Cesta na severovýchod

Sometimes, I fall into rabbit holes and I end up finding out information I want to share with others, so these days, I usually bother my friends and family with random stuff. I guess if I had enough time, I would create videos for TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram, but editing videos takes so long that writing is faster and easier (for me 😅). Today's rabbit hole is not that deep. It is mostly about the Twilight series, Mormons and fantasy literature. Firstly, did you know that Twilight's author Stephanie Meyer is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)? It explains so much! Why do you think Edward and Bella have such a pure, clean relationship while dating but become so passionate after marriage? Also, none of the good characters drink alcohol or indulge in profanity or other vices. In this context, the next fact is hilarious for me. Did you know that Fifty Shades of Grey was originally written as fanfiction of Twilight 😂 E.L. James wrote Mast...

As some of you may know, you can get vaccinated with "Remaining vaccine" (잔여백신) and Kakaotalk or Naver can send you a notification to get this free vaccine. I have been getting notifications for the last few weeks, but I didn't succeed to get this free vaccine, probably because I was always too slow to claim it. But we are in Korea, the country of the newest technologies, so obviously someone wrote a macro for this. 😁 And show some love to my friend Mahdi who helped me to debug this code and gave me all the information I needed for writing this article! He also provided the English version of the macro. Basically, you set up your conditions and let the program search for these remaining vaccines and if it finds one, it will automatically register you for it. IMPORTANT: Don't run the program if you don't have time to get vaccinated on the same day! 1. Open Chrome browser. 2.  Log in to your Kakaotalk account.  Stay Logged In should be ticked. 3. You will see a map...

I have many stories about which I want to write here, be patient. 😁 A lot happened during this winter break. I have been hiking and skiing a few times, I met many new and amazing friends, so even though I couldn't go for Christmas to Czech (especially to see my cute niece Zuzka 😔), I am happy here in Daejeon 😊 I don't really have any interesting photos of our apartment, so I'm sharing some photos from hiking with Oketch, which I haven't shared before.😅 Photo was taken by Oketch, autumn 2020, Daedunsan. But a few weeks ago, I have moved from the dormitory to an apartment with my Indonesian friend Ici. So, I think now it's time to tell you how we found our new apartment. As most of the people I know, we were also using 직방 and 다방 (mobile apps where you can easily look for an apartment). We have started to look for an apartment around the middle of December, knowing that we have to move out in the middle of February. We have seen some dirty and old apartments and al...

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...