5 posts tagged “korea”

Surprisingly, I was able to get into every class but one I wished to enrol in. But that one was somehow full a few days before I could even enrol, so I had planned for having that one lacking anyhow. I remember in my first year it took a good hour to register for classes because of slow servers and such, but for the past couple of years, the process has been smooth. In fact, I managed to get 9 classes regstered in just about two (2) minutes. Surprise! Efficient.

I still couldn't fit in the basic Korean history classes I wanted into my schedule, but I got a couple other Dae Han Min Guk related classes in there. I am done with all but two half year courses in the way of tedious required stuff. I couldn't fit them in in previous years so, I am left with taking Phonetics and Sound Patterns this year.

Now that I have my 2007 - 2009 school year planned, it's time to think about the summer of 2008. I know I must leave the country and since meeting "noona" going to Korea has been at the top of the list of things to do. At first I thought I might go by way of a UofT exchange program for a month-ish as a classmate is doing now. But, after exploring my options further, I think I may go about it independently. I really don't need any credits to graduate anyway, so the best thing for me to do is go with the goal of studying Korean at one of the large institutions.

People seem to talk a lot about Yonsei (연세대학교) -- specifically the Korean Language Institute (한극어학당 ). It has many benefiits I think. The schedule for their summer term is June 26 to September 6th. That's about two months. The special "Summer Program" is only about a month, and too short for me, I think. The problem with the September 6th end date is that I will have to hurry back home to finish up my schooling here at UofT.,

Enter, Seoul National University (서울대학교) and their Language Education Institute (언어교육원). They are actually a bit cheaper (not really enough to make a difference), but their schedule suits my plans a bit better I think. Their summer term is June 4th to August 10th -- significantly earlier than Yonsei. That means I can do my traveling after I have been studying for two months, which seems more logical than traveling then studying. I will hopefully have learned a bit more to help me out by the end, so I can have the rest of August to discover Dae Han Min Guk.

Now, I have to work out where I will stay after they kick me out of the school dorms should I go that route in the first place. Suggestions welcome.

Picture 1

...from spacing wire (my favourite T.O. blog).

I recommend listening to the Kobe Beef Show 55 for context. I assume the kanji is like the above, but one never knows.

Anyhow, I was very excited when I got the news that Terrance and T-bone Taro had returned from hiatus.  I was visiting The Moon Masters site when I saw the story. However, I was at work when this occurred, thus I could not listen. Anyhow, when I got home I listened to one, and on the way to work today I listened to another. It was nice to hear the show again after so long. I did not realise it had been since February of last year.. I guess I have been doing a lot to keep me busy since then. It seemed like all of my favourite podcasts were gone too.

I forgot how perversely funny Nihongo Time is... and that I enjoy perverse things (on occasion). As Terrance mentioned, there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes we need to let our true nature come out.

I remember Deng and I having plenty of discussions surround the show in the past so it brings back some good memories, even though I like to forget about the year 2005 in general.

Anyhow, for some recommended escapism podcasts, see the below .

Kobe Beef Show (Kobe, Japan; Japanese culture, language, news, perversion)
The Moon Masters (Somewhere, USA + I forget, Japan; misc and random)
Guzen Radio (Shizuoka, Japan; japanese culture, life, language, teaching english, has its ups and downs)
Seoul Survivors (Guess; esl, weird foreigners, snacks, culture, etc, you may hate it but it inrtigues me)