On Friday I had my first full class of Politics and Society in North Korea. We started the class by introducing basic history and characteristics of the North Korean state. We then focused on Juche ideology, the predominating ideology of North Korea. By understanding Juche ideology, one can understand the behaviors of North Korea and the decisions its leaders make. It is so refreshing learning about North Korea in a detailed, serious manner. Many people analyze North Korea in a haphazard, stereotypical manner that is so frustrating; I rarely can have a serious conversation with someone about North Korea. I look forward to transferring the information I will learn from this class to my friends and family back home. I have already taken an abundance of notes and if anyone is interested about the course material, feel free to contact me and we can have a discussion.
After three hours of class I headed to Korean for two hours. Thank goodness language classes fly by because they are so fast paced and require participation because I was already pretty tired of school at that point. Once Korean concluded I headed to my calligraphy club "party!" I decided to join calligraphy club after attending their meeting on Thursday (I jumped back between that and the language partner meeting because they were at the same time). I wanted a club that taught me Korean traditions, where I could speak Korean, and where the activity was relaxing. Calligraphy fit all of those categories perfectly. Every week on Wednesday we are encouraged to attend the calligraphy lesson from the tutor and during the rest of the week to come and practice and do your "homework." Clubs in Korea are very different than the US in that they are more time intensive and taken more seriously. Each club also has their own room on campus, so once I pay my membership fee (which is only $40), I can access the room anytime and I will also have my own cubby and supplies. The room even has a bed! Apparently members take naps there in between classes, haha. The room is also nice if you want a quiet place to study. Once I start learning hanja, traditional Chinese characters, I'll post some photos! Anyways, on Friday I attended their "party," which was just eating and drinking at a Korean BBQ restaurant. I was able to meet other members there and even some alumni of the club joined us (the alumni paid for the whole meal, including drinks, which was super generous!). There were about 40 members and about 10-15 were exchange students, which was surprising because exchange students don't usually join Korean clubs. Instead they will join the exchange student clubs mostly because those clubs are in English. I conversed in Korean the entire night and I can tell already that my proficiency will greatly improve. Next week we have our first MT (member's training), which is going to require it's own separate blog post so I'll fill you in on that later!
As if my week wasn't busy enough, my weekend was just as busy. On Saturday I met with a Korean friend to get lunch in Sinchon. We decided to get some sashimi and we ate SO much salmon. We got a plate of literally just salmon sashimi. My American friends, you should be jealous, because that salmon was delicious. After lunch we walked to Hongdae, the home of Honggik University next to Sinchon and known as the "hipster, artsy" place in Seoul. I've been wanting to walk to Hongdae for the past couple of weeks so it was nice getting the chance to walk around. The area is indeed artsy; there are art galleries everywhere and people dress in more hipster attire (you know, tattoos, beanies, that hipster clothing). Hongdae, like Itaewon, also has a street with a lot of Western restaurants and shops. I found the place that has H&M, Forever 21, and Taco Bell. I will be definitely frequenting that in the future.
Salmon sashimi!
At 3 p.m. I had another plan to hang out with another Korean friend so In Ho and I parted ways back in Sinchon. Like Jeong Bin, In Ho was also an exchange student (in California) so he is really easy to get along with. And my other Korean friend (so many Korean friends!) that I met at 3, Myeong Hwan, was also an exchange student in Germany. It's turning out that all my Korean friends were exchange students in the past, which makes sense because Koreans are usually very shy to speak to foreigners. Myeong Hwan and I went to Namdaemun, a traditional market located right in the center of Seoul. The market really reminded me of Istanbul in that it was touristy and full of cheap goods and street food. It was fun just walking around and sampling the street food while conversing in Korean. I had a sweet pancake filled with molasses and nuts (SO GOOD), mandu (dumplings), and "banquet" noodles, a basic noodle soup which was also very delicious. By the end of the day I was so exhausted from speaking in Korean all day. I definitely take speaking English for granted, and it also speaks to how difficult and time intensive learning different languages is. We also walked to Myeongdong, a major shopping center. Again there were a lot of tourists but I could see why because of the abundance of modern stores. We ended the night by drinking beer and eating some bar food, like most nights in Seoul. Myeong Hwan and I had a lot time to talk and get to know each other and I think he will be one of my closer friends here. I met him through my mentor, So Yeong. We had dinner last week at a maekkoli bar (we had kiwi maekkali and oh my goodness, my American friends are missing out) and we met there. All of my Korean friends I've met here are so friendly. Developing a friend group is super comforting because missing my friend group from back home has been tough at times. I really do look forward to hanging out with my Korean friends for the rest of the year not only because I want my Korean to improve, but because they are genuinely good people and probably lifetime friends.
Namdaemun.
Myeongdong.
Myeong Hwan and I!
So Sunday rolled by and it was my host grandfather's birthday so we celebrated that with an abundance of delicious food, cake, and family members. We had sweet potato cake which was a first for me but I really liked it! My host mom explained to me that it is a typical Korean or Japanese dessert. I also had the opportunity to meet some extended family members. Naming family members in Korean is difficult so this gave me good practice. In English we just have names like aunt or cousin or grandma, but in Korean you have different words for your father's side grandma or your mother's side older aunt, etc. I also had more practice switching between formal and informal Korean depending on who I was talking to. I definitely made some notable mistakes but they were all forgiving. Learning a language comes with making many mistakes so I know that it will not be the first time. I spent the rest of the day doing homework and studying Korean vocabulary and then ended the night by eating dinner in the area with a woman from Singapore, Subin, whom Kelly (my host mom) is also hosting at the moment. I've met so many people already from around the world and I look forward to meeting many more.
Some of the food at the birthday party.
Following my pattern, I will discuss something about Korean culture and this time it is about fruit. Unlike the US, fruit is very expensive in Korea and instead of being eaten as snack, fruit is usually a dessert or it is given as a gift. At the birthday party today grapes and tangerines from Jeju Island were given as gifts. Because fruit is less common my intake of fruit has been a lot less than in the US and I really do miss cheap fruit. I'll get used to it as time goes by but right now all I want is an abundance of bananas, cherries, and raspberries.
I think my blog posts keep getting longer and longer, haha. See you next week!
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