Korean language proficiency test

On Sunday, November 10th, 2013, I took the Korean language proficiency test for the beginner level (level 5). I got my result in mid December and I PASSED!!!!! I got 77% (the passing grade was 60%).

I was so nervous about taking it since I had only started studying seriously from January of this year.
Plus it wasn't as if I were taking classes nor seeing my language exchange partner on a weekly basis.
I mostly studied alone at home... The only thing I had going for myself was all the K-pop I listen to and the Korean dramas and movies I watch.

I had a textbook that focused solely on the level  5 test so I used that the most in the few months before the test but I was quite overwhelmed by the amount of vocabulary there was... So, I spent most of my time writing the vocab out repeatedly and working on the practice questions in the textbook. Also, it came with a CD so I listened to that almost everyday. But of course, when I got bored I listened to TVXQ and Super Junior!!

This is the textbook I used to study

I have been using another textbook for my grammar study but this one had some too so I used both for that part. I wasn't too concerned about the grammar since I felt fairly confident for this level. I was studying grammar points that were not necessary for this level yet too. 

Like I wrote in my previous entry, I felt fairly confident with the listening part of the test. 

It was the vocabulary in the written part that got me... 

Plus I hadn't studied the part about how to read the words properly as much as I should have... What I mean is, in Korean, some words are written in a certain way but are pronounced differently. So, there is a part in the test where we have to phonetically spell out the word by reading the correctly spelt word. It's similar to the French liason where the consonant and vowels link with each other to make a different sound instead of one sound each. 

For example, in French, "my name is" would be "je m'appelle" and it's said all together quite smoothly. In Korean, the word for "many" is "mani만이" and is written as "man만" and "i이" but pronounced as "mani" and no as "man-i". Another example would be in English. We would write out "school" but pronounce it "s-koo-l"or write out "knife" but pronounce it "na-i-f".

Anyways, I passed so now I should study more and prepare for the Level 4 test. I hope to take this next year in November. I may take the Level 3 test at the same time.

But my main problem right now is that I can't speak Korean well at all...
My focus of study for next year will be to be able to speak more.
I plan to write a diary more often and read that out loud to my language exchange partner and gradually not look at the entry and just tell her like a normal conversation.
Hopefully I'll be able to go visit Korean too, next year!!

Wish me luck!!

Physio 14 and skull seminar

I had my 14th treatment on Sunday, December 8th and I died!! 

From November 30th to December 1st I had gone on a hot springs trip and at the hotel, we had a lot to eat. Also, I hadn't been doing much cooking at home and eating out a lot since my friend from Canada had come to stay with me for a week in mid November. The day before the treatment I had gone out with my two good friends and had a late night dinner with lots of food.

Basically, I had a very unbalanced diet and the sudden cold temperatures had made my body stiff and I had become quite bloated. Also, all the eating had tired my internal organs so that I didn't want to intake any more water that would help flush things out more. Yes, I was very constipated too...

So, when my therapist saw me she just gawked at me!! She was quite shocked at my condition and got me on to the treatment bed and started to work her magic. She worked on my legs first as usual BUT it was so painful because I was so bloated!! It was my first time to give up and ask her to stop!! She was quite surprised about this too!! So she stopped and did more of a gentle massage and worked on my upper body, neck, and skull instead.

She also worked on my lower abdomen so that it will start moving more and be able to flush out what has accumulated inside. Also, this stimulation will help me be able to drink more water so that I can be more hydrated and to naturally want to flush things out. Believe me, the next few days I was in and out of the bathroom quite often!!

But after the treatment, I felt so tired that I fell asleep for about half an hour on the bed. But once I woke up, I felt so refreshed!!

I am so grateful for her treatment and support each time.
She has really helped change my body and has made it become much lighter, more flexible, and on the right track to a healthier life.

On Sunday, December 15th, I attended a seminar my physiotherapist and two of her friends hold once a month. Every month they focus on a theme about the female body and use aroma therapy, focus on the importance of the uterus and chakra, and the pelvis bones.

This time, I will only talk about the part of my physiotherapist was in charge of.
She focused on the skull this time.
As you may know, the skull is made up of several plates of bones that are fused together. The skull sits on top of the spine and the spine connects to the hip bones. So, if the hip bones are misaligned, the spine isn't its correct position and thus the skull isn't either. On top of that, there are long muscles that are connected from the base of the skull that runs along the spine and connects to the hip bones. As you can see, if the hip bones are not in the correct place, the entire back and skull can be pulled out of place and create a lot of stress on the body.

The muscles that are attached to the skull and run down the spine

The muscles that run down the spine to the pelvis bones

One way to see if your skull is not aligned properly is by getting a set of disposable chopsticks and split them  up. Insert the thicker ends into your mouth, one on each side and bite down on them with your back teeth. If the chopsticks are at the same level, your skull is well aligned. If not, you can see which way your hip bone is slanting. Also, wiggle the chopsticks while biting down on them to see if either of them are loose and can be pulled out. 

Now, take the chopsticks out and put them aside for later and then lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet shoulder width apart on the ground. Then, slowly tilt both your knees to one side as far as you can go. But make sure your shoulders are touching the ground still. Your feet and hips can tilt too. Your arms should be up above your head in a V shape. Hold that for a few seconds and feel the stretch in your thigh and upper back. After that, go in the other direction just as slowly. Do this a few times and then put the chopsticks back into your mouth and bite down. There should be a slight difference. Of course this is only a temporary change so repeating this exercise on a daily basis is very good. 

TVXQ Fan Club Event

So on Saturday, November 23rd and Sunday, November 24th, I went to the Fan Club event for TVXQ at Saitama Super Arena. 

This was their second time to hold such an event since they became a duo. I wasn't able to go their event last year so I bought the DVD and have watched it several times at home. You can imagine how ecstatic I was when I won the ticket lottery!! 

So this was my seat on the first day. I had ARENA seats!! How amazing!! I was so close to the stage that I didn't need to use my opera glasses!! 

On the second day my seat was way up near the top... I had to use my opera glasses but I was just happy to be there!! 

There was a sub stage at the back and this is where they did a few things and sang their songs near the end of the show.  

There was a nice gift at the end for all of us when leaving. Basically it's the same photo and message but the color and date is different. Silver on the first day and gold on the second. 

Changmin on the left and Yunho on the right

First day ornament

Second day ornament

On the very first day, the event lasted for about 3 hours!! I was so glad I went this day!! After that, the event was timed better and was down to 2 and a half hours. LOL!!

So this is what happened.

The fan club event is called "THE MISSION" because we are all secret agents with TVXQ and we need to clear different missions in order to get to the villain who has kidnapped our boss, the white Persian cat.  

Our first mission was for the fans to call TVXQ out on to the stage. Basically, we all chanted "Tohoshinki" in unison and in a loud a voice as possible.  Of course to make it fun, we failed the first two times. But finally, on the third try, they came out on segways from the back of the arena to the front stage. I was so lucky to be on the side my favorite Changmin rode by!! (deep sigh with love)

The second mission was for them to go into the crowd to get items to decorate a Christmas tree (first day) and to dress up a mannequin for a Christmas party (second day). Yunho decorated his tree with a lot of colorful and Christmas like items and made a very merry and fun tree. His concept was a "fun party". On the other hand, Changmin decorated it with lots of items with value or with items that looked expensive. But at the very end, added some boots that were mismatched and a teddy bear at the base of the tree. His concept was "a con-artist caught in the middle of a heist and had fled the scene in a hurry so the boots she wore were mismatched". As you can tell, one is very positive and the other is very negative... Of course, Yunho won this round. On the second day they had to dress up a mannequin for a Christmas party. Yunho dressed up his mannequin with again, very fun and merry items that were with the Christmas spirit. But again, Changmin took a negative twist and dressed up the mannequin with a T-shirt, other clothes littering the ground and a beer with a bag of chips in the both hands. His concept was "a girl who had gone out to have a good time on Christmas but didn't end up having a great time and had come home to blow off some steam with a cold beer". Yunho got full score for his costume and Changmin got a negative score for his!! How hilarious!!!!

The third mission was for them to answer some questions. Prior to the event, there was a questionnaire on the fan club site and from there, a survey was taken and the most popular answers were collected. TVXQ had to guess the answers to some of these questions by choosing one answer from 4 possible answers. For example, "what is your favorite lingerie brand? A: Wacol, B: Triumph, C: Calvin Klein, D: Peach John". Both of them were smiling and trying to imagine what each brand looked like since they have only hear of Calvin Klein. They both asked why Victoria Secret wasn't in the list too!! Changmin liked the name Peach John and wanted to choose that and in the end they did. But the answer was A. Other questions were, "what insect do you hate the most" or "what type of clothes softener scent do you like". Of course there were more but I don't remember them... 

The forth mission was an individual one. Changmin hosts a TV show in Korea with another famous comedian and they go around to compete with local sports teams with other celebrities. So far they have competed against some local table tennis teams, badminton teams, bowling teams, track and field teams, swimming teams, and basketball teams. The celebrities are quite serious and they train together but of course, they don't win all of their games. But Changmin really enjoyed playing table tennis so at this fan event, the staff held a competition in Japan to choose someone to play against him of each day. Believe me, he wasn't looking forward to this part of the event. But the fans sure did have fun watching him get beat!! He did put a good fight but of course, the fans that won the competition had quite a lot of experience under their belt compared to him. Changmin was a good sport in the end and did the best he could and laughed it off.

As for Yunho, he had a cooking challenge. Last year he cooked as well but his "cooking" wasn't exactly what people who know how to cook would call "cooking". It was quite scary watching him "cook" last time. Especially when he was using the knife... But this time, he had improved, a bit!! This was because he had moved out of the dorm he was living with Changmin and now lives on his own and has to cook more often for himself. But still, it was a bit scary watching him "cook". Lol!! The first day he made a vegetable and pork spicy stir fry with Japanese somen noodles. It did turn out alright but since the stir fry was hot and the noodles were cold, Changmin, who had to taste it, was complaining about the mis-match. But he did praise Yunho for the improvement compared to last year. On the second day I went he cooked the same dish but this time he didn't stir fry the vegetables enough so they were still raw. Plus he asked the staff to play the BGM a little louder so that he could drain the noodles in rhythm with the music. This was hilarious!! But when the dish was done and Changmin had to eat it, the fans were all so worried since it was only half cooked. Of course Yunho laughed and said it's vegetables and it can be eaten raw but Changmin scolded him and picked at it looking for the cooked veggies. Well, Yunho tired and he has "improved", a bit. Lol!!

Then fifth mission on the first day was for them to find some katakana letters in the audience and to place in the correct order to form a word. They had binoculars and searched for the letters and wrote them out on a white board. They did find them all but couldn't put them exactly in the correct order. This was a bit unfair for them since they don't pronounce the words the same way as the Japanese do so it became a bit confusing for them. So the way the tried to solve it was by singing it out loud. The answer was "Very Merry Christmas", but in katakana. In Japanese it would be spelt like this; ベリーメリークリスマス. But they spelt it ベリメリクリースマース(very merry chriiistmaaas). But in the end, they got it right with all of us shouting out "are you sure?!"

On the second day I went, their mission was to guess and place five items in the order of the most expensive. The items were a guitar, a watch, a small jeweled box, a sweat shirt, and a bottle of champagne. Now each item didn't expensive at all and it was quite confusing. They placed the items in the order they thought was correct but they were completely wrong... I can't remember the correct order but the sweat shirt was about 30,000 yen... The jeweled box was covered with Swarovski crystals so you can imagine how expensive that was... The champagne was a Dom Perignon rose.

The final mission was a mini concert. They sang 8 songs but one was a music video.
They sang, "B.U.T. (beauty)", "Scream", then their music video for "White", Yunho's solo song, Changmin's solo song, "Winter Rose", "Very Merry Christmas", and "In Our Time". The first two songs are very powerful and full of dance moves so the fans went wild!! Then it was their music video for a very sweet Christmas themed song. After that, Yunho appeared at the stage near the back of the arena and sang a beautiful love ballad. Next, Changmin came on stage and played the guitar and sang an English song. Then, together they sang a winter song they had released in 2011 and their latest Christmas song release. Finally, they sang a song they often sing at the end of their concerts where all the fans can sing along with them.

Overall, it was a fun filled two and a half hours. Well, three hours for the first show on the first day.

This was my last time to see them live for this year. I shall miss them!!
I'll have to wait until next year for their concert tour to see them in person again...
Now, I have to pray that I'll win the lottery for their tickets!!
Keep your fingers crossed for me!!