On Friday morning, I prepared allll morning for what I thought was going to be phone interview in Korean from the Korea Productivity Center. This was the company that I was referred to by the professor I mentioned previously in another post. So when the phone call finally came, I ran into the room for privacy and was so nervous. I was scared that I would fail to express myself in Korean and the interviewer would get a bad impression of me. Little did I know that he spoke almost fluent English!! It wasn't an interview at all. It was more about him telling me things that I would be doing and him wanting to know when I could start =) The professor already had mentioned that I wanted an internship to become fluent in Korean and so they were totally accomodating. The first month, he said, I would be translating so that I can get a feel of the business terminology. Then I will be doing some research and helping develop come of their products. I'll also have to do presentations in front of the rest of the staff...ALL IN KOREAN =X
I'm pretty nervous but I am almost positive that my Korean will improve within a matter of a month. And that's exactly what I wanted. Being put into the real world and being forced to speak Korean was just the type of experience I was searching for. I'll be working Tuesday-Friday from 8:30am - 3pm. Then take Korean language classes at Yonsei University from 4pm-6pm. It'll be really busy and hectic but I hope that having a three day weekend will make things a little easier.
So...back to the weekend. I took a charter-type bus to Jeonju to visit my aunts from my stepmom's side of the family. My aunt's new apartment that she moved into was soooo nice and big!! The underground garage was filled with mostly all foreign car. Usually people in Korea drive Korean cars but if they drive a foreign car, it usually is a sign of some wealth. I found out that the apartment complex that she lived in was full of doctors!
Because my internship requires me to wear a suit for the first week of work, I needed some business clothes. I have a lot at home but didn't think I would find an internship so I brought most of my casual clothes to Korea. At Jeonju, I went to a place called HomePlus which is like another Korean Walmart. The clothes there were pretty expensive though but with the help from my aunts, I was able to get some really good sale clothes for work. We ended up getting one blue skirt suit, an ivory skirt, and some grey slacks. After shopping my aunt and uncle took me to eat Italian food in Korea. The food was actually really good! We ordered it as a set so the meal came with cream of mushroom soup, chicken salad (BOMB!!!), spicy seafood pasta, shrimp pizza, and a dessert of choice.
After Jeonju, I went to Kunsan to visit my dad's side. I have to say, there wasn't much to do there. It was a small town and the most exciting thing to do was walk around E-Mart and drink a latte at McDonalds. It was good though to see my aunts and uncles. At night they took me to eat bbq and roast duck. It was actually really delicious! I couldn't wait to get back to Seoul. I took the charter bus back to Seoul (3 hour drive) and then took the subway from the bus terminal back to my apartment. UGHHH it took me 2 hours to get home from public transportation. The subway and bus system in Korea is very organized, efficient, and easy to understand. But I MISS DRIVING SOOOO MUCH. It just takes me soo long to get from one place to the other and it didn't help that I was carrying around luggage.
After a freakishly long day of traveling, I finally made it home.
Tomorrow's schedule:
2pm-Meet a Yonsei business student which I met on the KLI (Yonsei's Korean Language Institute) website forum
4pm-Take my Korean language placement exam
Pictures to come soon!
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