Geomdo, Friends, Shopping.

Woke up at 7am Saturday morning, which was good. Was having my first Geomdo lesson in almost 3 weeks. Gwanjangnim (the polite Korean word for martial arts teacher), had a plan after lunch, so we just practiced some stuff, coz i didn't do it for a while, and then had lunch. Well get back into competition stuff next weekend. He's also gonna buy some new Bamboo to use.

GM was going to come to Gwangju at about 4:30 to meet me, but since Geomdo was finished early, and GM messaged me to say that he'd be late, I decided to get the bus back to my apartment, and clean up a bit, for when GM arrived. So, got the bus to Gwangju to meet GM, and then we went to Grandmother Won's Bossam (원할머니보쌈) in Sangmu for dinner, and it was so delicious. I went there last weekend with SJ, and GM really wanted to try it, and he ate so much!



Saw this on the way back to to the subway station after dinner. Toss English. Had to explain to GM what toss meant, and why it was funny. Why would anyone call their chain of English learning places "toss"? (For the people who don't know, click here then scroll down to meaning 21c)

Then, we stopped by Geumho World. I wanted to get a new Mighty Mouse because mine is out of warranty, and also on its last legs. But, the Apple store was out of stock, and it seems that almost all of Korea is out of stock of Might Mice. Korea seems to get a pretty raw deal with Apple stuff. No Airport Extreme in Korea! So annoying!

When we got back to my place, we kept talking an GM gave me a copy of his thesis that he wrote last year for graduation. It was a present for me, helping him with English. He wrote all of it, but I helped him with making it sound natural. When it comes to helping friends with English, I prefer that they do all the hard work first. If they don't do it first, and then ask me all these questions, it gives me the feeling that they didn't try hard enough at first. When I am using Korean, I will try myself first, and then try different ways. Then, if I can't figure something out myself, I will ask my friends. Slang isn't in Korean dictionaries, so sometimes, Korean can be hard to learn, and there are also different dialects in different parts of Korea (just like there are different accents in different English speaking countries), so when I travel, some places can be harder to communicate in than others.

Anyway...

Woke up at 7am again, had breakfast, and got the buses to Gwangju. GM had to be back in Daegu by 2pm, to go to church, so he got the 10:05am bus. After he left, I want to the English book store near Uncheon station (운천역), but it was closed. Doesn't open until 1pm on Sundays.

So, decided to do my shopping at Emart first. Bought some stuff for classes, and for the new year. Needed some food in the fridge since there is a super long weekend next week (so glad that the 3 days off for Lunar new year are not on the weekend ^^). If you check out the pic, you can see that I can buy Australian cheese here. But, also, check out the price: 250 grams of Bega (which is pronounced "begger" here, because they didn't translate the name phonetically - another problem with Korea's English), would cost me about $8 or $9! Sorry, I went with the German cheese, which was about $5. I don't buy Korean cheese. It tastes disgusting, and is more rubbery!

After shopping, decided to get Loteria. Loteria is a Korean version of McDonalds, with their own Koreanised sauces, etc. Generally, it tastes terrible. The only good thing they do, is a shrimp burger. I bought A (an American friend, who used to live in my town), some Design United shirts. He absolutely loves that brand here in Korea. Also bought him a Korean Language Study book, since he wants to continue to study Korean. I went to the bookshop at Gwangju Terminal, which USED to have a good selection of Learning Korean books for foreigners. They don't any more, but I managed to find one.

It snowed again lightly again this afternoon. The only problem, was the wind was so damn cold. My big bro in Korea, and I mean BIG, is getting bigger... and is also helping out a friend lately. So, I've been helping him out, while he's been helping his friend out. He wrote about it in a blog entry (along with a latest pic of him - looking good, bro ^^). Check it out (February 2nd).