an update

Here's an update!

Hearing Disorders (Audiology)
This class is going great! I just got my midterm back and did very well! I am now considering adding a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science to my list of Majors... making me a Double Major and Double Degree, i think. =)

Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
This class is going pretty well. It's a little stressful in class sometimes because Bojan is so serious and moves so quickly, but I trust him. He has linguistic background, he's very good at teaching and he knows the value of immersion and repetition in language learning. I hope that I'll have time to keep taking this class for at least a year.

Non-Profits & Youth Education
This class is going great too! We only meet once a week for an hour at a time and I feel bad that I had to miss a session, but it was because I was volunteering to represent Gothenburg University at the Study Abroad Fair. I promised Birgitta that I would represent Gothenburg and it was so much fun anyway. =)


























Swedish Club @ UW
The Swedish Club stuff is going pretty well. There are small things that could be better, but i feel that the club is better than it has ever been and just a little more push will bring the Swedish community together. I'm even working on getting Norwegian and Danish contacts involved with our club.













The Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble
This is club is slow going. I'm working hard to try to recruit, but it's tough not having our players available (those that are in marching band, I mean). I sit there in Meany 55 every Tuesday from 5-7pm hoping for people to come, but usually it's just me and Joel... which is completely fine because the quality of our music is great and we move quickly, but I'd really love to have a bass player and a piano player to join us on a regular basis. Maybe it's God's will. Maybe I'm meant to spend this quarter working on my technique and learning different styles to be better prepared to lead. I spent a good hour, hour and half working on Cha-cha-cha last Tuesday. And yeah, I've even started playing Danzon style too. =)

Undergrad. Linguistics Club So I used to be president of this club, but I don't know how much I can be involved in the Ling. Club this quarter/this year. Maybe I can at least help with posters or something... you know, 'cuz I'm like, pretty creative, right? (Or at least I should be).

Unleashed! A capella Went to a retreat with this group last saturday, which was awesome! We played Rock Band and I got to know the members of this group better. I was even able to recruit someone to sing in the Scandinavian acapella group that I want to start rehearsing in Seattle. (We're called "Skakapella".)

BCS Klub
I've been going to the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language table at the Continental occasionally on Fridays, but it's been tough because I don't have a lot of vocab yet. Hopefully it will become more useful to me in a few weeks or a month maybe.















Salsa Club
Yeah, so I really wish I could do more with Salsa Club too, but at the most... I might be able to go out dancing with them some night or two. Oh, and maybe I help the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble join forces with the Salsa Club for an event or two on campus sometime. (I just need more people to come play in the ensemble first.)

Volunteer work through Non-Profits & Youth Education seminar
So, I finally have my placements! I'm working as a tutor through Family Works at the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club and it's really been a great experience. I get to work with a student who is hard of hearing, which is perfect for me because I'm currently taking a course in Hearing Disorders. Plus, I have linguistic background. Last session, I helped him learn to pronounce English plosives (p,t, k) properly by holding a sheet of paper in front of his mouth and showing him that the paper should move when English p, t, and k are said properly since these sounds are aspirated in English. It's great. I really feel like I'm making a difference in the world now.

My other placement is at Hamilton International Middle School and I've been there a total of two times now. It's been good too. I'm working there as a volunteer percussion instructor/technician. I get to work with two different bands in the afternoons twice a week and it's great!

Whee!
Ok, well that's it for now. Vi ses!

what i love

What I love is that when I finally get fed up with one thing, another thing starts again and I'm happy again. Call me crazy, but I love what I'm doing with my life right now, school is great, and I thank God for all of the great opportunities that have been laid in front of me.

This quarter, I am taking three courses: Hearing Disorders (Audiology), Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and a seminar course called Non-Profits & Youth Education. Along with these things I plan to be the president/chair of the Swedish Club, the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, and the Linguistics Club along with being a member of Unleashed! A capella, BCS Klub, and maybe Salsa Club on the side. For the Non-Profits & Youth Education seminar, I am currently trying to find some volunteer work in the Seattle area and I've found one so far; I'm still confirming the other. It looks like I'll be doing some tutoring for a child between 1st and 5th grade at a place called Family Works located in the Wallingford area. I'm really excited about this and I hope that I will be able to make a difference in this child's life.

Lately, things have been going so perfectly that it is really amazing me. It's like even when I dig in my pockets for change, I have the right amount. That, and almost everything I'm planning seems to work out in my schedule. Further, I'm finding that I have all these connections with people that have keys to rooms here on campus that normal people can't get into. I'm so lucky to know the people that I know and it really makes me feel like a senior. Not an old fogie, but a fourth year. It's like: "yeah, you know that Yeon-Hee girl? Well, she's got all the hookups." Yeah. Um, yeah. ok.

So, right: I was really worried about my schedule and how it would pan out for the longest time, but things are working out great and I am continually amazed.

As you can tell, I'll be super busy... but i'll try to make a few entries here and there when I find time.

a way

I live in a constant shift between up and down / left and right... sometimes hitting center, but finding that I can't always hit the 10-spot. I realize that my life is full different methods at achieving what is called escapism and I wonder: what am I trying to get away from? My music, my languages, my sleeping and dreaming: it's all seemingly a way to get away. And as we live we always find a way to find that we don't live up to what is expected. We find ways to break ourselves down when we already have handfuls of people doing that for us. Even the words of the ones you love can break you, but instead we have to find ways to use those words as a catalyst: a catalyst for change... but why must we change? Because we learn things every day and we mustn't stay the same. Even without effort, everything changes. With every 'yes', with every 'no', some extent of change occurs as we find ways to stall and avoid making those big decisions, but we worry nonetheless.

I think I've lived enough life now to feel a bit sad for humanity because we're all just a bunch of animals who think we're smart. Sometimes we can be, as we invent and innovate, but there's always imperfections, bugs and glitches.

I think kids are growing up thinking that if they can get 100% on a test or report that they can get the same on life, but it's a tough and trying lesson, learning that you can give 200% and score next to nothing on that which is called life.

It won't be like that though, if you know what to focus on.

We all lead such different lives though, I wonder if any of this makes sense to anyone else. It's just like how I wonder what things look like through another person's eyes or how emotions feel for other people.

This here is just a slice from my mind... thoughts without borders.

the mood swing

I woke up this morning quite inspired; I thought I had figured out what to do with my life. I hadn't felt as motivated and energized like this for over two/three months; it was such a rush.

I told myself:

• I think I want to become a teacher.

• I feel like I should move to Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, or Massachusetts after I graduate from UW.

• I think I should then apply for grad school and get a masters in education.

You should've seen me. I was looking through a list of the best education programs in the nation and making an excel file to compare them. I was looking at what it takes to gain residence in states like Minnesota and Michigan. Further, I was looking to fill the rest of my fall schedule with volunteer work and a tutoring program at a Seattle school. I even felt like I was ready to tackle a family issue that had bothered me internally for the longest time.

By the end of the day I felt like a sad and limp deflated balloon; I haven't had such an up-and-down day like this in my life, but I guess that's what I get for watching one of those really inspiring movies about a teacher teaching in an at risk area and then waking up from a dream in which I was involved in some sort of military battle in which I was protecting my family.

--

I don't know exactly what brought me down; it must have been just living through the reality of the day, but I hope that some if not all of these things I thought I decided do stick with me in some way. I guess I can walk away proud today though having written a blog entry with four occurances of the fallen star of punctuation: the semi-colon.

(no subject)

stuck in the doldrums.

I'm sort of like a boat. A sailboat on a journey through an endless ocean that just had a good run, but has had its sails unfurl. Not just that, but the winds have calmed as well.

Sitting neither at a checkpoint or destination, I feel like I'm just in transit with no wind to fill my sails. It happens, I know and I should've expected it, but being young and hopeful I expected more.

Sitting helpless and set adrift I slowly repair my sails hoping to be ready for the day that the winds pick up again. But I continue to rip holes and it's exhausting as the heat brings sweat to my brow that drips like the salty tears of sadness. There is some hope because I think I see spots of land on the horizon, but is it just a mirage? I soon shall see and I know that one fine day, the cool breeze will pick up and I know that I'll be on my way again.

But for now I sit and wait trying not to be overwhelmed by the monotony of nothingness.

real change

You know, I should have figured this would happen.

I left for five months and now that I'm back, I see that things have changed and are continually changing... but at the core they're really just the same. For example, I came back to find that Pepsi and a few other soda companies have once again changed their labels. I've also heard that Jay Leno went away, Conan took his job, and Jimmy Fallon took his place. But, I don't have a tv so I haven't had a chance to witness this musical chair act. Washington State's sales tax rate has raised to 9.5% and what else? I don't know where people are anymore. Why? Some of my friends have moved around, others of my friends will be moving away. I'm actually in a funny spot right now too and I don't know exactly where I'll be either, in fact.

Right now, I'm living in a house full of people that I don't know. You see, I had to find and secure housing in Seattle while I was in Sweden and I used Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace in my search... which is fine and dandy, but I responded to maybe 10-12 different ads and there was only one person that really took me seriously for some reason. I thought the place would be great because I thought I wanted a place a little further from school and I really wanted to be in a house this time, but it is an hour walk to campus and a 20-30 minute bus ride. There isn't a grocery store close by either. Well, there is a Safeway one mile away, which isn't bad, but since I don't have a bus pass right now it really is quite the walk. There is also a PCC half a mile away, but it's expensive and the Whole Foods is maybe 1.5 miles away. It's just a pain right now because UW won't sell me a UPASS because I'm not registered for summer quarter. Oh, that's another thing that changed too. The UPASS is now $99. It used to be something like $44, but yeah-- no good.

So yup, that's the word.

Real change?
Have a nice day.

getting home

So, for those of you just joining me... this is me and my continuation blog after my semester study abroad trip to Gothenburg, Sweden and my other European escapades through Italy and France, 2009. (Yeon-Hee's Great Adventure).

And now to begin, maybe it's worth telling the story of me missing my flight out of Gothenburg to come home which ended up delaying me a whole 24 hours. I was gonna skip this, but what is something like this, if not a story?

Okay, so I spent the night before my projected fly-out date packing, cleaning my apartment, and watching movies with my friend, Mira. I think I only got in a 15 minute nap that night and then took the shuttle bus to the airport in the morning to catch what I thought was a 1.40pm flight out of Gothenburg. Boy, was I wrong and this really got me into a pretty big spot of trouble.













My flight time had been changed to 12.35pm and my bags were overweight. I didn't realize that my flight time was changed until it was nearly 12.30pm because I was busy trying to decide what to throw out of my bags. It was quite the task.

I had two luggage bags, one smaller black one and one large blue one. Both were allowed an absolute maximum of 32kg and I was a bit over on the blue bag. I had to reorganize a bit, so I threw a lot of heavy stuff into my black bag and I ended up having to throw away my new portable speakers, a few souvenir rocks, my kubb set, some random papers, and my sister's pants... among other things I'm surely forgetting.

I ended up staying in the airport overnight and I remember sleeping an uncomfortable sleep.













You know, one in which I am sleeping but watching over my bags at the same time. I had just changed all of my Swedish coins into Swedish bills and made my way upstairs to the couches to relax only to find myself teased by a vending machine that only takes coins and sitting and staring into the food court that can only be reached by going through security. The only other place to get some food was downstairs which was annoying to get to seeing as I wheeled each of my bags up the escalator one by one. And me, I was feeling quite tired and defeated by that time, so yeah -- didn't eat much.

My sentence structures are sounding really strange right now, but I'm sure you can forgive me seeing as I have already forgiven myself.

Oh, and so I ended up taking a flight the next morning to Copenhagen where I had my first real meal in nearly 24 hours, then had a 5 hour lay-over there before flying into Seattle.













Yes, so this experience was not the most fun, but it was something that needed to happen to me because it taught me some lessons I needed to learn. What lessons?

1) pack lightly/know your luggage weight restrictions/own a scale.
2) quadruple check your departure times, then check again.
3) currency exchange places don't change coins for you, so switch your foreign coins into bills before leaving that country.

re-integration

this is where the story resumes.
my life after 5 months in europe.
care to follow along with me in my journey?
i'll be writing... just in case you do.

/Yeon-Hee