PACKED

I kind of miss boredom now.

I got a part-time job at The Faceshop, it's a really good cosmetics brand and they don't usually hire girls my age. My friends are all dying to work at shops like this and I did too! And it's fun, but two weeks of training is killing me. I had to go there every single day for two weeks and read everything about everything. On top of that I had to and still need to study different skin types and know all these stupid chemicals and ingredients (for every product and there are so many skin care products at THEFACESHOP it's crazy). My major is now officially cosmetics! I swear I even made notes and stuff, and they made me read a book on not just about THEFACESHOP stuff but about being a good sales assistant, about crossing the chasm! And my manager is super STRICT!

At first I was searching for internships at academies and translating work and all but I gave up on searching and calling and e-mailing because they never replied! But yeah, I agree with them I wouldn't want a high school student to work for me if I were them as well.

BUT! I got a job! Yeah another job besides testing different eyeliners and face mists. Well it was my friend's job but she found this person to tutor so she declined and introduced me! It starts in December, and I'm going to TA for this English teacher, he's from the States and yeap. Will be doing simple things like printing, spelling checks, marking, and even cleaning or getting coffee, sending out text messages to parents (this is going to be fun) and etc etc. Having a meeting with the head teacher tomorrow, we're going to discuss my pay! I don't know how much I should call, she told me to think about it...maybe it'd be easier if she just told me how much she'd like to pay me...yeah that would be so much better. My friends AND my mum's friends are saying \10,000 per hour is perfect but I think that's too much. I don't know but I'm happy! Yay!

So in December, I will be working everyday! On weekdays I'm going to be TA-ing and on the weekends I'm going to be selling make-up and skin care products! I'm dying already so I don't know how I'll be able to cope with things in December. KSAT is over so everyone's having dinners and going karaokes (it's Korea), there are too many that some of them actually clash so I have to CHOOSE. It's not about deciding whether to go or not, it's about deciding which. GLAD reunion is this Saturday and I might not be able to make it because of cosmetics! This is just sad.

My school also decided to do the register at Lotte World so I had to take the bus with my friends to get there. Of course we didn't want to ride roller coasters in this weather with seniors from 30 other high schools so we just went straight back home and played Wii. It's better than waiting for hours to ride one roller coaster. And I was supposed to go to training at THEFACESHOP today as well but I decided to lie (I felt bad) and say that I was sick because I was SO tired! I slept at 6PM today because I was so sleepy and tired.I I swear I was getting less and less sleep each day, and school ends at freaking 12PM now. That's like four hours earlier than usual and I can't even take a nap!

Tomorrow, my school is forcing every senior student to watch a movie at like 8AM in the morning, so I need to go to Lotte Cinema by 7:40AM, that's in three hours. Yesterday they forced us to go all the way to Daehak-ro to watch this boring musical, I don't know why they think they're so cool for arranging things like this for us. Anyway, I'm watching Breaking Dawn part 2 because that's the only movie I haven't watched. After that I am going to karaoke with my friends and AFTER that I have to go to the academy to discuss my pay and my job and after thaaaaaaaaaaaat I need to go for training and I need to look like I'm sick. And somewhere in between I need to have lunch and dinner. THEN I'M FREE! My friend actually invited me to her open house party but I can't make it anymore, I have no place to squeeze that in.

This is a huge confession but sometimes I'm too tired to even erase my make-up. It's so gross, and I slept without taking my contact lens off a couple of times already.

Oh and two days ago, I dyed my hair to dark brown and I got light brown highlights, it looks awesome, so I'm happy. My friend forced me to dye it while she got hers permed so that she won't have to be alone and I'm really glad she did. Getting mine permed too in two weeks!



Congrats to those who got offers! There are lots of smarties in KL, oh and there's one in Indonesia too, Min Ji got offers from Durham and Warwick! So happy for her.

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Just to show you how much of a big deal this KSAT is.

If you are lazy, read only the sentences in bold!

SEOUL -- One foggy morning last November, officer Kang Jin-jin heard the distress call on his police radio: An 18-year-old girl about to take the national college-entrance exam had left her admission ticket at home.

Mr. Kang dashed off to the girl's apartment, got the ticket from her father, and raced across town on his motorcycle, arriving at the school just in time for the test.

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Oh Sang-min for The Wall Street Journal

A mother prays to bring good luck to her child who'll take the college entrance exam Thursday.

"I had to ignore traffic signs and turn on the siren," he said. "It was a bit risky, but I tried my best."

Mr. Kang's heroic effort is hardly an isolated one. On the day each November that high-school seniors take the college-entrance test -- Nov. 13, this year -- South Korea is a changed country.

Many offices and the stock market open at 10 a.m., an hour later than usual, to keep the roads free for students on their way to the test. All other students get the day off to keep schools quiet for the test takers. And while students are taking the listening portions of the tests, planes can't land or take off at the nation's airports. Aircraft arriving from other countries are ordered to circle at altitudes above 10,000 feet.

Indeed, the college-entrance exam is a national obsession. More than 80% of South Korea's high-school seniors go on to college, and the test heavily influences which institution of higher learning they will be able to attend and -- after that -- their career track to jobs with big companies and the government.

Thursday, about 590,000 students will take the nine-hour test, which consists mostly of multiple-choice questions. Around 6 p.m., when the test is over, evening newspapers publish the questions and answers. Students who fare poorly can try again next year.

Businesses have sprung up to advise parents on how to help children prepare for the big day. Newspapers and TV shows broadcast tips on study habits and foods that supposedly increase concentration and boost memory. Some popular dietary habits are based more on superstition than nutrition. For instance: Avoid slimy seaweed soup. It may let success slip away.

In September, a Buddhist temple here in Seoul held a four-part seminar for parents of test takers, including a session by a priest who offered tips on concentration. Some temples -- and Christian churches -- invited parents to daily prayer sessions beginning in August, 100 days before the test. Parents who participate buy a special prayer book on which they glue a photo of their young scholar.

If all this sounds excessive, some college and government officials agree that it is. This year, the government gave money to 40 universities to hire admissions officers whose role more closely resembles those in Western countries, where standardized test scores are just one of many considerations in college-admissions decisions. "I think focusing too much on the one-day test should be changed," says Yu Myung-cheol, vice president for admissions at Kyungpook National University in Daegu.

But the introduction of the admissions officers, essays and other criteria to the college-entrance process brings subjectivity to a system that many Koreans consider objective and fair. South Korea strives to maintain equality throughout the educational system. Admission to private elementary schools, for instance, is determined by lottery.

"To many South Koreans, the admission tests are something that should always remain fair because education is the last fortress through which everyone, regardless of their current status, can ascend to a higher social status," said Choi Set-byol, a sociology professor at Ewha Womans University.

Indeed, South Korea's Education Ministry goes to extraordinary lengths to keep the national entrance test fair. Every year, it chooses about 400 teachers and professors to prepare and review questions, and it sequesters them all for weeks in a resort surrounded by police. Cellphones and Internet contact aren't allowed. What phone calls that are allowed are monitored. The brain trust can't leave until after the test is finished.

With the test preparers' sacrifice held out as an example, other South Koreans are quick to do their part to make sure the test goes smoothly.

Korea Electric Power Corp., the national utility, places about 4,000 crew members on standby for power emergencies. It checks every power line that goes to the roughly 1,000 test centers, and it dispatches at least one engineer to monitor each of these lines that day.

"We've got to do it because the people expect us to," says Yim Joo-hyuck, chief of the utility's distribution administration department. "It would be embarrassing if students blame us for failing their tests with power shortage."

KIM NAM-SEON

As exam day nears, nervous students say they are concentrating on just getting it over with. Kim Nam-mee, a high-school student in southern Seoul, spends her waking hours studying but is also making an effort to get seven hours of sleep. "What I need right now isn't so much studying but to maintain my best condition," says Ms. Kim. "I just think I should do my best at this test and get admitted," she adds. Ms. Kim's mother, meanwhile, shuttles her from home to cram-school, wears headphones when she watches TV so as to cut down on the noise, and prays at a Catholic church.

Other parents go even further. On a recent chilly Saturday evening, Kim Nam-seon joined more than 1,000 parents in an airy southern Seoul temple for an intense overnight praying session. Her mission was to bow 3,000 times, kneeling down with her forehead touching a red cushion on the ground to bring luck to her son, who attends a technical high school.

"I feel a little pain in my right knee now, but I think I'll finish it," said Ms. Kim, taking a break after the first 1,500 bows.

A few hours later, Ms. Kim emerged from her prayer session, her face covered with sweat from all the kneeling and bowing. "Personally, I don't think going to college is the ultimate goal of one's life," she said. "But it's hard to change social perceptions."

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Unconditional

The obvious good thing about getting an unconditional offer is that the moment you get it everything is over. No more exams! I mean you can still sit for them if you want but it doesn't matter if you get a zero. Teachers don't scold you if you fail your quizzes and tests. They don't care anymore.

The bad thing (yes there is a bad thing) is that all your other friends are still studying like crazy and there is nothing to do! And you still have to go to school! 7:50AM till 4:00PM, just rotting in school.... I've tried reading, solving puzzles on my iPad, SLEEPING, writing crap in my diary, playing games on my phone and I've just ran out of things to do. I think I'm going to puke if I read another chapter of the Lord of the Rings part 2, don't even think I'm reading it properly. Well, I'm trying blogging now. But I can't do that forever. I'm so bored!

The big exam is on Thursday. KSAT! People go to work late (they have to), police are gonna be everywhere and stuff! I didn't understand what the big deal was last year but now I kind of get it. If my friends screw up this one exam, they need to resit NEXT year and go to uni NEXT NEXT year!

:/

Just now the school prefects came to give us our 'presents' and to wish us good luck on our exam. It's so weird feeling so...respected. This is what I hate about Korea. They're like ONE year younger than me but they bow and crap and call me Won Joo Oh sunbaenim (it's what you call your school seniors). It's so weird! And instead of annyeong they say annyeonghasaeyo. I don't know how to get you guys to feel me. Just imagine younger kids going good afternoon Miss angela or whatever your name is! Actually I don't think that was a good example, but you get my point! No? It kind of scares me and gives me goosebumps, at least stop the bowing! It's making me feel super uncomfortable.

But I kinda like the presents they gave us, sweets sweets and more sweeeeets! And mango juice!


I shall be back soon.

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