Sad news. Northwestern football college RandyWalker passed away of an apparent heart attack yesterday. I will never forget the Michigan-Northwestern game in the fall of 2000, where we scored with :28 seconds remaining to win the game 54-51. It was one of the funnest, most memorable experiences of my college life. Thanks Coach Walker.

Today was the last day of class! Yay! I'm moving out of the dorm on Sunday, and on Monday I start my internship at the Constitutional Court of Korea. Wooo.

On Wednesday our class took another field trip. First, we went to the Seoul High Court, where we took a tour and then met the Presiding Judge. We also got to sit in the criminal court room and observe part of a negligent homicide trial! It was awesome. Next, we went on a tour of the Prosecutor's Office, and met the Prosecutor General of Korea (equivalent of the attorney general). Last, we went to the Supreme Court of Korea, and got to have a Q&A session with one of the justices. All in all, it was pretty great to see all the courtrooms and meet all those people-- I met a supreme court justice! How cool is that?

Now that Korea is out of the World Cup, I've decided to root for England. Why? Well, I visited London in the winter, so there's one reason. Also, I dig a team that doesn't play that well, but somehow still manages to win. And then there's Beckham. I love BenditLikeBeckham. So I like him too. :) GO ENGLAND!

I can't believe I've been here over three weeks. Time flies!

Hello Hello. Not much been going on lately. Hanging out with relatives, relaxing, enjoying my last week of classes before the internship starts. I'm really excited yet intimidated about my internship, so fingers crossed!

This past weekend I stayed at my aunt's place, and hung out with family. Ate at TGI Friday's on Saturday night, where I had fajitas... and they served a side of kimchee. Not something you see in the States. But pretty awesome.

Right now I'm on an ice cream diet. When I get here, I eat ice cream bars like crazy. I'm limiting myself to twice a week. Unfortunately, on Saturday I had 3 and on Sunday I had 1. Ooops. So no ice cream this week, to make up. Daaangit.

My skin is starting to go nuts. I'm breaking out, and this crazy rash/irritation thing is on my lips, making them all red and gross. It happens whenever I come to Korea, probably a food or water reaction kind of thing, but this time it's happening later than usual. Either way, it's gross-o.

Nothing much is really going on. I havent' gone on any exciting adventures, and haven't done much tourist stuff. I guess because this is my third time here in four years, there's not much tourist stuff I want to do, and I'm trying to not spend too much money, so shopping is out. I guess I'll wait and do it all when Sarah gets to town!

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days/weeks:

My cousin Hyera and her six month old little girl... with the Beckham hair!














McDonald's in MyungDong, pre WorldCup loss. Go Reds!














Saw this restaurant on the street... Barbecue Chicken & Magic Concert! What the...??!














A different cousin's kid, hanging out, chewing through the plastic wrap to get to the rice cakes. He is such a mischevious little boy. It's awesome.














Some of the ladies of my program.

Special birthday shout out to little sister Sarah, who turned 23 yesterday! Happy Birthday baby!

SO BUMMED.

Got up at 4AM (well, sorta. I laid down on the couch and drifted in and out through most of it) to watch the Korea-Switzerland game.

That last goal?? LAME

France winning?? LAME

Not advancing to the round of 16?? LAME

This was probably the last hurrah for some of my favorite players. Sad. But I still think they played well overall, and did us proud. Go DHMK!!

What's been going on in the motherland lately? Let's see....

I was sick. Boo.
Yesterday was rough. Sunday afternoon I went to my cousin's place in Bundang, and hung out at her big ol' apartment and played with her cute adorable baby. During dinner I started feeling sick. Really sick. And then I started feeling achey, and really cold. I made it back to my aunt's place, got disgustingly sick, and then passed out at 9 pm. I think it was food poisoning or something. NOT FUN.

Needless to say, I did not drag my ass out of bed at 4AM to watch our beloved DaeHanMinKook soccer team play France. However, I was woken up at 5:30 when the entire apartment building, and entire neighborhood erupted into cheers. I got out of bed to see that the awesome ParkJiSung had scored the tying goal. Yay Korea! And then I went back to sleep for a couple hours.

Field Trip
Today for class we took a field trip to the Constitutional Court of Korea. It was SO interesting to see the differences between the US and Korea, and realize that most of Korean law has been made and decided in the last 60 years, and most constitutional law in the past 20 years. We got to talk to some of the researchers, a deputy chief of something or other, and see the big ol' courtroom.

I'm all growns up!
Today I had dinner GelaPark, and we had a great time catching up, filling each other in on what's been going on, reminiscing. Anyways, at one point we were talking about growing up, how we've changed etc, and I asked her if she thought I looked different from college- because I don't think I've changed all that much. According to her, I look pretty much the same, except a little more grown up, and now I'm better groomed. It kind of sounds like I'm a poodle, but when I think about it, I really was a total schlub in college. Jeans and a t shirt pretty much every day (and it was usually baggy jeans and a baggy t shirt). On a good day I brushed my hair, but usually it was pulled back in a ponytail or braid (actually, that hasn't changed much). Never wore makeup, unless you count chapstick. So if you think I'm kinda grungy/casual now, you should have seen me in college. Ah, the good ol' days.

Silly Girl
Today I went to the basement to do laundry and brought down my Korean-English dictionary with me to look up what the buttons on the laundry machine meant. The dorm cleaning lady was downstairs, and she just laughed at me and showed me what things meant. Silly foreignor. Dictionaries are for kids.

This weekend I went to the beach! We went to a place called MaLiPo, a beach town on the western shore of Korea. It was so gorgeous. The president of the university invited us and allowed us to the use the school's condo that overlooked the beach for "membership training"- also known as MT, also known as drink and eat until you want to pass out.

Last night we ate at this restaurant overlooking the water and ate amazing seafood. Sea slugs, fish, mussels, octopus, the freshest sashimi i've ever had, crab.... it was AWESOME. How fresh was the seafood? Well for one thing, when they served the octopus, it was STILL MOVING. I was a little freaked out, but then I figured, hey, when in Rome.... So yes. I ate moving, writhing octopus. And it was DELICIOUS. After dinner we had drinks and snacks. Good times.

So I've rediscovered this week my love for Korean snacks and desserts. Korean ice cream? Delicious. I also ate sticky walnut pancakes, walnut and red bean in a cinnamon dough, roasted chestnuts, fried octopus... the list goes on. I'm going to gain a gajillion pounds here.

Today I saw..... a chicken man. He was a delivery guy for chicken restaurant. He was wearing a chicken helmet. And a chicken outfit. And was on a chicken motorcycle. And while he was driving by, he looked at me and Alana through the chicken helmet and held our bewildered gazes as he drove by. We had a moment. A chicken moment.

Some pictures from the last couple days:

Watching the Korea/Togo soccer game.














Me in front of NMC, the hospital my mom went to nursing school and trained at! I just happened to pass by it walking through Seoul. If it weren't for this place, I might not have been born-- if mom hadn't become a nurse, and then moved to the states, and then married dad and brought him to the states, then no hannah/philip/sarah. So yay NMC!














My friend Jessica and I, happy to be at the beach.














The army guys were carrying rafts and singing silly songs on the beach.














Just some of the yummy foods at dinner.














Jessica and I standing in front of... something. We weren't quite sure what it was.















That's it for now!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days:

Me. Inside of a duck.



















My cousin's little boy! He's adorable. And a handful!

The street outside my great aunt's house, with a different cousin's kid.

My great aunt's house.

My dorm room! You can't really tell, but it is SO NICE. It has a computer, a fridge, a microwave, big ol' closets, a bathroom, a sink and stove, a tv. I love it.



















I started class on Monday, and so far it's been really interesting. Classes so far have been taught by the presiding judge of the high court, a former district judge, a professor of law etc. Today we went to the Judicial Research and Training Institute, where all lawyers who have passed the bar exam (last year 1000 passed out of 17000) train and learn.

As for fun... been downtown a couple times, to the little riverwalk area. It was really nice. Watched the game on campus, which meant a lot of screaming college students around. I might watch the next world cup game at city hall... CRAZY! I heard there were over a 100,000 people there last time. Today I went to Itaewon and bought some stuff, and then to this big ol' bookstore and got my nerd on. Bought three books- an action/adventure, a chick lit, and a mystery. Can't wait to read them!

Got my grades back. Let's just say I GOT ROCKED. Law school owns me. Seriously, what was the point of studying when I did that terrible? I might as well have just played and watched tv. Instead, I studied my ass off and got nowhere. Booo. Quitting law school sounds really good right now. After I finish my summer here :)

Ok. I'm off. Tomorrow I'm going to the beach. Woooo.

Hey hey! My second post from Korea. Cool.

Anyways, it's been a fun, tiring couple of days. Thursday I spent the day window shopping with one of my cousins. We went to a couple of crazy shopping areas, where the sales people harass you in the name of being attentive. The whole time I kept thinking- man, Sarah would love this place. I, on the other hand, have very little patience for shopping and searching, so after a while all the shoes/purses/clothes started looking the same. Yesterday I met up with one of my cousins and her adorable son, and then ate dinner at this crazy delicious dumpling place. Also went to my great aunt's place. She lives in this 100 year old house in the older part of Seoul, where all the rich intellectuals used to live. It's a really awesome place, straight out of a historical Korean drama. Pictures to come later.

Jet lag. Man, jet lag sucks. I get reaaaally sleepy around 7 or 8 pm, when it's 3 or 4 am California time. I force myself to stay awake until around 11, and then I usually wake up at 6 am (2pm california time) and force myself back to sleep until around 7:30 am. I think it's getting better though. Another couple of days and I'll be fine.

Whenever I go to Korea, I feel very fat and homely. The girls here are so dainty and skinny, and wear cute outfits and shoes all the time. On the other hand, I'm comfortable in my scrubby clothes, and I really enjoy food. So I'm probably happier.

The cell phone technology in America pales in comparison to here.

Alright. Peace out.

Greetings from the Motherland!

I left yesterday (yesterday? two days ago? something like that) at around 1:15. It was a pretty uneventful flight. Watched Glory Road (i love inspirational sports movies), Nanny McPhee (eh.), and Eight Below (they should have made the whole thing about the dogs). Slept the last thirty minutes of the 12 hour flight. Man, it really is brutal flying to Korea. Anyways, arrived at 5:30 pm Wednesday in Seoul, and after a slight mix up, finally ended up at my cousin's place at around 8:30.

Woke up this morning at 5am, forced myself back to sleep until I finally got up at 7:30. I predict it'll take me about a week to adjust.

Soooo... I'm in Seoul. It's hot and humid. And rainy today. I wasn't really excited until I was on the bus from the airport to my cousins, and realized-- hey! I'm in Korea!

The thing I really hate about my relative's houses-- the showers. The bathroom have a tub, with no curtains or stalls. Water ends up getting everywhere. It's okay, because there's a drain on the floor of the bathroom, but somehow I end up also getting water on the mirrors, on the toilet, on the towels, etc. I am just unskilled at showering neatly.

Tomorrow I have to wake up at 5:00 am to register for classes. AWESOME.

Gonna go find some food now. Peace out.

Leaving for Korea in about 12 hours. Perhaps I should finish packing. Hehe. I have one suitcase for my stuff, and one entire suitcase filled with stuff to send to relatives. Spam, vitamins, coffee, walnuts. Such is my destiny. Such is my curse.

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks:

Memorial Day at Half Moon Bay- My first trip to the Secret Heat Beach.














Trip to LA- My brother and awesome nephew, chillin'














Suhan, me, Lin and Sar, hanging out at Disneyland














Sleeping beauties, on the drive back up














Almost done packing. I hope. Next time I write, I'll be in the motherland. Have a good summer everyone!