Since first meeting my birth family in 2004, I have enjoyed traveling to South Korea on a number of occasions and even lived there for a year after college to teach English. My travels often brought me to Seoul, but this past summer was my first time actually living there.
My sister Jihye and her husband Kihyung generously offered to let us stay in their apartment in Seoul for 5 weeks while she stayed in Incheon so Omma and Appa could help out with their baby, Sun-yul (
see previous post for cute photos). Their place is just a few subway stops west of
Gangnam which you are probably familiar with by now thanks to this song:
While in Seoul, Patrick and I attended a Korean language and cultural immersion program at
Sogang University. After taking a placement test on the first day, Patrick ended up in class 1B while I somehow made it into 2A with these lovely folks:
Gotta love our attempt at forming a heart and the misspelled "Saranghae" on the blackboard, which is Korean for "I love you."
Our class was very international with students from the Philippines, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, the U.S., and Italy. There were students still in high school and oldies like me who are already married and long graduated from college.
For the most part, however, my class was comprised of undergraduate students studying Korean and enrolling in the program for college credit. In other words, most of them either had previous formal training or grew up speaking the language with their parents which meant they understood what was going on swimmingly while I, who am mostly self-taught, was left flailing about for much of the course, not understanding vital classroom expressions like "Do you have any questions?"
I bought this notebook to help motivate me to study hard, which I think helped (a little):
In the mornings we were in class for four hours taking speaking, listening, reading, and writing classes. Here is a sample of our hard work:
We were learning how to express rules (what you should or should not do) and had to come up with a set of classroom rules. Ours included not bringing any bears to class, showering everyday, and not drinking soju.
Then in the afternoon we attended a Korean culture class for two hours, where we were exposed to different facets of Korea like cooking and calligraphy:
Sometimes in culture class we had to complete challenges that allowed us to practice our language skills while exploring the city. We were asked to interview random strangers or go on scavenger hunts throughout Seoul to collect information on Korea's history and culture.
In order to document our progress, part of our homework was to take pictures and post them onto Facebook. For example, one of the challenges was to find this replica of the President's chair and take a picture sitting in it:
Sometimes we had to collect facts, like the ones that were posted on signs near King Sejong's statue (the king responsible for founding Han-geul, the Korean language as we know it today).
As you can see, our exposure to Korea was both academically stimulating as well as physically involved. Some days we would attend lectures on Korean politics and entertainment, while other days we got to sing karaoke, practice Takyeon (a Korean martial art), and learn dances which included modern hip-hop dances like K-pop and more traditional dances like
Talchum, a Korean mask dance:
In addition, we visited the Bongwonsa Buddhist temple where we drank (super expensive) tea with some of the monks, learned about their daily life, and were taught one of their cymbal dances:
Another class assignment was to cheer on the Doosan Bears baseball team as they took on the Lotte Giants (and eventually beat them). Unlike in the U.S., Koreans really get into baseball and their fans tend to cheer their teams on like crazy. We were given these noisemakers to join in on the fun:
My favorite part of the culture classes were the performances we were able to attend. Like this popular martial arts comedy show called
Jump:
And my ultimate favorite was a B-Boy performance called
Marionette. I loved the creative use of lighting, narrative, and props that went into the show. And of course the dancing skills were phenomenal. Here they are performing one of the glow-in-the-dark scenes on a Japanese television show:
While in Seoul, we were also able to explore Korean culture and practice the language outside of class. One of our favorite finds was this pub that had refrigerated cupholders built into the table so your beer could stay at a perfect 4 degrees celsius at all times.
You can see the ice forming on the outside of the cupholder.
Also the glasses were apparently specifically designed for optimal drinking (something about the ratio of foam and the ability to stay chilled). I just thought they were cute.
And, as you can imagine, there was plenty of exposure to Korean food. Patrick tried spicy chicken galbi for the first time. It starts out something like this...
...and turns into this:
A new favorite, indeed.
During the summer, Koreans have a tradition of eating a ginseng chicken soup known as Samgyetang, which is good for your health. There are three designated days lined up during the summer (10 days apart) when you're supposed to eat this... we were there for all three, though we only ended up eating it twice (not because we don't love it, but because we were simply lazy).
In Seoul, we rode the subway to class everyday. Not only is it really cheap, but their trains are extremely clean and modern... probably the best public transportation system I've experienced anywhere. On every platform, they had video screens that displayed a little animation of the trains indicating where they were located in real time in respect to the different stops.
We were also entertained by some of the advertisements on the subway, like this one for a water theme park that appears to be more for adults than kids:
Towards the end of our stay in Seoul, our good friend Matt (aka Mateng) paid us a visit. He happens to speak way better Korean than me and Patrick combined. On the first night we partook in some Korean BBQ:
We also checked out the Kimchi Museum in the Coex Mall.
Later we met up with our friend Inae and her husband who live in Gangnam. They took us to eat Bossam - steamed pork belly wrapped in kimchi and cabbage which happens to be mouth-wateringly delicious.
We supplemented the bossam with some Mandu (Korean dumplings).
For dessert, we went to Beans Bins cafe and ordered some waffles, which is treated like more of a dessert/snack than a breakfast item in Korea. I would venture to say that Korean waffles are better than any I've had in America. But maybe that's just because I really like them with ice cream :)
On Mateng's last night, we trekked up the mountain (more like rode a cable car) to Seoul Tower - one of my favorite places to visit in Seoul, and definitely the best view you'll ever see of the city.
Speaking of amazing views, I think Seoul Tower would definitely qualify for one of the best
bathroom views in the world... Patrick snapped this photo of their men's room:
Our five weeks in Seoul flew by extremely fast, and before we knew it, we were already graduating.
Here I am at our graduation dinner with my listening/reading/writing teacher, speaking teacher, and culture teacher (L to R):
I wish I could say I was completely fluent now, but considering that it takes over 2,000 hours of classroom instruction before becoming conversational (or so I hear), I still have some studying to do!
We loved our time in Seoul and can't stress enough how glad we were that we enrolled in Sogang's Korean Immersion Program. We are already eagerly awaiting our return to South Korea, but in the meantime, there's always Chicago's Koreatown to explore :)
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