Korean translation, 년[neon,nyawn]: year



Korean translation, 년[neon,nyawn]: year




To whoever is looking at this blog, know that while although one of the functions of this blog is to inform others of my time here, I also use this blog as a way to document what I am doing in Korea for myself. I do this so that come a year, two years, ten, twenty from now, I can look back and remember some of the the amazing people I met, the places I went and the meaningful experiences I had.

Why am I in Seoul, anyways?

Why am I in Seoul, anyways? I'm studying language in Seoul for the year through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth operated by the U.S. State Department. While in Seoul, I attend a local Korean high school as a regular Korean student and have intensive language classes three times a week at an international institute in Seoul. My school is a digital media vocational school. Both in school and in many other settings, I am often the only American they have met and almost always the only Jew. As such, I have an important role, not only as an American or a Jew, but as The American and The Jew. Because of this, I have been prone to some alarming, but insightful questions. Like when it was drizzling outside, weather that does not necessarily warrant carrying an umbrella, but being asked by my host brother, "Do all Jews not use umbrellas?" I am constantly being put in new situations. I make mistakes sometimes. Like when I clearly asked for "not spicy," however later realized, tears in my eyes, that the woman's shocked expression when I ordered "meh-un tteokbokki" was not from my Korean ordering skills, but was because I had probably been the first foreigner to specifically ask for the spiciest food on the menu. These year as the non-umbrella-carrying-spicy-food-eating-American-Jew living in Seoul has been exhausting and exhilarating, but a year of experiences I will bring with me for the rest of my life. .

Bingsu and the Jimjilbang

One’s visit to Korea is not complete without a trip to the jimjilbang. Jimjilbang most literally translates to “bath house,” but in reality it is much more than that. There are baths, hot rooms, cold rooms, sweat rooms and oxygen rooms, sleeping rooms, entertainment rooms and even restaurants. The thought of going full nude was a little bit intimidating, but I had one of those, “life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” moments and so today off I went to the jimjilbang.

For $10 you get some Silloam shorts and t-shirts and can stay as long as you would like and for a bit more can even spend the night. I went to the baths (men only)and stayed there for a little while before getting dressed and heading upstairs. Upstairs there are rooms set at various temperatures, all with different themes and purposes (men and women). There were rooms set at -10C all the way up to 86C. My favorite though was the salt room. It is a room at about 60C and the floor is covered in heated salt crystals. You pick a spot in the salt, take a wooden block of wood with a crescent shaped cutout for your head and lie down. I was sweating buckets, but it felt great, like a cleansing of all stress and emotions that had been accumulating so far. We got Sikyeh, a traditional jimjibang rice drink that tasted a little bit like sugar water mixed with rice flavoring- delicious.
After spending about three hours in the baths and rooms I was ready to head out, and so were the other NSLI-Y students I had gone with.
Kelsi and I had planned an elegant surprise for Elizabeth and Eloise. I had told them to bring a fancy change of clothes. After jimjibang-ing we went out to dinner and then led Elizabeth and Eloise to the mysterious destination. Kelsi and I had scoured the Internet for the best bingsu (shaved ice, fruit and red beans; a common dessert) in Seoul and found that CNN had ranked the Shilla Hotel as having some of the best apple-mango bingsu in the country as they said, "The apple mango bingsu has had customers literally lining up for bowls -- an unusual sight in the austere luxury hotel." So off to the Shilla we went, dropping subtle hints as to where we were going on the way.
“It’s going to ha-ping soo-n,” and “shilla hamnida (excuse me)”

Apple-Mango Bingsu
We get to the Shilla Hotel and it is the most magnificent and extravagant hotel we have ever seen. We found the restaurant, called The Library and I ordered the Apple-Mango Bingsu that was recommended by CNN. A picture is worth a thousand words:

Before each bite one of us would offer a short quote that had inspired us or some advice for ourselves and each other to take. Reminders like, "never forget to step back and laugh sometimes," or "carpe diem," and one quote I remember from Elizabeth is, "If you look at life too closely, everything's a tragedy. Only when you look at life in the big picture do you realize it's a comedy." After paying the bill we went to the lounge area and listened to some of the live jazz music. We soaked in the moment and moments that had been and moments that would be.

The Jimjilbang                                                                                      The Shilla Crew