A much-delayed trip report
This was totally not prompted by another trip report posted elsewhere
I met relsqui and testing4l on Friday afternoon at San Francisco airport, where they were picking me up from even though they don't actually live in SF. We had a nice time overall, eating at several different restaurants (a Jewish deli, a real Chinese restaurant, Pizz'a Chicago and a Mongolian BBQ - twice!), and I really enjoyed hanging out with them and having fun together. :)
I played Guitar Hero and Gran Turismo at their place, and although I didn't exactly do well in either game, I did enjoy myself lots. :) I also watched testing4l play Okami and Tony Hawk and he seems to be quite good at both.
The highlight of the visit was going to an impromptu "game night" that a friend of theirs organized, and I learnt a few things there:
- I definitely can't sing country music at all without failing totally.
- There are actually people who can sing country songs well, and perhaps more scarily actually know most of the songs featured in Karaoke Revolution Country.
- Somehow, I seem to do much better at singing songs featured on American Idol
- Karaoke Revolution is very addictive~ And a very good way of breaking the ice, even when I totally fail at singing country duets and the person I was singing with looked more and more embarrassed ^^;;;
[Edit: I totally forgot to mention TheTech Museum! >_< It was made of awesome and win, both for all the exhibits - how often do you get a chance to design a car starter, especially one that starts the car when the door is open? And whacking spam (literally) has such a therapeutic effect~ - and for the loads of fun I had there (including being in an 'earthquake', playing with lots of coloured foam tubes, and lots of other stuff). The IMAX movie we watched ("The Human Body") was also jaw-droppingly awesome, and I would totally go back to TheTech again just for the IMAX experience. XD I also bought several shirts and other things to remind me of my visit and to wear when I run out of clothes.]
I wish I had been able to stay longer, so that I could have seen more of California, spent more time with them and their cats, and even gone for a ride in the famous MR2. But it was still a good experience. :)
There was a minor scare at the airport when I thought I'd left my cellphone in their van, but it turned out that it was actually in a pocket of my bag. *embarrassed laugh* One unexpected benefit was that I got an exit row seat because there were three passengers on my flight who were willing to give up their seats and take a later flight...
I got home at around 1:15 am on Tuesday morning and promptly crashed in bed. XD
On Wednesday, there was a Korean documentary, 송환 (Repatriation), that marked the end of Korean movie screenings for this quarter and which I went for even though I was probably the only student in the audience.
It was a very moving documentary which looked at the lives of several North Korean agents who were captured in South Korea and imprisoned. Some of them had been imprisoned for as long as 45 years. o.o When they were released, a support group of women looked after them and considered them as "grandpas" because of their age and the fact that they'd suffered so much in prison.
Many of the released ex-prisoners refused to give up their beliefs, although some others settled down and got married, and those who refused to "convert" were eventually repatriated back to North Korea. I felt the film did was very insightful in presenting not just the ex-prisoners' viewpoints, but also those of the "abductees" (South Koreans who were kidnapped to the North and never returned) and the pain and suffering they were going through during the repatriation talks and the actual process.
Some of the scenes in the documentary were emotional, such as when the South Korean family of one of the ex-prisoners refused to let him see his mother at first, and when he finally did manage to see her, he was never able to see her again. When she died, he wasn't even told about it until after the funeral, and they wouldn't tell him where her grave was...
I hope that I'll be able to take Korean classes again next quarter. ^^;; And in other news, I'm going to be playing in a cricket match on Saturday. o_o
I met relsqui and testing4l on Friday afternoon at San Francisco airport, where they were picking me up from even though they don't actually live in SF. We had a nice time overall, eating at several different restaurants (a Jewish deli, a real Chinese restaurant, Pizz'a Chicago and a Mongolian BBQ - twice!), and I really enjoyed hanging out with them and having fun together. :)
I played Guitar Hero and Gran Turismo at their place, and although I didn't exactly do well in either game, I did enjoy myself lots. :) I also watched testing4l play Okami and Tony Hawk and he seems to be quite good at both.
The highlight of the visit was going to an impromptu "game night" that a friend of theirs organized, and I learnt a few things there:
- I definitely can't sing country music at all without failing totally.
- There are actually people who can sing country songs well, and perhaps more scarily actually know most of the songs featured in Karaoke Revolution Country.
- Somehow, I seem to do much better at singing songs featured on American Idol
- Karaoke Revolution is very addictive~ And a very good way of breaking the ice, even when I totally fail at singing country duets and the person I was singing with looked more and more embarrassed ^^;;;
[Edit: I totally forgot to mention TheTech Museum! >_< It was made of awesome and win, both for all the exhibits - how often do you get a chance to design a car starter, especially one that starts the car when the door is open? And whacking spam (literally) has such a therapeutic effect~ - and for the loads of fun I had there (including being in an 'earthquake', playing with lots of coloured foam tubes, and lots of other stuff). The IMAX movie we watched ("The Human Body") was also jaw-droppingly awesome, and I would totally go back to TheTech again just for the IMAX experience. XD I also bought several shirts and other things to remind me of my visit and to wear when I run out of clothes.]
I wish I had been able to stay longer, so that I could have seen more of California, spent more time with them and their cats, and even gone for a ride in the famous MR2. But it was still a good experience. :)
There was a minor scare at the airport when I thought I'd left my cellphone in their van, but it turned out that it was actually in a pocket of my bag. *embarrassed laugh* One unexpected benefit was that I got an exit row seat because there were three passengers on my flight who were willing to give up their seats and take a later flight...
I got home at around 1:15 am on Tuesday morning and promptly crashed in bed. XD
On Wednesday, there was a Korean documentary, 송환 (Repatriation), that marked the end of Korean movie screenings for this quarter and which I went for even though I was probably the only student in the audience.
It was a very moving documentary which looked at the lives of several North Korean agents who were captured in South Korea and imprisoned. Some of them had been imprisoned for as long as 45 years. o.o When they were released, a support group of women looked after them and considered them as "grandpas" because of their age and the fact that they'd suffered so much in prison.
Many of the released ex-prisoners refused to give up their beliefs, although some others settled down and got married, and those who refused to "convert" were eventually repatriated back to North Korea. I felt the film did was very insightful in presenting not just the ex-prisoners' viewpoints, but also those of the "abductees" (South Koreans who were kidnapped to the North and never returned) and the pain and suffering they were going through during the repatriation talks and the actual process.
Some of the scenes in the documentary were emotional, such as when the South Korean family of one of the ex-prisoners refused to let him see his mother at first, and when he finally did manage to see her, he was never able to see her again. When she died, he wasn't even told about it until after the funeral, and they wouldn't tell him where her grave was...
I hope that I'll be able to take Korean classes again next quarter. ^^;; And in other news, I'm going to be playing in a cricket match on Saturday. o_o