail shop in Korea, this time, I was able to converse with the technician a lot more – so it looks like my studying and practising are paying off! We talked about various things such as travel, the coronavirus, and the New Year holiday – of which she went into a lot of detail about what type of preparations are usually done for it! I learned that traditionally women would spend a few days making food such as Ddeokguk, Japchae, Bulgogi, etc., for the holiday – and that the men’s job in the family was to offer it/set the table. But she said that in some families, men have started helping more recently.
It felt like I got a Korean cultural lesson in a very unexpected place, which was fun.
Will update another time!
