Independence Movement Day (or 3.1) is a Korean holiday which celebrates the Korean independence movement against Japan during the Japanese colonization. A friend told me to visit the Independence Hall at some point so I decided that I might as well make it my last trip before school starts. The only thing that sucked (big time) was that it was raining and cold. By the time I left I couldn’t really feel my fingers. The second to last pic is a group, YGK (Youth of Great Korea), which did a quick interview with me and took a pic.
While I was watching some DPRK TV (yeah … really exhilarating, I know. I hope that’s not illegal here … if it is, I heard it from a friend ) I noticed something interesting during the weather report. When they were talking about weather they never shows a division between North and South Korea. Here’s one pic:
On the same news broadcast I saw the news report showing video of the kids being given “gifts of love” from Kim Jong-Il (not in person). They were flying around in a helicopter which doesn’t seem like the most efficient way to do it (though I guess it makes good press).
Another random observation, you know all those North Korean posters? Well, each broadcast includes a few of those kinds of phrases (usually praising Kim Jong-Il). Yeah, right in the middle of the news.
Being directed by my favorite K-director (임권택) and starting my favorite K-actor (안성기), I absolutely had to watch Festival (축제). It all revolves around a grandmother who passes away and the ceremony which follows. Festival looks at what death means to those around the deceased and how they have influenced everything around them. If you’re interested in Korean culture, this is a must see. It serves a dual purpose of showing what a Korean funeral service looks like and the meaning surrounding it and the culture around the younger caring for the elderly. It also briefly touches on how the modern culture is changing and the younger don’t care for the elderly as much as they used to.
Here’s a collection of clips I extracted dealing just with the funeral:
For those interested, here’s a website which explains a little about some more things.
I headed to the SNU station to meet the other students going to the new SNU student party (모꼬지). We took the 5511 bus to the SNU gate and walked to a building where we were split into teams. There were two new students assigned to each group as helpers who guided us to different places where we played games.
Whenever we were waiting for another group to finish to go in, we played one of many different games. Each game involved some sort of rhythm (usually hitting the desk and clapping, snapping your finger, etc.) and repeated phrase.
The first one, which is the one I am the worst at and have never succeeded in, was the Name Game. The first round you go around and everyone says there name. Then, someone starts and says there name (나는 모모모). After that the person sitting next to them says I’m so-and-so sitting next to so-and-so (모모모 옆에 모모모). Each person adds the previous person onto the list (I’m next to … who is next to … who is … and so on). I had to play the foreigner card since remembering names (especially many Korean names at the same time) is very hard for me and just say pass ㅜㅜ.
The next game was called Strawberry. There are 7 phases where each person says the number of strawberries as the phrase number and does a little thing with their shoulders and head if the number is over like 3.
Another game, which I’ve played before, was 007 Bang! (공공칠방!). This is a silent game, if anyone says anything or even shows their teeth they have to be punished. In all of these games, the loser has to go to the center of the circle and be used kind of like a drum by everyone hitting their hands on the person’s back. The first person draws a square with two fingers and points at someone (which means the first 0). The next person points at another person (the next 0), the next at someone else (the 7), and the last person points at someone (the bang). The two people immediately next to that person have to put their hands up in the air. The last person then repeats the process. The person who’s it an point at themselves as many times as they want (until bang, after which they would still be it).
There was also a game I had already played called Baskin Robbins 31. The first person starts at 1 and an say 1, 1-2, or 1-2-3. Each person after him must start at the next number of the previous person and say one, two, or three numbers. Whoever ends up with 31 loses. We also did a slight variant where you couldn’t say the same number of numbers as the previous person (if they said 5-6, you had to say 7 or 7-8-9).
The last game we played was a pointing game. I’m not sure what it’s called, but I called it Assa (아싸) because that’s the only thing you say throughout the game. The first person says assa and points to one person and another person. After the next beat (keeping the beat is important to keep the game fast) the chosen people must say assa and point to one person each. The process repeats until one person is pointed at by both people who are ‘it’. When that happens everyone has to raise their hands and do a serious of motions before that person starts the process again.
The first actual game we played to get graded on (for fun) was a math game. Each of these graded games was in a different building on campus so we had to walk around to get to each one. For the first phase of the math game, they put blank spots where there would be number in an equation (except for the number after the equals sign) and math symbols between the spaces (plus, minus, divide, and multiply). Our group was divided into five groups, one for each blank space. In order we had to each say a number to try to make an equation that equaled the number up there. One of them was like: _ + _ * _ + (_ – _) = 2. The next round it was switched up so we had to create an equation that equaled the correct number using the blank spaces for the math symbols. One was like 81 _ 27 _ 2 _ 3 _ 2 = 2. We only got two right which would have given us a C, but my teammate (창기/Chang-gi) went to the front of the room and did a little dance so they gave us a B.
The next official game was one where we had to use chopsticks to move beans, a mandarin orange, and one of two bottle caps from one pan to another. The two bottle caps had either a plus or a minus. Which one you got would add or subtract to your points (based on the number of beans and the orange). Our team got the cap with a huge bonus so we got an A.
Next we had a texting race. Something like four or five people had to type the Korean national anthem and text it to the judges one at a time. We didn’t make it in time, but our helpers pleaded and did a little dance so we got a C+.
Another game we did fairly well was the hacky sack (with an empty milk carton). I was volunteered to stand in the middle of the circle to make sure the carton never just fell in the middle. We got an A of course =).
The last event we made it to before dinner was a tongue twister context. Five people in a row would read the same tongue twister after which someone would pick a new one and repeated. We got some extra time since I was in the group and one of our team members was super fast so we got an A+.
After everything was finished and after eating dinner, we went to an on-campus pub to play some more games (but didn’t drink yet). We used punishments written on paper which the loser had to pick. When I lost, I had to go ask a senior (선배) for his/her phone number which I gladly did. It was WAY loud in there, I often had a really hard time hearing the other people. We had a campus quiz game where all the teams competed and answered questions about campus. One question required one person from each group to go to the front and we had to vote on who we thought was the youngest. My group sent me up, though everyone pretty much already knew my age. At the end, the seniors sang and danced for us:
The last activity before the optional 짐질방 (bath house) was drinking and playing more of the same games at a local bar in 녹두 (Nokdu) which is right by where I live. It was pretty fun, our table ordered Lemon Soju and 떡볶이 (spicy rice cake) of which both were exceptionally tasty. Here are some more games we played (names may not be right, these are just what I call them):
Shoulders: You can shrug each should one, two or three times. If once, the person next to you in that direction has to start again. If twice, the second person over has to start. You can do right then left which passes it on to yourself.
Multiply: Point at someone and say two numbers, the person must yell the result of multiplying the two numbers together and then point at another person and give two numbers. I think each number must be between 0 and 9. It can get really fun when two people keep pointing at each other.
Seven: You have to count starting at one going person by person. Anyone who would say a number with seven must clap after which the direction changes and the previous person says the next number.
Shock: The person who’s it can point at someone and say shock after which them and the people to the right and left must through their hands in the air or you an point up and say shock after which everyone must do the same thing. If you do the first one the person who’s pointed at is it and you’re still it after the second one.
Bbang (the two b’s are not an error): Similar to shock, but you can point at someone and say 호빵 after which they must through their hands in the air and say 빵, say 질빵 (spellings may be wrong) after which the two people next to that person must do the same thing, or 대빵 after which everyone must do it.
Point: This is another one I’ve done before. The main person calls out a number and everyone points at someone. You start counting from the main person and follow who they point it (it’s really fun when someone points at each other). The last person loses.
Yeah, I learned a LOT of games today =). It was way fun and I met a lot of really nice people; if you’re in Korea and will be going to SNU then consider coming to the 3rd party. The Daum Cafe for more info is SNU-10.
Well, I frequented the official Wondergirls cafe on daum and saw that there was a LOT of negative feelings going around about mimi leaving and the new member coming. There was only one conversation room named ‘Opossing the recruiting of a new member. As a mini-social experiment, I started a second conversation room with the opposite name – Approval of recruiting a new member.
I didn’t get very many positive messages so far …
Check this little number out:
For those that may not know Korean, he called me a f***er. Even though he already left, I couldn’t help but write lol (ㅋㅋㅋ in Korea).
I did talk to one guy and got him to change his mind.
) I noticed something interesting during the weather report. When they were talking about weather they never shows a division between North and South Korea. Here’s one pic:
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