This is not the end

My final day here in Korea is finally coming to an end.  I'm about to leave to head back to California.  These almost two months has passed by so fast.  It is definitely a bittersweet feeling.  I'm excited to see my family and friends back home but I'm so sad to leave all of the friends and family I made here in Korea.  There is so much I still want to talk about but no time.  Basically, my trip here to Korea has been one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.  I'm so glad that I decided to go and give the program a chance.  I've met so many people from all over the world and will miss them dearly.  I will especially miss all of the 형s (hyungs: older brothers) and 누 나s (noonas: older sisters) I've made on this trip.  They have been so kind and friendly to me throughout my whole stay here.  I can't even bring out the words to express the emotions I'm feeling right now.  I get very attached to older people that I see as an older sibling since I grew up with three younger siblings.  I will never forget my Summer here in Korea and would like to thank Dankook University and my school, CSULB, for this life changing opportunity.  For those of you that have been reading, thank you and hope you enjoyed my journey.  I'm definitely missing some things that I can't wait to tell any of you in person.  More pictures up on Facebook that will help show more of the end of my trip.  I hope to come back here again some time soon and travel to even more countries, so this is not the end.  Goodbye for now Korea, but we will meet again some day.  Redondo out!

Everland

Wow this week has gone by so fast.  My last full day here in Korea is tomorrow, so expect probably two more posts after this one.  The highlight of this week was Sunday when my friends and I went to Everland.  Remember my post in the past about Lotte World being the Disneyland of Korea?  Everland is actually a lot closer to being like Disneyland because of the name and the way the theme park is set up, for example Disneyland has Tomorrowland, Adventureland, etc., while Everland has Magic Land, Zoo-Topia, etc.  I would say however, that Everland has an edge over Disneyland because it offers more variety.  My friends and I said that Everland is a mixure of Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, and Six Flags with a hint of Soak City.  We were so lucky that the park was not too crowded that day compared to what we've heard.  

 Entrance to the park

My ticket.  Yay for foreigner discounts.  

Some buildings you'll see.  

A giant colorful tree with dolphins flying around it.   

Funny looking fellas.   

Me and my friends that went.   

Taking the lift to Zoo-Topia. 

Talyn and I in our lift. 

View from the lift.   

 First thing we saw getting off the lift.  I love polar bears but the first thing that came to mind was "why are they here?  It is too hot :( "

Caught the end of the bird show. Definitely showcases more birds than the show in San Diego.  At one point  the white birds pictures above, kept flying out from atop of the hill for such a long time.   

I like this picture of the bird presenter at work.   

One of the rides we rode, called T-Express which is a popular one and recommended by many of our students.   

Got to see lots of lions.  

No tigers, but lots of bears too. 

 T-Express closer up.

Going up the upcoming stairs is where we ate lunch, and on those same stairs is where the Summer Splash performance takes place.   

First some performers come out on stage and do their thing.  Then the water show begins where people sitting on the steps get sprayed from behind by mist once in awhile.  Later they wet everyone with the cannon looking things up front.   

Daniel and Talyn getting wet from the mist.   

Floats continuing the Summer Splash parade performance.  We were not expecting to get wet that day but once we got soaked from the cannon blasts, we decided to just go for it and have fun.  At the end of the performance, they spray the entire area in this picture with water from above and all around and everyone runs through it and plays "in the rain".  We definitely did and it was worth it.   

The set for one of the shows we watched.  It was sort of like Zoboomafoo where they showcased different kinds of animals.   

Korean Tarzan and Jane.   

Then at night, they have a light parade like at Disneyland and they turn off all of the street lights for a better effect.  I think all of the costumes that were worn were really interesting and designed well.  The music was also really nice.     

One of the many floats in the light parade.   

Then an hour and a half or so after the light parade, they have fireworks along with a performance involving the mascot of the park, like Mickey Mouse in Fantasmic for Disneyland.   

Really cool colorful flames.   

A giant phoenix robot that turned into many colors and is the savior/guardian of the park and in the performance.   

Now the phoenix is blue with sparks shooting out.   

One firework shot I like.   

 Statue in front of the stage.  

Overall I had an amazing time at Everland.  I would have to agree with my students in that it is better than Lotte World.  There is just so much more to do and experience.  Ah I'm so tired from sleeping late the past couple of nights so I will talk more about Everland later.  Stay tuned for the final posts.  Redondo out!

Some activities

Short post today.  Here are a couple more after school activities I got to do this past week.  You know from the last post that I got to play some traditional Korean instruments.  I also got to learn a Korean traditional dance but didn't get to take any pictures.  Anyway, this past week I got to make a traditional Korean fan and mask.

Here is the fan I painted.  There were four different styles of fans to choose from and I liked the way this one looked.  On the way over to the room, the first image that popped into mind was this.  I have no idea why but I liked it.  It's Pikachu in traditional Korean clothing called a hanbok, with Korean colored leaves dancing in the background, and Korean writing saying hello.  This fan style is really nice because it provides so much wind.     

Here is the mask I decorated.  There were two kinds of masks to choose from and I thought this one looked fun to design.  We used acrylic clay to paint the mask which was really cool to use.  It's little clumps of colorful clay that you place and spread on the mask and dries after an hour and a half or so.  You can also mix different clay to make a color you don't have just like paint.  The nice thing about the clay is that it is clean, unlike paint.  I feel that the texture of the clay adds more uniqueness to the mask instead of just using regular paint.  Most of us were rushed to finish because we spent a lot of time trying to think of colors to use and getting used to the clay.  Towards the end of the activity, I still had most of the top part and the mouth left to do so I just spread and mixed colors that came into mind right away to make sure I didn't have too much blank space.  Once we finished with the clay, the supervisors stapled black fabric on the sides of the mask.  In the end, I am satisfied with how it turned out.  

One more week left here in Korea and it is going to be a packed busy week.  Stay tuned.  Redondo out!

Two weeks left

As of today, I only have two weeks left here in South Korea.  I can't believe how fast the past four weeks here have flown by.  It's such a bittersweet feeling right now.  I'm excited to see my family and friends back in California again but bummed to leave this place and the new friends I've met.  Well, I'll just have to enjoy the next two weeks as much as possible.

I've done so much since the last time I updated so this post might be a little long.  Let's see, first up is my trip to an amusement park called Lotte World.

Here is my ticket to Lotte World.  It's kind of like the Disneyland of South Korea.  

Part of the inside portion of the theme park.  

A huge ice rink at the bottom of this place.

Stage for performances.  

At the outside portion of Lotte World.  See how its similar to Disneyland?  

The first ride we rode, called Atlantis.  These are just some random people though.  This ride was lots of fun and the beginning caught all of us off guard.  As it started to move forward, we had maybe five seconds of cheering and all of a sudden it was blast off.  We thought it was going to ease us into the ride but instead it just went all out.  Definitely recommend this ride to start off your day here.  

So many plushies to win from the claw machine.  We were here for such a long time. 

The parade at the inside portion of Lotte World.  The guy is the guy raccoon mascot of the park named Lotty.  The parade went on for a long time and my friends and I thought it was very interesting because when we think of South Korea, it's pretty conservative, but the dancers were all dancing half naked for the most part.  Just something that caught our attention.  

Some dancers.

More dancers.  Overall I had a good time at Lotte World.  Could have stayed longer but Krystal and I had other plans in the evening.  The rides we had the chance to get on were all lots of fun and we came on a good day that wasn't too hot and not too packed.  Next up is visiting our friend Seohyun's house.  

Seohyun is the guy at the top left making the peace sign next to his face.  Going right is his mom, dad, and younger sister Jun.  Seohyun was kind enough to invite all of us to visit his family and they are all such amazing people.  His parents are very friendly and caring people and we had some fun conversations with them like guessing everyone's age, to which sibling looked like which parent.  They fed us lots of delicious food that definitely filled us up.  

It was Jun's birthday two days after the day we visited and we brought a cake for her and the family to say Happy Birthday as well as thank you for having us over.  Jun was so funny when we tried to look at her and Seohyun's pictures from when they were younger.  She was so adamant about not having us see a specific photo album.   

After hanging out at the house for an hour or so, the family took us out for some bowling.  Here is team 1 with Jun, Krystal and Seohyun. 

Team 2 with Talyn and Christina.

Team 3 with Kevin and the parents.  This team was so good, especially Seohyun's dad.  

And team 4 with me, Anna and Daniel.  We had such a fun time with the family and they provided so much for us.  Hopefully we get to see them again before we leave and give them a huge thank you present.

Next up along the week was going to a bar called Doors.  One of my students, well noona now, is a bartender and we went to her friend's work place because the drinks are cheaper here.  It was really fun to see her mix drinks for everyone.  One of the coolest drinks she made was two shots that she put on fire.  My friends Tara and Kylie got the chance to try it.  We introduced the game King's Cup to my noona and her friend and they really enjoyed the game.  

Here is me with my first drink!  Just kidding, it was non-alcoholic.  

Next day out was with my friend Alex's cousin, one of the two from the time we visited his aunt.  He took us around Gangnam for lunch and more.  Here is where we ate for lunch. 

After that, we went to one side of the Han River where my friend's Christina and Krystal rented a bike for an hour.  My friend's Talyn and Kevin also rented one out but they left by the time I could take a picture. 

One view across the river.  

A dandelion of the Korean alphabet characters.  

Rode the bike for a little bit with Anna when Krystal and Christina came back.  

From left to right: Alex's cousin, Ales, Daniel and Krystal.  

Ended the day with Alex's cousin with some drinks.  We played lots of drinking games and Alex's cousin is hard core.  When someone loses and takes the drink from the center bowl, they get to fill it up with as much as they want for the next person that loses whatever game we play.  Alex's cousin pours more than half of the bowl, which is way more than anyone else pours.  The cousin's fiance came to join us later and she's just as hard core as him.  He even said that she can out drink him which was mind blowing to us.  Do you guys like Krystal's hat?

Next up is haircut day.  My friends and I went to this place called Juno Hair for a Korean styled haircut.  It was pretty expensive but the workers were very nice.  You can't really tell what my hair looks like here but it was pretty cool.  

Here is a more recent event that happened two days ago.  This was an after school activity called Korean Traditional Music.  The people that went to this activity got to listen to multiple performances.  

The drummer that accompanied the flute player pictured above.  

String instrument called the Gayageum. 

This guy was a very good singer and entertainer. 

She was a very good singer, having to make sure her voice was heard with five instruments being played behind her.  

These four did the most interesting and up beat/full of energy performance that had lots of different kinds of rhythm going on.  

Got to play the Janggu.  

Also got to play the Gayageum.  

Yesterday I got new glasses along with Krystal, Alex and Anna.  How do I look?  They say I look more studious.  

Then me, Krystal, Alex, Anna and Daniel went to the Seven Luck Casino which is only for foreigners.  It was really fun getting to play the slots for the first time.  Too bad we couldn't take pictures inside though.

So you can see it was a pretty packed week but filled with lots of fun.  Sorry I don't really go into too much detail or description, not very good at typing all of that out, but definitely can if I speak to you about it in person.  Man it is so hot today.  Alright, stay tuned for more.  Redondo out!