Cesta na severovýchod

I hate buying new things. I love repairing stuff, especially electronics or clothes. But I am horrible at repairing electronics, so I always ask my brothers and sister for help which is a little bit more difficult now, since I live in Korea and they live in the Czech Republic. Still, we try. In August this year, my phone's earphone suddenly stopped working properly. I ordered some new parts from Aliexpress and the same week I replaced it (which didn't help, it was probably a software problem) I crashed the display. Like how stupid you have to be, to just put your phone in a bicycle's basket, and then you're very surprised when your phone literally flies away? Well, I am exactly that stupid 😂 So, I ordered a new display from Aliexpress, but it came kind of broken - one chip was not connected and I didn't manage to connect it successfully. I mean, very delicate precise handwork was never my forte. There's a reason why I didn't become a dentist or surgeon, but...

Because I have already moved in the dormitory, my brother made me to put my current address online, so he could send me some letter (I'm waiting, Jirka!). But be aware, that around December/January, I'm planning to move outside of the dormitory 😅 Anyway, here is my current address. Transcription/romanization: Anna Povolná Room 311, Dasom Hall, KAIST Daejeon, Yuseong-gu, Daehak-ro 291 South Korea 34141 Here in South Korea, they write addresses in a reversed order, so they put first the province, the city, then the street, etc. For example, my name in Korean is 안나 포볼나 and as you can see it is placed just before the postal code. But because you will probably send me the mail from abroad, I think it would be the best to write it like this so poor postmen in the Czech Republic and outside of Korea know where to send it: 대전광역시 유성구 대학로 291 한국과학기술원 다솜관 311호 안나 포볼나 South Korea 34141 KAIST campus. The arrow is pointing at the building of my department. Kampus KAIST. Šipka ukazuje na bud...

Well, you already know that Jorge got married. But what you don't know, is that on our way to Seoul, I made a short stop with Laura in her village where she's going to study her master's degree. You see, I am making fun of her all the time, because of the fact that she's going to live in countryside, but actually she will live like 15 minutes on bike from Daiso (unfortunately, Laura says that it's small 😓) and Homeplus. So that's not really a countryside, because these are the most important things you need for a happy life in Korea. Well, and Costco (Laurita, you need to visit me and Azizbek in Daejeon 😁)! On our way from the train station to first reality agency I noticed that there are almost no young people. And on that day the whole Jochiwon looked super gloomy. With the first lady we went to see small oneroom which was located in the basement. I mean for basement place it was kind of ok, but still, who wants to deal with the mold? On the other hand, it...

Once upon a time, there was a boy Jorge who met beautiful girl Kathe and they fell in love (well, first he didn't notice her at all, but after studying at university in Italy, then coming back to Ecuador, he finally noticed her). So they fell in love and started to date. One day they decided to apply for a scholarship in a far away country called Korea. It may seem as an coincidence that both of them got accepted the same year and for the same degree university, but we all know that this was destiny. Unfortunately, they had to be seperated for theeir first year in Korea, because Jorge went to Daegu (more like Gyeongsan) and Kathe went to the most beautiful city in Korea (according to Dani) Gwangju. They survived not only this separation, but also the horrible coronavirus pandemic which took place in the year 2020.                         In Daegu Jorge met his amazing Latino family and he became our older brother, 오라버니. He...

우리 가족, my latino family So this is how we begun with our Korean studies on the 1st level I can't believe that it's almost a year since I came to Korea. I have to say that it was amazing year, full of adventure and new experiences. I'm very happy living here in Korea, although I don't really know why. 😅   The coronavirus epidemy made our studies quite messy, but after one semester which we spent on YouTube and ZOOM, we couldn't be more happy to go back to school and start again with the offline classes. As a GKS student, I couldn't choose at which university I will be studying Korean, but I am so grateful that I was sent to Daegu University, because we had the funniest and best teachers. The last classa on the 3rd level I spent the whole year studying Korean language and I have to say that looking back - me coming to Korea knowing how to read very slowly and only few stupid phrases from Korean TV shows, I guess I learnt something. Now, I can say kind of everythi...

우리 가족, moje latinskoamerická rodina A takhle jsme začali se studiem korejštiny na 1. levelu Nechce se mi věřit, že už to bude skoro rok, co jsem v Koreji. Musím říct, že to byl moc krásný rok, plný dobrodružství a spousty nových zážitků. Jsem v Koreji nesmírně šťastná, i když vlastně vůbec nevím proč. 😅   Se studiem dost zamávala coronavirová pandemie, ale po jednom semestru, který jsme strávili na YouTube a ZOOMu jsme se nadšeně vrátili do školy k offline výuce. Jako GKS student jsem si nemohla vybrat, na které univerzitě se budu učit korejsky a jsem moc ráda, že jsem byla poslána na Daegu University, protože jsme podle mě měli ty nejvtipnější a nejlepší učitele. Poslední hodina na 3. levelu Celý rok jsem se věnovala studiu korejštiny a musím říct, že na to, že jsem sem přijela s tím, že jsem uměla tak maximálně velmi pomalu číst a znala jsem pár stupidních frází z korejských seriálů, tak jsem se asi i něco naučila. Zvládnu teď říct tak nějak všechno, co potřebuji v běžném životě...

I just wanted to share with you one really cool thing from Mexico which happened on 8th March (International Women's Day). Group of climbers went on the mountain Iztaccíhuatl, so they could dress the biggest women in Mexico with purple ribbon. 💜 From  Bernardo Finck Vite  Facebook. Why am I sharing this? Well, we had a long discussion with my friends Tamara, Vianey and Laura about the women rights in Latin America. The thing is that there were many marches and demonstrations all over the world, not just in Mexico, during the begining of March. But people didn't march to celebrate women, but rather to alert people about violence against women and in some cases the marching people where attacked (like in Bishkek or Islamabad). I was questioning if is it actually better to use violence during these events (like in Mexico) if you're the one who is fighting against violence. Well, than imagine that your young daughter was raped and killed. Or that your siste...

Studying Korean is hard, but it's also fun. Or as we say in Korean:  한국어 공부가 어렵지만 재미있어요 . This sentence is by far the most used and popular sentence when we speak or write essays about studying Korean language between GKS Daegu University students. Nevertheless, it’s true. Nowadays I’m super bored because of coronavirus (still safe in the most dangerous city in Korea, don’t worry 😉 ) I decided to write this blog post about my Korean language struggles and mistakes. Let’s start with my own name. My formal name is Anna, but nobody calls me that way in the Czech Republic (just my boss in hospital used to call me that way). Most of my friends call me Áňa [Anya], Ani or Anče [Anche]. When my mum is super upset with me, she calls me Andula, so obviously I hate it when someone calls me like that. Or Anička [Anichka]. I introduce myself mostly as Áňa [Anya] - I like it and it’s easy to pronounce, but it’s super confusing in Korean. Because there are some words which start with...

After six months living in Daegu University campus, I think I know some of the cheap places where to go for grocery shopping. So, I have made a list of all the shops, their locations and some tips when to go where. 편의점 - convenience store Most of them are open 24/7. You can go there to charge your T-money card. And buy some small snacks. Or whatever you want, but they are more expensive than the other shops on this list. Supermarkets Around Daegu University there's more options where to go. If I need just few things I go to  Lotte mart  near Main gate, because I don't need to take bus (saving 2 500 KRW). This shop is quite close, but there are shops which are cheaper. Nevertheless, in the evening they have usually some food on sale 😁 You can also add their Kakao channel and they will send you the promotions in messages (in the same window where you search for your friends profile you will search for 롯데마켓999대구대점). Other option is this  Orange Mart  (stil...

Nobody knows what will happen in the next year, but we started with a big adventure. Some time ago I and some of my friends have agreed to go for the New Year's celebration to Pohang and see the first sunrise of 2020 on Korean peninsula. It sounded so romantically, that I had to go. We didn't know much about this festival, just the location and approximate time when it should start. Well, first we arrived in Pohang and we had to get to near sea which was still like 50 km. So, we got on the bus which was going to city centre. Actually not. The bus went in other direction, but when we found out, some Koreans told us to just stay on the bus, because it will turn around and go to city centre after few more stops. But at the end the driver told us to get out and catch another bus. Then he told us to get back on the bus. 😕 We have no idea why. But we met two Korean guys from Daegu, and they were confused too (they happened to be in the exact same situation as us 😂). Let me just s...

Well, I wrote this article like one month ago, but than January TOPIK, exams and coronavirus happened, so I didn't finish it. You have my sincere apologies. I will try to write more (maybe shorter stories), so all of you know what's happenning in my life 😁 My first Christmas outside of the Czech Republic and without my family. It was a challenge. But fortunately I have many foreign friends here in Korea who were in the same situation as me, so we managed to do some Christmas events. Because all of was wanted to feel more Christmas mood. The thing is that Koreans celebrate Christmas, but not nearly as much as in Europe, Africa, or America where Christmas are one of the greatest holidays for most people. So you don't see many decorations (especially if you live in a similar isolated place as us), you rarely hear any Christmas songs and there's only one Holiday during Christmas in South Korea - the 25th December. With my Latin friends (we call ourselves 우리 가족 = our fa...