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jfboy2000
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Name: Jeffrey
Country: Japan
Birthday: 5/18/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: Music, Languages, yosakoi, yosakoi soran
Expertise: none known
Occupation: Student
Industry: Other
Message: message me
Member Since:
11/5/2002
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| so, time for a short update on what's been going on in seoul, south korea.
first off, i just watched transformers with friends from my program, and that movie was CRAZY! the effects and cg animation were amazing, and just seeing another one of my childhood cartoons coming to life was awesome.
stay for some extra scenes at the end, too, btw.
the dorms here aren't great, but they're habitable. i have a roommate. he's leaving soon though. sometime this week or next week. i have AC, ptl. not that the heat's that bad. but then again, i wouldn't know cause i have ac. hehehe.
classes are looooooooong.
we have three 1 hour 40 minute classes. sometimes they go over.
the schedule is like this, monday through thursday.
9:10 a.m.~ 10:50 a.m. Current Issues in Korean Economy and Politics
11:05 a.m.~12:45 p.m. Culture and Society of Contemporary Korea
2:00 p.m.~3:40 p.m. East Asia: Democracy, Markets and Security
4:00 p.m.~ 4:50 p.m. Korean language class
5:00 p.m.~ 5:50 p.m. Korean language class
that's MONDAY through THURSDAY. crazy tiring.
friday is left for field trips and rest and catching up on reading.
and we have HUNDREDS of pages of reading to do. of course, no one's going to be able to get through it all, not unless they're a speed reader and are reading nonstop.
btw, i've been placed in the highest level of the korean language classes... interesting... it's only because i know how to write and spell though. my speaking and listening suck compared to the other korean-americans. but they say i have a good accent and pronunciation. yay ^^v
i went to kyoung-ju last weekend. it was fun. 24 of us had fun getting to know each other, on the bus and at the hotel. and the teachers paid for 2 hours of noraebang (karaoke) for us. that was cool.
last wednesday, the president of Seoul National University provided lunch for us. right before the lunch, at the beginning of the second period, one of the t.a.'s for the class comes up to me and tells me that i'm to make a welcome speech to the president.
i was like, "WHAT?"
anyways, long story short, i spent that entire period thinking about that "speech". i started out by writing in korean, but then got stuck on some formal stuff, so i ended up writing it in english and asked one of the t.a.'s to help me translate it. he did, and i tried to memorize it, but when the time came to recite it, i didn't have the confidence that i'd memorized it well, so i just ended up reading it from the paper.
when the lady introduced me for the speech, she told everyone that i had gotten a scholarship from the president of the university and that i had the highest gpa out of the entire group... which of course, led to everyone asking me what my gpa was later on. anyways, i got through the 1 minute speech without incident and retreated back to my little corner. hehe.
that was a very cool honor though. i didn't know why she wanted ME to give the speech until she introduced me for the speech. i just thought that i was the only president's scholar there. anyways, yeah.
oh and i found out that i beat out other berkeley students to get this scholarship. they didn't tell me that when i sent in my paperwork. i just sort of thought that i was a last resort and that they hadn't found anyone else who wanted to go... cool!
although now, it makes me feel like i have to study even MORE. i have to make myself worthy of this scholarship. egh. and i have to represent my school and protect its reputation. and also the reputation of the professors back at home. since this is the FIRST time that they're doing this and i don't want them to go next year and say, "egh, the berkeley student from last year wasn't so great. why should we give them another chance?"
that's how i'm thinking right now...
on another note, i went to two different churches already.
last week i went to sarang church. it was really cool, but i had to leave early cause my orientation was that day, too.
this past sunday (yesterday), i went to onnuri church. they were cool too, but i think i like sarang a little better.
i figure, since i'm in korea for only 7 weeks, i should go check out a bunch of different churches.
i want to go to yoido full gospel church next week.
these korean mega churches are crazy huge. it's cool, but intimidating and a little too commercialized, i feel. and impersonal. *shrugs*
ummmmmm... what else...
clubbox has 1 mb/sec download rates in korea! that's fast. i only get about 120 kbs rates in the u.s.
i think that's all for now...
i'll update again later.
mom, dad, ingrina, di > i love you guys and miss you all!
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| hey everyone.
just wanted to let everyone know that i'm safe in korea now. i'm at the campus using the internet. for some reason gmail's not working right now. i'll try it again later. but yes, i'm here and i'm safe!
it's hot and muggy. -___-"
till next time! | | |
| woohoo!!!
sorry, i want to celebrate a good semester. :D
Japanese 112 (Fifth-Year Japanese) A
Japanese 159 (Modern Japanese Literature) A
Korean 7B (Intro to Modern Korean Literature) A
Linguistics 55AC (American Languages) A
Music 142 (University Wind Ensemble) A
Absences:
Japanese 112 1
Linguistics 55AC Lecture 3
Music 142 1
Tardies:
Korean 7B Section 1
Japanese 159 2
Summer:
Seoul National University International Summer Institute (June 25 - August 4)
okay... i'm done. ^^;;
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| i was approached by two guys last friday while i was studying for my kanji test in dwinelle plaza. this was asuc election day at uc berkeley.
anyways, they were nice, and i assumed that they were from some christian group so i agreed to let them talk to me.
they said they were from some group that i had never heard of, but i know that there are a lot of christian groups at berkeley so i just sort of brushed that aside.
except that not once did they talk to me about God or about anything to do with christianity...
on the contrary, they asked me about my goals in life and my dreams and stuff.
they were nice, polite, easy to talk to.
they asked me for my phone number and i gave them my e-mail instead. then they left and i studied for my kanji test.
then today i get an e-mail from the one guy that talked to me. (his friend didn't say a single word. i thought maybe he was praying or something the whole time. *shrugs*)
and in his e-mail i see the word CARP, and so i look that up on wikipedia.
here's the link to the description from wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Association_for_the_Research_of_Principles
ANYWAYS, to make a long story short, it seems like they're some kind of cult. They don't seem to have bad principles, but their recruiting methods are sketchy to say the least. The whole time that i was talking with them I kept wondering what they were trying to get from me, what they were trying to invite me to, and what their beliefs are. but i got none of that.
i searched the UC Berkeley Office of Student Life site for their listing and they're not on there. which means that they're not approved. and this causes me to suspect that the two guys i talked with were NOT UC Berkeley students.
which in the end translates to me NOT responding to their e-mail, or to me just rejecting any invitations they might send me. :)
creepy though. i think this is the first time that i've been approached by a cultish group. O_O
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| CalTaiko.... WOW!
i'm impressed.
now, if we could get them to play for us while we do soran bushi or yosakoi dancing... that would be COOL!
then we could perform together and travel together and everything.
is that possible i wonder?? it'd be so cool if we could get that happening.
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